Return the rib

All women who dare to be themselves and to challenge the injustices that continue to hold back more than half of Africa?s population will surely be lined up and conferred by their fellow country persons with the title of ?worst woman of the year?.

A well-known women’s rights activist in Uganda had the ‘honour’ of being declared the ‘worst woman of the year’ for speaking out for the rights of women.

Her sins, as decided by those who voted for the 57 candidates on the list of cheers and jeers in the East African country, were many and serve as a warning to all women who seek to have a voice.

She dared to talk openly about issues of sexuality, rather than to pretend that she knows nothing about sex, as good women should. In so doing, her crime was to defy the collective national culture, which says that talking about sex is taboo.

She also has campaigned for women to have the right to choose whether or not they want to terminate a pregnancy, and she openly acknowledged that one’s sexual orientation should not be a basis for discrimination and stigma.

As if that wasn’t enough, this bold woman has also throughout her work career openly challenged the power imbalance between women and men and states unashamedly that she is a feminist. This provoked outcries from many quarters that the woman had adopted western values and culture, instead of sticking to her African culture. No one has anything to say about men who wear heavy suits and choke all day under the yoke of western ties. But let a woman boldly claim the ideology that says she should not be discriminated against because of her sex, and she is immediately seen as a challenge to African culture.

Both religion and culture dictate that until each and every woman returns the rib taken from man, they can never be equal. By sharing a rib, men have made a huge sacrifice and deserve respect for it. It does not matter if they do not think straight all the time. Society tells women that men deserve respect all the same.

At a meeting held years back, elections were conducted and it was agreed (democratically) that men would be the heads of households. It is a permanent situation just like presidency for life. We can’t all be rulers. So, women should just shut their mouths. Every ‘good book’ from the Bible to the Koran, according to religious leaders, tells a woman to submit to men. Get it – this is democracy.

Every institution in a society starting from the family supports this democracy. This form of democracy says that resources belong to men and as long as they have them, men should continue to lead and to treat women the way they feel women should be treated. A woman is property and she should accept violence, ritual murders, gang rape, and abduction. She will be slightly more respected when she is really very old, if by that time she has not been burnt as a witch.

The strangest thing about this ‘worst woman of the year’ is that while her own people condemned her, a university far away named her as the winner of the Distinguished Leadership Award for Intellectuals. The selection committee cited her courageous leadership on behalf of the rights of women in East Africa. They further cited her ability to bring her scholarship to bear as an activist on some of the most pressing social issues for women in the region.

All women who dare to be themselves and to challenge the injustices that continue to hold back more than half of Africa’s population will surely be lined up and conferred by their fellow country persons with the title of ‘worst woman of the year’. So, perhaps to put a halt to this trouble, women should return the one thing that will make men whole again. If women want to be themselves, then they should just give back the rib!

Hope Chigudu is an independent consultant and feminist activist.

This article is part of the GEM Opinion and Commentary Service that provides views and perspectives on current events.

janine@genderlinks.org.za for more information.