Ain’t I a Woman?
What is going on? There is a war on women!
What week and a half it has been!
I could not keep silent on this matter. I had to write the anguish which has been corked up in my heart threatening to pop and gush forth like an erupting volcano.
The tragic event in Plymouth,UK, the ongoing situation in Afghanistan, the urgent plight of the women in Mexico, the shocking attack of a female Tik Toker in Pakistan: women, it would appear, are under attack.
A man trying to escape Afghanistan with his wife and family said this in an article published by the Independent newspaper on Thursday 19th August 2021.
“I was with my family, one of the Taliban got angry at something my wife said and started beating her with a stick. I got these injuries trying to protect her. The man was actually trying to reach around me to hit her. They seem to like hitting women,” he said.(My own emphasis added.)
Sadly, unfortunately and tragically, what has been quoted by a family man in Afghanistan, seems to be a refrain the whole world over.
This is not a new phenomenon, however, it seems as though there is more of a concerted attack on women in recent weeks and months. Each day brings yet another story of a woman or women being attacked or killed. Why? Because she is or was a woman.
Chorused together are many voices all expressing their deep concern and urging those that have the power to do what they can to protect women. These voices are speaking their lived truth.
Speaking your truth is never easy, never has been!
Sojourner Truth was an African-American abolitionist and women’s rights activist. She famously said, ‘Truth is powerful and it prevails.’ She spoke her truth and ever since then, women have been asking the same question Truth did in her well-known speech, ‘Ain’t I a woman?’
Ain’t I a woman to be treated with respect, dignity and honour? Ain’t I a woman not to be mistreated, manipulated and maligned? Ain’t I a woman to be cherished, loved and valued?
Ain’t I a woman?
Yes, I am.
I am lending my voice to the many others who are speaking up for those who cannot speak their own words or lift up their own voices. Together, we can be the sound of the shackles unlocking for those who have yet to find their liberty, the encirclement of a warm hug for those who have only experienced the smash of a fist, the day breaking for those who have only seen the darkest night.
I am a woman.
A woman who has asked herself the very same question and is now finding the answers. Continue to journey with me as we seek, knock, ask, for we shall find. Found, will be our true selves, our true womanhood; when we find it, others will have to acknowledge our true selves also and affirm us in what we know to be the truth in our inner beings.
We are women, precious and valuable in His eyes. For God created us, redeemed us; we are worthy and deserving of love, care and respect.
Are you not a woman?
Yes, you are; so speak your truth however you can, wherever you can and do not let the essence of who God created you to be, be extinguished by those who have not accepted that they are loved by God, therefore, they act in hate and indifference.
Speaking you truth is never easy, but then ultimately, neither is keeping silent.
Until next time.
Love & Blessings
