By Josephine Amoako

I’m proud to be a woman and I can’t imagine myself being in the shoes of the opposite sex for even a day. They have their own woes and I’m still battling with the ones that are gender-related to me. That is why I find it perplexing when people switch genders with the belief that that’s how they feel within. The fact that you see someone holding it down doesn’t mean life is easier or more satisfying when living as the opposite sex. Life is a struggle and for anyone to make it one has to make do with what has been made available to him or her, and that includes one’s gender.

The issue of feminism has been on the rise for some years now and people of both sexes have taken strong sides. I am definitely for the equal rights of women, especially in predominantly male domains. But sometimes I think advocates do more talking than actually proving themselves as deserving of being accorded equal opportunities in the world.

I read a quote on Facebook recently which said something about women trying so hard to be ‘like men’ that they are losing their uniqueness. Instead of women trying to show that they can do what their male counterparts can do, they should focus on telling the world about all the things they are capable of doing in areas where men fall short. And I agree with the assertion.

Apart from the analytical abilities that we can master to match the men (because it is a skill, if you ask me), women have the innate potential of showing compassion and nurturing care (this must be consciously developed to obtain the maximum benefit) which gives us a broader scope in dealing with various world issues. Thanks to this inherent make up of the woman, she already has a different perspective on how to address problems. So why relegate the power that you have within by only focusing on the male-dominant strengths to prove that we are a match? We can do much more than that.

I stand with my fellow women against chauvinists who label women as the ‘weaker sex’ and thus relegate us to the background when it comes to dealing with major global issues and reserve the positions they tag as ‘beneath them’ for us. But instead of just forming movements and making our voices heard on the streets, let’s make our presence and essence felt worldwide by our endeavors. Let’s prove to the world that we are not just masters of managing the home and raising kids but we can be just as capable of contributing our quota on making the world a better place.

I am a woman and I am equally as significant as my male counterparts.