Gone are the days when women's roles were largely limited to the home. Today, women are shattering glass ceilings and breaking barriers in various fields, from business to politics, science and arts. They are making tremendous progress in the workplace, pursuing leadership positions, entering traditionally male-dominated fields and earning college degrees.
In my country, Nigeria, there are scores of women who are in top leadership positions in and outside the country. Worthy of note are, the former vice president for the World Bank's African region, Oby Ezekwesili, the new GMD/CEO of Zenith Bank Plc., Dame, Dr. Adaora Umeoji and others.
Coming to politics, there has been a record of a shift in the political landscape around the world, women's representation in politics has been steadily increasing over the years, with more and more women elected to positions of power. For the records, as of 2023, 27% of national parliamentarians globally were women, as against 11.3% in 1995.
For example, the 2018 midterm elections recorded a number of women who were elected to Congress, including the first Muslim women and the first Native American women.
Not only that, countries like Germany, Iceland all have female heads of state, which is indeed, a huge achievement
Adding to this, women politicians are bringing new perspectives and values to the political arena. They are advocating for policies that promote gender equality, reproductive rights, and social justice. In fact, women leaders around the world are showing that women can be just as effective (if not more so) in positions of power.
Now to the home front, the term house wife are almost going extinct as more women are rising up to becoming career women, business women, and excelling in one skill or the other.
Not only that, women are now becoming breadwinners, a role which was originally for the men folk. Some have taken up the full responsibility of taking care and providing for the home, leaving them with triple responsibility of being wives, mothers and breadwinners.
Most families have realized that female children are as important as male children, if not more as their duties in the families are multi faceted.
Women are agents of change and progress and therefore should be given the opportunity to harness these potentials. Some of these leaders have brought tremendous changes to their countries. Jacinda Ardern, the former Prime Minister of New Zealand, was widely praised for her compassionate and inclusive leadership style, which led to significant improvements in areas such as social welfare and environmental protection. This is the power of a woman.
Despite all of these, women are still facing significant challenges from gender-based violence to other obstacles in the workplace like discrimination or harassment, and not being promoted to leadership positions.
And these systemic barriers make it harder for women to fully participate in and benefit from the economy.
Should we allow these to continue? Not at all. Women are key and their roles in nation building including the family and society cannot be over emphasized, therefore there's need to advocate for a more equitable world for women through the promotion of women's empowerment. Individuals, organizations and government bodies should take the topic of women's empowerment seriously.
Organizations that advocate for women's rights should be supported. Not only that, more women should be encouraged and sponsored to go into politics and donations to political campaigns of female candidates should be top priority.
Conferences, empowerment programs etc. where talks about gender equality should be organized. Men and women all make up the society therefore it's important for both to work together to create a more equitable world, and that this is not only the right thing to do, but also essential for building stronger and more successful communities.
Women have proven themselves to be powerful agents of change, and they deserve to be supported and celebrated in their efforts. By working together, we can create a world where women have equal opportunity to lead, succeed, and make their mark on the world.
Don't forget that when more women are empowered, the nation is empowered the more.
Many thanks for reading.
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