Her Plight by James S. Namalira, Nigeria

A true life experience of Kozito Eze

I was in Lagos for the weekend for a couple of meetings and other personal arrangements sometime in May. I had to make the quick trip totally unplanned, because of how personally important securing bags is to me. But, I had to make a quick return to my unfinished business in Abuja. So, while on my way to the airport, I decided to book a quick appointment in Abuja to catch up with so I can round up and be on my way to The Hilton as soon as possible, for the African Union meeting I had. So, I placed a call and booked a meeting with the lady I was supposed to see, and she agreed that we would meet after work. My flight was scheduled at 5pm and I would be in Abuja by 6. Unforeseen circumstances are predictable when flying locally, and my flight got delayed. Long story short, I got to Abuja by 7pm.

Hoping I could still meet up with my appointment, I called to know where we could meet up. But this time, she sounded quite toned down and informed me that she wouldn’t be able to make it because it was late.

Now let’s look at this…

Normally if it was a date, I would flare up or get pissed at her, not caring for the circumstances around her decision. But critically looking at it, when a girl says it’s late, it basically means that it’s not safe for her to be outside by that time. Think about it!

A guy hardly tells you it’s too late to come out. In fact, most guys chill out when it’s late. But girls can’t. And don’t. And even if they do, it has to be in the company of guys. Have you ever asked yourself why?

You think these girls don’t want to chill?

You think late night hangouts can’t be as fun for them as it is for us?

But they really can’t, because 1 out of every 4 assault crime is targeted towards a woman.

You would say that isn’t much cause the rest of the 3 is targeted towards men.

But the thing is, it’s usually men on men and men on women. Hardly women on men or women on women.

Hard truth!

Again…

According to most researches, it’s more dangerous to be a woman than to be a soldier in modern conflict.

That is to say, that a soldier on a battlefield in this age is safer than a random woman anywhere in the world.

It sounds absurd but, remember, in recent times safety military gears help reduce combat casualties to the barest minimum.

Again, out of the 800,000 people trafficked internationally 80% of them are women sold into sexual slavery.

Yup!

Most of the ‘missing person’ posts you sharing on social media are victims of such businesses.

Women!

I know some of y’all will be surprised Kizito is writing about women again and not in a bad light.

Well, let me finish.

Women walk around in a constant state of fear. It’s so bad that Benz couldn’t even walk downstairs alone at night within the compound back then on campus. Not even out or Within. And I’m sure 90% of women feel very unsafe walking by themselves at night.

Mostly from fear of being raped!

Crazy! Well, go ahead and try to put the blame on what women wear and how much they drank, as a reason for them to be raped. The crazier part is you can’t even abort pregnancy from rape, as it’s illegal in most countries. The craziest part is, in most countries, a man who raped a woman and got her pregnant can sue for the custody of the child. And, hey, also remember, it’s legally impossible to rape your wife in most countries too!

Back in UNN, one of my female friends was always being harassed by boys in school. You know – they were asking her out and all and she wasn’t interested, so they threatened to beat her up, and she came to tell me. I had to tell her to start telling them I was her boyfriend, so they will leave her alone. It worked though, but once it started going around that I was her boyfriend, I got into trouble with my actual girlfriend.

Point is, it’s like a woman needs a man to be safe from other men.

Hooooow?

That’s why married women are respected way more than single women.

How do women need men to feel safe from other men? Are they not humans too?

Hey!

Remember, every human being started off as female embryo! That’s why you, as a guy, have a long line on your scrotum! Yup! That line there was supposed to be a pussy, and that’s why we also have nipples as men, just because we started off in the womb as females.

Why do we feel superior to females?

Why are we a danger to them?

PS: this is not even about feminism.

I’m just pissed I couldn’t meet up with my appointment because men make the world unsafe for women.

And it’s not fair!