The 7 Wonders of Nigeria’ and given these two events in March 2009, I feel this would be an appropriate time to honour the Nigerian Woman as a wonder of Nigeria. The Nigerian Woman has continued to show resilience despite the challenges she faces. I am sure that readers will agree with me that the Nigerian Woman definitely merits a mention as a wonder of Nigeria.

The Nigerian woman is extraordinary. She pops up at every equation that captures Nigeria. She is the trader on the street, the tiller of the ground and keeper of the home - the economic powerhouse of the nation. She is the mother and at the same time father of the children, a position some men have voluntarily, if unknowingly, relinquished. She combines a full time job with mothering four children, wife to a demanding husband, holding down a major role in Church and studying for a PhD in Applied Science. She is the multi-tasker no one expects to complain.

Without the Nigerian woman, there would be no Nigeria. She is the spine of the nation by virtue of being the spine of her husband, the spine of her children and the spine of the extended family. She stays up to encourage her studying children whilst her husband is fast asleep. She still has to rise long before dawn to prepare food and plan the day. She is indefatigable, indestructible and indescribable.

She accepts her husband’s indiscretions with dignity and takes his intransigency on the chin. She deals with her societal-imposed minority role with utmost diplomacy. She smiles whilst suffering. She executes her role with the utmost diligence.

The Nigerian woman is the ultimate homebuilder, engineer, medical personnel, arbitrator between children and father, advocate on behalf of the children, human resource specialist, Operations Manager, the Prime Minister of the family government, the teacher of manners and etiquette, the prayer intercessor and the attentive listener.

She comes in every shade of colour, shape and style. There are eight types of Nigerian women - The fair-skin and the dark-skin; the slim figured (lepa) and the amply shaped (orobo); the short and the tall; the effizy one and the traditional.

The Nigerian woman is stylish. Whatever her age; style and looking good are indelibly programmed into her DNA. She relishes the beauty of her naturally tanned skin, full lips and her thick, strong and healthy hair. She is effervescent and drop-dead gorgeous. She believes that God spent extra time on her and this makes her unrepentantly confident. She is confident of her natural allure, confident of her body and confident of the future.

As a girl-child, she already has a routine of making her hair every week. She is big time into cleanliness and may even shower twice a day. She will speak with boldness and will not be led astray by anyone.

Between 18 to early twenties, she knows how to style her hair into different looks on a daily basis. She is either in the last lap of University or doing her national service. It is also possible that she is working in an oil company, Bank or pursuing a Masters programme.

At mid-twenties, she has a clear mental plan of her future. She knows what she wants, the type of man that will complement her plan for success in life. Except she chooses to be deceived, an average Nigerian woman in her twenties is too mentally and emotionally sophisticated to fall for any silly trick.

In her 30s, the Nigerian woman is an established businesswoman who knows every nook and cranny of Naples,Dubai, Milan and the outback of Guangzhou. Whether she has a shop in downtown Isale-Eko or the upmarket Isaac John Street in GRA Ikeja, she is financially savvy, hardworking and consistent.

Nowadays, there is no industry or vocation in which the Nigerian woman is not actively involved. The other day I met a lady who says she is a landscape gardener. There are also women motor mechanics, photographers and Danfo bus drivers.

Nigeria women do not settle for the dictate that a girl’s fame and fortune depend on her beauty, they will rather combine beauty with brain and brawn. At a period in 2006, the Director General of the Nigerian Stock Exchange, the Foreign Minister, the Finance Minister and the head of the Food and Drugs Agency inNigeria were all women.

The Nigerian woman is also in many instances the unassuming, quiet woman at home, the one who sold puff-puffand carried load on her head amongst other things to send her children to school (like my mother did). She is the one who plays second fiddle to her husband at her daughter’s wedding and subjugates her personal ambition to that of her husband’s.

The Nigerian woman is still, sadly repressed in many of our cultures and traditions but the future is hers. I have no doubt that the Nigerian woman is ably qualified for a Nobel Prize in longsuffering, sheer industry and nation building.

For her strength, indestructibility, dignity and her contribution to nation-building, the Nigerian woman deservedly is a wonder of Nigeria if not a wonder of the world. PostcardfromLagos

blah blah blah. Is that why you treat her like sh!t?

michelin89:

blah blah blah. Is that why you treat her like sh!t?

So true. They are the backbone of the family. They let go of a lot of things just to keep the family together, just for the children to have a close family unit. Educated or not, Nigerian women are resilient. I have seen women with babies tied at their backs with huge trays of agege bread, fish, etc, walking for hours on end, hawking their goods just to provide for their families. I can't do that. For that I applaud them. What a disgrace to these hardworking mothers when university girls of my time lay on their backs for money.

stillwater:

So true. They are the backbone of the family. They let go of a lot of things just to keep the family together, just for the children to have a close family unit. Educated or not, Nigerian women are resilient. I have seen women with babies tied at their backs with huge trays of agege bread, fish, etc, walking for hours on end, hawking their goods just to provide for their families. I can't do that. For that I applaud them. What a disgrace to these hardworking mothers when university girls of my time lay on their backs for money.

Money for hand, back for ground

Our women una well done o.

Quit d sermon n give d woman a helping hand. She is no slave!