• @bellanaijaonline By @sommie__: It is no secret that we live in a world where women are marginalized for simply being, a world where there is such glaring gender-imbalance. In recent times, being a woman or feminist is somewhat “trendy.” However, the struggles that women are faced with are more than a trend and more than a hashtag. This is real life. International Women’s Day is celebrated annually on March 8. While it is a day to honor women and their corporate, social, economic and political achievements, it is also day for gender sensitization by shedding light on the roadblocks to equality that women face. The theme this year is #BalanceForBetter. The word balance means “An even distribution of weight enabling someone or something to remain upright and steady.” My take is this: when there is gender equality and inclusiveness, we get better results in all aspects of life. Admittedly, we have come a long way from the women before us, but we are not quite there yet. You may or may not be shocked to know that out of the thirty people who were conferred with the rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria in September 2018, only one of them was female. Shout out to Professor Oluyemisi Bamgbose. The same thing occurred in 2017, when Oluwatosin Bashorun was the only woman approved for the legal honor. Generally, only about 4.2% of senior advocates are female, and I argue that there are more female lawyers than male. The naysayers are for sure going argue that women do not do as much as men in legal practice and therefore are not deserving, this is a gross misconception and an attempt to further box us in. To the naysayers, check out the results of the 2018 bar final exams and get to know what women are really about. Now when it comes to politics, for the longest time, I was convinced that politics was not a woman’s game. I remember seeing only men on TV being applauded and in positions of power. This is proof that representation matters. As a young girl I found this abit strange and expressed that I would like to be the governor of Anambra State someday, just so a lady would be governor for a change. Continue reading on bellanaija.com/features (l