I feel really lucky to have been invited to such an important event.
If I hadn't of met Quame, I wouldn't have got the opportuntity, he and
his colleagues put in so much work to ensure it ran as smoothly as
possible and that everyone had a great time. I think I speak on behalf
of everyone when I say that it what very successful, it was an honour to
listen to such excellent people talk about an incredibly relevant
topic. After being scammed by the taxi driver on the way, I arrived at
the hotel where the event was being held, I was actually one of the
first people to arrive, Ghana time in China, I have to say I have missed
it so I began to enjoy the wait. I met Quame inside, he was really busy
as he was organising everything. When other people started to arrive, I
moved to talk to the people behind me, three girls who are studying
medicine here in Changsha, two from Zambia and one from Nigeria. We
spoke about life in China, our likes and dislikes and then of course,
they wondered why I was actually at the seminar, so I told them about my
experiences in Ghana how I'd met Quame, what shocked them most was that
I like Fufu "You can eat Fufu?!", always seems so shocking. The seminar
began at around 11am, started with an opening prayer and then the
Ghanaian National Anthem, it took me back to the early mornings at
Golden Gate, singing and learning the words at the front of assembly.
The
Women's Commissioner of NUGS Hunan, Ms. Omar Nuratu gave a welcoming
address, giving us an idea of how she felt towards the topic. She talked
about how women impact on every sector of society and that if women are
allowed to succeed then nations will prosper. It was a great way to
open as it started the thought process. The Spouse of the Ghanaian
ambassador to China, Mrs Huseina Demuyakor gave us a speech, she started
with a question, a very important one at that. What is empowerment? Or
actually, is empowerment just a myth, a concept that just gets thrown
around? The general idea the majority of the population have about
empowerment is that it is a fuel, a gas that gives us energy to change
certain things. A definition that came around in 1999 is that...
Empowerment is a range of processes that helps those who have been
denied choices, it helps them to aquire the ability to make choices and
think for themselves freely. She then went on to discuss The Power Cube,
a model produced by J. Gaventa in 2006. The Power Cube is a device used
for analysing how strategies for change can in turn change power
relations. I would definitely advise that you read more about it if you
are interested. Click the link (The Power Cube) above.
Hidden
power: This is the power that isn't public but within families and
communities, more hidden in smaller villages etc. This kind of power
struggle can leave the victim (mainly women- for the purpose of this
seminar) with mental damage and even physical, depending on each
individual circumstance of course. This kind of power struggle, for me
is the most dangerous as it's usually only a small amout of people who
are aware of this but even so they aren't aware of the damage that is
occuring as it is seen as normal. When talking about smaller, more rural
areas, we would guess that if you are educated then you are empowered
right? Not necessarily. There are so many areas of someones life that
oppression can be present, relationships are perhaps the most common and
most severe source of female oppression. Mrs Huseina Demuyakor said "In
the name of love, women are raped and psychologically assaulted". Such a
strong statement to make, yet it seems to be the norm, everyone knows
that this happens within some relationships. What if it were to happen
in your relationship or to someone very close to you? The manipulation
that occurs often causes the victim to feel like it's fine for it to be
happening. Now that is dangerous, just think for a moment about how many
women have been raped, murdered, tortured by someone that is supposed
to love them. They are made to feel like they deserve it. Let's get
something straight, the empowerment of women is as much a benefit to men
as it is of women, when men come to realise that women are equal to
them, I believe that more relationships will become happier and in turn,
more stable.
Mrs Demuyakor then went on to talk about babies.
When an ultrasound scan shows the beating heart of a girl, it is seen
to be negative in so many ways in so many parts of the world. Currently
being here in China, this is something I have been so interested in,
I've asked many questions but haven't had anybody be honest with me
about the negative impacts that the One Child Policy has had. I see it
with my own eyes everyday in my classes, there is an obvious difference
in the numbers of girls and boys in my classes. Thankfully China has
changed their policy slightly, I really hope that it will continue to be
adjusted until girls are valued as much as boys completely. So much so
that women are being put through "back street" abortions, often leading
to severe gynaecological problems. If a baby girl is "lucky" enough to
survive, when she is of age then there will be discussions about who she
will be married to, these discussions are often held without the
presence of the young girl. Here's a scenario. If the mother of the
young girl, felt like she had the power to stand up for her daughter, to
tell her husband that she is too young to be married then imagine the
impact that decision would have on the rest of her life. Women DO have
the power and ability to make their children happy. They are mediators
in so many aspects of life, yet they are so poorly equiped compared to
men. SO many womens lives are absorbed in the struggle to support the
rest of their family emotionally and physically yet they're uneducated.
Perhaps the thought of an educated women is too intimidating for some
men?
