BEYOND CHIBOK...TO FEMALE FREEDOM

   PC: Danielle Strickland

It is over four (4) years since the Chibok episode and like the tarrying period of Abraham and Sarah, the parents of about 113 out of the 276 girls that were taken into captivity are still hoping and trusting that one day, their daughters will feel the warmt of their embrace again.

Just before Chibok clocked four, there was another 'Dapchi saga' when over 100 young girls were abducted and about a month later, they were released except one Leah Sharibu whose freedom was denied because she held on to her faith.

Let me be clearly apolitical in this matter (maybe another time).

The continuous abduction of young girls clearly reveals their vulnerability and discrimination. It is the belief of Boko Haram, the sect that took responsibility for these attacks that the female gender lacks class and social standing, and therefore, their role should only be the 'mother hen that lays the egg'. This belief is not also far from President Buhari's famous statement of his wife belonging to the kitchen, the living room and the 'other room'.

There has seldom been a time in the history of Africa when the freedom of the girl child were so needed and in demand as today. Imagine where the abducted Chibok girls would have been as at today, some probably would have graduated or be in an institution of higher learning, while others would have been contributing to the society.

There has been concerted efforts, policies and programs, both local and international to advocate for gender parity, these has however yielded very little result. Lack of education for the girl child, uneasy access to health care facilities, rape, unhealthy and harmful practices such as female genital mutilation and child marriage are issues that still characterize our society. There is also lack of political will on the part of the government, under-implementation of policies and laws that would have reduced this menace to a considerable level. (The child right act and the law against female genital mutilation for instance)

However, this social problem will remain if we do not look ab-intra for possible solution. It is therefore imperative to go back to the lowest and simplest form of association; the family, if this issue must/can be resolved.

  PC: National Centre for Family Philanthropy

See this analogy: (There are several others, but an average African can picture this)

A man has a wife, lives in a house, his wife stays in a different room from her husband. It is forbidden for her to use the same bathroom or same bucket with the husband - this is the home of an average African man irrespective of religion. I used to wonder how their wives gets pregnant...

Education alone cannot mitigate female discrimination and abuse, because regrettably, educated females still submit themselves and/or are subjected to rape, abduction, unwanted marriages, female genital mutilation etc.

Family dynamics is a panacea to ending female vulnerability. Though family dynamics are greatly influenced by cultural, societal, and institutional norms; more family centered programs that will foster the values of mutual respect, etiquette and parity should be encouraged and implemented.

No law, policy, program, religious teaching, political will or societal value can help attain female freedom when the smallest unit of association; the family is already structured to make it fail.

Life could be miserable not being free!

#SayNoToGenderDiscrimination

#FemaleFreedom

#HeOrShe

#GirlsNotBride

#YouthSpotlightInitiative

#StopFGM