It’s OK for women to step up and take leadership positions, but it’s not OK for men to abandon their post as God-ordained leaders.
Bright Onapito
At about 6:00PM I arrived at Speke Apartments in Kololo, an upscale suburb in Kampala. I had to manoeuvre through the evening traffic to get there. After signing the attendance register, the nice lady at the reception directed me to the cycling studio. It had been a couple of years since I last rode a bike and so I was ecstatic. Cycling is fun but more importantly, it’s a great way to stay in shape. Considering that there are hardly any cycling lanes or cycling-friendly areas in Kampala, it can be quite frankly a dangerous adventure biking on the streets. Riding a studio bike on the hand on the other hand is mostly safe. In any case, you cycle on on the spot!
When I entered the studio, the atmosphere was thick with adrenaline and a myriad of musks. Everyone was busy cycling away to the rhythm of pump-up music. The instructor was doing an excellent job hyping the spinners (fancy word for cyclers) and ensuring everyone was in sync.
I quickly took up my position on a bike at the back of the studio, took a deep breath and joined the fray.
As I began to cycle, from my vantage position at the back, I quickly noticed something interesting. When I scanned across the room, I realized that out of the 16 or so spinners, there were only 2 men. I was the third. I was intrigued. Cycling is a High-Intensity Training (HIT) activity and so ideally I thought I would find the studio full of men. I was wrong. Where were the men?
While I was still processing this information, I was also struggling to keep up the pace. I mean, I am tall, lean and generally fit. I have an excellent body fat ratio. All of that meant nothing because things were tight! Meanwhile, the ladies were spinning so effortlessly and giving me a run for my money. They were so fit and empowered, I was somewhat envious, but it was beautiful to behold.
Through all of this, there was only one question on my mind: where are the men?
From a statistical perspective, the most recent numbers show that the ratio of women to men in Uganda is almost equally split at 1:1
So ideally, there should have been at least as many men as women in that studio. What was I missing?
In 1990 affirmative action was introduced as government policy to increase the participation of women in politics and enrolment of girls in education.
A generation later, there’s evidence that this policy has achieved relatively significant success. At the time of writing, out of the 31 cabinet ministers, 13 (41 percent) are women. As per the national constitution, not less than one-third of all political offices are reserved for women in the country.
There are also 189 women members of parliament out of 556.
Enrolment of girls into public universities has increased from 25% in 1990 to 49% in 2020. Even in secondary and primary schools, girl enrolment has significantly increased. Recently, a friend of mine was telling me that in a certain top primary school, girls had become so many that the school administration waived admission requirements so as to attract more boy students.
There has been a lot of deliberate effort to empower girls and women not just in Uganda but in the world as a whole and these efforts are showing positive results.
It’s no longer uncommon to find organizations with equal or even more women than men.
In the leadership domain, women are stepping up to lead. Many of the top positions in the leading telecom companies, banks, law firms, non-government organizations and even churches are occupied by women.
However, it now appears that men are now somewhat taking the back seat given that women have been empowered.
A study by the University of Nairobi on the effects of affirmative action in education on the boys in secondary schools showed that the boy child is slowly slipping into the position of the girl child years ago.
In the leadership spaces that I am in, women out-number men 8 to 2. We can see this trend extending to families. The number of single-mother families is on the increase. In the US one-third (roughly 24 million children) under the age of 18 live in single parent homes. 81% of those single parent homes are headed by a mom.
Some people might look at these statistics with glee. After all, women have been empowered, right?
Certainly the efforts to empower women are very welcome, I applaud them. The dilemma however is that men are going to find themselves in the very position women have been for a very long time.
I strongly believe families – and nations by extension – are stronger when fathers take their rightful place to lead.
A good friend of mine called Grace Nyakaana in her book The Father’s Effect couldn’t have put it better:
The repercussions of fatherlessness go beyond statistics. The absence of a father figure can significantly impact a child’s development, leading to a lack of guidance, emotional support, and a sense of security. Children raised in fatherless homes often grapple with higher rates of delinquency, low self-esteem, and behavioral issues. The absence of a father’s presence and influence leaves a void that can often lead to a search for identity and belonging, sometimes resulting in negative outcomes, such as criminal behavior or involvement in antisocial activities.
Grace Nyakaana, The Father’s Effect
It’s OK for women to step up and take leadership positions, but it’s not OK for men to abandon their post as God-ordained leaders.
It’s high time men all over the world remember that the world still needs them.
So, I will ask out loud this time, where are the men? It’s time for the men to stand up be counted.
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