Growing up as a little girl, I was literally under massive domestic tribulation for being lazy; too lazy to clean after myself, sometimes way too lazy to take my plates to the kitchen after eating, not to talk of achieving the major feat of washing them. The house erupts any day the spirit of God falls on me to wash my plate after eating, and of course such unusual act of charity from me hardly goes without accolades from virtually every single member of the family. The occasions you catch Amara doing domestic chores like, sweeping her room, washing her plates after eating (don’t even talk about washing her clothes-it just never happens), were few and far between. Retrospectively, the whole idea of every member of the family showering me encomiums whenever I did my chores, wasn’t just because they didn’t want me to continue being a slob, but because they didn’t want me to embarrass the family, when I eventually settle into the home of some “wife material obsessed imaginary husband”.

Grooming a young girl strictly for the sole aim of being domesticated enough and readily available to cave in to a potential husband’s whims and caprices, is awful and I dare say pathetic, fuelling the hogwash that being career-driven as a lady, is tantamount to keeping you single and permanently on the shelf. Oh well, thank goodness that a lot of brains are supplying senses to their owners.

Here’s my point before I’m quoted out of context, a young girl should be taught to be clean and hygienic, because it simply sucks to be dirty, not because she will fail her wife-material assessment examination-that to me would mean, putting the cart before the horse.

If a man sees a woman, admires her and decides she would make him a decent significant other, great, if she’s a domestic Jackie (extreme home runner), then that should be an icing on the cake for them. Simply put, no gender is inferior to the other, or better still, no gender should have to be inferior to the other.

We should teach our girl children a balanced mode of individuality-her individual values should be developed, before she could effectively add value to another person. If womanhood entails procreation it should also connote value-adding. Let us strike a balance in what we teach our girl children; the female gender is sensitive, the male gender is no less either, but for the sake of this text, female is the focus.

It’s a common knowledge that over time, a higher premium tends to be placed on the prospects of having the girl child aspire only to be a wife and mother, than an individual whose quota could make a huge difference in the human race. Consequently, an average girl child, who from the cradle has been groomed to fit into an “ideal wife” stereotype, grows up not seeing herself beyond a man’s object of pleasure and satisfaction. While it’s important to note that raising a family is primal, it shouldn’t diminish the ideal essence of human development. Education is empowering, educating a girl child is one huge step out of possible human extinction; and this assertion has nothing to do with my being militant about girl child education. It goes beyond admitting to the dire need of female integration in the grand scheme of things, like leadership in strategic positions, at whatever level, economic policies and governance. Until priorities accommodate the creative measures towards empowering the girl child, then our leaders are definitely not being proactive.

Provision of free quality education should NEVER be in short supply for the girl child; when you train a girl child, you train a race! If every concerned individual, group of individuals, organizations, institutions, cooperate societies etc., contribute their quota in funding girl child education in rural places, by providing or supporting facilities, then number of girl children saddled with the unsolicited responsibility of early motherhood would be reduced to the barest minimum, if not nipped in the bud.

My points are as follows:

1). Let the girl be taught to take responsibilities for her values as an entity, as against being groomed only to be a “wife material” to a man,

2). the girl child academic training should run concurrently with skills acquisition programs. In other words, she gets academically trained alongside skill training.

3). Gender bias should be archived; this should successfully combat gender inequality.

4). Structural lapses in the Education sector should be given adequate attention, to bridge substandard teaching gap.

Finally, there is a paradigm shift in this 21st century career pursuit; nothing should be taken for granted.

Armed with the conviction that women empowerment is poised to bring about political, economic, structural, Social and religious reform, African leaders and indeed global leaders should put into law the abolishment of child marriage. Advocacy groups not be waved aside as “feminists” but a critical support from all and sundry, can create that self-worth and value for the girl child. Suffice it to say that leadership revolution brought about the unprecedented first African female President in, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. There are several dozens of potential Ellen Johnson Sirleaf in this 21st century; it’s not far-fetched. Education should be a priority for an African girl child.

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