|
Somali Women: The
Better Half of the Society
By M. J. Farah
(Boston,
June 04,
2010 Ceegaag Online)
Somali women are the basis on which Somali society continues
to thrive and exist. They take care of the household
chores, they work, they raise children, they keep the family
together, and they regularly send money to the extended
families back home in Somalia. Despite Somali women being
extremely busy, they are emerging as the educated majority
within the Somalis. Strangely, they are not visible in the
Somali political theater. Since they are undoubtedly the
educated majority, they should be empowered to take the
lead, as Somalia needs their intellectual assets. Unless
they realize how crucial they are in this time of Somali
political catastrophe, they will continue to remain the
dormant majority.
Somalia, as a nation, was not destroyed by clan infighting;
it was destroyed by the decisions of corrupted male leaders
supported and empowered by Somali women. In 1990, there
were two big institutions led by men, the Somali government
led by former President Siad Barre and United Somali
Congress (USC) by General Mohamed Aidid.
In retrospect, Somali women were active participants in the
conflict as they were the cheerleaders of the institutions
which led Somalia down the wrong path. Somali women were
carrying the waters, singing and chanting words of
empowerment behind the fighting men. They were collecting
money and buying weapons in support of the warring men in
the battle-fields. Small numbers of Somali women were
carrying the weapons. However, the majority of them were
encouraging and empowering the men to fight the aimless
civil unrest. Consequently, these women suffered the most
in the conflict.
Since they were demonstrably part of the conflict, they are
part of the solution as well. Educated and enlightened
Somali women must organize and focus with intensity to take
the lead in turning Somalia away from the current
destructive path, to a constructive trajectory.
As the leader of Somalia for over twenty years, Barre’s
administration could have prepared and trained young leaders
and left them behind for the country as a legacy of his
administration. Unfortunately, this did not happen and
individuals with no strategic foresight brought the nation
to its ruin.
Somalia had a centralized governmental system where power
was concentrated in the capital of Mogadishu. Therefore, the
general feeling was that whoever controlled the capital
controlled the nation. Upon Barre’s departure from the
Somali political scene, ill-prepared individuals from
various institutions such as the USC, headed by the late
General Mohamed Aidid, took over the control of the capital
and made fatal decisions. The decisions of USC as an
institution were remarkably important, more than those of
other institutions that existed at that time. Somalis are
still living with its ill-conceived decisions. Somali women
and children are generally the ones that suffered the most,
like my own single mother who struggled with six of us in
the war-zone.
It is extraordinarily important that Somali women get
involved in the Somali political scene and it’s they, the
Somali women, who must break the cycle of violence. Despite
the media spin-doctors claiming that Somali clans are
obstacles to sustainable peace, clan differences are
important and they will continue to exist. They are nothing
more than constituencies with shared interests. They can be
used to build a nation or to destroy a nation, as in the
case of Somalia.
In same way that clans were used by corrupted leaders of
yesterday to destroy Somalia, they can be used to build
Somalia as strong democratic nation. Somali women continue
to insist that Somali men prevent them from being active
participants of the Somali political sphere. This is,
largely, unsubstantiated. Somali women have important
decisions to make, they can continue to be whiners in
despair, or they can organize themselves around strong
institution and take the lead. In this dark chapter in
Somali history, Somalia desperately needs the intellectual
assets of all the segments of its society, especially the
Somali women who are becoming the absolute better half of
the society.
The visibility of the Somali women in the Somali political
sphere is remarkably important, and the time has come for
them to get involved in helping their men toward exercising
the right judgment for the sake of nation-building.
Since Somali women are the bedrock of the family, the
nation, and the head of many households, they have an
enormous say on whether the men in their homes decides to
build or to destroy. As a reminder, there is nothing left
in Somalia to be destroyed. Therefore, it is time to start
thinking about ways of putting the fractured Somalia back
together. If these women channel this political capital in
the right way, the results could be a democratic Somalia
with peace and prosperity. It is time, however, that they
get involved in the Somali political theater and correct the
self-destroying men of their nation.
There is an African proverb that says
"When elephants fight, it is the grass that suffers."
When warring men in Somalia engage in the battle-field, it
is the mothers and the children who suffer the most.
Therefore, Somali women have the greatest interest in
directing their men toward nonviolence, and in the language
of peace-making.
**M. J. Farah, M.Ed. is a financial aid counselor, lecturer
at BHCC.
He can be reached by email at:
sahan93@gmail.com.
webmaster@ceegaag.com |
