Collective women empowerment and the child

KILIMANJARO: IT is 3 a.m. in a small village on the slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro. Three notorious thieves move quietly through the darkness, on their way to do what they know best—take by force what is not theirs.

Bold and unusually audacious, they are known for alerting their victims in advance of their intended raids. Tonight is no different.

Familiar with the terrain, they advance with confidence. But suddenly, out of the darkness, a group of women descends upon them. Armed with courage and fury, the women overpower the thieves, killing two.

The lone survivor flees into the night, running faster than he ever has in his life. When the police arrive, the women calmly declare that they all took part.

Faced with the impracticality of arresting an entire group of caregivers, the backbone of their families, the authorities abandon the case. Where were the men, husbands and fathers?

One might assume that confronting dangerous thieves would fall naturally to them. Yet, after repeated pleas went unanswered, the women chose action over fear.

They refused to watch their hard-earned livelihoods stolen any longer. That night, as the women fought, the men remained in their beds, perhaps still contemplating solutions.

This happened way back, even before gender equality and women empowerment initiatives gained momentum.

However, it is an illustration of what unity can accomplish even in situations that seem too challenging to navigate, for women.

International Women’s Day 2026 – give to gain

This year’s theme for International Women’s Day is GIVE TO GAIN.

It implores women who are better placed in society to offer (GIVE) support to their fellow women who may be marginalised, underprivileged, or with poor formal education – to empower them and make life for them better (GAIN).

This include offering expertise, giving their time, influence, encouragement, love, comfort, skills and many more.

This sounds great, we have all experienced that nice feeling when we give than when we receive.

However, it is now 31years since the Beijing World Conference (1995) on women took place.

Women are still demanding their rights, they’re still going through gender abuses, there’s a rise in femicide incidences, women abuse in the workplace still continues, and sadly, child abuse and neglect is becoming rampant, as if the role of a woman as a mother and caregiver is slowly diminishing or not happening at all, this, right under our nose and at the expense of our children’s wellbeing.

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Hello women!

The problems of our children if not attended to, have a tendency to follow us everywhere, even as we grow old, weak and frail, blind or deaf.

As we get engrossed in modern day techniques and ways to bring up children, let’s put the interests of our children first. The push and urge to spend all our time to look for money and relegate our children to nannies and housemaids has dire consequences.

Children are completely being shortchanged emotionally. Parents trust male adult relatives to sleep in the same bedroom with their little girls, this too has been traumatic to a number of girls. Parental love is changing shape with fathers shamefully finding it okay to have babies with their daughters, while the wife is still alive and kicking.

Where are the mothers, wives, aunties and grandmothers who used to keep watch on children, protected them from the trauma and pain that children go through today? Where is the woman in society? Where is her voice regarding the plight of children today?

TO YOU MY READER

– As women empowerment gains momentum in earnest, may we recall our roles as mothers in a society that requires skills to adapt to changes easily but carefully. Let us awaken our motherly instincts and allow our children to be children. May we use our quiet strength to create happy children and happy families.