Woman - a potent force of development

March 8 is soon arriving as a land-mark in the history of woman’s total emancipation from the yoke of inequality. That day, of course, reflects the victory of woman over the repressive value systems that existed at the time; and that it was a significant milestone of the struggle that led to the recognition that woman could not continue shading more sweat than man in the work place simply because of her femininity.
As recorded in history, the struggle for women’s rights began in the 18th century during a period of intense intellectual activity known as the Age of Enlightenment.
During this period, political philosophers in Europe began to question traditional ideas that based the right of citizens on their wealth and social status. Instead, leaders of the Enlightenment argued that all individuals were born with natural rights that made them free and equal. They maintained that all inequalities that existed among citizens were the result of an inadequate education system and an imperfect social environment. They argued that improved education and more egalitarian social standards could correct those inequalities.
At that time, the concept of liberty, equality and political representation was conceived as it was applied only to men. Prominent philosophers of the time such as Jean Jacques Rousseau had also to argue that woman was sentimental and frivolous and that she had naturally suited to be subordinate companion of man.
Nevertheless, the opponents of Rousseau argued that the inferior education often taught had made her to be silly and emotional. They believed that proper education should cultivate the natural reasoning capacity of girls. And that marriage also should be based on equal footing.
Thus, the enlightened woman continued her struggle slowly but steadily for her social, economic and political status as for men. Her struggle was immense. She struggled for her sexual equality with man who claimed absolute right over her body. She stood for her labor rights against man who thought that woman was inferior to man and that to work unrestrictedly for more hours than man in the work place was her obligation. In this respect, she had defiantly struggled against people who had believed that was the rule to be respected.
She has struggled for her social right and won against those who believed that the woman was more suited for child-bearing and house-keeping so that her public life was only secondary. She has struggled and won for her suffrage to rest on equal footing with men in the political scene. However true those notions would be, the African woman has yet to go a long way to free herself from the cruelty of her compatriot, again, from the African man.
Capital, in its last issue has warned that stricter measures to be sought to control involuntary sex abuse. I think existing and future social organizations in Africa in general, and in Ethiopia, in particular, should work proactively to fight more against sex abuse in general, than any other rights side by side with governmental and public institutions, as her economic, social and political rights are already recognized facts and as they are to be cemented along the lines of development. However, the wild practice of rape should be under control, here and in the rest of Africa, as it would be too difficult to separately see the woman’s issue from the stand point of a single country outside international perspectives.
During the years of the woman’s liberty, it was conceived that alcohol was a primary cause of sexual violence, prostitution, promiscuity, adultery and the destruction of the working class families. Yet, in this country and elsewhere in Africa, alcohol plays a great role in the making of rape and sexual abuse. I conceive that beyond deploring and punishing the act of sex abuse and rape through legislation and the judiciary systems, the African woman has to be armed with further education and supported through continuous awareness programs, that should be preserved by all social organizations, organized women forums, public and governmental institutions, and which should be linked with all UN, and regional organizations that are very much work for the African woman’s emancipation.