Even in the wake of the 21st-century, the issue of discrimination still remains topical. Combined with the problem of poverty and lack of educational resources, it takes a truly monstrous scale, affecting not only the lives of women in a number of regions of Africa, but also the entire African population, as the lack of qualified professionals takes its toll on the quality of the services provided for the residents of the state, not to mention the efficacy of the state’s policies in both home and foreign affairs.
In her speech regarding gender profiling in Africa in general and the lack of educational opportunities for African women in particular, Leymah Gbowee makes it obvious that the provision of equal opportunities in education for both male and female students is crucial to not only the social issues within the African community but also the political and economic status of the countries.
The speaker raises a range of other essential issues, which the global society in general and Liberia, in particular, are facing at the moment, and which may impede the fight against the disease. To be more specific, the fact that the rights of women are currently infringed in a number of countries, Liberia not being an exception, must be mentioned. Gbowee touches upon the discrimination problem lightly in her speech, yet it seems that the problem needs to be discussed more thoroughly.
According to what Gbowee says, across entire Africa, the right for education is a war for women. This is a major flaw of the current social system, which is tearing apart the very fabric of society. Though the phenomenon of discrimination may seem to have few links to the current global issues, including the ones that are related to political conflicts, it, in fact, affects the quality of the strategies that are used in order to advance complicated political situations (Gbowee para. 4).
The idea of education improvement is the key strategy in resolving political and cultural conflicts, in its turn, has its pros and cons. On the one hand, the quality of education, in general, has little to do with the solution of very specific political conflicts, which are triggered by unique sociocultural factors (Prah 50). On the other hand, it is the understanding of various cultures and the knowledge of psychology that allows for addressing political conflicts.
The specified skills, in their turn, are acquired in educational institutions and developed in the course of the academic progress. Therefore, the promotion of feminist ideas in Africa, especially the regions, where discrimination manifests itself in banning women from education completely, must be considered an essential step towards improving the wellbeing and health of people all over the world (Schulte para. para. 3).
Apart from the obvious link between education and politics, Gbowee also makes a valid point concerning the use of modern media as a tool for promoting important ideas regarding education among the African people.
Gbowee, therefore, may teach other activists a lesson about incorporating the latest technological innovations into the promotion of essential social ideas and making a movement against women’s rights infringement in African countries not only popular among the African people, but also famous all over the world.
It is crucial for the promoters of equal rights to have supporters for equity movement at present, and one must use any help that one can get to assist the women that are oppressed.
Works Cited
Gbowee, Leymah. “Nobel Peace laureate Leymah Gbowee: Ebola threatens to Derail a Decade of Peace.”The Guardian.2014.
Prah, Mansah. Insights Into Gender Equity, Equality and Power Relations in Sub-Saharan Africa. Addis Ababa, Ethiopia: Fountain Publishers. 2013. Print.
Schulte, Erin. “How Nobel Prize Winner Leymah Gbowee Unified Liberian Women.”Fast Company. 2011.