Love toward women should be the next pandemic

According to Patricia Noah (Trevor Noah’s mother), “A man is not determined by how much he earns. You can still be the man of the house and earn less than your woman. Being a man is not about what you have, but it’s about who you are. Being more of a man doesn’t mean your woman has to be less than you. Make sure your woman is the woman in your life. When you look at a woman, acknowledge her presence, notice her and show her that she exists.’’ Of late, the stories in the journals have been gloomy and predominantly on Gender Based Violence (GBV) and that of women being raped. Because of this, I firmly suggest that love toward women should be the next pandemic. Let us unlearn the inhuman behavior of hitting women and mercilessly taking their lives due to our irrational ill tempers or because of conscious and unconscious problems that can be solved through prayers and counseling. Let us create a society in which women are respected, glorified, strong, happy, healthy and comfortable with the way they look or dress.

By so doing, we have to educate our sons from a very young age on how to treat women and encourage our daughters to set standards for themselves which cannot be bought by money, fame, food or airtime. A society in which we acknowledge each other’s weaknesses and build each other to our full potential. A pandemicin which women are happy again and have no fear of losing their lives to the hands of merciless lovers. Lastly, in the words of Chimamamanda Ngozi Adichie, “Think of people as people, not as obstructions who have to conform to bloodless logic, but as people. Fragile, imperfect, with pride that can be wounded and hearts that can be touched.’’ I firmly believe, it’s time we touch our women’s hearts, acknowledge their weaknesses, embrace their strengths and help them to blossom to their potential in our societies.