COMMENT: Time to walk the talk on women empowerment

There are many observances around the world. Times to pause and reflect and focus energies on a particular issue or subject, the very reason some days are set aside to mark certain milestones or to lobby for certain rights or advance certain causes.

This week the focus around the world is on women’s rights, the celebration of advancements made in the quest to empower women over the generations and shining the spotlight on new frontiers where more interventions are still needed. We do not live in a homogenous world hence challenges that confront this part of the world could be different from those of other areas.

There are rights that past generations sacrificed blood and sweat to attain, such as voting rights which in this country the black majority only started enjoying at independence in 1980. You will realise that there are some who are unaware how having a voice in the affairs of one’s country is, those that do not exercise their right to vote, to choose leaders so that they determine the course that their country takes.

We mark International Women’s Day to celebrate the achievements made in improving the status of women over the years, and also as a way to pay tribute to brave women that fought for many of the rights taken for granted now.

It is however, of concern that more than a century after the march for equal hours of work and equal pay between women and men, we still have pockets of employers that are found wanting in that respect.

It may not be as direct and blatant as it was 100 years ago but there are some women put in glorified positions just to fulfil certain legal or policy requirements or fulfilment of quotas wherein outsiders see it as empowerment when it could actually be a perpetuation of oppressive tendencies whereby female faces are used to create a semblance of empowerment.

We believe women deserve to be treated equally, and even where policies are in place to safeguard their rights, patriarchal whims should never override sound policy seeking a just society.

We have indeed come a long way but more still needs to be done in the fields education, religion, work environment, politics and the wider economic sphere where the levers of control are usually located, and conveniently dispensed as rewards occasionally for acquiescence from the downtrodden.

Science and technology are the new frontiers and those whose access to technology is improved are in good stead to leapfrog those at the periphery of Information and Communication Technologies.

If you still find yourself at the mercy of someone that understands even your phone better than you, then that person has power over you as they can decide what you have access to, hence setting boundaries or opening endless possibilities at the touch of a button. Unfortunately, such access is often gendered and that needs our attention so that girls and boys grow up knowing they can be anything they want.