HOW I EMBRACED WOMANHOOD / WHAT IT MEANS TO ME TO BE A WOMAN.
This work is dedicated to all the women in the world (Esp. African women) in commemoration of International Women's Day. Indeed, they have proven to be stronger vessels and have shown me WHAT IT MEANS TO BE A WOMAN.
It is not in the beautiful, fleshy, shapy, curvy figures they possess or the fierce look they portray when you feel distress. You encounter difficulties...
It is not in the manner in which they fold up their sleeves and raise up their wrappers, tying them strongly across their "kwashiorkored" chest to face the "mamba" when it comes calling to take their pride; their soul...
It is not in the large, over-sized Iro and buba they lend to Annual August meetings, where they discuss how to satisfy their husbands, and Ofala festivals, where they actually perform their marital rite. This is a mixture of garlic and defeat…
It is not in mere words of weak salvation or in the slimy way they twist, roll up and disappear into their shells when they see rudeness and arrogance in the loudest bass drums of society's whistle.
There are many tears that line their ways to glory; to knowing they are who they really are in themselves and what they can achieve, informs this wild innocence the woman possess.
In its real sense, womanhood has gone way beyond the lining of the artificially drawn eyebrows and the natural thick, red flow every month; it is now in much belief and power in the real being innate inside the woman that tells her to step out, step up and grab the keys to her existence. It is this spirit (this pure, angelic one of hope) that covers the unwieldy fear and incoherent mistrust that envelops their weaknesses and gives way to their strength. The woman is no longer the challenged and expressly weak being we meet on harmattan mornings on our ways to go pick up fallen udala (star apple) fruits from the ancient tree down the road, who fights with a candle or a lamp on one hand and a big bellied, hungry child on the other, headed for the stream to perform the laundry ritual for her beloved husband and perpetually settling for anything less.
The woman has gone past the point where stones are viewed as tools for grinding pepper or egusi seeds, or washing clothes by the stream. Now, the stone is not just a cooking utensil but a tool used to engrave their worthiness to live and actually partake in living. They are no longer silent about their dreams. Yes! The woman is speaking out, standing up for herself an all she believes in: fairness, equity, love, togetherness, justice and the rule of law. The woman is not just the cleaner of the courtroom, but the Chief Judge. She carries power and might; people on her table of love and fear Womanhood and its identities have influenced the psychological makeup of the woman over the years. In fact, it was up until the times of the post structural feminists and cultural historians, with spatial knowledge of the subject matter, that the term began ringing the unique bell of freedom for the woman.
Before now, womanhood was about fire, not as a blacksmith's refiner, but as used to make food. Fire from firewood; fire from stoves; fire from gas burners. Fire; any fire. The woman is viewed as only one if she is wooed by the man - woo-man - or if she woos the man eventually. She was just an object, one of sexual gratification and pillars of orgasmic joy.
She wasn't complaining until she went out to also hear that she was not the only one who eats from the forbidden pot after all. Things are not the same. The gutters in their psyches are being cleared. Women are rising to the awesome possibilities of their opportunities and the true pride that comes with fulfilment - of knowing that subserviency is only but a dream, and independence and the right voice are all they need.
The woman is rising. Let her rise!
Glossary:
Mamba - here referred to as trouble
Iro and Buba - Traditional African attire worn by women of the Yoruba extraction
Ofala festival - This is traditional festival organized for married couples to mate.
Egusi - Melon
[Image Source: unsplash.com]
Thank you 