Women
Gender Inequality: The Nigerian Situation
Each time I see my father, I feel a dangerous wave of anger. So much that I have to struggle with myself not to insult him or even do worse things to him. The situation becomes even worse when I see what my siblings have become. I just pray to God to continue to give me the strength to be able to totally forgive him, but I don’t think I can forget it. The injury is just too deep and present everywhere”.
This is the level of bitterness Damiete feels for her father. According to her, if it were possible to reverse the hand of the clock, she would have preferred to be fathered by another man. Her case is only one of numerous cases of gender inequality meted out to girls in the Nigerian society.
Damiete, now 35, is the second child of a family of four. She has an elder sister, who is 38 and is infected by HIV, a 33-year old younger sister, who still believes that her life depends on what she can get from men, and a younger brother (30), who feels that it is her primary responsibility to cater for all his needs at all times, and makes sure that she, her husband, and children have no rest until his usually bloated demands are met.
“I don’t blame him”, she said, “He grew up being indoctrinated by our father that while there is no need to train girls because they belong to their husbands’ families, it is the responsibility of women to cater for their siblings and parents”.
She recalled that as a girl, it was easy for her and her two sisters to understand that the only plan their father had for them was for them to get married and leave his house. At what age they did this did not matter to him.
Meanwhile, he focused on the only son of the family, assuring him that he is the man of the family. The situation became unbearable after the death of their mother, with their younger brother barely three years.
Out of frustration, her elder sister had a bastard son at the age of 16. Her second pregnancy was with a fisherman, who was cohabiting with two women but had children with a total of five women. Her sister, however, fell for him because he always gave her fish from his catches, which ensured food for them as a family, including their father.
She later had a miscarriage with a notorious boat driver whose prowess as a womanizer transcends the Kalabari Kingdom in the South-South of Nigeria. It was in trying to save her life from the effects of the miscarriage that she was diagnosed of HIV, which she is currently living with, “though she has realised herself”.
For her younger sister, Banimi, who is still carried away by her beauty, which is fast fading away, she believes that having been able to build a three-bedroom bungalow through resources garnered from her numerous sexual escapades, she can have ample investments through the same source that can take care of her at her old age.
On her own part, she reminisced, she got lucky to have met her husband as a friend when she was just 14 years old, two years after she forcefully lost her virginity to a friend of her father, who feigned to be a helper of the family.
Her husband, then a rig worker with an oil company, lived in her community. After they became friends, he found out she wasn’t schooling. She had dropped out of school in Primary 3 after her periwinkle business couldn’t provide the required fund for her school. She thus concentrated on how she and her siblings can feed daily.
Her husband ensured that she went back to primary school, then to secondary and subsequently university, where she bagged a B.Sc. in Banking and Finance. As a Bank Manager, she is now not only the breadwinner of her family, but also the only one with a stable and assured future.
Currently, Damiete has to contend with maintaining her job, taking care of her nuclear family, which comprises her husband and three children, her siblings, whose dependence on her increases by the day, and her father, who unrepentantly prides himself as the source of her success, simply because he is her father, and hence demands to be taken care of.
This may be only a minute case in gender inequality taken too far at the detriment of a family, community, State, and country.
Gender Inequality is simply the state of not treating the male and female genders equally, or the situation where the male and female are not given equal perspectives, as portrayed in the above case. It takes different forms in different places and countries.
This is against the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 5, which seek to “Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls”, in the next fifteen years, beginning from September 25, 2015.
The sole objective is to provide women and girls with equal access to education, health care, decent work, and representation in political and economic decision-making process, which will expectedly fuel sustainable economies and benefit societies and humanity at large.
It is noteworthy that all the 17 SDGs, with 169 targets between them, are intertwined: Goal 1, for instance, which seeks to “end poverty in all its forms everywhere”, also recognizes the fact that gender inequality plays a large role in the perpetuation of poverty and risks inherent thereto, as portrayed by the Damiete scenario.
As far as Damiete’s elder sister is concerned, she has been “exposed to potentially life-threatening risks from early pregnancy”, according to the third point under the SDGs’ Goal 1, while Banimi has to live with “often lost hopes for an education and a better income”.
Gender inequality which in this context implies unfair treatment given to female gender with respect to the male has many causes. The causes include culture and tradition, religion, lack of empowerment, mentality, and inadequate education, all of which are deducible from the Damiete scenario.
A critical analysis of the scenario reveals that Damiete’s father’s belief that girls belong to their husband’s family made him not to invest in the life of his three daughters by depriving them of the things they need to be self-sufficient and capable of contributing to the upkeep of the family.
In the process, his first and third daughters fell out along the way. The only son in whom he had all hopes also fell out. The only person that got empowered was Damiete, and it was because her husband, a man, came to her rescue.
The question is what would have happened to the entire family, if Damiete’s husband had not come into the life of the family?
Soibi Max-Alalibo
IVY-K Fashion by Igiebor Daddy Lucky, a Nigerian-born designer now based in the UK, has launched the latest menswear line, Dapper Man.
