By Francies Ewherido
As we celebrate the International Women’s Day tomorrow, two incidents in the last two weeks gave me a wake-up call. First, I met a female politician who was denied her party’s ticket to the state House of Assembly because a veteran Politician, who is an octogenarian and a lead actor in the second republic, does not deem a woman fit to represent the constituency. According to the lady, the baba told her in clear terms that a woman cannot represent his constituency and that included his daughters.

Second, a woman, who apparently does not look like a beggar or scammer (“There’s no art to find the mind’s construction in the face”), approached me in the church, begging for money for transport and food. When I asked her why she would leave her house, knowing she did not have money for transport to and fro, she responded that I will not understand. She explained that her children have been driven away from school over school fees and she came to see the parish priest for assistance. “What about your husband,” I asked her. She said her husband left for another woman after she gave birth to her fourth daughter. “So girls no be children?” I went further. “I no know for am o,” she responded.

After I left her, I started wondering: Just when you think women are almost there, you find out they are still far from the desired destination. Even if you do not give a damn about the fate of women, as a father and/or uncle, you should be concerned about the fate that awaits your daughters and/or nieces. Let us analyse these women’s stories on the face value, that is, assuming they told me the truth. Why can’t a woman represent baba’s constituency in this day and age if she meets the constitutional requirements and her people want her?

Why will an educated man like baba with so much exposure still harbour such prehistoric sentiments about women in a world where the strongest economy of Europe, Germany, is run by a woman and where two of the strongest economies in South America, Brazil and Argentina, have women as presidents? Hilary Clinton will be a frontline candidate in the 2016 American Presidential elections when she eventually declares her intention.

Nearer home a couple of women have emerged presidents in Africa and Liberia’s Johnson Sirleaf is still in power. Nigeria might not have elected a female president or governor, but there are many women in the Senate, House of Representatives and the various Houses of Assembly. There are also a few female deputy governors and one female deputy governor actually became governor, albeit briefly, sometime ago in Anambra State. Baba is unfair to the female politician.

For the other woman, her husband probably went to secondary school where he studied Biology. So he knows that the man, not the woman, determines the sex of a baby. In addition, the timing of the intercourse determines the sex of the baby. All he needed was a little more knowledge, patience and perfect timing and he would have had his boys (you can get more information on baby’s sex pre-selection on: https://newlive.vanguardngr.com/2014/09/babys-sex-preselection-story-1/). Now he has bolted away and abdicated his responsibilities.

The woman is now struggling to single-handedly bring up the children. When it is time for marriage, the society will say that the woman cannot give out the daughters in marriage; that it must be done by the father or his relatives. Then the renegade father will come to reap where he did not sow or, better put, reap when he did not nurture, since he sowed the seeds, but did not nurture them. This too is unjust.

These two incidents got me thinking about the Fourth World Conference on Women popularly called the Beijing Conference in 1995. Apparently three previous conferences had been held, but the Beijing Conference was very popular and far reaching. It came up with a Declaration and Platform for Action touching virtually all aspects of woman endeavour. The 123 page document is a global commitment aimed at achieving equality, development and peace for women worldwide.

The Beijing Platform focused on 12 “critical areas of concern” that must be addressed to achieve gender equality and women’s empowerment. They are: women and poverty, education and training of women, women and health, violence against women, women and armed conflict and women and the economy. Other areas are: women in power and decision-making, institutional mechanisms for the advancement of women, human rights of women, women and the media, women and the environment and the girl child. Looking deeper at the 12 critical areas of concern, it is apparent that a lot of gain has been made since 1995, but the two cases highlighted earlier show there is still a long way to go.

Still in line with these critical areas of concern, this year’s theme is, “Empowering Women – Empowering Humanity: Picture It!” In other words, can you imagine what the world will be like if women were empowered? Yes, I can: the world will be a better place. This theme is everybody’s to picture: , religious organizations, corporate institutions, the family and the rest of the society.

It “envisions a world where each woman and girl can exercise her choices, such as participating in politics (is baba listening?), getting an education (renegade father)…, societies free from violence and discrimination (madams and house girls).” I would just add that women should make a Women’s Day resolution to refrain from acts of inhumanity to other women.

Maybe as a solution to discrimination against women, God should withdraw all women from the world even if for just a year. I am sure by the time God brings them back, men eyes go don clear and there will be a drastic attitudinal change and many of the Beijing declarations will be realized promptly. The only snag is that women too will miss men sorely. I am very sure of that. Happy Women’s Day.