Thomas Abi Jr|15 September 2015|5:48am.
The African woman is a strong and hard working woman. Over the years the African woman has been neglected and relegated to the kitchen because attention was not been given to girl child education and the empowerment of women either formally or informally. Our women have suffered a lot of marginalization and gender inequality as a result of the African culture and tradition or Cross River tradition.
No nation can thrive without the help of a formidable and stable empowerment of the woman. Women play a major role in all area of life. Women are pillars and mothers of nations. Women contribute 80% to nation building and are always willing and ready to lend a helping hand towards the growth of the economy. They believe a failed system will affect their children and disrupt the peace and harmony of their family.
Women empowerment is key to poverty alleviation in any nation. A State like Cross River is in dire need of women empowerment. The women of Cross River State need proper and efficient empowerment as the women in the region are predominantly farmers.
Over the years, the Cross River woman has been seen as only a baby making machine and house wives. But with the burning desire to contribute their quarter and add value to the State. The women in recent times have been seen participating in partisan politics and venturing into small scale businesses but, more still has to be done for the rural woman.
The rural women in Cross River State need empowerment and this is because they have the will power to change the fortunes of the State economy. The rural women in Cross River State are zealous and energetic and if given the right empowerment they can change the State from a civil service State to an industrialized State where a lot of emphasis will be given to Agriculture; craft, small and medium scale businesses should be promoted.
For the records, it is important to know that a healthy form of empowerment is by empowering the women through education(skilled based), politics and economics. However education forms the backbone of empowerment.
The kind of empowerment our rural women in Cross River State need is based on the expressed needs of rural women. Rural women in Cross River State require basic literacy, nutrition, home management, income generating activities, agriculture, food production (baking), appropriate technological facilities and primary health-care. Any intervention programme developed on those expressed needs will no doubt improve the lives of our sisters in the rural areas. The women in the villages need practical skills that will improve their life style and income. They require skills such as baking, soap making, weaving, craft making, tailoring, hair making, fishery, poultry, piggery, etc. Proper and constant enlightenment programmes should be given to our rural women on the above expressed forms of empowerment. The rural women after gaining practical skills also require funding in setting up their own businesses through loans and other forms of financial assistance that can improve their newly gained skills. Encouraging them with some form of monetization or setting up the businesses for them which will go a long way in solving the problem of poverty amongst the rural women in Cross River State.
The rural women should be encouraged to go into full time entrepreneurship which will aid the empowerment of other girls and up coming young girls in the community. Our girl child should be motivated by putting adequate attention on education and also using iconic and successful women who have achieved great heights in the society as their role models. The girl child should be encouraged and properly mentored on the need to go to school in our communities across the State.
A lot of emphasis should be given to the cultivation of cassava, cocoa, ground nut, salt, yams, and other natural endowment that can promote the living condition of our women. Our women should be encouraged in utilizing their potentials. Many women in Cross River State are into Cassava(garri production) and palm oil making. They should be assisted in producing large quantities for exportation. Our women should be encouraged to go into flour making by providing an enabling environment that will promote the hard work of our rural women.
Factors promoting poverty in Cross River State.
1. Education: In those days our mothers were not allowed to go school. They were seen as house wives, but times are changing. Our women should be educated to meet their sisters in other nations of the world. Our women should be given their due place in governance, business, society and all areas of human endeavor.
2. Culture: over the years, our women have been conditioned to be dependent on men. Times are changing and over dependence on men promotes severe hardship and poverty in the society. The women should be allowed to venture in activities that will provide income for themselves and their families.
3. Social Economic Factor: many of our women are farmers. The rural woman in Cross River has not been opportuned and privileged to venture into activities that will promote the women other than farming. And even in farming, our women are still using the crude means of Agriculture. Our rural women should be assisted to new technological methods of venturing into Agriculture.
Recommendations
*The Ministry of Women Affairs should be charged with the responsibility of catering for the women and providing the necessary assistance needed by the rural women.
*The ministry should also be also work with NGOs in alleviating the sufferings of women and also focusing on girl child education in the State.
*The women shouldn't be isolated and sectionalized in the State. Our rural women should be duly empowered in all our communities across the State.
Findings:
1. The participation of rural women in politics is abysmal
2. Majority of the rural women are marginalized and not seen as relevant in the State.
3.Women should be given educational opportunity in the State.
4.They should be gender equality specially as regards to the rural women.
If we pay adequate attention to our women, our State in no distant time would become an industrialized State.
Prince Thomas Abi Jr.
Is a Public Affairs Analyst/Social Commentator