One of the collection’s strengths is its classic, clean aesthetic. Dapper Man delivers sharp, structured suits in a timeless black and white color scheme that exudes a sense of luxury and professionalism. The use of high-quality fabrics like wool and silk ensures that the suits not only look high-end but also feel luxurious to the wearer. The designer’s focus on detail is evident in the meticulous tailoring, with fitted blazers and crisp trousers forming the foundation of the collection.
Where IVY-K Fashion shines is in the subtle yet elegant touches. The inclusion of beads as embellishments on lapels and cuffs adds a unique flair, blending traditional craft with modern tailoring. This nod to African heritage gives the collection a distinct identity, offering something more personal and culturally significant than your standard menswear line.
However, despite the elegance of the Dapper Man collection, there is a lingering sense of missed opportunity. The black-and-white color palette, while classic, feels overly safe. In a fashion landscape where bold colors and daring patterns often make the strongest impact, the collection could benefit from incorporating more vibrant hues or experimenting with unconventional fabrics. Pushing the envelope with color or texture could elevate these designs from simply elegant to truly memorable.
In addition, while the tailoring of the blazers and trousers is immaculate, the collection lacks a sense of playfulness or modern edge that many contemporary menswear lines are embracing. The suits are undoubtedly stylish, but the collection as a whole leans heavily on tradition. Experimenting with asymmetrical cuts, bold patterns, or even layering could add an exciting dimension to Dapper Man. The challenge is to maintain the sleek sophistication of the collection while infusing it with a fresh, innovative spirit.
Another area that could use improvement is the overall cohesion of the collection. While the suits are well-crafted, there is a feeling of repetition across the pieces. More variation in design, such as different lapel styles, pocket configurations, or even bolder accessories, would give the collection greater diversity and visual interest.
In conclusion, Dapper Man by Igiebor Daddy Lucky showcases the designer’s strong grasp of classic tailoring and elegant design, but to truly capture the attention of a broader audience, IVY-K Fashion would benefit from more daring choices. By infusing the collection with bold colors, unexpected textures, and a more modern edge, Dapper Man could move from a well-crafted line to a trendsetting force in men’s fashion. With such a solid foundation, there’s no doubt that Igiebor Daddy Lucky has the potential to lead his brand toward greater heights
The trend of indecent dressing all in the name of fashion is fast becoming a norm in our generation and society at large. Most married women embrace this fashion as competition with single ladies.
Different scholars have given an in depth insight about dressing as a tool of communication. Non-verbal communication has been asserted as the communication between people by the means of signs or symbols. It conveys what we wish to disseminate to the public as either intentionally or not.
According to Paul Ekman and Michael Argyle, communication is carried out through what has been classified as “Presentational Code”. He listed nine codes of non-verbal communication, as body contact, facial expression, gestures, postures, eye movement, proximity, orientation, head nods and appearance.
This, being stated, married and single ladies should understand that their mode of dressing is communicative be it directly or indirectly as such body parts we call “private” are now being made public because of the trends or wearing of transparent dresses and this in turn calls on the attention of men who are weak and prone to illicit thoughts thus, resulting to most rape cases in our society.
This indecent dressing by most ladies has denied many their future husbands. The truth is that a man is attracted to his kind; his desires in marriage. It is often asserted that decency and beauty are in the eyes of the beholder, yet, in trending times of this 21st century, dress code and fashion in nudity form is gaining popularity.
This has become complicated as most men tend to toggle between their emotions (lust) and sanity (rationality) in terms of marriage, thereby setting a wrong foundation upon which most marriages are consummated.
On the other hand, most married women have embraced the trend of indecent dressing nipping it on the state of it being the choice dressing, approved by their spouses, leaving society with the question of what “responsible” man would prefer that the secrecy of the benefit of his marital vow has become the centre of attraction and viewership by the general public.
Hence, communicating with their dressing gas given licence to every male gender who is interested or attracted to what they see to make unsolicited sexual passes at them, which might be considered embarrassing.
At this juncture, it is important to state that ladies should dress decently knowing that they are the epitome of nation-building, they are nation-builders, character moulders and pacesetters not just in the lives of their families but to the society at large.
In most occasions, there are no clear border lines between the married women and the single ladies because of the rate of scanty dressing which has close the gap of differences.
Women and girls should embrace this call awakening to decent mode of dressing. Dresses that are meant to be worn indoors should remain indoors.
It is worrisome to see ladies wear shorts that are supposed to be worn in the living room on the streets without shame. This is an awakening call to our ladies, married and singles that the opposite sex do not expose their private body parts for the public. Sometimes, the ladies go about in the streets without wearing brazziers as to showcase their nipples.
The society should be sanitised of the menace of indecent dressing that is lurking and taking over the entire nooks and crannies of the society and the nation at large.
Let it be known that he or she is addressed in the manner he or she is dressed. There may be no room for a second impression. To the single ladies, your dressing decently will not stop you from meeting your Mr Right rather, it will increase your stake and place you on the list of most valued women in the society.
Dressing speaks louder than words.
Kate Chisom Isiocha
Isiocha is an OND final year student of Temple Gate Polytechnic.
