Raising My Voice to Excel: Words of Wisdom for the Girl Child

INTRODUCTION

This is to commemorate year 2020 International Day of the Girl Child.

For a raised voice to excel, be powerful and very effective, it has to contain certain crucial elements. It’s no wonder therefore that not every raised voice excels. How therefore, can the voice of the girl-child be made effective so that when raised, it can excel?

Here are four essential wisdom pillars, I believe if wisely activated and utilised, would remarkably transform the voice of the girl-child and make her highly successful in her endeavour.

The Four Wisdom Pillars.

1. AWARENESS: An effective voice must be fully conscious and possess relevant knowledge:

• The Girl child must know (who she is), that she is a human being and very special one.
• She must be conscious of her environs and society; She must know her rights and know they would be infringed upon.
• She must know what to do whenever those rights are trampled on.
• She must learn and know how to rightly defend herself.
• She must be aware that most of the time, silence is a killer; that to be silent could be tragic.

2. CLARITY: The effective voice must be clear.

• She must have clarity of mind, clarity of pursuit and clarity of purpose.
• She must say what she means and mean what she says.

3. RESPONSIBILITY:

• The effective voice is responsible, focus, studious and is determined to excel.
• The effective voice responds appropriately, behaves responsibly and is not afraid to seek justice, take-up important duties, or face challenges!

4. COURAGEOUS: The effective voice is courageous.

• She must courageously pursue challenging dreams and aspirations; takes on uncommon academic pursuits despite discriminations and gears up to change negative narratives about her gender.
• She must be courageously innovative; seeks to be technologically savvy, have the courage to say ‘NO!’ to abusers, sexual predators and discriminations of all kinds.

AWARENESS/ KNOWLEDGE

Some prevalent issues of which the Girl-Child must have knowledge:
Gender-based Violence: This is violence directed against a person because of their gender. Below are the ways It Affects The Girl Child:

Sexual Violence: Any sexual act involving a girl-child (with or without her consent) is unlawful. Sexual violence takes the form of rape, sexual assault, defilement etc

Psychological Violence: This can take the form of, coercion, verbal insult, intimidation or harassment.

Economic Violence: Any act or behaviour which causes economic harm to the girl Child. Economic violence can take the form of, resisting the girl child rights to education or her right to be paid where she’s trading to earn a living.

Cultural Oppression: This includes; Child Marriage, Body shaming, FGM –Female Genital Mutilation- Female circumcision is a violation of girls human rights.
Gender Discrimination-prejudicial Treatments:  This includes inequalities of all kinds and all kinds-of stigmatisation.

“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”– Martin Luther King.

CLARITY

The human voice is an integral part of our humanity. It is an actively visible emblem that must be lawfully, maximally and personally utilized for each of us to excel. It is why clarity is so important. Having the capacity to project appropriate sounds at the right time can make a critical difference in the way a human, adult or child is perceived and treated. Sometimes, it makes a difference between life and death!

For instance, there are many ways in which ‘NO!’ can be said ineffectively. To prevent abuse on your person, you must learn to say ‘No!’ appropriately.  Do not say, “No!” vaguely or insufficiently. Do not say it shyly. Do not say it giggling! Firmly reject the act that makes you uncomfortable, even if such act is from a family member.

• Say it loudly. Repeat it again and again.
• Shout it out and mean it!  Be assertive! Then follow up with Actions. Reject the act of abuse, walk away and run away from the scene.
• Tell somebody about the abuse. Swiftly gets support as early as possible.
  Make it an habit to report abuse of any kind.
• You cannot practise this too often enough. Shout. Do not be afraid to speak out!

RESPONSIBILITY

BE Responsible. One very good way to be responsible in attitude is to focus on your studies and Avoid Broken Focus.

Today, many challenges betide the girl child. Practically, it seems the odds are against her. This we see in the increasing statistics on Teenage pregnancy and the waning good morality in our society.

Consequently, we have more sexually charged atmosphere and increase in criminal activities.  More than ever before, the environment is dangerous to the girl child.

Unfortunately, by her attitude, she seems to have resigned to becoming much less of what she is created to be.

Broken focus is caused by the force of distraction. Distraction arises when a person is captivated by things that distract the mind from focusing on the most important mission at hand. For instance, the following would break the focus of the girl-child.

• The Social Media.
• Distractions from opposite sex/gender.
• Peer competition and pressure–to impress the opposite sex in class/ school.
• Inappropriate relationships – leading to sexual and criminal activities.
  Premature Sex.

Use your school time only to learn rather than doing rubbish like passing love notes. Concentrate on your studies, getting all the education you need. Broken focus will kill your dreams. For me, seeing the death of the lofty dreams of a girl-child is as sad as burying a loved one.

You have greatness in you. You have tremendous potential! You were not born to waste your sweet smelling fragrance on the desert air. You were born to realise your full potential.

BE COURAGEOUS

• It takes courage to uphold high moral values regardless of the shifting cultural mores.
• Breaking the gender barriers because you’re determined to succeed despite the odds is tremendously courageous.
• Speaking out against any form of injustice is courageous.
• Doing right when you are told to do wrong, is absolutely courageous.

As a girl-child, you must learn to discern:-

• When an instruction is working against the values you have been taught.
• When an instruction has the potential to do more harm than good. 
• And when what you are told to do demeans your dignity, makes you uncomfortable and distorts good values and good morality.

The above are but few of the essential wisdom pillars that would transform and make the girl-child excel in all her life’s endeavours. Activating them will give her a good start to raise an effective voice in any society. Practising them doggedly will eventually enable her to excel maximally. This will ultimately bring her honour, confidence and respect.

11th October 2020.

©Tejumade A. Sijuwade-Oke, Esq

 Legal Practitioner.