One Million Strong For The Afrikan Woman: Our Struggles, Our Worth, Our Endurance

 

african women
Women pray at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Maiduguri, after violence in the city between government police and members of a radical Islamist group left several hundred people dead. Photo: Sunday Alamba/Associated Press

  • According to USAID.gov: “In agriculture, women make up more than 40 percent of the labor force, but only represent between 3 to 20 percent of landholders. In Africa, women-owned enterprises make up as little as 10 percent of all businesses–and in South Asia, only 3 percent. And despite representing half the global population, women compromise less than 20 percent of the world’s legislators.”
  • The UN Development Programme and others estimate that as many as 70 percent of the world’s poor are women.
  • The 2010 Enterprise Survey by the World Bank found that in both the public and private sectors, only 1 in 26 salaried African women was employed in a senior management position, compared to 1 in every 6 men.
  • In South Africa, a country well noted for some of the highest rates of violence against women, a 2009 study by the country’s Medical Research Council (MRC) showed that 1 in 4 South African men have admitted to rape and many confess to attacking more than one victim. “We have a very, very high prevalence of rape in South Africa. I think it is down to ideas about masculinity based on gender hierarchy and the sexual entitlement of men. It’s rooted in an African ideal of manhood,” says researcher Professor Rachel Jewkes. Nearly 1 in 7 cases of young women acquiring HIV in South Africa could have been prevented if the women had not been subjected to intimate partner violence (source -USAID).
  • In the United States, Women account for 1 in 5 new HIV diagnoses and deaths caused by AIDS. The proportion of AIDS diagnoses reported among women has more than tripled since 1985. African-Americans constituted 64 percent of women diagnosed with HIV/AIDS in 2011. African-American women have an HIV prevalence rate nearly four times that of white women (source: amfar.org).
  • Statistics by CIA World Factbook show that 9 out of 10 countries with lowest literacy rates in the world are in Africa. They include Burkina Faso (21.8%), South Sudan (27%), Niger (28.7%), Mali (33.4%), Chad (34.5%), Somalia (37.8%), Ethiopia (39%), Guinea (41%), Benin (42.4%). The only non-African country in the top 10 was Afghanistan (28.1%). Most of the uneducated are girls and women.
  • According to UNESCO Dakar, Senegal: “38% of African adults (some 153 millions) are illiterate, two-thirds of these are women. Africa is the only continent where more than half of parents are not able to help their children with homework due to illiteracy. Less than 45% of Senegalse women could read and write in 2006.”
  • Saynotoviolence.org: “Among women aged between 15 and 44, acts of violence cause more death and disability than cancer, malaria, traffic accidents and war combined. Perhaps the most pervasive human rights violation that we know today, violence against women devastates lives, fractures communities, and stalls development.”

Our Struggles, Our Worth by Katherine Dabo
As Black women we have to live in a world that does not see us or treat us as equals. We are oppressed by societies that forces us to play the roles others have set for us. We have had to confront and find meaningful ways to overcome double oppression – in the form of racism and sexism. Today we are with our backs against the wall asking ourselves these questions: What roles can the black women of Africa and women of African descent everywhere play in the struggle for the Afrikan woman’s equality? How it is that black women everywhere still remain at the bottom of the totem pole? And how can we make comprehensive strides toward equality?

The time has now come to answer these questions not by word of mouth but by action — by positive action, which is the only language understood by the detractors of the equality of the African woman.

We are ONE.
Wherever we find ourselves, the woman’s experiences are similar … whether in Cameroon, Nigeria, USA, United Kingdom, the Carribeans, India, Somalia, Congo, Australia, South Africa, Sweden, Belgium, Egypt, etc women alone understand the challenges other women face.

For as long as women of African descent have been in the United States dating back to the days of slavery, they have resisted oppression and have always organized themselves and others to fight for human rights. In reality, African women have always been key players in U.S. history … inspite of great risks of personal loss. African-American women have had a long tradition of civil and human rights activism. That tradition lives on today in all of us.

It is worth noting that historically, black women have always chosen race over gender concerns from the time of slavery to the civil rights movement. Our equality has always been on the back burner. To make matters worse, the black men’s nonchallant attitude regarding the rights of black women and his refusal to often times protect her has caused us to be enclosed and needing to exhale.

The woman is now called to speak up for herself, to step up for her sister. Moving forward in history, we need to look continuously at the legacy of the past – not just to find answers for the future, but also to inspire generations of women to come: our young girls, the African girl child.

Black women are becoming a force to reckon with, we are standing up and demanding to be respected and treated with dignity. We are breaking down the barriers of society for the betterment of tomorrow. We are inspired by history, knowing what difficulties we have faced and overcome in the past have prepared us to conquer future obstacles.

A United Front.
The secret about equality is that it has a woman’s face. The hope especially lies in the women on the continent who are finding voices for their aspirations, especially through women’s movements. Continental Africans and Afrikans in the Diaspora need an African renaissance … one that we ALL can be part of.

The sad fact is that abuse and mistreatment of African women is not just isolated on the continent, but is also experienced by African women in the Diaspora. Hence we must be globally united in our quest for equality, for empowerment and basic human rights.

Violence against women and girls remains one of the most pervasive human rights violations; it is prevalent across the globe. Yet it is one of the least prosecuted crimes; impunity is still the norm, rather than the exception. Evidence abounds on the effects of conflict and how rape has been used systematically as a weapon of war in many African conflicts.

But regardless of the struggles black women go through in life, we’ve learned to rise above our adversities, we are known for our unbreakable endurance. We know that on the flip side of our pain and troubles, is joy, happiness, and success. I am a strong believer in “those that are last will become the first”. The woman does not belong beneath, she should be at the top. She does not belong on the sidelines, she should be at the forefront.

Whether it’s domestic violence, war time violence, work place discrimination, education, healthcare, we believe that by empowering the woman, we empower society. Family structures and communities thrive more when women are lifted up and allowed  to play their fundamental God-given roles. She’s the nurturer, she is the backbone. DUNIA Magazine is committed to giving her a voice, raising awareness about her plight, celebrating her resilience and empowering her to be a solid anchor for a bright Africa.

RUN with us in 2014 (September).
In March of 2013, you WALKED WITH US for the mothers, sisters and children of the Democratic Republic of Congo, helping raise awareness on what is considered the greatest humanitarian crisis of our time: War in the Heart of Africa: Congo on its knees as Women & Children continue to pay the highest Price. Thank you to all who came together for Congo.

DUNIA Magazine is happy to announce that its annual women’s empowerment event ‘A Million Strong For The Afrikan Woman’ will take place in September of 2014 in Atlanta, GA. This time, we are celebrating our worth and running for the women of SOUTH SUDAN. The planning committee is calling on all woman, across all cultures to join us for an eventful day of empowerment and enlightenment which will start with a 5K run. 

“Violence against women– from rape and sexual assault to domestic abuse – is pervasive in the world’s youngest country [South Sudan]. Decades of war between Juba and Khartoum, and between the South’s various ethnic groups, continue to leave an imprint on women’s bodies. Women in South Sudan suffer disproportionately from ongoing insecurity through abduction, forced marriage, and physical and sexual violence,” writes Marcy Hersh of the Global Post. DUNIA Magazine will be putting out more information about the experiences of women in South Sudan so that we can all come together to help empower them.

Website: www.duniawomenwalk.org … details will be posted on the website as they become available. Meanwhile you can volunteer, partner with us, or join mailing list for updates. 

 

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