My observation tells me that gender issues become a bit challenging for the males to take in but certainly seem friendly for females all over the globe year after year. Originally, it was no more than a mere distinction between male and female. However modernity has defined it as a biological distinction between the two sexes according to their roles, responsibility, opportunities, tradition, access to resources, etc considering both males and females and their interdependent relationships. Basing on these, quite clearly, the female population has widely fallen on the vulnerable side of the equation all over the world. The effects of gender imbalance have been manifested in various aspects of our daily life such as education, political scenes, administration, religion, work and even in households. Females have been denied proper formal education and still are, in certain parts of the world for example; some research found that “Africa has more than 40 million children, almost half, the school age child population receiving no schooling, two thirds of these are girls.” They are also the minority in the worlds political scene (in many cases, their ability being questioned or undermined), a similar perception is in the areas of administration, religion has also played a role (some religions do undermine woman and girl’s rights), female employment is limited compared to male employment, and more so, they have fallen victims of violence and abuse in many households worldwide. All these are facts to face about the worlds state of gender sensitivity if at all we expect to change it. But nonetheless we need to remember that all this arose from only mindset which explains why slowly but very surely, beliefs about women are being challenged as gender quality is emphasized more and more. We are steadily proving ourselves capable of things men do, breaking barriers of tradition, standing up for rights, especially breaking through the political scene as “we have seen the general percentage of women in parliament, worldwide has risen from only 3% in 1945 to about 18% in 2008. More so with our own country, Rwanda toping the worlds gender equality list with 49% of its members being women! It isn’t written any where that females “cannot” achieve just like the men or even do it better! How about the ladies get up and ‘show the world what you got!” Rwanda has already set the pace. We’ve seen a number of ladies break records e.g. Dorcus Inzikuru, first female major gold medalist in Uganda, Mrs. Ellen Johnson, first female Liberian president, among many others in their various categories. Ladies, it just might be you making history any time! Take this chance because by now we ought to be convinced that definitely, both sexes can achieve after all! The author is a student at Riviera High School hozatash@yahoo.com
