By Aladelola

There is this time honoured  saying that behind every successful man is a woman. No man can honestly lay a claim to success without the support of women; whether here at home or abroad, we have seen the important role that women play in the life of their men. It must be for this reason, among others, that the International Day for Women has become well-recognised all over the world. Women must be celebrated as mothers; they must be celebrated as wives; and they must be celebrated as helpmates that God has made them to be for the men. Above all, today’s global village necessitates that women must also be celebrated for their contributions to world civilization and development. Gone were those days when women sat at home and the men were the ones who went to work to provide livelihood for their families. Although there are still many traditional house-wives today; there are also many top-flight women who not only compete with men to provide for the family, there are those who have even taking over the task of being their families’ bread-winners.

Edo women

The Women’s Day celebration in Ekiti was beamed live on national televisions and I took advantage to watch it. I am from Ekiti and was proud of the honour done to us the women of Ekiti by Gov. Peter Ayo Fayose. If I recollect correctly, this is the first time that women will be so celebrated by any government in Ekiti. The gifts and other incentives lavished on the women during the event were okay but these were not the attractions for me. The attractions for me were the nice and encouraging words said about and to the Ekiti women. Why can’t we also be Ministers? Why can’t we be appointed to head the NPA, MDG, etc.? We are well-read and we have cognate experience. We have the quality but I learnt during this celebration that we lacked exposure as well as the people to make a case for us. The publicity given to the Women’s Day celebration in Ekiti will go a long way to fire the imagination of our women to aspire to the top. We should no longer be satisfied with working and rising in the civil service of our state or neighbouring states but should henceforth target the federal level. We should also participate more in politics. Our usually negative impression of politics, which drives us away from it, must change henceforth. Nothing ventured; nothing gained, as they say.

I was also impressed by many of the positive words said about women by our men during the occasion, especially by Gov. Fayose. If our men listen to the words of wisdom, they will do their home and career a world of good. Many of our men have failed to realise that until they make their wives happy and cooperative with them, they cannot achieve much in life. United we stand and make progress, is another saying but a house divided against itself will fall. Gov. Fayose celebrates his wife, Feyisetan Olayemi Fayose, at every turn. He did so generously during the Women’s Day celebration also, referring to her as the power behind the throne; the prayer warrior always on her knees praying and seeking the face of God for her husband. As a woman, I have learnt from that and my advice to all men is that they, too, must emulate Fayose in this wise. Men should always make peace with their wife; love their wife, respect her and be not too pompous not to humble themselves before their wives. Many men are too arrogant to admit their faults, not to talk of looking their wives lovingly straight in the eyes and say, “I am sorry”. Let such men learnt from Fayose who said once he had problems with his wife, he knew fire was on the mountain and had to leave all things aside to make peace.

Women are the bedrock of any family. The woman that you respect and honour will stick with you through thick and thin. Our men should wise up while the women should also not abuse the privilege. As they say, it takes two to tango.