Women empowerment is strictly any program that seeks to fully focus on empowering women to actively participate in economic, political and social life at all levels.
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Gender Equality & Equity
Gender equality & equity spread across all persons in society who in one way or the other have had socially imposed norms, roles and relationships which hinder their progress and the progress of society as a whole. These norms or roles sometimes comes from our cultural setting. So the norm that, "the place of the woman is in the kitchen" is a gender issue because the potentials of a woman cannot be limited to only the kitchen and when such happens the family, society and even the government loses. Such a woman would not get the opportunity to engage in any productive venture which can earn her an income.
Another classical example is the norm that the breadwinner of the family is the man or what people normally say, "the head of the family is the man". This is also gender incorrect because a woman can also equally become the breadwinner and head a family. Even during traditional marriages you will hear some advice from either of the in-laws that if the woman gets money is for herself but when the man gets money is for both of them. This is not fair and does not make any sense. This kind of assertions put so much pressure and burden on the men which affect their health, productivity at work and probably leads to early death.
In relation to SDG 5 (Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls), the goal seeks to bring equality and equity in economical, political and social responsibilities, just that the goal has sharp focus on women because they are mostly vulnerable when we talk of eliminating all those political, economical and social barriers. Feminist should understand that SDG 5 would have touched on both men and women but because of high vulnerability of women it was crafted to focus more on empowering women.
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Women Empowerment
Women empowerment on the other hand consist of all efforts put in place to empower the woman to fully participate in economic, political and social life at all levels without any limitations. Why do you think efforts are needed to empower women in the first place?. It is because some existing cultural and religious norms and roles do not encourage women to be able to fully utilize their potential and this affect society as a whole. Hence, it is required that women get the needed support in order to realize a society where all its human resources are properly put into good use.
One thing that is very important but most feminist and women empowerment advocates fail to realize is that, empowerment comes with responsibility. If anyone is giving power in society, the person is therefore required to perform certain responsibilities. But it seems there have been an absolute silence on the responsibilities that comes with it. So most women are still expected to be treated the same way despite all the empowerment they receive. Especially when it comes to paying of bills. You will hear some comments like, "it is not culturally right for the woman to pay any bill in the house because it is the responsibility of the man". As I said in the beginning, empowerment comes with responsibility. If women fear or refuse to show their monetary power then their voice will never be heard. And all efforts by feminist will be a waste of time and resources.
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Culture & Religion in relation to Gender Equality & Women Empowerment
I can confidently say that, it is culturally and religiously wrong for a woman to have an equal voice with man in all matters. The only good news is that culture is dynamic hence, it is possible to achieve a holistic equality and equity in society between men and women when the changes in our culture finally unfold. It is my hope that women stop giving excuses and take up full responsibility at all levels after being empowered. Even though some women have been noticed taking huge responsibilities including financial ones, they do so with a lot of expectations.READ ALSO: UNDP Ignores PWDs
When it comes to religion, I can't say much about the dynamism in it. But let us take some verse from the Christian's Bible. " I do not permit a woman to teach or to assume authority over a man, she must be quiet" (1 Timothy 2:12). And further readings in the same chapter highlight some more gross disrespect to women empowerment and gender equality. So the ability to over such assertions in our Holy Books have become a big issue for both women and men. And it is one great obstacle to SDG 5.
Yes, the religious and cultural barriers will continues to exist, but we must focus on how to deal with those barriers in order to achieve the planet 50-50 we all desire.
Going forward, I want to see women paying for their own bills whenever they go on a date with a man. I mean paying for what you eat and drink. If women fear or refuse to show their monetary power then their voice will never be heard.
In my next post I will distinguish between sex and gender. Then I will clearly state which roles and responsibilities are inevitable for both men and women.
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Author : Clifford / Proofread by Mary
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