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09th March 2010
To The Strength of Women

As we would have known by now, yesterday women all around the world celebrated another International Women’s Day. Among the aims of observing the day is one of reflection: where women pause and take account of the contributions they have made and are yet to make. And, boy, are there many.
There is no denying that women are the main driving force in today’s world. Yeah, we men may think that we run the world but there is one indeniable fact – women are the supervisors. Today’s women have found a way to break free from the shackles of being told what to do and have instead been blazing trails where only male DNA once did. Today’s women have shirked the stereotypes of the past and replaced them with the changes that can only come with time.
Some years ago, I happened to view one of the most poignant movies centred on the liberation of women: The Color Purple. In the movie, Whoopi Goldberg’s character suffers unbearable tribulations at the hands of her husband, played by Danny Glover. She was forced to endure all the various abuses a woman can until fate finally stepped in and she was rescued from her torments.
Since I first saw the movie, I just cannot see myself watching it again. The pains that Whoopie’s character, Celie, had to endure just makes me feel sick as a man. It does not take a top rocket scientist or a Hollywood screenwriter to cough up such vivid scenes of abuse that often come women’s way. As boys, many of today’s men would have been witnesses to their daddies’ tempers resulting in their mommies being battered. Many of us still bear the psychological scars of those sleepless nights when we feared mommy would not be alive in the morning. Grown as we are now, we never forget the strength mommy showed through those swollen eyes in the morning as she told us things were going to be better and not to worry.
There is no denying that women have come a long way. Not that they were never that force to be reckoned with but that they have finally shaken that stigma of being the fairer sex and standing ready to claim theirs.

 
 

And I challenge any Bible-toting soul to convince me that women should be subservient to men rather than be equal. When women account for the larger share of the job market in many economies, they deserve no less than equal. When a pregnant woman’s reputation is ruined when she is rumored to have been with umpteen men, the fact that the child can only have one biological father speaks volumes of the strength of a woman.
Despite the advances of women in today’s world, a woman still faces certain obstacles. Note that I stated “faces” and not “hindered by.” She faces stigmatization in the workplace when what her skirt hides seems to matter more than what her resumes reveal. She faces poverty as a single mom when a deadbeat dad thinks it’s cooler to spin Nissan wheels than cough up maintenance fees for her kids. She faces death when her opinion and freedom matter less to a man who simply cannot control his rage let alone his fists.
Nevertheless, women have a lot to be proud of and there are many men who would not have been successful if not for the support of women. Not that I am making this a battle of the sexes but I think that quite too often a woman’s success gets measured by whether or not a man’s disinterest in the prize paved the way for her to win. For instance, just as this year’s International Women’s Day was being ushered in, it was quite a moment when everyone at the 82nd Academy Awards gave Kathryn Bigelow a standing ovation. Bigelow, ex-wife of renowned Academy Award-winning director James Cameron, became the first female to win an Oscar for Best Director in the eighty-two year history of the event. Cameron, most thought, was the clear favourite for the award. If you asked me – the strength of today’s woman is sure pointed in the right direction.
Happy International Women’s Day.

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