Gone Are The Days!

In my society, women seemed so submissive in the past. I’d say about a decade or so ago they were utterly dominated by men. It was the men who dictated how they dressed, who they associated with, where they could hang out and how they could spend their hard earned cash. Women were not regarded as thinking beings with the ability to make intellectual decisions. They needed to be guided, over protected like children. But children ultimately grow up and become independent in their own right whereas the typical African woman seemed ensnared- scared for life.

With time a range of laws were passed which recognised and safeguarded the general interests of women. I wonder how the weaker sex survived in such a repressive society. I for one would not have been able to cope. It was just the other day that my mom and I had a little chit chat about how times have changed. I was the one who initiated the conversation, ‘Remember how oppressed women were back in the day”?, I asked sullenly. Yeah she remembered all right but it was not as horrible as I had thought it to be.

There were some women in the limelight, who held ‘top’ political positions, knew their rights and were not afraid to stand up to them. I am proud my mom was one of them. I then put two and two together. There was a song she liked prior to my teen years, a song most of her friends had mad fervour for, ‘Super Woman’. What a hit! For me the song reinforces the conviction that I will never be caught in such a trap.