By Donu Kogbara

Sixty years ago, in 1955, Barbara Mandell, a pioneering female broadcaster, made history by becoming the first woman to read the news on British TV.

And she was firmly restricted to a daytime slot and not permitted to mention any unpleasantries – wars, for example – because, as she later recalled:

“The midday news was aimed mainly at women, so it was much lighter in content than the main evening news…it was [deemed]…inappropriate for women to be associated with disasters…so we focused on stuff like fashion and cookery.”

Further hammer

Meanwhile, to further hammer home the point that a female broadcaster and her core audience shouldn’t be taken too seriously or allowed to stray from domesticity or frivolity, Ms Mandell’s studio was decorated like a kitchen!

Now, six decades on, TV channels the world over are awash with immensely competent female journalists who confidently cover every weighty topic under the sun – economics, politics, military issues, terrorist outrages and so on.

As a matter of fact, there are now more female newscasters on British TV than male ones. And most of them are highly-paid household names. Ms Mandell, who died in 1998 aged 78, lived long enough to witness this quiet revolution. And I would like to think that she was very happy for her professional descendants.

Professional descendants

I wasn’t even born when Ms Mandell made her debut; and I often thank God for enabling me to grow up in a more liberal era because I am a Feminist and would have felt so trapped by – and so furious about – the primitive, insulting, unjust rubbish that women had to put up with in the chronically sexist Olden Days!

We still have a long way to go. Sexism still exists, even in relatively enlightened Western nations. And it is rife in places like Saudi Arabia where women cannot drive or socialise freely and are punished if they display independent streaks.

In a nutshell, there are still too many countries in which women and little girls (especially those from impoverished backgrounds) are robbed of their human rights, politically marginalised, treated like brainless chattels, deprived of education, genitally mutilated, forced into arranged marriages, subjected to violence by male oppressors and paid less than men who are doing identical jobs.

But things are much better now – overall – than they were in the past. Tremendous progress has been made on several fronts on every continent. And more improvements are in the pipeline. I predict that gender equality will gradually become the norm everywhere. Maybe not in my lifetime. But one day.

I salute and thank iconic trailblazers – some quiet but dogged like Ms Mandell, some militant and highly vocal like the Sufragettes (who took on the Male Establishment so that they and their fellow women could vote in elections).

These sturdy Women Of Substance started various change processes and made life easier for future generations. I can run and jump because they walked tall.

Social change —A Nigerian example

Talking about the progress that has been made in terms of enhancing the status of women, I have noticed a major social change that has taken place in Nigeria.

When I was young, husbands were encouraged (by their relatives, friends and Society at large) to feel short-changed if they only had daughters; and despite biological realities (it is the man’s chromosomes, not the woman’s, that determine the gender of offspring), many son-less men insisted on blaming their wives for this “failure” and went to great lengths to try to solve the “problem”.

So much emotional anguish was generated within families by this ridiculous prejudice against daughters and desperate quest for sons; and I remember my mother consoling and counselling aunties who felt distraught and humiliated because their husbands were having extra-marital children with other women (who would be venemously described as evil, avaricious, immoral home-wreckers).

But attitudes have changed. And I now have a number of male chums who only have daughters and aren’t remotely bothered about only having daughters.

Some even regard daughters as superior.

As one of them recently said to me: “Daughters are better because they are more caring and more likely to look after their elderly parents WELL.”

Sexual harassment

Nigeria badly needs EFFECTIVE laws against sexual harassment.

Some women have no qualms about using their bodies to gain career and commercial advantages from powerful men who feel that a woman only deserves professional or financial advancement if she is or has been their bedmate.

But those of us who are allergic to sexual blackmail and would rather not mix business with pleasure will be SO grateful if protective legislation is passed.

I am not suggesting that women should go squealing to the nearest lawyer whenever an influential man expresses an interest because not all expressions of interest are malign and not all have strings attached. And there ARE men (though not many!) who are so nice that they won’t hold it against you if you aren’t interested.

I am just saying that when you are told in no uncertain terms that you can’t go beyond a certain point if you don’t sleep with a particular decision-maker, you should be able to take action against him and knock him off his lofty perch.

Bullies in high places should not be allowed to get away with traumatising women and blocking their access to jobs or contracts for which they are qualified.