Skip to main content

The Role of Women in Women Empowerment

With regards to women empowerment, the women folks have a lot to do in order to lay a solid template which other women can follow. Climbing the executive ladder to become a board room guru, a top notch politician, a renowned athlete comes with great responsibility and leaves behind strings of surmounted challenges. A lot lies on the shoulders of these women in these positions as not only do other women look to them as a source of inspiration, their actions and inaction could create a gender stereotype in an already prejudiced society.
Take for example the Late Dora Akunyili who through determination and self-will transformed a Federal Government parastatal ( NAFDAC) through her fight against  the proliferation of fake drugs into the Nigeria market; a feat she was globally recognized for. Now she has not only created a legacy of positive contribution, she has created a physiological awareness in the minds of female employees in the parastatal and beyond that indeed a woman can succeed were men have failed. Many girl-child have her as a role-model. The singular effort of an individual inspiring and providing a template for aspiring minds to follow.
Hillary Clinton has always been a pacesetter, challenged the norm and dared to dream. In the United States of America today had Michelle Obama decided to run for Senate eyebrows wouldn’t be raised, the society would accept it, because another individual has paid the price, another dreamer has challenged the norm, weathered the storm and left a legacy. Though Hillary lost the Presidential elections, she ‘won’ because she just prepared the battle ground for America’s First Female President.
Women in every position of leadership today all face the same challenge; the society does not expect you to succeed, at best it expects you to maintain status quo. From the Nigerian perspective, the society would judge you more harshly than it judges the male folks; take for example the case of Honorable Patricia Etteh.

Hence the need to deliver, to innovate, to impress becomes paramount as your success would not only be yours to share. A woman who delivers on her mandate and leaves a legacy of positive contribution would cause a great ripple in the seemly calm sea of societal stereotype.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Leadership Strategies for achieving sustainable Peace and Security within the African Continent

                    As my cuts and bruises were been treated, I couldn’t help but recount how a journey I had often undertaken in the past with little or no concerns was brought to an abrupt end with many sustaining varying degree of injury; on an interstate journey my bus had been ambushed by “herds-men”. “Too often we attempt to measure progress by statistical aggregates and technical prowess. We thereby tend to overlook that the main goal of life is to ensure survival and enable everyone to realize his full potential for well-being, fulfillment, and accomplishment in happiness, joy, love, and contentment” these were the words of  Olusegun Obasanjo. This premise was further strengthened in 2014 as at the time Nigeria recorded an astronomical growth in GDP, growing to become the largest economy in Africa while about 20,000 square miles of its territory was under the control of the boko haram terrorist group. 1 The concept...
Post a Comment
Read more

Underachieving Boys......

Read an article on male underachievement, would share some excerpts from the journal. … boys need far more discipline, structure and authority in their lives than do girls. … Boys must be actively constrained by a whole phalanx of adults who come into contact with them—parents, teachers, neighbours, policemen, passers-by in the streets—before they can be expected to control their asocial, egoistic impulses. (Quoted in Hoff Sommers, 2000, pp. 180–181) Growing up it was conventional in my society that women(girls) are normally guarded by family, community and society at large.Maybe because they carry the "honor" of their family. While the male counterpart are given a lot more freedom to do virtually as he wills. Responsibility; a great personality molder, the girl child is able to focus more and harness the extra attention and supervision.Setting goals and building character, while the male folk is given minimal supervision and his excesses classified as "Boys will be...
Post a Comment
Read more