International Women's Day

Today, I'm going to tell you a story, one I have never told anyone. It has remained only in the minds of all who witnessed it. No, it's not a work of fiction.
Women have always been dear to my heart, all the hard girl, hard girl still comes with the femininity. A man is not defined by his experiences, this doesn't however mean his experiences don't tell on me.
I grew up not knowing something just wasn't right, I learned how to change a car tyre at 14 from my dad, my dad had been careful enough to emphasize to my siblings that your femininity shouldn't make you less productive, in high pitched voice he'd say "my sisters went to the farm with us, you're not a girl to be lazy". This words shaped me into being one that goes for what I want against the odds of being told "but you be woman naw"

Secondary school opened my eyes to so much basketball, truth or dare, social night, biscuit flakes and the worst of them of all; devil's basket. This lost also includes how that the world many times isn't fair to a woman that works. My friend and I had been top of the class consistently until we were separated, she was a commercial student and I was a science student and then the competition for top of the class was the same way. You against a number of boys. Her major competitor was a boy who was loved by many probably because of how his grades were starting to get better as opposed to my friend who had been keeping it a hundred the beginning.

The day for the result collation seemed longer than usual, my friend was too anxious to find out what she was coming out with because she worked hard and was a scholarship student. We were waiting outside the hal
l where the teachers were collating the results when a certain female teacher who knew us came out and started crying, she had apparently been crying in front of the teachers.

The reason was simple, the class teacher of my friend's class had declared gleefully that the boy had topped the class and there was a quiet jubilation amidst some teachers who felt it is a man's world after all. She had contested the results only for her to be talked down by this same group but she knew how hard my friend had worked and how much this mattered to her scholarship, she was hurt so much that she cried even as she argued that a female shouldn't be treated that way.

Her crying got many concerned and protocols were changed. Only the class teacher calculates the result of a class but we the saw other concerned teachers both male and female gather around to crosscheck the result. You want to guess who came out tops? You're absolutely correct, she did.

I could tell you many more true stories all around the same point. It's the international Women's  Day today and I'm not even going to focus on inequality but rather on we women ourselves. Society has told us that if you support other women and want to see them better, you do a grave injustice to yourself. Cut the crap,  society lied.

We women are the change we need to see first before we get the other changes we demand. We must stand up for each other and watch out for each other. Do you realize that if you are able to contest working conditions in a place where you currently work and you win,  you ultimately make it better for  any other woman to work there?.

It's high time you stopped hating on other women, it's time you stopped keeping quiet about their woes and acting as though it is none of your business. It's very interesting how this even spans into the smallest things,  you see another woman looking good and you can't even complement her because you think you become less prettier? Change!
You think a fellow woman is complementing you as a tease and you refuse to say thank you? Change.
Everyone needs to act better, the unfair circumstances the world serves women needs to go but you see this quiet hating amongst women needs to go to.
Today, stand up for other women, support other women and their hustles, do something to make things better if you can, lend your voice to a fair course for women.
I promise you that it won't hurt you if you decide today to not impede or hate on the progress of other women,
To not hate another person simply because she is a woman like you,
To not label other women,
To not spread rumours about them,
To not stop yourself from rendering assistance to other women,
To not hold back support from other women.
It's time to do better!
From me to you, Happy International Women's Day.