Woman Empowerment Is About 90% Own Effort & 10% Other Factors
Women Empowerment is not about Seeing them as Weak But as the Strength that Holds Society Together
Since time immemorial women have played a central role in shaping the course of our history, their contributions touching every part of our religious, social, political, and economic spheres.
From Mary mother of Jesus, Khadija the first wife of Prophet Muhammad, Queen Elizabeth of England, Saint Joan of Arc, Marie Curie, Professor Wangari Maathai the first African Woman to win a Nobel Peace Prize, and Harriet Tubman, the list is endless.
They have made personal sacrifices throughout history for the service & welfare of mankind. Enduring extreme conditions at a time when “a woman was to be seen, not be heard” and leaving a mark forever etched in our history.
Women can achieve a lot through their own effort
Like Wangari Maathai, the first Kenyan woman to earn a doctorate courtesy of the famous airlift program started by the Legendary Tom Mboya, where bright students were given scholarships to advance their education and return to help in nation building.
She was a passionate environmentalist & conservationist, challenging the status quo by highlighting the illegal excision of our forest by the then corrupt President Moi’s government, hell bent on awarding his cronies with huge parcels of land carved out from the Country’s protected forests.
She was beaten, detained often without trial, harassed, and insulted taking a huge toll on her but she soldiered on, stopping a corrupt Government from destroying the Country’s natural forest with its ecosystem to be awarded a Nobel peace prize.
From her brief biography, it shows how her; bravery, intelligence, grit & sacrifice, helped her overcome the unique & challenging situation and stop the Government on its track, showing 90% was her own effort, and 10% other underlying factors.
She was strong physically & mentally taking on the corrupt male dominated government, by showing bravery, selflessness, intelligence, and her passion for conservation, she became a voice for the voiceless and gained attention worldwide.
By empowering herself to do something about the environment, she passionately defended and educated us on the importance of conservation. She did not wait for the Holy Grail called ‘women empowerment’; she took the bull by the horns and converted any opportunity to her benefit.
Are women’s achievements solely based on being empowered?
If she did it on her own, with 10 % external factors e.g. education contributing on her achievements, considering those male chauvinistic days of “women to be seen, not be heard?” Why are today’s women so reliant on being empowered to succeed, and sidelining self-effort, sacrifice and bravery?
Does it mean without empowerment, women find it hard navigating this concrete jungle called life? Considering great strides have been made in ensuring fairness & equity between the boy & girl child, resources distributed equally, hence eliminating favoritism, then why do women need empowerment to succeed?
I cannot rule out, some places exist where women still need our collective support to achieve success & compete with men for the available resources, for example Afghanistan, where a woman seen walking alone is punishable by receiving lashes or even stoned in public. But can you compare that environment with places like Kenya, where resources have been somehow skewed in favor for the advancement of the girl child.
n its track, showing 90% was her own effort, and 10% other underlying factors.
She was strong physically & mentally taking on the corrupt male dominated government, by showing bravery, selflessness, intelligence, and her passion for conservation, she became a voice for the voiceless and gained attention worldwide.
By empowering herself to do something about the environment, she passionately defended and educated us on the importance of conservation. She did not wait for the Holy Grail called ‘women empowerment’; she took the bull by the horns and converted any opportunity to her benefit.
Women nowadays have equal opportunities as men
Even there are women conductors in our transport industry (which was a preserve of the male species), and have no qualms about it, yet they still want empowerment? I keep wondering empowered to do what?
Women in Kenya & around the world nowadays stand a better chance in competing for the meager resources with men, we study & learn the same syllabus, books, courses straight from Kindergarten to University and all along do the same exams, yet they still need that extra push called empowerment to make it in life.
Empowerment is to give somebody more control over their own life or situation they are in hence Women Empowerment is the ability for women to enjoy their right in controlling & benefiting from resources allocation & distribution plus their own time, as well as managing risk and improving their social status and economic wellbeing.
From the above definition, women nowadays are in control & have the ability to enjoy their rights, considering the level playing field set by the Government, where they have the same rights & freedom as men as enshrined in the Constitution, and the ability to control & shape their destiny with minimal input from anyone especially a man?
So I urge feminists to stop denoting the harsh & intolerable conditions affecting a woman in Afghanistan is the same as one in Switzerland and start empowering those in need, lest you make this noble idea (woman empowerment) into a farce and lose its meaning .
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© 2018 Van Nchogu
