It is my opinion that women can play as important a role in society as they choose to play. The options open to women in our society range from being the CEO of a company, to doing volunteer work, to raising children or pursuing academics. Our society recognizes that gender does not determine giftedness. Therefore, a woman’s contribution to society depends mostly on what she desires to do with the resources she has available to her (the same way for a man).
At the same time, it would be good to mention that for women, there are “seasons of life” which will influence the role she has in society.
Women are important in our society. Every woman has her own job or duty in this modern society in which men are still the ‘stronger gender’. The role of women in society has been greatly overseen in the last few decades but now it is coming to a more positive perspective. In the early days women were seen only as wives who were intended to cook, clean, and take care of the kids. They were not allowed to vote while men took care of having jobs and paying any bills that had to be paid.
Until the second half of the 20th century, women in most societies were denied some of the legal and political rights afforded to men. Although women in much of the world have gained significant legal rights, many people believe that women still do not have equality with men. This is evident at home, at their workplace, and in society in general. The traditional role of man was to work and make money, which would be used by all in the household. The traditional role of the woman was to stay at home, take care of the children, clean the house, and cook. Because society has always associated money with power, the person bringing home the money had the power. The man often made the final decision on all household matters because he had the money. Women were treated like they were property of men, with no voice about their own fate. Changes in the family began when women wanted more from life.
It is still true that in the majority of cases it would be more difficult for a woman to financially provide for herself and her family. But this is not to be regarded as her own fault. The problem is that there are still more job offers for men and it is still easier for a man to climb the social ladder. A man can have both a family and a successful career whereas women who want to fulfill themselves as professionals have to sacrifice their personal life in most cases or, if they choose to have a family as well, they are sometimes regarded as bad mothers because they do not allocate 24 hours a day to raising their children.
Taking these considerations into account, I believe that it is still a problem for many women to assert themselves, irrespective of their educational background. Furthermore, many women choose to lead an unhappy life for fear that they wouldn’t be able to find a job, because many employers would still choose to employ a man over a woman.
There are unfortunate cases when women who have dedicated their entire life to raising the children and being a good wife, get divorced or, even worse, become widows. In such situations many of them find it impossible to find a place to work and have to live in more or less poverty.
Without women a man wouldn’t be a man at all and would not have the comfort of having someone by his side through the rough and bad times. Fortunately, more women have made vast improvements in their lifestyles in the past few decades from holding positions in governments to simple things like getting a job and supporting themselves.
We can not forget that a woman´s life is a lot more complicated than a man´s life. A woman has to take care of her own personal life and if she is a mother, she also has to take care of her children´s life. Women will always be important to society because they bring a sense of love, and emotion, and for this reason at least, society should start considering their situation more carefully.
I want to introduce four women of substance that in my opinion are worth mentioning in this our society. These women are top of their game and they are excelling in all the present positions they occupy.
Alice Sia Koroma
The dedicated and charismatic Mrs Koroma, wife of President Koroma of Sierra Leone, is an active champion in campaigning for child rights, education and a peaceful Sierra Leone.
Trained as an organic chemist, and with experience of nursing in a London psychiatric hospital, Mrs Koroma regularly travels her country talking to women, listening to their stories, their needs and their wants. She engages with the media and faith and community leaders arguing that women should have access to quality health care and education but also that women should be economically self sustaining.
Mrs Koroma believes it is important to empower and educate women of Sierra Leone about their life choices and rights.
She wants women to be their best selves; she wants them to start making better decisions.
“Poverty alleviation” she argues “happens through better family planning methods, but knowledge is inactive when the resources aren’t available to make choices that help women better themselves and their community.”
Her vision is to have a hospital like the one set up in Mattru jong existing all across the country. She would like to have the strategies used in Mattru, like ensuring quality care, ensuring that staff are well equipped and motivated, that the community is well mobilized and very much part of the hospital’s sensitization efforts, she wants these strategies replicated in every health centre across the country.”
This icon has done so much for the women and children in Sierra Leone that her name has become a household name in every corner of this country. She is a mother and a wife with a difference; she is a caring friend, a helpful nurse and a serving First Lady.
Madam Sia, I am optimistic you will be home for Christmas and you will come back in health and strength. The sick bed is not for you because the power of God will never take you where the spirit will not protect you.
I wish you good health and a happy Christmas and a wonderful and prosperous New Year.
