THE DEFINITION OF WOMEN EMPOWERMENT

Long long ago, man inhabited the earth. Whether you believe in creation or evolution, you can agree that there were males and females. Since time in memorial, there has been a huge debate on what women can do and what they cannot do. There are stereotypes concerning men and women. What they ought to wear, how they should behave, how they should speak and so on and so forth. society has played a huge role in deciding what is acceptable. Today these stereotypes are changing, faster in some places than others, but still changing. While we may celebrate the changes, some places are still thirty or fifty years behind when it comes to recognizing the important roles that women play in our societies.

Just last month we saw Saudi Arabia finally allowing women to vote. Most of us reading this article were born at a time when voting rights for women was not an issue but there are still four places in the world today that do not allow women to take part in democratic processes .

This piece is about a special group of women, women who have refused to sit back and wait to be fed and provided for. Women who are sitting in the sun all day, crushing stones and gathering sand to be sold to the locals who need them. There are many women crushing stones in many parts of the world today but what was peculiar to me is that these women crushed the stones and loaded them into the trucks all by themselves-it was an All-woman-show! These women have no structure but they have come together and formed a small community of traders who deal in building materials such as sand and stones. I did not get a chance to speak to these women but i could not help but mull over what i had seen, i must say I have had bittersweet thoughts concerning this; Bitter in the sense that these women do not have a choice and inhaling the sand particles without protection is a health hazard. Sweet; loading the heavy stones and sand into a truck is a hassle but they do it anyway. They believe in their own abilities. They have not let circumstances push them into being beggars on the street or housewives with very little to eat but they have taken matters into their own hands, they have grabbed the bull by the horns and decided to be at the forefront in providing for their families in whatever way they can. Who knows, maybe they are even supporting their husbands and children with the same money they are getting from the sales?

The world has been talking about women empowerment and gender roles and those kind of things. In every newspaper, there will be at least one article talking about women and their rights. More than ever before, women are being heard. Respecting a woman and her rights is being "civilized", almost as if they are synonymous words. But lets ask ourselves, what does women empowerment really mean? What does civilization really mean to all of us? Is civilization really is empowerment? Empowering women to do what exactly? Is empowerment about being able to afford good clothes, MAC make up and Peruvian hair? Is empowerment about competing in places of work? Is empowerment about walking away from marriages for minor reasons?

According to UN Women, a number of principles have been formulated concerning empowerment of women and it would take all day to review the document. In my own words, I would say empowerment is bringing out the positive inner being of a woman, allowing her to live to her full potential without limits. Empowerment today means breaking the barriers and stereotypes. Carrying heavy materials has been a mans’ job but now women are doing it too. We are seeing more women being CEO's, Pilots, Doctors, Engineers, Soldiers, Crane and Heavy machine operators, Architects, Brick masons, even PRESIDENTS!. It has been said that society plays a huge role in holding women back but women hold themselves back as well. Thinking, “how will I manage?”, “I am too young” or “I am a woman, I cannot do this! “ Women may have different physiology from men but that doesn’t mean there is stuff that they cannot do; this message needs to be preached until something drastic happens!!!.

The women crushing stones shows how women can refuse to conform to the norm. Even if they still need to form or belong to business association so that they may be part of the civil society and have a louder voice and advocate for policies benefiting them. They are closer to the finish line than many women out there who are vulnerable or complaining about the state of affairs without any action.

Take a moment and think, what does empowerment mean to me as a woman? What have i done to empower myself? If you are a man, what does empowering the women around me look like? If you are empowered, what have you done to empower another woman? Have you offered advice or mentorship? Have you supported another womans' cause or business buy making a purchase or donation? Have you spoken a word of encouragement to that woman next to you? Have you prohibited your wife or girlfriend from working or following their passion for your own benefit?

It is after relating this topic to ourselves we will begin to see that it is personal and circumstances are not an excuse. 

I am definitely going back to speak to those women to hear from them about their experience being entrepreneurs so watch this space for the follow up blog, but till then, let us think about what being empowered means to you and the women around you. 

