Weekend Hangover

Giving Women A Chance

Starting this Monday, I will be writing this column on this blog. I will be discussing the weekend in terms of what people have said and what I would have observed during the weekend.
This installment is not good I admit but I promise that the next would be better.
About this weekend, yesterday I saw local giants Highlanders FC struggle against Caps United.
However that is not important. What is important is the women’s soccer match that I saw yesterday. New Orleans beat In Line Academy by one goal to nil to qualify for the CBZ FA Cup final.
It is not the match that I enjoyed a lot though I must admit that there were flashes of brilliance here and there. There is still room for improvement. Actual improvement is needed.
What struck me most were the comments from the supporters. Although there is an increase in the number of women attending soccer matches as spectators, the supporter’s bays are still dominated by men. So you can imagine the comments.
Very sexist!
It is not right to refer to their sexual organs all the time a woman stands in a public place. They should be supported. It is not progressive to always refer to their role in the bedroom when a woman decides to contribute to public life. They have lives outside the bedroom and the kitchen.
It is narrow-minded to think otherwise.
For sometime I thought they were expected but with time it hit me that those comments reflect our level of development as a people.
I believe strongly that the level of development of a people must be measured by the way they treat their women. Women are the flowers of any group of people if that is taken to mean that they are the most beautiful of any group of people.
Advanced societies treat women as equals to men. They should not be made to be apologetic for being born female.
I know it is unfair to judge the entire society on the basis of the people in a soccer match. My lecturer in Human Rights called such people “The Bewildered Crowd.” He said they are a group of people who can kill each other over a bottle of coke.
But we need to think as a people and if we real want to advance, let us give our women a chance to contribute to our development too. This is in sport, education, work, industries, and in all spheres of human life.