BE BOLD: Celebrating International Women’s Day 2017!

Hello Royalty.

I am not usually the type to write public commentaries on social matters, but you know what this is more than a social matter, this is Women’s Day!

So just as you may have guessed, today is #museday but today, the women will be our inspiration. While you read, please take time out to think about that one, two or three (even more) wonderful women in your life and think about the ways that they have inspired you.

This morning, I woke up to a poem written by @oluwafunmilayo_n.p on Instagram in celebration of International Women’s Day and she tagged me. I mean it was a great thing to wake up to, and you know, I felt so honoured!

As if that wasn’t enough already, one of my favourite blog writers @iamyeychii also made me her WCW for today. I was elated and I still am. This is her!

Back to our celebration, on the International Women’s Day website, it says that IWD celebrates the social, economic, cultural and political achievement of women. Last two weekends, I did a Spoken Word for the Proverbs 31 Woman Conference that held in Covenant University and you can watch it here, it starts from the 42nd minute.

About Gender Equality

If you were to ask me at any time, I do not see why there should be such a thing as ‘gender equality’; I would rather call it gender uniqueness. If we claim that no person is equal to another, why then do we try to make one gender equal to the other? That’s an even more herculean task. Innit? I strongly believe that if there is a fight for the freedom of women to work, to vote, to be a part of the society, then it should not be a fight for equality. Only when the world sees that the woman is unique and that she has something amazing to offer, only then can the woman achieve this goal. Aung San Suu Kyi wrote, “In societies where men are truly confident of their own worth, women are not merely tolerated but valued.” We need the male counterpart to realise their worth as much as we need the female counterpart to. This is because a sense of worth, of value, of importance is what build one’s self esteem which in turn urges one to succeed, not a sense of competition or comparison that equality brings. God has made each one of us unique in our own ways!

Today I join in the #BeBoldForChange theme campaign of the IWD 2017 and I have written a poem for the woman, the one who is BOLD FOR CHANGE…the one who believes in her uniqueness.

Hey woman,

Let us take a walk

On the street called miracle

And believe me

When I tell you

It was named after you.

You whose steps and strides connote the shine of every soul.

You whose glow and gait grows into entire earth’s glory

You who tried to stand to speak but was told to stay on seat

You who dared to dream and to destroy the boundaries

You who roar like a lion but also listen like a lamb

You whose absence allows the unresolved abyss of anarchy

You whose presence promotes peace

Woman,

You think I don’t know?

You think I haven’t heard?

That when you are quiet

They say you are a loner

You think I am not aware?

That when you speak

They say you are too loud

You think I wasn’t informed?

That when you are kind

They say you are begging for favours

Of course I heard the gist

That when you decide to be rigid

They say your heart is made of stone

 

Did they forget to remember

That the woman is like an antechamber

Like an onion

She has different layers

Like a car

Yes she has different parts

All of these differences is what makes you unique

Woman

You are needed

Needed to fill the chasm of confusion with your care

Needed to bridge the gap of greed with your generosity

Needed to uphold the importance of integrity with your induction

But woman I plead

That you thirst not for equality with men

Yes maybe equity

For fair is not always foul

But woman I stand

To fight with you

Not for equality

But for recognized uniqueness

I stand

To fight with you

That we are not to be tolerated

Only to be valued

Nor to be seen as equals

Because we never will be

But as woman and man

Each unique in every way

Forever that will be.

p.s: the pictures used today are of four friends who are just amazing people that I know personally. Their handles are @casssie_ @goldpeaches_ @olamide94 @mz_edwina and then of @iamyeychii on Instagram and yes, yours truly @alexandrazion.

Today, please remember to tell a lady close to your heart, just how much she means to you.

Goodbye Royalty,

With Overflowing Love,

Alexandra Zion.

 

 

About the author
Christocentric. Academic. Writer. Poet

17 Comments

  1. A big clap to u Alexandra…. I feel the problem we have is the wrong consciousness that our culture places in our hands about the disparities between the male and female gender that in the actual sense do not exist. The striking word I’m adopting from ur post is “uniqueness” and that settles the ignorance that kills the supposedly “deprived and superior” gender. Divinity configures our creation into different roles and responsibilities and the only clamouring that is required is that of “participation and not equality” we don’t contend, we complement each other. We are not equal and can never be equal, we are unique because we undergo different tasks to actualise same goals, we don’t contend neither do we compete we complement, because the yardstick for performance measurement is never the same. The theme is; Be the best you can be regardless of your gender. Happy women’s Day both in arrearsand advance.

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