Women! Women!! Women!!!
We've heard so much about feminism and the emancipation of women the world over.
In fact, sometimes I feel that such agitation for empowerment deprives
men of any form of power.
Equality sometimes depends on who is measuring.
To my main point:
A few weeks back, I was told about a woman who lost her husband in Awka.
According to a tradition which surprisingly, is still existing:
The woman must shave her head clean.
As if that is not enough, arrangement is made for her ... Wait for it!
To have sex with another man both before
And after her late husband's interment!
Hard to believe!
A woman in mourning is forced to sleep with another man
Both before and immediately after her husband's corpse is interred.
Now back to the story.
This woman was forcefully locked inside a room
And against her will, a group of women, shaved off her hair
While her daughters and other family members drawn to the scene
By her loud cries, stood outside, banging at the door dutifully
locked by these overzealous women
Not done with their deeds, they kept insisting that she will abide by their tradition
To have sex with another man!
There's another story of another woman
Whose husband's already interred corpse was forcefully exhumed
By youths from the community because the widow did not comply with the
tradition!
All these happened in 2013!
Not in one remote, game reserve
But in the city of Awka, a state capital!
Why would a group of women constitute themselves into enforcers of tradition?
And then go ahead to carry out their design on an unwilling victim,
Whose major "crime" is that she has only girls and no son.
If she had a son, nobody would have gone against his will in
such a blatant fashion.
Not to be outdone, the daughters were very vigilant
They confronted the women as they arrived
But in their mischief they said that they came in peace
As the girls laid their guards down, these women craftily lured the bereaved woman into a room,
Locked the door, pressed her to the ground and shaved her head!
And I ask: do these women love the dead man more than his widowed wife?
Or are they truly the champions of tradition?
Before you start condemning them, check yourself.
I didn't tell this tale to ridicule Awka people
But to use it to comment on some burning issues in our nation recently!
Before we condemn these women, we need to ask ourselves
In what ways we defend our culture, religion, etc
To the point of hurting the sensibilities of our neighbours?
Make no mistakes, these people were defending their own religion
And in the light of recent statements of defence for sundry inconsequential agitations in Nigeria
What this women did pales in comparison!
We are a people who see other people's wrongs
Without imagining our own shortcomings
To women, men are the problem and vice versa
To old people, youths are ill-mannered
Christians, Muslims and other religions exchange accusations
Kind defends kind even when "kind" is wrong
And so, everyone moves to destruction
SMH vigorously
In fact, sometimes I feel that such agitation for empowerment deprives
men of any form of power.
Equality sometimes depends on who is measuring.
To my main point:
A few weeks back, I was told about a woman who lost her husband in Awka.
According to a tradition which surprisingly, is still existing:
The woman must shave her head clean.
As if that is not enough, arrangement is made for her ... Wait for it!
To have sex with another man both before
And after her late husband's interment!
Hard to believe!
A woman in mourning is forced to sleep with another man
Both before and immediately after her husband's corpse is interred.
Now back to the story.
This woman was forcefully locked inside a room
And against her will, a group of women, shaved off her hair
While her daughters and other family members drawn to the scene
By her loud cries, stood outside, banging at the door dutifully
locked by these overzealous women
Not done with their deeds, they kept insisting that she will abide by their tradition
To have sex with another man!
There's another story of another woman
Whose husband's already interred corpse was forcefully exhumed
By youths from the community because the widow did not comply with the
tradition!
All these happened in 2013!
Not in one remote, game reserve
But in the city of Awka, a state capital!
Why would a group of women constitute themselves into enforcers of tradition?
And then go ahead to carry out their design on an unwilling victim,
Whose major "crime" is that she has only girls and no son.
If she had a son, nobody would have gone against his will in
such a blatant fashion.
Not to be outdone, the daughters were very vigilant
They confronted the women as they arrived
But in their mischief they said that they came in peace
As the girls laid their guards down, these women craftily lured the bereaved woman into a room,
Locked the door, pressed her to the ground and shaved her head!
And I ask: do these women love the dead man more than his widowed wife?
Or are they truly the champions of tradition?
Before you start condemning them, check yourself.
I didn't tell this tale to ridicule Awka people
But to use it to comment on some burning issues in our nation recently!
Before we condemn these women, we need to ask ourselves
In what ways we defend our culture, religion, etc
To the point of hurting the sensibilities of our neighbours?
Make no mistakes, these people were defending their own religion
And in the light of recent statements of defence for sundry inconsequential agitations in Nigeria
What this women did pales in comparison!
We are a people who see other people's wrongs
Without imagining our own shortcomings
To women, men are the problem and vice versa
To old people, youths are ill-mannered
Christians, Muslims and other religions exchange accusations
Kind defends kind even when "kind" is wrong
And so, everyone moves to destruction
SMH vigorously
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