World Menstrual Hygiene Day is a day set aside to promote good menstrual hygiene and health for women. It focuses on breaking the silence, educating people on what menstruation is, and asking politicians, key decision-makers and well-meaning organizations need to take action about menstrual hygiene. For centuries, there has been a lack of education and so many persisting taboos surrounding menstruation. People feel like menstruation is something shameful, something we should not talk about. I remember one time a girl wanted to talk about menstruation and an older woman shushed her loudly. “Don’t you talk about that in public,” she said. Another one said, “When men are around, they shouldn’t…
-
-
International Day of the Boy Child 2021
I am grateful to men like Victor Ogbara, Joseph Okunmuyide, Benjamin Sarumi, Ojobo Agbo, Ebuka Ede, Dayo Adeyemi, Deji Irawo, and females like Olufunke Oyinlola and Sanni Olayinka Fatimot (and so on) who have picked up the gauntlets and have chosen to help guide young boys into becoming the best version of themselves. They are amazing people who have chosen to advocate for the boy child and they are seeing results.
-
Birthday Reflections 2021
And, today is my birthday! This year, I would like to self-reflect on how God’s goodness has been pivotal to the progress I have recorded in my brake-less advocacy journey. My advocacy quest entered a full drive in 2015, and three years later, after participating in MCW, I launched my blog, where I broach all subjects advocacy. My entire adult life has been riddled with gender-equality discussions, of course, but before those two historic mentions, I hadn’t gone full-on gender-equality advocate on the Internet, but I had engaged young individuals on the controversial topic now and then. Then, I was shy, reserved, and, of course, I was worried that people…
-
Men Picking Up The Gauntlet 7!!! – Ojobo Agbo
The responsibility of raising the next generation of men is not for women and girls, but for you as a man. You know the struggles, you have felt the pain, you know the changes that need to be made, you have the voice and you can create systems, structures, and resources that are specific to boys and men.
-
My Reservations about Choice Feminism
While the concept of choice is something I subscribe to, I have some reservations about the choice feminism. Choice feminism is simply a concept of feminism that upholds women’s right to choose. This idea states that a woman has the right to CHOOSE how she would live her life and we should respect that. People often bring this up when we ask questions about women’s choices that reflect misogyny. If you try to evaluate the CHOICES of these women, they play the respect their choice card. I have a few questions, however: What if those choices aren’t really choices per se? What if these choices are deeply rooted in patriarchal…
-
World Health Day 2021 -The Woman and Fertility
Infertility is defined as the inability of a couple to conceive within 1 year. In truth, almost half of the cases of infertility are due to problems with the man, with the woman (who is very often and perhaps almost always vilified for fertility problems) responsible for the difficulty with conceiving in exactly the same proportion. So it’s either both partners are at fault or a cause cannot be found in the remaining cases. It is unfair that in many African societies, the woman is exclusively blamed for the couple being unable to get pregnant, and left to run around alone seeking a solution. Women are more likely to suffer…
-
Theresa’s Plight
Looking up from her sewing machine, Theresa stared at her husband. He was snoring and turning about in his sleep. This meant that he was not enjoying it at all. From where she sat, she could tell that he was tired and frustrated. Life had not been kind to them recently. Stretching the fabric and pushing it further under the needle, her mind wandered to the day he had come home. It was a Tuesday afternoon. She had been sewing too. But she hadn’t been sewing for money. She was just trying to create a new concept she had been thinking about. She had just stretched the material when she…
-
Can All Women Really Multitask?
Clara, a young mother of two was recently hired in a company she had always wanted to work in. On her first day, her boss asked her to go through the journal that contained his weekly schedule and sort out the important meetings into a to-do list he would work with that week. Important meetings included meeting with clients, doctor’s appointments, dinner dates with his wife, and meeting with government officials and the overall boss. She was to create a much smaller version of the schedule with just the very important meetings. Barely ten minutes after she got started, her boss called her to his office, gave her some money,…
-
World Poetry Day 2021 – Celebrating Womanhood
World Poetry Day is celebrated on the 21st of March every year. To commemorate this event, I will be dedicating it to the celebration of womanhood and I will be posting three poems by three women. Poem 1 WO (nder) MAN ‘It’s half filled, not half empty’ she clamours _exhibiting a raging compassion and affinity Here, Read on the peculiarities of a darling race! Whilst her feeble shoulders shudders from overwhelming duties Her alluring smile is so handy with no haughty gaze And with swaying hips And with savoring lips Like some good news resounding clips Like some good books’ pages flips Lustre_ity & Human_ity ‘Ooooze’ from her like an…
-
Elvis’ Mum – Societal Expectations
Harriet smoothened her purple peplum dress and smacked her lips. She couldn’t believe that she was attending Elvis’ family event as his plus one. She felt goosebumps as she looked into her reflection from the passenger car mirror. They were finally doing it. And it felt great. They came down from the car. Beaming with pride, Harriet looked over at Elvis. “Thanks for inviting me,” she said. “It’s what I should have done long ago,” he replied, glad that she was happy too. Walking hand in hand, they entered the compound with Elvis leading the way. When they got in, the guests were already arriving and being seated under the…
