By Sola Ibukunolu

The 2017 edition of  International Women’s Day  celebrated with aplomb and applause by the Ekiti State government was both a commendation as well as a call to action for  women by Governor Ayo Fayose.

Fayose said the strategic position of women in history and in creation would continue to speak for them; that without women, there would be no love, no care and no emotion.

Mr Ayodele Fayose and his wife

He said his government was committed to creating an enabling environment for women to thrive and thrust themselves on the national limelight. He said his readings, especially on the internet, opened his eyes to the fact that Ekiti women are nowhere visible; whereas women in purdah make it to the exalted positions of Ministers and advisers and heads of important government agencies.

Truly, there are few, if any, Ekiti women to reckon with in the governance of this country, despite their high level of education and professionalism. Fayose said it was because Ekiti women were not exposed and there has been no one ready to celebrate us and push them to the limelight.

He hammered on the need to discover the Ekiti woman, help her to discover herself, and be positively motivated to come out of her cocoon to assume her rightful position in the scheme of things. His soothing words that Ekiti women can still catch up; reclaim their rightful position; and recover what they have lost should galvanise  women to action.

Fayose’s exposition of the negative role the men have played in the marginalization of women will, however, be debated by many.   He traced this to history, saying that men, from time immemorial, had created undue and negate fear in women with a view to subjugate and oppress them. The woman’s place, he said, is not in the kitchen, the sitting room or the other room as President Muhammadu Buhari famously but unfortunately said not long ago.

Fayose also said a nation that does not give due recognition to women will not make progress; that there is no life without women; that only a reckless and irresponsible man beats his wife; and only such a man believes more in his mother than in his wife; that men should love their mothers with the love of the mother and love their wives with the love of the wife. Men, he said, should allow their wives the right of place in the home.

How I wished all men listened to the governor! All men should learn lessons from Fayose, especially when he spoke extensively about his wife being the pillar of strength behind him. When women believe in you, he said, they go any length with you. Women, he also said, are more supportive and reliable than men. These views, I am sure, will be debated by many men. I must not forget this one: He said if things are not right on the home front, the entire system will be disrupted.

To conclude, women, like men, need an environment that is conducive to realise their full potential. If Ekiti women are to attain the top flight in our national life that the Fayose administration is prodding and encouraging them to achieve, then, their husbands will have to give them the support and encouragement they require.