You educate a man; you educate a man. You educate a woman; you educate a generation. – Brigham Young
In my country Nigeria, so much emphasis and importance is placed on marriage. A woman is not considered a well-rounded individual without the tag of ‘Mrs.’ before her name. I’m not against the institution of marriage, in fact, quite the contrary. However, my problem with this ‘marriage before self development syndrome’ prevalent in my country is this: it does not encourage or allow for the intellectual development of young girls. This is because the importance of marriage above all else is imbibed into the mental psyche of young girls. Girls are groomed from a young age to be nothing other than the perfect wives and mothers, and any thoughts or aspiration to be anything other than the perfect wife, is fiercely discouraged and in some cases, even shunned.
Additionally, women who are unlucky to find themselves in an abusive marriage or are victims of spousal abuse and other forms of domestic violence tend not to seek for outside intervention or even leave the marriage because of the negative impression of divorces in Nigeria. For both cultural and (sometimes) religious reasons, most women under difficult circumstances are reluctant to report their abusive husbands to law enforcement authorities. While there are laws in place to combat these forms of gender-based violence and improve the development of women and young girls, these laws are inadequate to sufficiently penalize the culprit and compensate the victim. Moreover, the government does not take education (both the education of general population and women in particular) as serious as it should as the funds budgeted for education, are often, diverted to the private bank accounts of government officials.
I’ve been fortunate to come from a family where education is considered absolutely important. My parents believed that the best gift they could ever give me was good education and as a result, I was given the gift of books. I was allowed to spend copious amount of time at the library and funds were set aside solely for buying books. My dad encouraged voracious reading, allowing me to expand my knowledge beyond what I was taught in school and so nurtured me into the book lover that I am today. More importantly, it helped in molding me into the individual that I am today. I’m a BIG dreamer but the education that I’ve achieved thus far helped me take this further; it made me become a doer. It opened my mind and imagination, and created a belief that my only hindrance is not my sex but how far I can dream and willing to work towards that dream.
It goes without saying that this privilege I have comes with added responsibility and it is this privilege of books, of education that I want to share with as many young Nigerian girls as possible. I want to give other young girls the opportunity that I have. This is because I firmly believe that education is truly the way to transform the reality of these women for the better. With education, these young girls will get to know and understand that they are the pillars of the society that they have more to offer to the country and the world at large.
As I move back to Nigeria January next year, my short-term goal is to highlight the importance of educating young girls and women. I plan to setup non-governmental organization (NGO) that focuses on promoting the education of young girls and women. The motto will be educating a generation, one woman at a time. Its foremost goal is to encourage the young girls and women to “dream big.” It will seek through scholarship programs increase the number of young girls currently in schools, and through free motivational talks and self-development initiatives encourage those struggling or under pressure from families and culture not to give up or drop out of school to get married.
My long-term goal is to build women-only institutions that focus on the intellectual development of women. I want it to be the birthplace of the next generation of powerful women that will bring the change my country desperately needs. I firmly believe that education is the first step in uprooting the feminine face of poverty and help in the development of hardworking, self-confident and socially progressive woman. Women have a strong and important role to play in any given society, and they cannot do this if they are downtrodden and denied important rights such as education. Educating the younger generation is the greatest investment the Nigerian government can ever make if it truly wants to identify itself as the giant of Africa and I want to kick start that investment now.
The Changemaker
Amaka is a 20-something year old Nigerian. With previous degree in International Relation and Politics, she just finished a Masters degree in International Economic Law from the University of Warwick. She enjoys travelling and calls herself a modern day nomad. When she is not planning and researching her next voyage, she enjoys reading, writing and learning new languages. The top three items on her Bucket List are: travelling the world (yes, that includes North Korea and Burma), building libraries in the 36 states that make up Nigeria and organize a truly African music festival to raise awareness on the importance of educating women and funds for building & maintaining the aforementioned libraries. Follow me on twitter: @MsAmaka
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