THE LONG STRUGGLES OF A PROUD BLACK AFRICAN MUSLIM WOMAN BLACK AFRICAN

“How do blacks explain the brutalities unleashed without mercy, without fear of a restraining force or law on a people whose only crime was that in addition to being black, they had no weapons to defend themselves”.

Africans were made to slave on their own lands. women were raped every day and treated like dirt; children were enslaved to dig in the mines.

After all the struggles to free ourselves from our colonial masters, What do we see in Africa today? Africa is now characterized by political instability, electoral problems, civil wars and the desire for some Africa leaders to cling to power giving rise to all sort of issues.

Why do we have to complain when they tell us we cannot manage our own affairs?
We kill, exploit, back bite and betray each other simply because this particular person is not from my country or that particular person does not speak my language or those people do not belong to my political or religious affiliation.

Today, let’s remind ourselves as Africans the objectives of the Africa union is to promote peace, security and stability on the continent. It is also to enhance unity and solidarity between all African states and most importantly is to promote, protect and respect for fundamental human rights, which includes rights to live and freedom of movements. How far have we achieved these objectives? Can we confidently say that these rights are respected? Absolutely not, because innocent people are killed in Somalia, Liberia, Libya, Egypt and Cote d’Ivoire through wars and conflict. What about the lives of those innocents’ black foreigners who were killed by their fellow blacks Africans in South Africa?

What happened to our African personality? A personality aimed to uplift our people from centuries of degradation so as to ensure that a world which has lived oblivious of us should accord us dignity and respect. Where is that dignity and respect we craved for?
We must reject the western conception of humanism which developed during the renaissance when human endeavors were devoted to material gains and adapt to African humanism which sees man primarily as a spiritual being endowed with dignity, integrity, respect and value. Marcus Garvey didn’t fight for nothing. Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana, Haile Selassie of Ethiopia and Sekou Toure of Guinea together fought for this dream that Africa must unite.
We must unite to fight against crimes on our continent. This fight needs strong men and not selfish and greedy men. Strong men are men and women who are guided by their conscience and not their stomach. Strong men like Nelson Mandela and Ghaddafi.
MUSLIM

As I walked down the quiet street beautifully dressed in my hijab, I saw a little boy with a toy gun crying and trying to fixing his gun. I went down on my knees and offered to help fix his gun. Few minutes later I heard the sound of a siren coming towards me and stopped few metres away from me

