Common, Stop harassing Women!

The Lubna Ahmed Hussein has refused to pay a fine of $200 and opted to serve one month in jail. She appeared in court wearing the same trouser that she wore when she was arrested. Her lawyer Nabil Adib talking to BBC said that Lubna Ahmed Hussein did not want to “give the verdict any legitimacy” by paying the fine of about $200 (?122).

The trouser
The trouser

This is classical case of harassing innocent woman which has no place in the 21st century. To start with what is really wrong with a woman wearing trouser? I am not sure of the boundary of decent dressing but what I know is that trouser covers a lady from the waist to the full length her legs. If decency is about covering the body then trousers are better than skirts.

There has never been a documented rules that state that women should wear skirts while men wear trousers. In African context, people used to cover themselves with skins. And by people here I mean both men and women. There was no special type of skin reserved for men and another one for women. The societal notion that women have to put on a certain type of clothes? is baseless and ridiculous.

Back here in Kenya, there have been several cases of women putting on pants being harassed ?by thugs masquerading as champions of the traditional values. Naivasha, Limura, Thika and Kiambu are the most affected areas with criminal groups forcing women wearing trousers and mini-skirts to either cover themselves with lessos or go back to their homes to dress properly.? The common excuses given for such barbarian behavior is that wearing trousers causes the increase of rape cases and the spread of diseases. People who rape women or girls are outright criminals and people should not whatsoever find any excuse for them. Because in the real sense there is none and there will never be. What do you say about a person rapping two year old child, what is sexy about a two year old kid and is there trouser contribution on such a case.

The talks of high spread of HIV AIDs and other diseases does not hold any water either. The recent statistics in Kenya suggests that currently there is high spread of HIV AIDS among the married couples than the youth who are still single. In most cases the married women dress conservatively and that means if you are to consider the demographics, the single women wearing trousers are definitely more than married women doing the same. So why is it that the spread of HIV AIDS is higher among the married couples than singles in Kenya at the moment. The answer has nothing to do with the type of the attire one puts on.

From trouser wearing case to mob lynching case of Caster Semenya of South Africa. Looking at Caster Semenya seriously you realize that she is not the most muscular woman in the world of all time. Even during Athletics World Championship, a keen observer would have seen that there were some women throwing the hammer who were twice as masculine as Semanya and even more than some men. Nobody is subjecting them to gender test.

Caster Semenya
Caster Semenya

Yes she is just eighteen and she amazingly won the women 800 meters. Going through the records, you will find out that ?her winning time of 1 min 55.45 is not even tenth fastest time of all time. The women’s world record in the 800 meter run is held by Jarmila Kratochvilova of the Czech Republic who ran the distance in 1:53.28 in 1983. Look at the difference between those two timings. The world record of ?1.53.28 is 2.13 seconds ?faster than what Semenya achieved in Berlin. So it is not that Semanya is extraordinary on her running, she is very ordinary woman? running among the weaklings.

Jarmila Kratochvilova
Jarmila Kratochvilova

If there is a rule of doing gender test then it should be applied to all athletes, both men and women and not singling out an innocent 18 year old lady. ?Many have argued that the Athletics body is right to carry out the test following some of the past cases, but my concern is the way they handled it. Let take the way they do the drug tests, we always hear about the test after the result, where one either tests positive or negative. If not to embarrass Semenya then what was so special about this case that they could not do it underground without announcing it to the whole world. And to add salt to the injury, doing so just before the concern athletes took to the field.? If the results for the test come out that Semenya is a girl then I would like to see her sue the athletics body for defamation and public humiliation.

Kennedy Kachwanya1087 Posts

--- Kennedy Kachwanya is a technology blogger interested in mobile phones both smart and dumb, mobile apps, mobile money, social media, startups ecosystem and digital Savannah. New media must not forget the strength of old tech.

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