This post is very important, It goes without saying that only women and girls have been getting attention and consideration as they are seen as more vulnerable to abuse, attacks and as well less privileged. What this world order fails to grasp is the fact that the BOY CHILD 👶 has the same or worse challenges as girls have.
Campaigns to safe the girl child from this or the other are prevalent and dominate the social discourse. Issues on focus are early marriage, genital mutilation (FGM) and indeed it looks like the girl child is really in trouble. However, no one ever focuses on the BOY CHILD 👶 As you would have it, the BOY CHILD 👶 is affected and he is vulnerable facing many challenges and many hurdles of life to jump over. He too requires attention and justice from this society and culture.
There is a social phenomenon where the boy child is neglected at the expense of the girl child. Over the last decade or so, a lot has been said and done in the liberation of the girl child, while the boy child has been neglected.
The BOY CHILD 👶 has been left alone when the majority ran to rescue and defend the rights of the girl. Boys are the unsung heroes and they also face challenges, like mental harassment, rapes etc. Girls have all the social rights but boys have no hearings. Even their own parents sometimes seldom believe in them.”
Many organizations have come to the rescue of the girl from the above vices but not even one seeks to work towards achieving a fairly competitive world for the BOY CHILD 👶 engaging the boys into activities that would make them productive.
While people are quick to rush to the rescue of a girl who is raped, they don’t show the same urgency to a boy who is sodomized, tortured, forced to take drugs or compelled to second rate education.
Men these days fear women, assuming that ladies have it together and have been empowered even in work places giving them an upper hand even in dating scenarios. Recently, the Prime Bank donated billions to the HEART FOUNDATION to cater for education and personal needs of girls in Africa….what of the boys?
They have needs too.
All these are happening just because of tradition. Instability in marriage is also a determining factor, where parents separate or divorce, and the absent parent especially the father chooses little or no contact with their children and this lack of contact and direction contributes to the instability of a boy child.
“I am not against women being empowered as much as it is good it has adverse effects on the boys, and men in general, for example, when women assume all positions of power even in church, it makes men feel inferior.” argues Wandere
By empowering women, there is a paradigm shift within a community (whether at home, in the workplace or in a society). The shift sees women as independent and contributing members of society who ensure that their communities and environments are enhanced.
This not only raises the bar for their male counterparts, but helps set a positive example for the males in their lives (e.g. sons, husbands, brothers, colleagues)
One mistake that we make is that, when we talk about women’s empowerment, we tend to focus on women only. What we should think of is empowerment of the individual irrespective of their gender.
Empowerment of the individual means that we create a society where both men and women can make choices in life based on their own abilities, preferences and circumstances.
When you save the boy child from all these, by defending and fighting for his rights, you save a whole generation. That boy, upon growing up into a responsible man, father and husband, mentors his generation in the same way, all down his lineage.
