I woke up this morning to a disgusting video posted on social media. And I was absolutely fuming. It’s too gruesome to share. I won’t put my name on such a post but trust me it was bad.
So this young girl in a West African country was forced into early marriage. This girl didn’t look old enough to know her right from her left. Yet her parents ‘married her off’. Girl escapes abd returns home to get her books, determined to continue schooling instead of the life her family seems to have designed for her. But the reception she got was appalling. She was dragged to the middle of the family compound and was beaten! Lash upon lash of thick sticks by fully grown men – a punishment for defying their orders to stay married to the animal who should really be locked up for what he calls ‘marrying a young girl’.
And I wonder, as we celebrate International Women’s Day this year, how aware really are we of the plight of many young girls like the one I just told the story of? What are we doing to stop this madness?
This year’s theme – For ALL women and girls. Equality. Empowerment. Hmmm. How equal do we make our girls and women feel, if we stand around and allow some of them to be subjected to lashes of sticks on their bare buttocks because they do not want to be forced into marriage but would rather go to school? How empowered are we making our girls if they have to live in fear of persecution and attack?
Folks. It’s easy to say ‘Happy International Women’s Day’ but I can’t. I can acknowledge the Day but can’t put the ‘happy’ word to it while these ills are still happening in many parts of the world.
Let us truly stand and be there for our women, for our girls! Stop barbaric acts, take them for who they really are – fellow humans like us who deserve as much a chance in life as anyone else – and let’s start moving towards times when we will really and justifiably be able to wish our women a ‘TRULY HAPPY INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY’!
Dr ‘Tunde Adelakun