Strong women

“We in the West” often pity the African woman. In fact, we pity all the women who are not born in the rich and free west. They are oppressed and have no rights, so we say. This weekend I saw an Asian film in which the women were not only beautiful, but also as powerful as men. It made me think…

Here in Africa there are female heads of state. One of the major banks in Nigeria is run by a woman. Women here are more feisty than men and are VERY loud in expressing their wishes. In e.g. the US the immigrated group of Nigerians are far better educated than the indigenous population and it’s also the women who hold PhD degrees. African women are often breadwinners AND manage to run households, for which they deserve and receive respect.

Of course, not all women are that respected! Yes, there is a lot of oppression, but it seems to be positively correlated with poverty. The wealthier Nigerian women make their own choices while apparently obeying men. It’s like lions in fact: the women rule, but allow the men to show off. That does goes hand in hand with men having multiple sex partners, but on the other end of the scale I have hardly seen weak women here, or women who give up their job when they get children.

The Netherlands, home of the free and educated, a country based on equal rights (okay, until the majority became right-wing unfortunately!) has the lowest female labour participation in Europe, women make less money than men, and only a few end up having a high position or prosperous company of their own. Yet we pity all those ‘poor African women’. If poverty enhances the oppression of women, then why are we in the rich west not more equal to men?

Funny.