{"id":41,"date":"2012-08-08T15:52:00","date_gmt":"2012-08-08T15:52:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wordsonsoil.co.za\/?p=41"},"modified":"2012-08-08T15:52:00","modified_gmt":"2012-08-08T15:52:00","slug":"the-empowerment-of-a-woman-has-a-far-bigger-impact","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wordsonsoil.co.za\/?p=41","title":{"rendered":"The empowerment of a woman has a far bigger impact"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n<\/a>The fact that the first National Women’s Day was only observed in February 1909 in the United States, tells us that the recognition of women\u2019s rights and emancipation elsewhere in the world has indeed come a very long way and has been long overdue. In all their struggles to date, women have encountered all sorts of hurdles, and yet giving up has never been an option!  Coming to think of it, what is it that women in general have not suffered over centuries: physical violence, sexual harassment, emotional abuse, as well as social, economic and political seclusion?  However, today women from all over the world and from all walks of life are uniting and focusing on a common goal of empowering themselves and the communities, and making this world a much better place. History is full of women whose lives and personal struggles continue to inspire generations. <\/span><\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n
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\nFor example, many women in the United States, such as Hillary Clinton, Michelle Obama and Oprah Winfrey have ceased opportunities presented them to make a difference in the lives of many people.<\/span><\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n
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\nIn Malawi President Joyce Banda, who started off as a school teacher, is wasting no time charting a clear path and implementing a strong vision for the total empowerment of her people. She is one of the few women who are showing the world what women in power can do!  With over 13-million people depending on her, this lady is keeping her eye on the ball by weeding out seeds that have given the country a reputation of bad governance and poor human rights record.<\/span><\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n
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\nIn Nigeria, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, that country\u2019s finance minister, continues to not only crunch the numbers, but her recent participation on the World Bank\u2019s Presidential election shows that women have got what it takes to contribute to global development and enriching the lives of others. She is credited for treading where many feared to tread – normalising the chaotic banking system in her country. We can expect to see more of this stalwart on the global platform.<\/span><\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n
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\nIn South Africa, we have the likes of Dr. Mamphela Ramphele, who is widely known for her love for books and fight for social justice.  This successful and assertive woman continues to be the voice of the voiceless in more ways than one.  Another influential South African woman is Dr Dlamini-Zuma, the first African Union (AU) female leader, a hardworking and victorious individual who now sits at the helm of the AU and although she does not promise to turn Africa into paradise, she has already expressed her wish of running an inclusive region.  She believes in the enourmous power of women. <\/span><\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n
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\nThe list of such influential women is endless. All these outstanding women have the power to stand up and take charge of their economic, political and social – irrespective of the field or geography and in so doing, they impact on the lives of others in a remarkable yet graceful manner.  Ensuring that the community at large is the main beneficiary is always their objective.  One such uncelebrated lady is Zanele Mbeki, the founder member of Women Development Bank (WDB), over and above being a social worker – this lady is deeply committed to the social upliftment and economic empowerment of women.  It is Mrs Mbeki who strongly and forever emphasize that women\u2019s contribution, as workers, entrepreneurs and managers of family and community welfare is central to the functioning of households, communities and the nation to tackle a variety of challenges.<\/span><\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n
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\nAs we celebrate Women\u2019s, Day I cannot help but smile wholeheartedly as I realize that indeed when women fight for a cause, it is not a selfish one but a cause that is aimed at benefiting the overall community.  It is women such as these who constantly inspire the younger generation, they position a brighter future, really all is up for grabs.  Of course it does not all end in celebration, a lot of time, energy and work continue to go into the \u201cstruggle\u201d.  As Nelson Mandela says \u201cafter climbing a great hill, one only finds that there are many more hills to climb\u201d so there is still more to be achieved. 
As for now I can confidently agree that truly the socio-economic empowerment of a woman has a far bigger impact on the family and children \u2026.the children of the universe!<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The fact that the first National Women’s Day was only observed in February 1909 in the United States, tells us that the recognition of women\u2019s rights and emancipation elsewhere in the world has indeed come a very long way and has been long overdue. In all their struggles to date, women have encountered all sorts […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-41","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordsonsoil.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordsonsoil.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordsonsoil.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordsonsoil.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordsonsoil.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=41"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wordsonsoil.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordsonsoil.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=41"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordsonsoil.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=41"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordsonsoil.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=41"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}