Looking at the structure of the family unit all over the world one thing is still very evident.The woman is in charge of the home. She has the responsibility to ensure that regardless of what happens the home still run's efficiently.
Mother's raising children as single parents are the soul providers to all their children's needs and will often do all it takes to ensure their children get all they need.
Mother's who have been bereft have to take up the role played by the diseased partner.
Women whose spouses who do not take care of their family responsibilities often end up being the bread winners of the family.
This can easily be seen around us and that's why many women organisations or locally known chamas have increased to help women achieve their goals, get educated and start saving plans that help all the members involved to build a better tomorrow for their families.
The children that come out of these homes(me and you) more often than not will still need the help of their mothers because motherhood is a lifetime job . Examine your own life and see your own need for your mother or for a person who you consider a mother figure and see that at the end of the day as long as she is able she will do what it takes to ensure her family is ok.
Over the past few years, there has been an upsurge in high level political will .
Evidenced most recently in the United Nations Secretary General’s Global Strategy for Women’s and Children’s Health. Use of services, especially those for sexual and reproductive health, has increased in some countries.
Two important factors that influence women’s health namely, school enrolment rates for girls and greater political participation of women - have risen in many parts of the world.
But we are not there yet. In too many countries, “women’s empowerment” remains a pipe dream little more than a rhetorical flourish added to a politician’s speech. Too many women are still missing out on the opportunity to get educated, support themselves, and obtain the health services they need, when they need them.
Most organisations, politicians and people in general feel the minimum they do is sufficient as long as they write a few empty cheques to support woman and children they have done their good deed for the year.What happens the rest of the year? Needs don't change!
When I lie awake thinking of women and their health globally, I remind myself: the world has made a lot of progress in recent years. We know more, and we are getting better at applying our knowledge. At providing young girls a good start in life.
Writing this post as a daughter, a woman and most importantly a mother to a daughter. I am clearly aware of the factors that affect women.
Major life events such as pregnancy, motherhood and menopause can create major stresses for some women.
Negative life experiences such as poverty, discrimination, violence, unemployment and isolation can also impact on women's mental health and well-being.
Gender roles and unequal economic and social relations between men and women in our community may also contribute to women's higher risk of depression.
Research shows that men tend to talk more in meetings, while women are interrupted more, given less credit for their ideas, and have less overall influence.yet the best thinking doesn’t always come from those who talk the most in meetings. It’s been shown that the smartest teams are the ones that know how to draw out the value and voices of everyone in the room. The quietest person might have the breakthrough answer.
The secret to change is not fighting the old but building on the new and with this kind of mind set we will create new customs that help empower uplift and build a world with infinite possibilities
Same-sex attraction is still a very huge factor...(see my post on lgbt community in kenya)
Maternal health: Many women are now benefitting from massive improvements in care during pregnancy and childbirth introduced in the last century. But those benefits do not extend everywhere women die from complications in pregnancy and childbirth. Most of these deaths could have been prevented, had access to family planning and to some quite basic services been in place. Worst cases doctors and hospitals/clinics charge high rates where as the government ensures funding to these institutions to ensure it to be a free service.
HIV: Three decades into the AIDS epidemic, it is young women who bear the brunt of new HIV infections. Too many young women still struggle to protect themselves against sexual transmission of HIV and to get the treatment they require. This also leaves them particularly vulnerable to tuberculosis - one of the leading causes of death in low-income countries of women 20–59 years.
Sexually transmitted infections: like gonorrhoea, chlamydia and syphilis. Untreated syphilis is responsible for more than 200,000 stillbirths and early foetal deaths every year, and for the deaths of over 90 000 newborns.
Violence against women: Women can be subject to a range of different forms of violence, but physical and sexual violence either by a partner or someone else is particularly invidious. Today, one in three women under 50 has experienced physical and/or sexual violence by a partner, or non-partner sexual violence violence which affects their physical and mental health in the short and long-term. It’s important for health workers to be alert to violence so they can help prevent it, as well as provide support to people who experience it.(see my post on gender based violence)
Mental health: Evidence suggests that women are more prone than men to experience anxiety, depression, and somatic complaints physical symptoms that cannot be explained medically. Depression is the most common mental health problem for women and suicide a leading cause of death for women under 60 (see my post on suicide). Helping sensitize women to mental health issues, and giving them the confidence to seek assistance, is vital.
Noncommunicable diseases: In 2012, some 4.7 million women died from noncommunicable diseases before they reached the age of 70 most of them in low- and middle-income countries. They died as a result of road traffic accidents, harmful use of tobacco, abuse of alcohol, drugs and substances, and obesity more than 50% of women are overweight Helping girls and women adopt healthy lifestyles early on is key to a long and healthy life
Getting older: Older women may have fewer pensions and benefits, less access to health care and social services than their male counterparts. Combine the greater risk of poverty with other conditions of old age, like dementia, and older women also have a higher risk of abuse and generally, poor health.
We need to raise Strong girls and equip them well for this hard world.A woman has the ability to build a foundation that creates change and it's about time we take this issue as serious as it is and help improve on it.To educate girls is to reduce poverty.
I will end this post with a quote that says "To succeed the desire to succeed should over weigh one own's fear of failure."
