Gender & Minorities

I am seated by the living room window reading a book, more like staring into it. My mind wanders, occasionally glancing outside to catch a glimpse of my daughter riding her bike.

I represented Human Rights Watch at the commission’s 60^th ordinary session in early in May in Niamey, Niger.

we were foetuses when they mapped out our lives

some of us would glide through birth canals

break open wombs

announce our arrival in bold wails

we were born protesting

then to be shushed at entry

and later made to believe our voices mattered little

This April, a mobile registration team was hard at work again in the Kibera neighborhood of the Kenyan capital, Nairobi.

Imagine a poster with the words: “New men wanted in Africa!” Most people would find the statement amusing, but that is what Africa urgently needs.

Joseph speaks of his grim struggle to avoid the curse of the deadbeat dad. You don’t become a father unless a woman is kind enough to grant you the honour he says. The mother of his child then becomes difficult to live with. She makes financial and emotional demands he cannot meet.

Despite marked progress in gender relations globally, gender disparity and power struggles that leave women and girls at a disadvantage remain. Women continue to face multiple layers of discrimination economically, politically and socially.

Beyond the celebrations, I am inclined to think that future IWDs should take both a prospective and retrospective look at the campaign for a more inclusive world.

In November 2016, two Barbadian women, Ronelle King and Allyson Benn, started what has now become known as the #LifeInLeggings movement, where survivors of various manifestations of violence against women shared their personal experiences, putting a public spotlight on sexual abuse, sexual harass