Burdens and Strength of Womanhood

By Bukola B. Ogundipe

This book, “The Burdens of Womanhood” is an effect on what being a woman signifies, the different experiences women goes through, the burdens of their pains from the individual to general and general to personal. An inquisitive reader of the book may ask the normative question of what being a woman really stands for. From a personal expression being a woman means being able to be powerful and assertive, yet kind at the same time. It means being compassionate and vulnerable towards those we love in our live without feeling weak for doing so. It means striving for our goals even in the face of the adversity we may encounter along the way. Women are special for many reasons. They are the most sensitive, caring and maternal people in the world. Women are very sympathetic towards people and things. They use both sides of the brain and men do not.

Women play a variety of significant roles in a society from their birth till the end of life. However, after all women have done in the past and continue to do so today, they are still seen as weak because men are still considered the stronger gender of the society. A woman will always be considered beneath her husband, her male classmates and her male co-worker in general society. No matter how much she succeeds in her life as a homemaker or a powerful business women, she will never be able to gain the respect of a man doing the same thing. A woman could do all or any household duty without any appreciation, but a man is held on a pedestal for doing the exact same thing.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Nov 25, 2021
• ISBN: 9781669801122

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Copyright © 2021 by Bukola B. Ogundipe.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Rev. date: 11/24/2021

Xlibris

844-714-8691

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Acknowledgement

2. Introduction

3. A Rundown

4. What being a Woman Means?

5. Women and Leadership

6. Women in Society: The Nigerian Example

7. Women and the Family

8. The Habour of Hope

9. Experience

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

M y profound gratitude goes to God Almighty, who has been generous in His guidance, protection and providence. I return all glory to God for the success of this book. It is by His grace that I have successfully come to the end of this first experience as a writer and author..

I wish to express my profound gratitude to my parents - my father, Chief Oni Gideon Ogundipe and my mother, late Mrs. Awake Christiana Falola Ogundipe for setting my foot on the good path of life. Also my Children who are my backbones, I appreciate all your support at all times and I pray that the good Lord will continually keep us strong and successful together. Your patience and understanding of being with me through the pressures of life and coping with the challenges of achieving this project remain huge in my heart. You are always there for me through the thick and thin - trying times of life. I deeply love you all.

Special thanks goes to some very special individuals who have propelled me at one time or the other towards making life meaningful. Ensure Family Though situations often separates us but coming across you all in my journey of life and success have been more of blessings to my whole world. I sincerely appreciate you all.

Finally, the staff of Bold 247 Foundation Inc. and Boldnews247 Media LLC in Lagos, Abuja –Nigeria and United States, thank you all for the dedication, support and encouragement. You are all well appreciated in my heart. I also appreciate the efforts of all those who supported me in the course of researching for this book and for availing me the much – needed conducive environment to conduct research and for making materials available to me on all subjects of discourse. May God bless your paths.

To my friends and colleagues, thanks for keeping me on my toes and encouraging me when the chips were down and for other various contributions.

To myself, I will not forget the grace of God Almighty on me towards seeing this project and many others as they come to fruition. It can only be God. Thank you for making the ideal woman out of me for your glory.

Bukola Blessing Ogundipe,

Houston Texas,

United States,

November, 2021

INTRODUCTION

Every woman is a strong woman. The things we endure and emulate, the struggles but also the successes that we have all shared make us strong. It is impossible for a woman to not be strong. We are born of strength and we walk with it every day. Look around you at your mothers, your sisters, your daughters and tell me you do not see strength? Whether she is silent or outspoken, she is strong.

It is not right to generalize or to say that one characteristic belongs to women only, but we should admire how so many women make so much out of nothing. How they have created opportunity out of closed doors, how they have broken ceilings and built the lives they want for themselves. When you hear these incredible stories from women in all walks of life, from single mothers working two jobs to give their children a beer life, to businesswomen who are passionate to change the world. No maer the women, no maer her circumstance, never count her out, or presume to know what she is capable of. A woman has no limitations, she can do anything she puts her mind to, such is her strength.

Obviously, ask a question about what are the strength of womanhood, you will get different answers depending on the woman but speaking as one with the passion to see women succeed, let me make it plain. No doubt, a woman’s greatest strength is her mind. She can outsmart a man, with her mind! She can talk circles around her boss, with her mind! She can teach her child to grow up strong, with her mind! She is allowed to be the proudest woman alive, with her mind! A woman’s physical appearance is temporary but constantly growing one’s mind is the sexiest. Yes, a man will tell you your looks is what caught his eyes but it’s your mind that will keep him. They may not act like it but men like to be kept engaged. How do you keep a man engaged? Yes, we all seem to know the most acclaimed way.

How does women feel being neglected or unaccepted? As a woman, sometimes this scenario often play out. At a time women were not equally accepted. Women were overlooked and shadowed upon, but over the course of the years, they have proven to be some phenomenal people. Some strengths of a woman that stand out to me are: power and courage. Starng with power as mentioned before women were not always treated equally, however women have managed to earn rights such as voting, getting an education, joining the military, and working in the same career fields as men. Moving along, women are courageous.

Courage says a lot about oneself and personally in my point of view, it brings value to a woman’s character. Being that if you have courage, you are willing to take risks and do things that are outside of the box regardless of anyone’s options or approvals. This is why all women out there should always stay true to themselves and never let their crowns lt.

With being a woman, there comes a lot of factors. Sometimes people may stereotype us as crazy or always having to be right but honestly what would the world be without us? Not everyone is perfect, but women do have many strengths that make us stand out. Besides from being sensitive and emotional at times, we are strong, independent, motivational individuals. Take a look from our different point of views of women the world over, some of us are mothers and some of us are working and in school for instance. As a mother myself, it has made me a stronger person.

No doubt, the strengths of women are varied. Every women has a certain resilience about her that she has kind of adapted over me for survival. She has to be strong enough to raise families, to rise against inequality, even fighting societal pressure set for her and breaking those stigmas. And sometimes just for herself in order to just make it to another day. But it is that drive and vision within her to get things done that constantly pushes her. Sometimes women are strong by requirement, not always because they want to be, but because they have to protect themselves. But everyday, women break down barriers and doors that were once closed to them.

From time immemorial, women were blessed with many strengths. One being our intuition of course having that ability to be able sense when there is something going on or wrong is one of our many super powers. A few others such as compassion and empathy is also something that sets them apart from the opposite sex. Our greatest strength of them all however is to be able to carry another human being in our body for 9 months and nurture them along the way. Women are amazing, we are very strong and we take a lot from the world. Some of us are single mothers such who have to tap into our strength of determination and perseverance to