Yesterday 11-10-2021 was International girl child day and I was at a school to help with the setting up of the projector and other instruments. The girls in the school were gathered in a hall and a live zoom meeting was projected to them.
Overall my yesterday wasn't so pleasant, it was filled with one headache or another. I still have some money lost in transit and hope it will be resolved today. But let me stick to the good part of yesterday and leave out the not so good part of it.
Back to the seminar, the speakers did their best and talked about various topics. It was more like a conversation directed at adults and one of the speakers mentioned how she wish parents are listening. The students obediently listened with feigned interest. I felt the whole effort of setting up the instruments will go to waste if they don't get the message being passed so I decided to talk to them a little or maybe it's the urge to talk to them that pushed me, I was just looking for an excuse. lol
What was intended to be a short conversation ended up being a long one. Some of the things I mentioned include:
Amid Gender inequality, you can stand out
For years we've been talking about giving the girl child equal opportunities and equal playground with the males but things don't look like it's changing anytime soon. We still have families that believe the female child is less of a child compared to the male. We still have workplaces and society that believes certain positions and duties shouldn't be allotted to a girl but we've seen great women come out from these societies.
The best example i love giving is Madam Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala the Director general of the World Trade Organization. She's one of Nigeria's greatest export. She survived and triumphed in a society that doesn't look favourable to her. A pace setter and living legend.
We have women that did the unthinkable despite the discrimination from all sides, they never let this be an excuse. Sometimes I get tired of hearing "feminism and anti-feminism or Patriarchy ". We've dwell so much on this that it now looks like something else. People now hide under the flag of feminism to carry out their agenda. We need to let these girls know that the world they are going into won't make things easy for you but you can do it because those that succeeded in time past faced similar issues.
The odds are against you but you can turn things around.
In school, the male child is regarded with much respect but when a lady distinguishes herself, she earns much respect. I know ladies that are leading their class in terms of academics. Also, I know departments and faculties led by a girl. Our newly elected president is a girl and when the campaign was on, one of the things mentioned by some friend was "Why will a girl lead us?." I replied, "Why not?" We've had male presidents for years and we can't point out a single they've done.
Leadership is not by gender. Being a boy doesn't mean you have an extra brain cell to rule. Our ladies need to fight for themselves, let their voices be heard. Go for political posts if they want and not just aspire to be the "side guy". It's common to see ladies taking up the post of "deputies, assistants, vice etc". Back in secondary school, I know two ladies that pushed me to the limit, I call them "the witches". They floored any guy that challenges them, because of them I increased my reading hour just to be able to compete with them.
I hope my generation will be different
I hope the future mothers and fathers we will have won't make any child feel less human. I hope Fathers will love their daughters as much as they love their sons. I hope that the daughter will be able to talk to her dad about her fears and worry without restrain. I hope that the girl child will be given a voice in the society.
Thanks for reading! 👩⚕️💚👩✈️.
I'm sorry for the long absence from various articles. Also for the constant change in time. Some circumstances beyond my control has been at force😂. I hope we all have a wonderful day. Till tomorrow-byeeeee!
Most fathers love more to their daughters as compre to their son. In many parts of the world people don't give importance to their daughters they just listen and act accordingly as what their son says. Most of these people are illitrate and they think that only their boys will support them and give good care ti them but it has been seen many times that daughters take much care to their parents.