What do you want to be remembered for?
by Dr. Añulika Agina
While trying to read in a Bolt taxi I took from Ilupeju to Lekki Phase One on the 8th of March, I was ‘interrupted’ by a loquacious driver, who went on about how several men had failed to pay their fares at the end of each ride. The men would tell him, “I’ve transferred o”, “The money has gone” (while flashing their phones across his face) or “The money is not going…network problems; I’ll transfer it later”, but later never came. And so, the driver lost thousands of naira to these men. I sympathised with him, and tried again to read, but he continued talking. This time, he focused on one woman. Since he started working two years ago, only one woman has cheated him out of his eight thousand naira. He took her to the airport amidst Lagos traffic and they arrived barely 40 minutes to her departure time. She pleaded with him to hurry into the airport in order not to miss her flight. “I believed her, but she never paid me. I called and texted her several times until she said she would pay me with her body when next she was in Lagos!”
To be remembered on an International Women’s Day in such a pitiable manner is no testimony to women, but we could say that this is an isolated case. Indeed, it is! Before dismissing it too quickly, pause and think of what goes through the taxi driver’s mind whenever a female steps into his car. Why did he care to narrate his unpleasant episode to me? Undoubtedly, there are countless and unnamed inspirational women all over the world who will be remembered for the positive change that they have initiated and continue to promote. One of them is Nigeria’s Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, who now heads the World Trade Organisation (WTO). A colleague recently told me, to my amusement, that @NOIweala (to use her Twitter handle) is the real slay queen, not those who wear 100% human hair the length of a walking stick, or those who can afford the most expensive clothes or those who weaponise their bodies in different ways (no body shaming intended). Okonjo-Iweala will be remembered for the remarkable achievements she made as Finance Minister in Nigeria, and for what she is now doing in the international space at the WTO. Another woman who will be remembered for the social change she has been campaigning for is Malawi’s Memory Banda, who is fighting against child marriage in her small community and succeeding. Banda is from a humbler background and did not go to Harvard – pointers to the fact that all women can contribute positively to the common good regardless of their origin or history. Obviously, not all women will necessarily be national or international icons, but the small positive change they make wherever they are is important, should be encouraged and will be remembered by someone including a Bolt taxi driver.
In a world that seems to be dominated by the me-myself-and-I syndrome and a desire to take advantage of others to one’s personal gain, there is a lot of good that women can do in the society to reverse a self-centred approach to life. They have and can develop all it takes to be successful at home and in the public sphere, to be selfless and supportive of others, and to be proactive in the choice of their career and in attaining financial or any other kind of independence. But above all, women have all it takes to be remembered for what is noble and edifying.While trying to read in a Bolt taxi I took from Ilupeju to Lekki Phase One on the 8th of March, I was ‘interrupted’ by a loquacious driver, who went on about how several men had failed to pay their fares at the end of each ride. The men would tell him, “I’ve transferred o”, “The money has gone” (while flashing their phones across his face) or “The money is not going…network problems; I’ll transfer it later”, but later never came. And so, the driver lost thousands of naira to these men. I sympathised with him, and tried again to read, but he continued talking. This time, he focused on one woman. Since he started working two years ago, only one woman has cheated him out of his eight thousand naira. He took her to the airport amidst Lagos traffic and they arrived barely 40 minutes to her departure time. She pleaded with him to hurry into the airport in order not to miss her flight. “I believed her, but she never paid me. I called and texted her several times until she said she would pay me with her body when next she was in Lagos!”
To be remembered on an International Women’s Day in such a pitiable manner is no testimony to women, but we could say that this is an isolated case. Indeed, it is! Before dismissing it too quickly, pause and think of what goes through the taxi driver’s mind whenever a female steps into his car. Why did he care to narrate his unpleasant episode to me? Undoubtedly, there are countless and unnamed inspirational women all over the world who will be remembered for the positive change that they have initiated and continue to promote. One of them is Nigeria’s Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, who now heads the World Trade Organisation (WTO). A colleague recently told me, to my amusement, that @NOIweala (to use her Twitter handle) is the real slay queen, not those who wear 100% human hair the length of a walking stick, or those who can afford the most expensive clothes or those who weaponise their bodies in different ways (no body shaming intended). Okonjo-Iweala will be remembered for the remarkable achievements she made as Finance Minister in Nigeria, and for what she is now doing in the international space at the WTO. Another woman who will be remembered for the social change she has been campaigning for is Malawi’s Memory Banda, who is fighting against child marriage in her small community and succeeding. Banda is from a humbler background and did not go to Harvard – pointers to the fact that all women can contribute positively to the common good regardless of their origin or history. Obviously, not all women will necessarily be national or international icons, but the small positive change they make wherever they are is important, should be encouraged and will be remembered by someone including a Bolt taxi driver.
In a world that seems to be dominated by the me-myself-and-I syndrome and a desire to take advantage of others to one’s personal gain, there is a lot of good that women can do in the society to reverse a self-centred approach to life. They have and can develop all it takes to be successful at home and in the public sphere, to be selfless and supportive of others, and to be proactive in the choice of their career and in attaining financial or any other kind of independence. But above all, women have all it takes to be remembered for what is noble and edifying.