Using Women to Make Money
By
Sylva Nze Ifedigbo
nzeifedigbo@yahoo.com
Post Beijing 1995 Women's conference
brought about increased agitation for women's rights and gender
equality globally. Nigeria was not left out in the fever as we also
witnessed-at least by speech- an increased clamour for women's rights
and an increased activity in the womendom. With this also came
more recognition-though out side the constitution- of the office of
the First lady(s) both at the federal and state levels as well as the
creation of bodies such as the Ministry of Women affairs and the
National Council of Women Societies. The question is; what really do
these bodies do?
Before any one gets me wrong, I respect
and appreciate womanhood. I agree that Women face a cultural
disadvantage in our society which has left them to suffer so many
vices such as early/forced marriages, domestic violence, genital
mutilation, rape, denial of education, and so on and it is right that
in this modern age and as led by the United Nations, we should begin
to create avenues through which women can be emancipated and empowered
to participate better in the society.
My grouse how ever is that all the
pro-women talk in Nigeria is simply hypocrisy. As far as I am
concerned- which is the painful reality-, the whole women talk in
Nigeria has been hijacked by a group of super rich and influential
women and has become an avenue for-as is said- securing their own
national cake.
Women Emancipation has become an
office-a slang we used back in the university to describe any
avenue for making cheap, easy and questionable money. These cabals of
women have positioned them selves to corner every thing that comes in
the name of Nigerian Women from international grants to Nigerian
budgetary allocations and have continued to feed fat from it without
any significant improvement in the lives of the poor rural women who
are indeed those who need to be emancipated.
It presents a near comical picture when
these fat, round and nearly obese women, with facial and bodily
make-up that smirks of their not too successful effort to keep looking
young, appear on television, gliding from one side to the order
talking or in most cases singing about women emancipation. A look at
them and it is clear these folks need no further emancipation neither
do they give a hoot about the many suffering women all over the
country. They are simply tending their office and it hurts to
know that they've so legitimized their corruption.
These women are good at organizing
rallies and public campaigns. After embezzling what ever is budgeted,
they go into the villages and urban slums and gather together
downtrodden women to fill up the hall or campaign venue. At the end of
the day spent under the scorching sun and singing about what they
understand nothing about, the rented crowd are given some cheap super
print wrapper, tee-shirts and measures of salt or rice which they
gladly rejoice home with, ready and willing to come out when next they
are called.
The big madams smile home with the booty
and the whole women business goes on. This is criminal and a brazen
case of exploitation which we can not continue to pretend we don't
know about.
Same goes to the now popular call for
the increased participation of women in Government. How do more women
in power help to improve the lots of the many powerless rural women?
The whole clamour simply is to have more of them gracing the corridors
of power and expanding the tentacles of their business. While I admit
that every woman, indeed all humans have a right to aspire to higher
positions and offices, it is morally wrong for some people to be
hiding under the toga of Women to advance chiefly personal and
painfully selfish interests.
Funnily we've had recent cases of women
who were entrusted with such higher political offices, disgracing the
entirety of Nigerian women by preoccupying themselves in cornering
public funds much like their male counterparts.
Interestingly, these women some of who
are wives of ex-leaders simply rotate them selves in all available
government appointments. Once there is an opening, they either smuggle
themselves in or send in their cronies. They go around calling
themselves women leaders, sweet talk the poorer and less educated
peasant women into coming under their control, with promises of
helping them access loans as co-operatives. When the loans come, the
women who need it never get it.
It is pertinent to ask what the ministry
of women affairs- complete with a minister, permanent secretary and
scores of civil servants- do? What have they achieved in the last ten
years beyond mobilizing women to flood the venue of PDP campaign
rallies? What can we boast about as the major successes the ministry
has registered as seen in the advancement of the state of the common
Nigerian woman? Where has all the budgetary allocations gone to?
Same question goes for the National
Council for Women Societies (NCWS). What are they doing? Beyond
sitting around attending conferences and seminars where they teach
themselves what they already know and pocket the estacodes, what else
do they do?.
In Abuja, just opposite the imposing CBN
building is a complex called the Women Development Center where these
cabal of women hold court. How many women has that center truly
developed in recent times? We should all begin to ask.
Recently I wrote a piece on the many
troubles that female bankers, trying to make a legitimate career go
through in the course of their duties. There has been a nation wide
up-roar of this issue with even the Senate President making remarks
about it recently. It is a pity to note that our women affairs
ministry has either not yet deemed it fit enough to champion this
course or does not see it as their responsibility.
The above is in addition to the many
other agonizing situations the Nigerian Woman is subjected to daily
especially in our rural areas and urban slums. It is thus okay to
state-like the title of this piece reads-that Nigerian woman are now
an avenue to make money.
This is both a shameful and unfortunate
situation and it behooves on us to end it. A group of women can not
continue to have to themselves what has been air marked for a larger
group. We must stop looking at this a women's matter, because even if
you are not a woman, you have one as either a wife or a mother. The
greater majority of hard working but long-suffering Women who by their
economic status can not speak for them selves deserve our help on
this.
It's is high time those big madams with
a penchant for being friendly with any government in power, are
dislodged from their positions and our women giving a chance to really
receive the attention that they really deserve.
Sylva Nze Ifedigbo
nzeifedigbo@yahoo.com
www.nzesylva.wordpress.com
|