I was sitting in my study the other day minding my own business and my
friend Papet, after watching a documentary about how women need to be empowered,
mosied on to my corner and chided; Haruna, we need to empower our women.
Before he said that, I tried to stop him in his tracks by saying "Papet, whatever
it is, I don't wanna hear it, I'm in a Trans right now". As usual, Papet
didn't wanna hear that either. So I had to yield and really think about what he
was saying. What ensued was a more exhaustive treatment of that subject than I
had ever engaged in prior.
When we talk of empowering women, what we are really talking about are our
sisters, wives, mothers, grand mothers, and all female humans. Of course we
wouldn't talk about other species because we do not understand the
communications among them and the imbalance of power among those other species is not
readily apparent to us humans were it to have been present and disdainful to
them. Then it dawned upon me; Maybe the question ought to be "How can women all
of us make women equal partners in nation-building"?
The reason is because when we started talking about how to empower women, we
quickly recognized we are inferring that the men are empowered somehow and
that the women are not - putting aside genetic pre-dispositions. Wouldn't it
be nice if we can figure out what powers men have that women don't and whether
those powers inordinately favor men than women in matters of life. Before we
knew it, our conversation centered around physical strength and its
innurements. Advantages or disadvantages of Mental strength, ambidexterity,
desire(choice), traditional proclivities, etcetera, were not readily discernible.
Papet used to be a tiny baby and he recounts to me how he used to be bullied
and picked on for not taking part in sports that required enormous physical
strength and he grew up being afraid of the larger boys. Why his sister used
to bully him too. I on the other hand used to be a big baby, but I didn't
bully smaller babies but I used my physical strength then to lift heavy things
around the house that my sisters and cousins or the smaller boys could not
lift. When it came to farm work, I would complete twice the amount of work or
more according to the imbalances of endowments. My father, a devout muslim, also
encouraged that innate sense of discernment and when I would refuse
sometimes, I would get a whipping. I hardly ever used my strength to settle disputes
and hardly ever fought. Papet reminds me that that was because I was never
threatening to anybody by virtue of my nasal voice, always in measured tone,
and that I gravitated more toward mental gymnastics to persuade rather than
brute force, and I used my spare strength to yield value for other rather than
store it for when I may need it in a friggin fight. Needless to say, I was
humbled. Papet is used to filling my head with such humbling commendations, and
frankly I've just about had it.
So I asked Papet, if I were so genteel and generous, how come smaller people
always picked a fight with me? even my smaller sisters. He shared that in
this competitive world of limited resources, everyone is constantly engaged in
either psychological warfare or exchanging blows and bullets to get a leg up
on everyone else when it came to hoarding those limited resources. So those
who enjoin their larger comrades in fights are in the constant quest for
proving ground. Yeah, but why me? There are other big people around. Why not pick
on them? You know Papet; he shared that it was because I had more to offer for
proving than other bigger people and that I was so welcoming and permissive,
it was easy to take advantage of. It is the net gain of the proving he
shared that made me the target of choice. So I started to train myself to be mean
but I couldn't get rid of the trademark smile and the sagitarian demeanor.
And besides, challengers usually didn't get far with me in their quest. It
always ended in total humiliation and further diminution for them. The only thing
I could do was try to shed some weight and stay lean and then avoid idiots
who think the only value for physical strength is that it gives them a leg up
in competing for limited resources. I trained myself therefore on
appreciation for the limited resources "Not to want more than I really needed".
I still couldn't escape the erstwhile conman, the thief, and the Munaafiq.
Then I shared with Papet that all of what we have talked about so far did
not distinguish men from women much. A group of women on a deserted island,
would be as much idiotic as a group of equal number of men on a deserted island
with the same amount of albeit limited resources. It then dawned on us that
the problem therefore is the comparative appreciation of physical power across
the genders that is culprit. In other words, those men who use their physical
or mental strengths (where they are overwhelming) to subdue women, and those
women who use their physical or mental strength (where overwhelming) to
subdue men. The former more prevalent than the latter. It is this imbalance in
event frequency that we perceive when we say women must be empowered. For
what???? I would frequently ask?
The honourable Ajaratou Isatou Njie Saidy, V.P., is more powerful than most
women in Gambia by virtue of her physical strength and stature in Authority.
On top of that she has a Phdee. I asked Papet wouldn't be extraordinary if
Ajaratou were to assist in women empowerment in Gambia and bear (respectfully)
on Yahya to refrain from arresting, or detaining, women like Mariam Denton,
Duta Kamaso, FJManneh or to release them without prejudice for the mere reason
that Yahya is enormously stronger than most Gambians, men or women, and for
reasons of this empirical imbalance of event frequency? Is there anything to
be afraid of by bearing reasonably on Yahya and to yield women empowerment a
good turn? I understand Ajaratou, V.P., speaks at many a conference around
the globe on women empowerment, but consider the gravity of peer recognition
and an unchastened soul. And I would like her to make it possible for Gambian
women political prisoners to receive phdees at mile two.
Alternatively of course, Yahya could, without waiting for Ajaratou V.P. to
bear reasonably on him, begin to make ammends to these and all other women of
Gambia and the world that he has ever maligned or tried to subdue for the mere
reason that he is more powerful. In effect, cross-gender stages are a poor
endroit for proving. If Yahya were still bent on proving himself, he could do
better by staying with his own gender. Although I do not think Yahya needs to
prove anything to anyone.
There is a consolational rail or paradigm in this question of women
empowerment that I will share next month. By that time I would hope that Yahya will
have compensated Mariam Denton, Duta Kamaso, and will have released FJManneh
without prejudice and compensated her for the affects of unnecessary
subjugation. When next I have an opportunity, I will share with Yahya and my coleagues
here how funny FJManneh's situation is. Yahya should not however wait for
that discussion. I would like him to release FJManneh today, latest Monday.
Waras Bouk.
Haroun Masoud. MQDT. Al Khairawan. Darbo.
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