Gender Inequality in East Africa | The Odyssey Online
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Gender Inequality in East Africa

Women should be granted equal rights to men, but this is not the case in East Africa.

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Gender Inequality in East Africa
Wikipedia

Most people face different issues in their society today, but the thing about women being valued less than men is something that we should be considering. Before I used to think that we are all equal no matter where we are from or anything. I believe that if we are all given same opportunity, there is a lot we can improve.

In East Africa they say that women should get less property inheritance than their brothers, and for me, I believe that as long as we are all children, we should get equal inheritance. In other countries like China, women are forbidden to go to work in places like factories, simply because it’s "men’s work." If a woman is found in such a place, they are punished really badly.

From my experience, I was born in a family where women will never leave the house and go to work. Most people are told that women are suppose to stay in the house cooking for their family. One of my sisters one day decided to start work, and she was kicked out the house and considered to be an outcast. From this experience, I came to ask myself, "If in my country all the people had the same opportunity, how will the country improve?"

What could have happened if you allowed me to be in school? Was it my mistake to be a girl? Was it my fault to be born in this community? As we were kids, we never knew what was good or bad. As I turned five years old, I was so eager to start going to school. The morning was as beautiful as the sunshine. I could hear the songs which were sung every morning. Women were always happy physically.

Most men said that women were good in the kitchen, but I never knew that is was going to be my history. I always had question in my mind why my mother was never happy in her life. She sometimes told me that it would have made her happier if I was a boy, but I never understood what she was trying to say.

Another day I woke up very early in the morning and did my regular routine; I took my journey going to school, and I was so surprised to find that I was the only girl in the class. After a while, I saw couple huge men standing in front of our classroom door, but somehow I did not know why they would be there calling my name. I tried to ask them why they wanted to take me away, but they told me that they did not have time to play with me. I tried to beg them not to remove me from the class, but they kept on telling me that I don’t belong in school. Whenever I tried to go to school, my father would send people to bring be back. I grew up with a lots of anger and regrets.

So it came to a time when we had to leave our home country, and my life became a challenging because of my background. I found that most kids who were the same age as me were way ahead in in terms of education. I never considered myself to be a kid because of what I was looking for. Most kids in our community got married at a young age, but I’m thankful to my mother who never allowed that to happen. Most will never know what those kids may become in the future. If people were all considered equal, do you think that we would have the issues about gender and everything in the society?

Many people says that we people can make a lot of changes together if we can make decisions together. If we stand together without who is a man or woman, we can all achieve a lot.

My dream is to see everyone being accepted for who they are and where they come from. Let us work as one and we will achieve much together.

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