Miatta Kargbo
Miatta Kargbo is the current Health Minister and has been in that position for little over one year. She is in charge of one of the biggest ministry in the country and so far she has lived up to expectation.
This is a lady who was an adviser to the president and because she was doing a good job to the president, she was elevated to ministerial position. Miatta Kargbo has demonstrated her skills and experience to the people of the country by making sure that we live in good health.
She is facing lots of challenges to meet everybody’s needs, but with all these challenges, she is proving to be a rock in this ministry.
Miatta Kargbo is a woman that many others want to emulate because of her determination for success. She has done a lot in the past one year that she deserves praise.
In 2012 she was at the helm of the cholera epidemic that killed an estimated 392 people in Sierra Leone. She explained that the epidemic was as much a failure of the national health infrastructure as it was a showing of the unsanitary practices that people have picked up by living in uninhabitable conditions. “It was an epidemic and a public health emergency”, she says.
The critics say that she only has one style. But what they don’t know is that Sierra Leone’s newest Minister of Health is a product of corporate America. Miatta has spent all of her adult professional life working for Eli Lilly, a multinational pharmaceutical company in the US with operations across the globe.
I wish her all the best in this ministry as she continues to prove beyond all reasonable doubt that she has what it takes to change our health system.
Dr Sarah Bendu
It is true and it is safe to say that every president of Sierra Leone before Ernest Bai Koroma has tried in his own little way to develop this country but we are still lagging behind until recently! Why? “The fault, dear Brutus, is not in the stars, but in ourselves,” Julius Caesar said.
The Sierra Leone Roads Transport Authority (SLRTA) is a well structured organization that has proved its ability to be a blessing to this country, to the government and to its employees. It has the capacity to generate money, as well as render useful services to the nation in a way that is second to none in Africa, yet it was not measuring up until Dr. Sarah Bendu came along the same dusty paths through which others have come and gone without achieving their goals. Because the problems of the SLRTA can easily be summarized as problems that are man-made and well within the organization; the kind of problems that are very difficult to overcome all because there is too much in-fighting among those whose cooperation is vital to make SLRTA a more formidable institution than what we have today.
When one listens to the Managing Director of SLRTA, Dr. Mrs. Sarah Bendu, it will be easy to understand that those who are fighting to destroy the SLRTA are doing so stealthily and surreptitiously for very selfish reasons. They believe that no-one can see through their disguise but they are not correct. They are like ostriches who think they are invisible because they have buried their heads in the sand even when everything else is outside.
This is a woman who has gone through thick and thin and she still survived the entire hullabaloo going on around her. She has been wrongly accused and taken to court by Anti Corruption Commission. This was just because she was doing her job.
She was freed and still pursued by detractors that are still not happy with her success story. Dr Sarah Bendu has proved beyond all reasonable doubt that even a woman can still perform at the highest level. She has instituted laws that will bring more safety and tranquil in the roads and she is still working assiduously to bring more safety in the institution.
Mrs. Sarah Finda Bendu believes her reappointment to head SLRTA after a long absence from her desk was the will of God and that her return has given her another opportunity to serve the authority. She has also boasted that she is not cowed by challenge but benefit from it and that the more she faces injustice, the more she is steadfast in what she is doing. This is the way a woman of substance see things from her perspective.
I personally duff my hat to this wonderful, progressive and astute lady who has shown the entire world what a woman can do.
From page 11
Haja Kallah-Kamara
Another woman who has excelled at the top is National Revenue Authority Boss Haja Kallah-Kamara. Since she took over some years back, she has transformed the institution to higher heights.
Since Haja Kallah-Kamara took over NRA few years ago as Commissioner-General, there has been tremendous improvement in terms of revenue collection at the local level, with the institution now collecting over a trillion Leones for government. She has also succeeded in putting measures in place aimed at addressing the problem of revenue leakage, like the introduction of the Automated System for Customs Data. When one looks at the revenue collection pattern of the NRA prior to the forming of NRA, one could see some discrepancies since there were not much control mechanisms to ensure, the revenues collected are properly accounted for. But that is a different scenario altogether today.
Since taking control of the nation’s prime revenue collector, she has galvanized the staff of the agency to improve government income, thus earning deserving accolade as a major contributor to Sierra Leone’s success story in this dispensation.
She has worked very well and has proved to Sierra Leoneans that women too can succeed in any position in the country.
I want to personally extend my appreciation to her for her work and hope she will continue to succeed and make women very proud in Sierra Leone.
By Austin Thomas
Wednesday December 11, 2013