We are faced with happenings inour days that shake us beyond our imaginations. Corruption being impairment ofintegrity, virtue, or moral principle has troubled the smooth flow of lifeevents. This illegal, bad or dishonest behaviour,especially by people in positions of power has greatly disturbed the femininegender as we will see these adverse effects on some areas their life.
In education, there seems to beso much positive development yet there are families who would not mind sendingan educationally fair boy to further his school than dare send an excellentgrade girl to keep rising in her studies. The ‘MAN’ mentality has actuallyeroded our sense of value and reasoning since we are on pressure to maintainstatues quo and allow for societal relevance. Parents claim the daughters willbe married out and the family will not progress as expected. The consciousnessand belief that the feminine gender is only about procreation of children alonestill frustrates the girl child in life. They are unconsciously settled inthese confines to the detriment of their prominence.
The indecent advances of teachersas well as Lecturers on female students have moved away from just a‘mark-giving barter system’ to raising protégées in cultic fraternity and otherdevious vile associations. Some have in the name of being in the good books ofcertain ‘hard’ lecturers ventured into trades detrimental to their health justto raise money to solve marks related challenges. These malfunctioned ‘rolemodels’ in schools most times get away with their crime since there seems to beno stringent rules guiding and guarding these abnormal activities. Sometimesthe top leadership is overly corrupt thus the difficulty in rescuing the girlchild from legalized monsters in teachers clothing seems not in view. Thanks toGod for the increase in advocacy groups but so much still needs to be done.
A worrisome aspect is the growingravage of these menaces on Pupils in Nursery and Primary schools as even fellowcorrupt and mischievous pupils defile other ones and sometimes nothing that isdone as disciplinary punishment. This is peculiar in the private schools wherethe population of students determines the turnover of income at the end of theday. The authorities of such schools do everything possible to kill the spreadof such. Most times these dastard acts are carefully covered and sealed fromexposure in order to protect the schools’ name. These ungodly acts have furthereroded the moral fiber of the populace. It has in some quarters made it seem tobe the order of the day as many tow these evil lines to their detriment.
In the health sector, there aresome very sad and pitiful scenes and encounters when we graphically look atwith respect to women; the governmental leaders are particularly responsiblefor the woes our women face especially with regards to mortality. Thenegligence and insensitivity of ignorant and careless leaders and personnel inoffices whose only aim is to exploit because they have no iota of intent foralleviating nor rescue of these women and children. There are basic steps toengage and reduce minimally mother and infant mortality when the rightprocedures and actions are diligently executed. The resources available cantransform the situation to set a new manifestation that would be encouraging tobehold. Lack of personal and corporate conscience affects the safe, healthy,sound and informed procedures. When they are enforced for the women to be savedat child birth the alarming rate of orphans and widowers we are raising due todevil-may-care attitude will diminish. The weight of raising families isfundamentally the woman’s responsibility thus when there is a neglect andabandonment in this sensitive issue trouble comes. Everything surrounding thempersonally should foster the advancement of life in a major way; else the chaosexperienced will skyrocket too. Wisdom demands that we delete our selfishnessand greed from the dealings we have that pertains to the state of health of thewoman as it actually affects life beyond imagination!
The adverse effect of corruptionon the lives of women above that of men cannot be over stressed. This dishonestbehavior has done much havoc even to the point of eliminating lives on the longrun.
In a general hospital in thesouth-south of Nigeria where women form the largest number of persons who gofor scanning services, the management and staff of this government outfitrefused to fix a steady water supply for the toilet, making it almost non-operationalthus forcing the patients whose bladders are excessively pressured by waterthey drank for scanning to search for conveniences in nearby bushes! This errorcreates room for more infections and complications as some of them run intovery unsafe points in the bush even into other women’s urine and possiblyexcreta. The corrupt management chooses to plunder the resources meant for thepopulace at the expense of the multitude that actually need these services andstructures, and quite saddening is the fact that women suffer more health wisewhile chasing better state of health for themselves.
It is expected that the medicalpersonnel in our hospitals are knowledgeable and professional in their jobs andresponsibilities yet how do you explain circumstances surrounding the blatantcarelessness of a fellow woman missing to place the Catheter properly therebyinfecting the patients with diseases and unnecessary woes.
Water supply in the family makesa great greasing effect on its smooth run. The women (mothers) care for thefamily (husband and children) thus the chores and other necessary needs ofwater in the home hangs on their neck. We find it though scarcely now wherethere is no compassion from the men (fathers) to assist in the supply. Thetotal water supplied for the family remains an exclusive responsibility of thewife (mother of the home). In certain village settings where clean stream wateris some distance away or the terrain is rough, it becomes very challenging andstressful for them to get the required volume for the home.
Much enlightenment is necessaryto raise some men from the lukewarm and ignorant state of neglecting theresponsibility of ensuring steady water supply for the family.
#Gender And Accountability
#Kebetkache women
Pastor Donatus Essien writesfrom Akwa Ibom State