“You are surrounded, gently put down your weapon and raise your hands”
Then media caption “A little boy rescued from a Muslim terrorist”
Muslims have been discriminately labelled as terrorists and violent by the western world.
I am a Muslim but not a terrorist, if I wrong you please blame me but not my religion
WOMAN
Politics in the view of Mavis Darko-Gyeke has to do with power and this includes participation, leadership and decision making.
Although women constitute half of the world’s population, at every socio-political level they find themselves under represented, they are far removed from decision making levels. While the political playing field in each country has its own particular characteristics, one feature remains common to all; it is uneven and not conducive to women’s participation.
world bank policy research report define gender inequality in terms of equality under the law, equality of opportunity, including equality in access to human capital and other productive resources, equality of rewards for work and equality of voices.
According to Hughes and Kroehler (2005), gender inequality is perpetuated by a set of complex processes referred to as sexism. Sexism operates at two levels. At the individual level, sexism is the belief that one sex is superior to the other. This form involve two basic ideas ; (1) that because of inherent biological differences, men and women are naturally suited to different roles and (2) that this is the primary cause of differential distribution of status, power and income by gender.
Although women have made significant contributions in promoting the wellbeing of their families, household and societies, they still experience many structural demerits by virtue of their reproductive, productive, gender and the nature of their integration into the world economy which has made their participation in political decision very minimal in their struggle for political right.
Women have suffered injustice from birth, boys and girls are treated differently as they grow up in society. They acquire behaviours and attitudes that society prescribes as masculine and feminine. They are different because in our society they are taught to be different with expectations from each sex.
Culture, an important component in every society dictates roles and activities and provides varied opportunities and limitations for men and women.
The family as an institution is a breeding ground for gender inequality which consequently affects women in whatever they do. In families, children are taught with accordance to societal expectations. They are made to understand that being a boy or girl has unequal meaning. The daily domestic routines and practices at home only shows how social relations regarding sex are made. As they grow, the boys are taught not to cry or fear but to be strong. On the other hand girls are taught not to be demanding, to be patient, loving and accommodating, to express emotions and be ladylike, whiles boys are allowed to play football outside, girls are made to stay in order to help with house chores. Boys are allow to go out and come back home without much restriction while on the other hand girls have to seek for permission before.
Moreover in the family, there’s unequal power bargaining among households.
In setting up a home after marriage patrilocal is mostly preferred as possible home for the couple. so when it comes to authority and decision making, patriarchal is preferred.
In Ghanaian society, Marriage one way or the other has boasted the controlling power of men and kept women in subordination. In marriage, a man pays the bride price for his bride, which some men see that as a transfer of ownership of the woman to them.
In patriarchal society where the woman moves to the man’s house gives a clear indication of who has power over whom. At home, the man is considered the head of the house and majority of life’s decision about having and raising children, about work and leisure and about how to invest in the future, all lies with the man. At community level, women are relegated to the background because of an old proverb that says women are to be seen and not heard. They can only contribute in the decision making by telling their husbands at home what they think and then it will be channelled to the community leaders through the man. In traditional Africa society, a woman cannot receive needed health care because norms in her society prevent her from travelling alone to a clinic. A married woman contract HIV/AIDS because societal standards encourages her husband’s promiscuity while simultaneously preventing her from insisting on condom use.
Kinship and family system differentially construct men and women’s status as fully independent subjects, in relation to property. Because of the transfer of bride wealth, women are perceived and treated as exchangeable objects. (the items of bride wealth), Men are not only seen as just protectors and decision makers they are also sexual aggressive to ensure the survival of the labour force. Women are however made to go through unlawful cultural practices such as female genital mutilation, widowhood rites and above all the Gambaga witch camp where women are victims on account of spiritual misconduct.
Education, an important social institution is seen both as a human right and as “an indispensable means of realising other human rights. Article 13 of the covenant recognises the right of everyone to education; this is to be directed towards “the full development of the human personality, the sense of its dignity. Education although a right was a privilege to a few especially men since it was believed that women no matter what, will leave the home of their parents to join their husbands and families, so there’s no point in educating someone who will eventually end up in her marital home and kitchen to be precise…
According to the women’s manifesto for Ghana, more girls than boys drop out of school at all levels of education, this is due to poverty, early marriage, teenage pregnancy and traditional beliefs about girls being a poor investment. In cases where they drop out and go into apprenticeship, they do not get better pay like male dominated jobs
Women’s low education and training qualifications lowers their entry points into leadership positions and makes uncompetitive against their male counterpart.
Moreover, women are at disadvantage since formal sector of employment now requires secondary or higher level of education. When it comes to recruitment women are found wanting.
The economic situations of women are nothing to write home about. According to Marxist or socialist theory women are considered as reserved labour where they are being exploited for their labour. At work places, there was unequal distribution of labour and unequal wages and salaries for the same work done by both women and men. Women also get harassment from male counterpart just to make them feel intimidated and loose interest in the work altogether.
Women in business crash into something called “glass ceiling,” a set of invisible barriers that prevent women from advancing. When glass ceilings does not, glass walls will definitely do; these are barriers that prevent women from moving laterally in corporations and thereby gaining the experience they need to advance vertically (Lopez 2000)
Women who want to enter politics find that the political, public, cultural and social environments are often unfriendly and even hostile to them. Despite the facts that some female political giants like the former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher of Great Britain, Gloria Arogo of Phillipine and Magaswati of Indonesia, women have not really made any great impact in politics since they succeeded in struggling for universal adult suffrage. Although most are still struggling to enter.
Even once elected, women tend to hold lesser valued cabinet ministries or similar positions. These are described as “soft industries” and include health, education, and welfare. This can be witness even in the former administration where the minister for health, education and gender and children welfare are all women: Honourable Sherry Ayittey, Naana Agyeman and Oye Lithur respectively. Rarely do women hold executive decision-making authority in more powerful domains or those that are associated with traditional notions of masculinity (such as finance and the military). Typically, the more powerful the institution, the less likely it is that women’s interests will be represented.
While the political playing field in every country has its own particular characteristics, one feature remains common to all; it is uneven and unfriendly to women’s participation. Despite the numerous effort made to enhance the role of women, women shall encounter problems of discrimination and subordination.
And in an effort to shut women up, some men beat up their wives motivated by the desire to silence them or to control their behavior.
In 1946, the creation of the commission on human rights and the commission on the status of women was established.
In 1948, the adaptation of the universal declaration of human rights was also established. In 1967, the UN general assembly adopted the declaration on the elimination of discrimination against women. It’s focus broadened from codification of organization focused on the facts that no enduring solution to society’s most threatening social, economic and political problems can be found without participation and the full empowerment of women. It was reinforced by the UN human rights conference on women, that is Beijing platform for action participation also called the Beijing + 15 conference held in Beijing, the capital of China in 1995 to call for 30% of representation by women in national government.
In 1994, when the UN charter declaration of human right was signed affirming “faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, in the equal rights of men and women and of nations large and small” this somehow allowed some countries to allow women to vote.
In 1987, in an effort to implement the status of women, the UN body decided to consider the subjects of equality in political participation and decision making and enforced it in 1990.
Despite all these efforts, discrimination against women is still widespread. Important decisions that affect women are largely made by men. Women still constitute more than half the world’s population, perform 67% of the world’s manual work, earn 10% of the world’s income and own less than 1% of world’s property.
In Ghana, even though the 1992 constitution (article 271-274) provides for the establishment of a national house of chiefs and regional houses of chiefs, queen mothers are not part of such establishments.
All these groups that I find my self in, struggled for recognition and acceptance and I am proud to say although we have come a long, we are almost at our destination.
Today I celebrate the elegance of womanhood and say ‘Ayekoo’ to all women.
I am a PROUD BLACK AFRICAN MUSLIM WOMAN