If someone asks you who you are, you are most likely to say your name. If they probe further, you might tell them what kind of a person you are or where you work, etc. You are your own person in your own right – an individual. But what about those women who do not, or are not allowed, to think of themselves in that manner? When you think of Nigeria, usually the first thoughts that will enter your mind are related to the country’s political situation, their social upheaval, and the poor condition of living. What crosses your mind when you think about the Nigerian woman?
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Who is a Nigerian woman? How does she identify herself? A mother? A daughter? A sister? A wife? Who is she? Like you, can she not say “I am me.”? Usually, no. So used to being defined by her roles, the woman of Nigeria does not know who she is. This is of course changing, albeit slowly. The change can be attributed to social progress, which again can be attributed to education. Though far from ideal, the education system in Nigeria is slowly and steadily changing the lives of many women.
So why is women’s education so important? It is because an educated woman becomes a vessel of knowledge herself. Unlike her male counterparts, she interacts with many other women of various ages and is able to teach them too. As a formally educated woman, she can have more of a say in how her household is run and how her children are brought up. As an educated person, she can go out into the world to find a job and nurture a career. These are however very concrete examples that still fail to capture what education really does.
And what does education really do? It empowers them by making them aware. Aware of themselves and aware of the world around them. Once curiosity and the habit of learning is inculcated, it will always stay with her. When she knows why something happens, or how something can be prevented, she carries that knowledge within herself and passes it forward through her friends and family, who in turn pass it on to many others. This heightened awareness of people is what leads to progress. The ability to know better, to be able to make an informed choice, that is what greases the wheels of social development.
If you want to know more about education and progress in Nigeria, read more about it here.
