I Refuse to Bow to Male Domination

Akinyi Janet

I Refuse to Bow to Patriarchism

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• Emancipation of women

Have you ever thought about certain things making women surpass their male counterparts? What makes them fall victims of oppression and how as a society we can reframe our minds and accord them the dignity they so deserve? They are rocking the world today as remarkable personalities in arts, politics, science and education amongst other fields.

Have you ever stopped to imagine a pregnant man in the street? Yes your father, brother, boyfriend, uncle and grandfather undergoing gestation and later on bringing forth a baby after nine months! Most of us have never imagined such for simple reasons: No man will accept the dreary ordeal of painful labour which only the stronger sex can handle. Tell me, which John, Collins or Brian will accept confinement in home territory few weeks after delivery? No man will accept such a sedentary life in the name of nursing an infant. Research has also proven that women live longer than men and have stronger hearts and immune system. They also have better memories. It is for this reason that makes me believe in women as stronger gender and their need for full liberation in the society.

The emancipation of women,” Samora Machel said, “is not an act of charity, the result of a humanitarian or compassionate attitude. The liberation of women is a fundamental necessity for the revolution, the guarantee of its continuity and the precondition for its victory. The main objective of the revolution is to destroy the system of exploitation and build a new society which releases the potentialities of human beings…This is the context within which women’s emancipation arises”.

In as much as some few men have started to view women as a stronger sex (all men depend on them for nine months to come in to being), however, majority still hold on to their patriarchal mindset that women are weaker and are subject to oppression. Now that women are emerging from period of subjection from masculine world, we have indeed shown abilities equal or even superior to those of men in the world. From time immemorial, women have turned the world around since they have a stronger will power. Look at the heroine of England Queen Elizabeth, Queen Juliana of Netherlands and Queen Jadwiga of Poland. Remarkable heads they were. Others are Nehanda of Zimbabwe (she was instrumental in organizing the nationwide resistance to colonial rule during the First Chimurenga of 1896-7), Junita Craft (who was Americas Civil Rights pioneer), Mothers of the Cuban Five (who turned out to be great revolutionists), Assata Olugbala Shakur, Titina Sila of Guinnea Bissau (a freedom fighter/ slave revolt who displayed remarkable organisational and leadership skills as an 18 – years – old guerilla) and the Women in Palestine who have survived humiliation and disrespect as their voices have been suffocated courtesy of the long war in Gaza strip.

I refuse to bow to the notion that women are weak and still feature as economic advantages, sexual conveniences and housekeepers in the society. It is time to rise up against the third world mediocrity that women are generally assistants.
If the High School history Mwalimu Muhula taught me is anything to go by, then women are indeed stronger. I remember Mwalimu Muhula saying that during the World War I, women were called upon to replace men as factory workers, supervisors and even executive officers. These women indeed performed their duties excellently. Come World War II, women took the civilian roles in the armed service. Kudos to them posthumously.
Research has proven that women outweigh their male counterparts, psychologically and biologically when put in a beam balance. It is this fact that makes men threatened and envious thus they resort to punishing women by depreciating their capabilities and status.

Many women have been brutally murdered, battered and raped on a daily basis if media reports are anything to go by. These incidents made me realize that men exercise physical supremacy over women, well calculated to counter survival benefits upon them. Another revelation that came up with these incidents was that invention of machines is not anything to smile about. Machines have successfully replaced men by doing most of the work which was done by men. Some muscle power has therefore been switched to another direction namely rape, battering and in some extreme cases murder.

The society should therefore note that women need full liberty just as any other accomplished human being so as to destroy the system of exploitation and build a new society which releases the potentialities of all beings. What liberties am I screaming about? The right to jury service, the right to control income and earnings, the right not to be deprived of property without due process of the law, the right to choose unrestrictedly hours of work, the right to custody of children, to divorce and above all to freedom of speech. Yes women are entitled to all these rights but the interesting fact is that these rights are state rights, none is constitutionally guaranteed to women which are disposition of state legislature. For how long should we wait as women? It is either now or never.

By Janet Otieno