Women Empowerment
Opinion: #ENDSARS Protest, Women Economic Empowerment And What Shouldn’t Be The Price For Freedom
Barbara Anne Castle, the Secretary Of State for Employment and Productivity in England in 1968 negotiated in a settlement for equal pay which hastened the Equal Pay Act in 1970 when a group of protesting women machinists staged a high profiled walkout on the 7th of June 1968 after discovering that men with whom they were doing the same work were being paid more than they were.
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Apart from the demand that they be paid the same as the men as both genders provide the same value to the company, they also demanded recognition for their skills and also be put on a higher pay grade.
In Nigeria, the #ENDSARS protest which was a social media revolution for a few years took a turn to a serious physical protest involving mostly youths as well as matured and opinion leaders lending their voices when a video appeared online showing the brutality of some law enforcement officers on unharmed civilian suspects.
This protest took a turn for the worse on Tuesday the 20th of October, 2020 when protesters defied the 24 hours curfew imposed by the Lagos State governor, Mr. Babajide SanwO-Olu, sitting down at the Lekki toll gate, at night, still in protest when a group of armed soldiers open fire on them, killing some while a lot others sustained injuries. All these were captured on video and it was circulated online.
It was and is still indeed very sad and disheartening that in this time and age of democracy, freedom of expression and citizens’ right to demand good governance, unarmed protesting youths would be shot at. The video was scary, frightening and anger-inducing all at the same time.
“The price for a new nation shouldn’t come at the cost of the lives of our children”
Social revolutions as seen in history are sparked off by one or more of following: prolonged injustice in a system, a sense of being cheated and taken for granted as citizens and the annoyance is trades off.
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The #ENDSARS protest is an out pour of not just an age long law enforcement agents brutality but an inbuilt injustice system that has affected all aspect of our lives.
#ENDSARS is an empowerment of people who have found their voices and are utilizing the enormous power they have as citizens.
It has shown resilience, refinement and sophistication that the Nigeria people, especially her young, have which is a sharp and welcoming contrast to the internationally recognized labels as a nation of scammers and fraudsters.
It a new dawn and as those women in 1968 staged a protest for equal pay propelled by annoyance and a feeling of being cheated, #ENDSARS will go down in history as the beginning of a new chapter in the history of our great beloved country where we would no longer be afraid of our young people expressing themselves differently but legally. Most important, we would not have to run to another country as second class citizens because we fear for our future and those of our children.
Photo Credit: ic_solutions.
OLUWABUSAYO MADARIOLA
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