Male Empowerment: “There aren’t many good men teaching boys to be great men” – Slum2School Africa Founder Otto Orondaam

Otto Orondaam, the founder of Slum2School Africa, took to his Instagram page this morning to share an insightful piece on the empowerment of the boy child, and men in general.

Slum2School Africa is a volunteer-driven organisation providing education to children living in slums and remote communities in Africa,

Read Orondaam’s post below:

Over the years our girls have been taught to take care of the home, their children & husband while the boys have been taught to work & provide for the family.

Our Tradition & Religion taught us that the woman complements the man. But does that make her inferior to him & should that make her equal to him?

Today there’s a gradual shift in that narrative. Modernization and egalitarianism is increasing. Women are now bread winners & men are becoming homemakers. Some wives now earn more than their husbands.

Good women are rising to teach girls to be better women but sadly there aren’t many good men teaching boys to be great men.

When marriages fail it’s not always the woman’s fault, the man also shares a huge responsibility.

Not because he didn’t want to be a great husband but the society taught him that (it) is his right to be served & it is okay to be polygamous.

When there is crime in the society, it’s 4 times more likely to be the man than the woman. Our prisons have 90% more men than women.

80% of suicide cases occur with men due to social pressure to be a man & be strong.

The use of drugs & narcotics is 70% more with boys than girls. And school dropout is gradually increasing with boys.

In all (these) there is less still focus in training the boy child to be a better man, husband & father.

If we build the boy child as well we would have bridged most of the social gaps. We would see more marriages last longer, less infidelity, less crime & corruption, less rape, substance abuse & violence.

If we build our boys early we wouldn’t have to spend much empowering & training our girls to be better wives because they naturally are.

The fight for gender equality for women will go on as it has, even though the focus should be gender equity, but it’s high time we did something to enhance the knowledge & integrity of the boy child.

We need the full responsibility from our men & women, boys & girls. When we fail for the men today, just like we had failed for women decades ago, we create a circle & someday we might have to focus on the empowerment of the boy child only because he was forgotten.

#OttoOrondaam#EquityNotEquality#LetsDoMore#EveryChildMatters

Photo Credit: Instagram – @otto_orondaam