And the saying goes ‘what a man can do a woman can do
better’. I grew up with that statement been said over and over again and men
were still in charge. The role of a woman has traditionally been confined to
the home while the man does all the work. That was the status quo for many
centuries until women started challenging it through writings in the 18th century.
The 1960s saw a mass wave of protests by women in the developed world calling
for equal rights with men. The woman has the right to equal pay, equal
education, equal opportunities in the work place, legal and financial
independence, right to birth control and abortion, the right to determine
sexuality and non-discrimination against lesbians and also freedom from
violence and sexual coercion.
These were some huge demands by the women and it can
said that their efforts to put themselves on the same scale as men without
discrimination has taken shape not only in the developed world but the entire
world. One area that is having huge influence in the rights for women today is
music. Many of today’s female artists compose songs whose themes center on liberty
and emancipation of women popularly termed ‘Girl Power’. Artists such as Beyoncé Knowles have led the trail in this area. Her song ‘Run the world (Girls)’ has got
to be the best Girl Power song till date. Its lyrics and music video seems to
intimidate the man by saying Girls are in charge and not men. Other energetic
Girl Power songs by the Creole lady include ‘Independent women’, soundtrack to
Charlie’s Angels and Survivor by Destiny’s Child. Other popular female artists
that have composed Girl Power songs include Pink, Christina Aguilera, Alicia
Keys, Aretha Franklin among others.
The women might have been protesting for equal rights
with man but who would think that it would really take serious effect. The result
today is jawdropping. Women now make up 45% of the world labour force this
includes the Arab world were many women are restricted in the work place due to
gender and religious segregation. They now work with men without any problem.
If one takes a look at Nigeria, women are gradually taking over the corporate
world. Women are now flooding the banks, they are heading departments in
corporate organisations and are becoming CEOs. Women are now taking up
positions in management and are been favoured over the men. There’s the saying
that woman are better managers and their position in the management field tends
to show that.
Girls are also flooding schools. Infact the ratio of
girls in class today outnumbers boys. While doing some research, I found out
that girls make up the large population in management courses in University
such as Accounting, Economics, Marketing and Business Administration. I used
Babcock University, the University of Ibadan and University of Lagos to make
these findings. Courses relating to the media such as Mass Communication also
have large population of girls as well as Law. Girls are now topping the class
ahead of the guys. Some guys even rely on the girls to pass their courses. The
population of girls is small in the pure and applied sciences. Fields such as
Medicine, Engineering and Computer Science have a small fraction of girls but I’m
sure their little numbers would dare the norm and aim to top the class and come
up with innovative ideas which have been all created by men. Women have defied
the odds in doing extreme activities that are highly dangerous and of course
only done by men. We now have women who have gone on space missions such as Valentina
Tereshkova, Kathryn Sullivan, Rhea Seddon, Mae Jemison, Anna Fisher, Roberta
Bondar among many others. A few women have been able to challenge men on the
race track such as Danica Patrick and Johanna Long in Indy Car Racing and
NASCAR, Maria Teresa de Filippis and Lella Lombardi in Formula one, Vanina Ickx
and Desiré Wilson in the 24 Hours of Le Man race.
*To be continued.
I hope you have enjoyed reading this post, kindly leave your comments below. Thanks.
*All photos sourced randomly from Google Images.
