Every year we celebrate Women’s Day and we preach about the same stuff. The only difference is, our demands become stronger and stronger and more vigorous. If you are going to give us flowers, our flowers should come in the form of proper healthcare and access to education. It should come in the form of security for the girl-child, and a better justice system that caters for abused and molested women. Your flowers need to come in a huge bouquet of support for the feminist movements that are started to help and better the lives of the girl-child. Every year, there is a girl who is raped and the perpetrator is never apprehended. Those are the flowers we want.
I believe we should also be reminded that in as much as we need to provide better for the women in Namibia, it is vital to know that what young women need is not only spaces for mentorship programmes, empowerment brunches and emotional speeches. What we need is access to opportunities, funding for our businesses, initiatives and education. So many women have a lot of bright ideas, yet there is no funding for them but because they are women, they are not seen and or regarded as good enough to be granted opportunities, especially in spaces that are male oriented.
While we are at this, it is of paramount importance to also acknowledge that most women in rural areas have no knowledge of what contraceptives are. If they do, they just know the rumour that they make you infertile and because most are raised with the mentality to celebrate the joys of motherhood, they don’t even bother to get the right information. Thus, it would be a great initiative to go to rural areas and talk about the options they have as women existing outside of their relationships. It is important to remind these women that their bodies are theirs, both inside and outside of marriage and/or relationship. In as much as we preach about it, visiting these places will bring a huge difference within the mindset of these women. Give them a fair chance at life and teach them that being a mother to a lot of children, isn’t all that there is to life. They have options. I also need women to remember that they do not have to continuously be strong in order to depict their womanhood. You are allowed to be delicate and soft. Feminism isn’t about making women stronger; women are already strong. It’s about changing the way the world perceives that strength.
• Frieda Mukufa’s lifestyle section concentrates on women-related issues and parenting every Friday in the New Era newspaper. She also specialises in editing research proposals, proofreading as well as content creation. – etuholefrieda@gmail.com