WHEN I first came to the US, one of the ‘compliments’ I used to receive had to do with how well I speak English.
What with being a young simple teenager from Africa, a far off dark place; it could only be imagined what primitive village I had come from and how I would fare in this ‘great civilised country’.
While I always laugh at such misconceptions and use them to gauge the intelligence of my audience, at times I feel we, as Africans, are to blame for some of these notions.
On her birthday this year, January 17, former US First Lady Michelle Obama shared a picture of herself with her two family dogs.
In between all the warm wishes and messages, a message from a Nigerian man stood out.
The man attacked Michelle Obama saying instead of playing with dogs, her contemporaries were playing with their sons.
It is common knowledge the Obamas have been blessed with two intelligent, beautiful girls and have no male children.
After he was criticised for his attack, the man went further and accused Africans of being hypocrites, stating that most of us knew of many Africans who were in unhappy marriages because ‘women failed to produce sons’.
While I loathe it, this man’s logic, however warped, is representative of millions on the African continent.
He and many like him are the reason Africa still lags behind and their assertions are the reason our colleagues in the West still believe that Africa is a dark place, where people live in trees, die from treatable diseases and are just outright savages.
The notion that a woman is defined by her ability to produce a male child is as backward as they come, but it is still true in many African communities.
Ever noticed how the birth of a boy-child is celebrated more than that of a girl-child?
Interestingly, these bigots, most of who probably failed simple science in school, choose to ignore that it is the male parent who determines the sex of a child.
As such, if anyone is to be berated for the bevy of female children in a family, it is the father.
The belief that a girl-child is worthless is probably borne out of the idea that she would get married and would not add value to her family, but that of her in-laws.
Some parents have gone as far as deliberately disadvantaging their female children under the conviction that as women, these girls would be others’ problems.
In all this, I have great respect for the many African women who are fighting on the frontline to be heard and bring the issue of girl-children to the fore.
Nyaradzai Gumbodzvanda’s advocacy work for the girl-child has long-term rewards and should be commended.
Zimbabwe has also become one of the first countries to criminalise child-marriages and hopefully, soon the age of consent will be raised to further protect the girl-child.
Issues to do with the girl-child and discrimination against women are likely to be a hot potato this year, as highlighted by the global demonstrations against President Donald Trump this past weekend.
President Trump has not bothered to sugarcoat his vile opinion of women and even went to the extent of sexualising his own daughter.
As a father and a leader, there are certain values one is expected to uphold and it would seem President Trump lacks a core value — respect for women.
More than half a million have gathered in Washington to protest President Trump’s inauguration, while millions of others around the globe have followed suit – including an estimated 100 000 people who marched through London.
Trump’s anti-female policies include a proposal to cut funding for programmes that provide services to victims of domestic violence.
Given his coarse regard for the abuse of women, Trump definitely would not be bothered with the fact that most women in their lifetime will face domestic violence and sexual abuse.
The demonstrations against Trump should not be viewed as growing feminism, but as natural progression.
For generations, women have borne the brunt of society’s failures and successes, but failed to receive the recognition they deserve.
They have sown, and their male counterparts have reaped, but the tide is turning.
Trump and those like him are a threat to the progress women have achieved since the days of the suffragist movement.
The silver lining in this cloud called President Trump is that he has stoked a fire which has seen women across the globe join hands and make a demand that they get their slice of the cake.
Hopefully, back in the motherland, those who relegate women to second class roles will suffer a rude awakening as women step up and make their voices count.