I am one of the few guys who advocate women empowerment and that is not because I am a biometric womanizer, but because I have an unquenchable desire to see women at par with men.
I was carried away not by the Kaneshie floods but by the fact that a special position called women’s commissioner was created within every leadership group of all organizations on campus to serve as the mouth piece of all ladies in the policy making process and to also beef up their welfare.
Unfortunately, my checks and observations on the activities of these women’s commissioners reveal that a number of them are white elephants or rather, ‘green crocodiles.’ They end their tenure of office with no achievements; they empower no lady and in most cases, they only empower themselves. A few who claim to achieve worthwhile feats can only boast of breast screening exercises they organized where they screened just one and half breasts but still regard it as an achievement.
Don’t misjudge me yet. It’s good to do breast screening but it has become the major focus of most women’s commissioners and that to me is quite problematic. Being a women’s commissioner is not only about “empowering breasts,” it goes beyond that.
I am not accusing anyone but the truth is that our women’s commissioners under perform their duties and no one seems to care about it, including the ladies themselves.
A number of ladies on campus face grave challenges and they often times have no one to spell their challenges to. There are ladies whose existence on campus is validated by a guy and this comes with unholy terms and conditions. Abi you know what I am talking about? I expect our women’s commissioners to dig deep into the core problems facing ladies on campus and find creative ways of ventilating such problems.
Albeit, I celebrate the few ones like SOCIOSO WOCOM and Indece Hall WOCOM who were able to organize educative programs, however, it shouldn’t always be speaking, it must be practical. I expect programs that will also equip our ladies with skills in baking, tailoring, hair dressing etc. I know some may find this difficult to achieve but there are innovative ways of making it possible.
Our educational system is fully theoretical and we must make it practical. There are hair dressers, bakers and tailors working in this university whose monthly earnings are higher than the combined salaries of ten university graduates and that is if they even get jobs to do. Aside the educational acumen, we must encourage our ladies to venture into such lucrative businesses.
The various ladies’ wing in our churches also have significant roles to play in shaping the lives of these precious ladies. Some ladies dress shabbily to church and you keep mute with the fear that they will stop coming to your church when you correct them, abufusem! You must be bold and tell them the truth.
I wish our women’s commissioners all the very best. We expect more from you than the mere breast screening achievement. You have been underperforming for some time now especially the halls, SRC and departmental WOCOM’S and no one seems to pay attention to you, that period is over.
We won’t hesitate to rally our support behind any competent lady who is ready to step on hard balls to occupy sensitive position on campus. Aluta Continua-the struggle continues.
“We are not children of a lesser god.”
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