Women A + B
There are two areas in
which I think empowerment is most relevant in life. There is the need
for personal liberation and with this the need for the individual to
decide if education is the key to that liberation. Everyone thinks that
education is the key to the empowerment of women but it's definitely
not, not everyone feels that a high level of education is for them.
Having the freedom to make the choice is an aspect of a womens life that
can lead to personal liberation. The other area would then be educaton,
having the power to make decisions about your own life and learning to
make educated decisions... It sounds incredibly basic to me and to many
other people but believe me this is so far from many young girls
reality.
Gender equality and sexual health by Dr. Mamoudou Camara (President of Guinea entrepreneurs in China)
Dr
Camara began by talking about the need for positivity when talking
about sexuality and sexual behaviour. There have been so much negative
media surrounding sex, all of the bad things it can do to you. For
example, the HIV epedemic, people are afraid to have sex because now all
they know is that it could kill you... There are around 40 million
people who have AIDS right now and in 2001 there were 14,000 new cases
each day, 95% of those were in developing countries and out of 5
million, 800,000 are children. You can't pretend that these facts aren't
powerful, as the human race, we can't afford the consequences of
selective silence. Ill sexual health can also lead to infertility,
unwanted pregnancy (leading to unsafe abortion) or another unpleasant
sexually transmitted disease (STD). The word "sex" doesn't just refer to
intercourse itself, it refers to our biological characteristics. It is
so important to have a healthy sex life, and no I don't mean that you
should have sex twice a day... I mean, it should be healthy in many
ways. Physically, emotionally, mentally and socially. Sex is a deeper
topic than most people think, who'd have thought it could effect you in
so many different ways.
Rights
We all
have rights, each one of us. Although in some places around the world
these rights are compromised or not observed at all. There are national
and international laws surrounding human rights but also within a
relationship, when talking about sex within a relationship, it's
important to remember that everyone involved has a right and a choice.
They also have the right to sexual healthcare. This is a tough topic
because it's known that in some developing countries, access to this
kind of healthcare is minimal and also seen as "taboo". If a women is
known to have sought any then it is likely that she will not be able to
get married or even be divorced.
Female Genital Mutilation
If
a girl has not gone through the horrific process of FGM then she is
seen as unclean and therefore will be unwanted by a future husband. This
is why so many young girls are forced to have it done to them, because
in developing countries, parents cannot afford to keep their children
after a certain age so girls need to be married. To know more about FGM,
click on the subtitle.
Talking about the lack of sex
education in developing countries is serious. The effects of the silence
can be seen all over, when I was teaching at a Senior High School in
Ghana, I was teaching a geography lesson and we got onto demographics
and then of course, contraception arose, they did not have a clue what
it was. No clue. And then the next week, guess what the news was. One of
the girls in my class was pregnant, she was so smart, such a waste of
an intelligent girl, all because she didn't know anything about sexual
health.
Women and Leadership
You can be a
leader in different aspects of your life, professional, social and
within the family. Leadership is when you can demonstrate the skills
needed to direct, guide and influence the behaviour of others in order
to work in a team. Malawi and Liberia currently have female leaders
which is a great step, they have recognised that women too, do have
invaluable leadership skills. It's important to stay humble when you are
in a position of leadership, not to get ahead of yourself and take too
much pride. You need to relate, mentor and encourage your "team" and of
course, if we are generalising, these qualities are typical of women
right? Women mostly have the ability to go deeper to find the reasoning
behind something and not to be so sceptical or scripted. A good quote
that I picked up from the seminar was "Women are like tea bags, you
don't know how strong they are until you put them in hot water". An
interesting take on the topic... I guess I would say, the longer women
are in "hot water" the stronger they get, but of course, this could also
apply to men aswell. I think the point that is being portrayed here is
that, the longer women are oppressed, the stronger they will be.
Gender fairness in education
There
are 41 million girls who have not been educated at Primary level and
2/3 illiterate people are women, thats 10 million more illiterate women
than men. Girls are marginalised for no reason at all within education,
most of the time its subconsiously because of how societal norms have
influenced us. The fact that males are educated more than girls is kind
of crazy when taking other facts into consideration, 70% of failures and
school dropouts are boys and 4/5 crimes committed are by males. Looks
like investing in the education of males isn't actually that worthwhile.
To
sum up the seminar, I would have to say that it was like 3 worlds
collided. I never imagined that I would get the opportunity to attend a
seminar, on a topic that is really important to me, held by people from
my favourite nation whilst in China. China is the land of
opportunities... I want to mention "metaphorical miles", it was amazing
to see so many women from different places that clearly have all come so
far, not only within themselves but literally, coming from the African
continent all the way to China to persue their dreams. Let's take the
world girls!