“Whatever you choose, however many roads you travel, I hope that you choose not to be a lady. I hope you will find some way to break the rules and make a little trouble out there. And I also hope that you will choose to make some of that trouble on behalf of women." Norah Ephron

LINDA COMPOUND; AN INSIDE STORY

I took a bus to one of the townships in Lusaka, just to get a glimpse of the kind of life that my fellow country men, boys and girls are living, what the women are up to, what means they are using to survive and what a typical day in their life is like. I arrived at the last bus stop, the road has just recently been tarred and because of it the area looks very clean and presentable. Going further down the road, there were kids running around, teenage girls looking all dressed up, women selling fruits and vegetables and young men and women seated outside the local taverns. I stopped at the sight of a woman that was packing charcoal into plastic bags. She was with a little boy, about nine or ten years old. the woman was covered in charcoal dust and she sat wearing a red chitenge (african print wrapper) wrapped around her waist and a brown top. She was barefooted and her lips were dry and cracked, almost as if she had nothing to eat that day. I introduced myself, enquired about the cost of the charcoal and then asked if we could have a chat. She told me her name was Jane, she is a mother of four and has been living here for the past twelve years. Jane moved here from Chongwe in 2002 where she was living on a farm. Her husband decided to move from there because life there was not easy, they had to work very hard if they were to make any money at all. They had to cut down trees and burn them so that they could make charcoal. Jane says it was just too hard and they made very little money from it, so they moved here and since they came to Lusaka she has been selling charcoal, which she buys from Soweto market and repackages it into smaller bundles that the people of her township can afford. One bag lasts about two days and from the proceeds she has been able to build herself a four-roomed house where she lives.

As the conversation went on, i asked her what the biggest issue that the community faces, she says it is the increasing rate of school drop outs. Many young people are dropping out of school as teenagers, they do not see the value in school, they are spending most of their time in the local bars and taverns. Many teenage girls go to the bar to make money from prostitution, which they use to buy themselves phones and new clothes. One would think that beer drinking would be more common in the boys, but even girls are now sitting in bars, telling stories and sipping from the large jug filled with opaque beer going round the table. These young people are moving out of their parents houses and renting their own, using the money they use from prostitution so that they can be independent from the counsel and condemnation from the elders. Jane has experienced first hand the rebelliousness in the teenagers, this phase is normal but she says the extend to which the youths in her compound are going is depressing for many of the parents. She has a first born son who is fourteen years old, he dropped out of school in grade six and he spends most of his time at the local bar. Jane feels helpless and wishes there was something that could be done, maybe if these bars were shut down or inspected more often the extent of beer drinking in the area would reduce. Looking at how deeply vested the youths are in this vice, she thinks that shutting down the taverns is insufficient, many of these young people need rehabilitation, mentoring and counseling so that they can not only cease the alcohol abuse but they can see a brighter future for themselves.
I encouraged Jane and the little boy that she was with, reminding them that success knows no barriers and that there was still a lot that she could do for her children. i also bought myself a bag of charcoal, i did not need it but showing her support put a smile on her face.

Far right; Betty. Middle; Naomi Left; Naomi's little brother

On my way out i met two little girls about seven or eight years old and one boy who looked like he was about three or four years old. The boy was too shy to speak so i didn't get to know his name, the girls are Betty and Naomi. They were writing numbers on the walls of their grandmothers shop and i found her shouting at them for doing it. I drew closer and i smiled, not because they were doing a good job messing up the walls but because it was an indication that these two girls loved school, they loved to learn and didn't want to forget all that they knew during the school holidays. I spoke to the girls later and they told me a little bit about themselves and here is what they said;

Betty: I am in grade three, I love school very much and I never miss a day. I think that school can help me become someone in society because I hope that I can be a nurse one day, it will make my grandmother proud.

 Naomi: I am in grade one, am not sure what I want to be when I grow up but I love to read and write, my mum tells me I am very intelligent.

I met several other people who had life stories of their own but the greatest lesson i learnt on this day is that this world needs more love. Lets take time to visit some of these places and give a word of encouragement to others, you have no idea how much of a difference that would make. Lets empower one another regardless of class, ethnicity, geographical location. Its hard at first, not everyone is interested in speaking to strangers, but for the sake of that one person who is, lets press on.

"Our job is to love others without stopping to inquire whether or not they are worthy"- Thomas Morton

Good day my friends!!