Women Are Wealthier When They Uplift Other Women

It is very common to hear these often repeated words: “Women are their own worst enemies”. Maybe there’s some truth in these words as a lot of situations in our communities show that women are usually at the forefront of bringing other women down.

It is usually always women who impose patriarchal practices on their fellow women. Women are often at the fore to make another woman pass through the painful rituals of widowhood. Women are most often the touch bearers of harmful social practices against other women such as female genital mutilation and breast ironing. Women are always probably those who take the lead in preparing a young child for her marriage to someone old enough to be her grandfather. Women are most often those who will mock a fellow woman who is not married at a certain age or who does not yet have a child or who has a child out of wedlock. Most women are those who will encourage another woman to go back into an abusive relationship, telling them to ‘tie heart’ and try harder to make their husbands happy because ‘na so marriet de’. Most women will rather tell their daughters to go into the kitchen and learn to cook, care for the house, etc because no man would marry a girl who cannot cook or care for the home while turning a blind eye to the antics of their sons and making them feel like kings of the realm. Majority of women would rather curse or attack a fellow woman caught cheating with their husbands rather than confront their husbands for breaking their marital vows and most especially, most women would rather vote for another man running for some office than for a fellow woman. There are many women who would rather dim the light of the other woman doing something similar as them rather them work together for both to shine. The list is long and inexhaustible.

From some of these points mentioned above, it is easier to see why many hold the view that women are their own worst enemies. Nevertheless, the paradigm shift is happening these days. As more and more women become empowered, they are beginning to understand that the true wealth and worth of being a woman is not to bring down another woman but to lift them up. They are beginning to see that for each woman they help lift up and empower, they empower themselves and grow richer because they are investing in something that would have a far reaching positive impact not only for them and those they empower but for the community at large because the ripple effect of their actions are big.

 I attended the National Rural Women’s Convening on the Commission of the Statues of Women (CSW62) from the 06/07/ February 2018 in Yaoundé, Cameroon. The aim was to get rural women’s voices heard for the CSW62 conference held in the United States (New York) around March this year. The powerful voices of rural women were given heed and their concerns were carried forth to the national, continental and international levels. The interesting thing is that most of the women present taking the lead are involved in one form of empowering women. World Pulse was very much present as many World Pulse sisters leading various avenues of women empowerment were there.

I have come across a lot of women both online and offline who are busy in many ways in uplifting rural women. From those who are helping women pick up the pieces of their lives, helping them transform their trashes to treasures, to those who are rescuing women caught in the tangles of girls trafficking and internally displaced due to conflicts, to those who are busy breaking taboos around menstruation and helping women find pride in this unique mark of womanhood, to those who are challenging the existing status quo and breaking offensive traditions which mitigate against the woman and girl child such as breast ironing, female genital mutilation and child brides; to those who are empowering young girls to break the culture of silence and to embrace their sexuality by providing safe spaces where they can talk about their fears and aspirations, to those who are determined to be the voice of the rural women, creating platforms for their voices to be heard and to those who are using technology to empower women online trainings and STEM programs, women are busy uplifting each other up.

From the East to the West. From the North to the South. From the centre to the triangles and rectangles and circles all-round the globe, women’s collective pulses are beating to increase the tempo of the World’s Pulse producing positive vibrations felt through the four corners of the world. These are the wealthy women. These are the amazing women changing the paradigm shift and daring to demystify the narrative that women can only bring others down. And the majority of these women are found on World Pulse. A very befitting platform for daring change makers because their voices are pulses which continue to be felt everywhere they find themselves. Their wealth is not about the bank accounts or the mansions or luxury cars or vacations but the giving of themselves willingly, their talents, skills and time in uplifting and empowering each other… the best wealth this world would ever have… and the interesting thing is, they are all part of the conclave in this amazing online family of women movers and shakers. There are many other women out there doing just as amazing, determined to change the world by empowering and uplifting one woman a time in all the four corners of the world, through rough terrains, breaking barriers and passing through many uncertainties and cultural obstacles to do so. These in my opinion are the real wealthy women.