LOUD WHISPERS: A Mother’s Lamentation
(For Modupe Deborah Atanda) Ikunle Abiyamo (The kneeling of the mother) That is what the Yorubas call it when women prepare to give birth It can be literal or figurative Whether the birth takes place as you push on your knees yelling yourself hoarse Or you lie with your feet spread wide apart while a […]
LOUD WHISPERS: The Library Card
Bisi Adeleye-Fayemi It has been thirty-seven years since I borrowed a library card At the Hezekiah Oluwasanmi Library at UNIFE (OAU) From a shy, handsome, gap-toothed classmate He came to my University for a degree He left with his degree and something else Three years later we walked down the aisle A simple beautiful ceremony […]
LOUD WHISPERS: Maputo Protocol At Twenty
Recently, I was invited by the Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA) to give a Keynote Address at their Africa Regional Congress which took place in Abuja. The theme was ‘MAPUTO PROTOCOL AND WOMEN IN AFRICA: DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY AS A VITAL TOOL FOR ACCELERATION’. This is an abridged version of my speech. In July 2003, the […]
LOUD WHISPERS: Bras and Panties
There is a message from the Students’ Representative Council (SRC) of the Federal Polytechnic, Ilaro, Ogun State. If you are a parent or guardian of a female student at the Polytechnic, please pay attention so that you can understand the message, ‘it is absolutely essential that you wear pants and a bra while on campus. […]
LOUD WHISPERS: Misogyny and Gynophobia
‘A hatred of women’ ‘Strong dislike of, contempt for, or ingrained prejudice against women’ ‘A form of sexism that is used to keep women at a lower social status than men’ These are some of the definitions of the word Misogyny that can be found in dictionaries. The origins of the word are from Greek ‘Misein’ […]
LOUD WHISPERS: The Online In-Laws
I don’t know if you read it I did The story about how a woman could not get pregnant She sought out her Pastor for counselling He dropped his trousers for divine anointing of her womb He instructed her to go straight home to her husband and get him to do the needful God would […]
LOUD WHISPERS: Sixty Random Thoughts
When I turned 60 recently, I figured that attaining this age needed to come with some perks. I thought about all the things I would normally not want to talk about, have the courage to say out loud, or admit to, things about myself that people might not know, or questions that I have been […]
LOUD WHISPERS: A Voice For Many Generations Ama Ata Aidoo (1942-2023)
One Saturday morning in the early 1990s in London, my husband was reading West Africa magazine and he called out to me, ‘Come and see this, you are being quoted here’. West Africa magazine was a weekly publication produced in London, which was taken seriously by its target audience of African scholars, activists, students, politicians and thought […]
LOUD WHISPERS: Blooming Into A New Season
I was asked to get to the studio at 10am. I was there at 9.50am. The plan was to do hair and make-up, then selection of outfits and accessories. This was my third photo shoot with the extraordinarily talented TY Bello – celebrity photographer, singer, producer, proud mother of twins. I did my first shoot […]
LOUD WHISPERS: Simply the Best
Tina Turner (1939-2023) The scene happened half-way through the film. The female protagonist decided to fight back. Her face was bruised and bloodied and her eyes were barely open, but she got up after she was kicked to the other side of the limousine and jumped on her attacker. There was a deafening cheer […]
LOUD WHISPERS: The Spirit of Hilda
In the early 1990s, my younger brother Tunde asked me for a favour. We were still living in London then. He wanted to host a birthday party at our place, my husband and I agreed. I asked him about his catering arrangements and he said he hoped I could provide the food. I told hm […]
LOUD WHISPERS: Please Help Me Understand
Perhaps there is just too much nonsense going on Perhaps folks young and old are simply behaving badly There are many things that do not add up They might not all seem connected Trust me, they are Please help me understand How an entire country was rendered ‘cashless’ because of new notes How all old […]
LOUD WHISPERS: A Woman In Harmony With Her Spirit
Professor Abena Busia@70 ‘A woman in harmony with her spirit is like a river flowing. She goes where she will without pretense and arrives at her destination to be herself and only herself’ Maya Angelou She strode towards me with the regal twists and turns of her body I have always known her for, […]
Lessons from Hannah
The 2023 Gubernatorial, National Assembly and State House of Assembly elections have been woefully unsatisfactory when it comes to the inclusion of women. No female Governor emerged (Senator Aisha Benani’s attempt is still ‘inconclusive’ in Adamawa State) and we now have less than 4% of women in the National Assembly, even less than the class […]
LOUD WHISPERS: Be Better. Do Better
Compliments of the season. In spite of the many hassles of putting the ‘logistics’ (money, food, gifts and so on) in place for Christmas in the community, I like being at home in Isan-Ekiti during the festive season. Amongst other things, it gives me an opportunity to eat pounded yam at last twice in one […]