‘If a woman is harassed, is it because she asked for it? did she dress for it? did she walk for it? did she speak for it? I would like to challenge. – Fatima Mohammed
We all need to be answering a series of questions when it comes to the upbringing of the girl child in these times. Do we want our girls to live or they are now a subject of objectification in our sights? This is not the first or second, many stories that have to seek justice for women which are still left unaddressed like it doesn’t concern us. Last time we were talking about Ruth Eshun, now it’s Uwavera Omozuwa and Jennifer. What makes Uwa’s case very pathetic is that it happened in a church, a place we’ve been informed is the dwelling of God and a refuge for the lost and needy. This is to the extreme, why should the consequence of studying in a church be rape.
So now the question is which place is the safest for our girls so we send all of them there.12-year-old Jennifer at her age has to experience what might be a life sentence of fear and self-loss by been raped by 11 men. What at all was their offense? Haven’t we given our men so much freedom to view the girl’s body as an object to have toiled around anything and anywhere they feel like? So, the next time a girl sees a group of men approaching she should run for her life because her safety is not guaranteed by just having men around. Then the talks on girl empowerment should be turned into talks on girl’s self-defense since the State cannot protect her neither the people she trusts do so, they would be the first people to jump on her at any time. How many should be killed and raped before we address these issues, who is next?
In our next orientation should be focus on renewing the minds of our men on how women should be treated. If 11 men can hang up to rape one girl then all women should arise for their fellow because the next is unknown. We shouldn’t let this add up to the crisis we are already facing we are not only seeking justice for Uwa and Jennifer but we are reminding ourselves that we have laws and they should work. It’s all of us who stand to lose if we lose many of our girls to brutalities, the rest would spend their lives doing nothing but hiding away from society.
