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Today is International Women's Day

Wed, 8 Mar 2017 Source: Lumor, Shallom

Today is International Women's Day,Â

Love a woman? , Save the

Environment!!

Women's Day is celebrated globally on 8th March every year in honour

of women and their remarkable contribution to our society.

This day, is worth

reminding us of the notable work of our women and our mothers.

The Global Theme is Â

 “#BeBoldForChange”

Action Aid’s theme: “#TaxJustice

for Women’s Rights Global Days of Action”Â

Ghana’s Theme: “Ghana is

beautiful, I love Ghana, it’s a peaceful country so investors can come and

invest”.

Shalom Word Foundation's theme for the celebration is “Love a woman?

Save the Environment!

The greatest abuse any of kind is, to destroy the

environment.

Anytime the environment is destroyed, the adverse effects are directly on

women.

Climate change, deforestation, and desertification are

leading to declining water supplies, that means women, and in some cases young girls,

might need to spend more time finding water — time that could otherwise be spent on

education or earning an income.

Â

Detrimental effects of climate change can be felt in

the short-term through natural hazards, such as landslides, floods and hurricanes;

and in the long-term, through more gradual degradation of the environment.Â

The

adverse effects of these events are already felt in many areas, including in relation

to, inter alia, agriculture and food security; biodiversity and ecosystems; water

resources; human health; human s

ettlements and migration patterns; and energy, transport and industry.Â

In many of

these contexts, women are more vulnerable to the effects of climate change than

men—primarily as they constitute the majority of the world’s poor and are more

dependent for their livelihood on natural resources that are threatened by climate

change.Â

Today, 80% of women are farmers, just to protect the home with food, yet the

men are running around destroying the environment.

Anytime the climate changes

the basic effects goes to the woman first. 90% of rural women are traders mostly seen

in the sun with their wares.

If the men will continue the cutting down of trees, then

they are intentionally increasing the hardship of women. If all the rivers dry up how

will women get water to irrigate their farms. If the sun is becoming warmer and

hotter, how will women manage their business under the hot sun.

Today, the basic thing anyone can do is to protect the environment.

 "Love a woman, save the

environment"

"If you want women to live longer, stop burning the

bush.

Frustration from the world against women

Since decades, women had struggled and

are still fighting to express their right to speech, to vote, to equality, to

education, to income and most importantly, to freedom. Women are symbol of Hope for

the nation, work, and family but unfortunately, across the world, women had to fight

for their independence and protection of rights.Â

From childhood, women always like

to have their first child as girls in order to help them take care of their younger

ones. You could find a girl as young as four years old taking care o

f her younger siblings, but with boys you cannot trust your little children with

them. From childhood, women have been custodians of important things.

A woman could

keep all the family safe and sound by providing food for them. Women are just

naturally caretakers, caregivers, nurtures and transformers. But over the years,

women have been subjected to discrimination and marginalization.

When a woman dresses

poorly they tag her as archaic and outmoded, when she dresses fancifully then she

becomes a sex object. The world is gradually positioning women on a stage where they

cannot do anything by themselves, while dictating when they should get married, when

they should afford their own houses etc.

The world wants women to please them rather

than women living their own lives and achieving their own success.

Hence women who

have risen above these frustrations must be celebrated, in order to urge and empower

other women to avoid intimidation.

Some families do not make women their family heads.

Some company cannot tolerate women bosses, some churches will not allow women to

preach yet, the battle is still on, and women are still fighting for recognition and

acceptance.

Even though society refuses to accept them, they won't give up either.

In homes and marriages, some husbands have decided to increase the

frustrations of their wives by using their fellow women against them. Bringing other

women home to compete with her, comparing them to other women, Â making them feel

useless and less important.

It looks like, the women are set as ruling presidents

whiles the husbands become opposition party leaders, criticizing everything the woman

does, just to make her frustrated. Making a woman fee

l less important signifies, an unworthy man.

In the corporate world, women are still

subjected to minor positions, it’s only a few companies who are raising the

standards of women, even most of them do not do this with 100% trust in them.

Today,

women must rise above such frustrations and stand up for what they stand for.

On this

note, I use this opportunity to celebrate my mother and woman of substance. Happy

birthday mummy.Â

May you continue to be celebrated

Columnist: Lumor, Shallom