Women inclusion: Then and now

**There is nothing that says empowered than a lady with her earrings and lip gloss on in a blue worksuit and a pair of safety shoes hard at work earning her money**

Bongiwe Nkomazana on Gender

Back to African tradition and women, today, as I travel to different rural areas in the Matabeleland region I have seen tradition and women empowerment co-exist. The women are still women, with their doeks, long skirts and babies on their backs but they are also very involved in their communities’ development even in the forefront most times

We do not always whine on this column. We also celebrate and appreciate all things woman. However, today we want to take the time to acknowledge and show gratitude for the efforts made by mankind, no pun intended, to do away with all forms of women exclusion.

No matter what area it is, women want to feel strong and empowered and the journey to us achieving that is still far from complete but a lot has changed today compared to the previous years.

Slowly but surely, women are demanding their piece of the pie and the world is more ready to give room to them to make their mark and all I can say as a young black woman living in this world is, what a time to be alive.

The most common or most apparent way or area in which women were oppressed is tradition and/or culture.

Women in African culture have always been regarded as children, meaning that their input is not required and their opinions are not regarded. It was to a point where it was okay for a husband to give his wife a hiding just to discipline her when she “misbehaves” you know.

This mindset is what has held women down; in particular, rural women who still exist in societies that follow tradition by the book. In these instances, women were left out of decision-making processes etc and were allowed to only be what a woman was required to be.

This issue is always up for debate in my head because as much as I believe that tradition has had a lot to do with women inequalities I also feel that oppression is still rife in modern set ups that have sort of turned down African culture. You even see how women are still mentioned in the same breath as children internationally.

That is a topic that I have touched on and will continue to touch on because women empowerment has become an industry in which African culture is portrayed as a bad thing versus it being a real issue that should be addressed with positive results following.

They sit with the men and make plans for their families’ futures and they are part of the solutions that deal with areas’ problems. Some women are even part of the leadership now. I know a woman from decades ago would not have imagined this was possible but here we are.

With so many of us seeking employment, I am sure you have seen the footnote in job advertisements that states that this is an equal opportunity vacancy and women are encouraged to apply. So for starters, it is a milestone that women and men have the same employment opportunities in theory.

As much as it is a step towards the right direction, it is still more on paper than it is practical. There were jobs that were exclusively for men and even till today are considered to be masculine, the likes of engineering, aviation, construction and science to name a few. Today we have women employed across all industries.

For some reason, there is nothing that says empowered to me than a lady with her earrings and lip gloss on in those blue work suits and a pair of safety shoes hard at work earning her money. It is a testimony that women have broken down barriers and can in fact be whatever they want to be.

The problems that we face today when it comes to employment include the issue that I talked about last week of how women make up about 48 percent of the labour force yet leadership remains male dominated by far.

Also, issues of gender segregation by things like differences in earnings still haunt us. Back then we could justify that men made more money because women were not given the space to be educated enough but today with women excelling at school and in their respective fields what justifications are there?

Are we bad doctors, farmers, pilots because we are female and therefore deserve less money? That’s the status quo but I mean the open doors are there, so at least we have that on our side.

Just to wrap up where we are now as women in one word I would say “voice”. We have a voice now. The lack of women’s representation before meant that no one knew what we wanted so all decisions that were made for us were more or less forced onto us.

How demotivating is it to exist in such a scenario? Where you are told to be a good girl and be quiet, where your self esteem is low because you are made to believe you are a second class citizen, where human or civil rights do not necessarily apply to you because you are inferior to a man. Not today. Today, women are singing their worth out loud.

Through platforms like this column and many others, women are able to bring their issues no matter how trivial they might look like to others, forward for discussion.

Nothing says we are here more than confronting the world with issues that have been swept under the carpet for generations.

Social issues that range from serious matters of economic emancipation, embarrassing infidelities to issues that are just natural yet out of our control like menstruation and natural hair. To be able to display our discontent and celebrate our femininity as women in broad daylight as we can today is a big shift from the confinement that earlier women were subjected to.

Women are now able to just be women and not be ashamed of it. Women can be queens now. Women can now own businesses. Women can study. Women can dance. Women can lead. Women can travel. Women can finally SPEAK. We thank every individual who has realised the importance of women inclusion and has worked with women to reach it.