Women, especially the youth, have to embrace the extemporary speech by Sojourner Truth in understanding the worth of a woman.
Some women in antiquity ( Lillie Devereux Brake, Elizabeth Stanton, Lucretia Mott, Nannie Helen, Charlotte Rollin) fought relentlessly for the many rights women are enjoying today.
Such as the right to education, the right to vote, the right to be employed, the right to life, liberty and the pursuits of happiness.
The efforts of such women antedated all movements that advocated for gender equality. The relentless efforts of such women eradicated the concept of seeing women as “a thing” or “an object” dependent on man for survival and relevance. A thing to be dumped after usage and expiration.
An object for man’s satisfaction and care for the household. Women, as advocated for, can do what men do. A profound statement made by Truth upon her personal experience as a woman slave who did exactly what men who were enslaved did.
Unfortunately, some of our women are measuring their self worth only in relation to their voluptuousness – ‘big butt, thigh, breast, skin complexion, flat stomach.’
In Ghana, a voluptuous woman automatically becomes a celebrity and a hot cake for every media house and journalist to interview for 1000k followers.
At our second cycle schools, most of the young girls want to have a light skin. At the tertiary, is either a big butt or breast. On social platforms like Tiktok, Instagram, snapchat, Twitter and sometimes facebook is something better left unsaid.
Young girls or women are doing everything that still makes prevailing the eradicated ancient thoughts, “women are object for sex and a thing to be discarded at will”
Why? That the trend and what entice men. Some women are rejecting the idea of schooling or job seeking because her beauty or curviness is paying her.
That is, offering sex to survive, enticing to claim and beautifying to be beatified by men. “Ain’t I a woman” – Yes, you are indeed a woman. A woman of substance to live differently and to aspire for greater opportunities independent of man.
Were are the Ghanaian women advocating for rights of women. Aren’t they seeing what is happening right under their nose. The media houses, journalists and bloggers can do better. The church and her preachers must not ne swayed with societal trends.
Parent and guardians shouldn’t compromise the standard when it comes to their girls. My respects to some women excelling differently in every field. They are women of substance with or without curvy nature.
The truth is this, a woman of substance is not defined and determined by her voluptuousness. A non-curvy woman is still a woman. Add worth to your curvy nature as a woman. Do not be carried away by your curvy nature.
Make yourself proud as a woman.
The writer: Rev. Fr. Francis Isaac Amoo
(Don Amoo Jnr)
Sekondi-Takoradi Diocese