Osasu Igbinedion, a communications expert, and the third daughter of
former governor of Edo State, Lucky Nosakhare Igbinedion, has written an
explosive piece to Nigerian women. She is also the Host and Executive Producer of 'The Osasu Show' on AIT, Ben TV and ITV.
It’s now an old news that Hillary Clinton, former secretary of state,
senator, and first lady of the United States of America, lost the 2016
U.S presidential election to Donald Trump, a business man with zero
political experience. Albeit narrowly clinching the popular vote,
Clinton conceded the electoral college vote to Trump, making her the
first presidential candidate since Al Gore to win the popular vote yet
lose the election.
More shocking than Trump’s victory, despite his lack of political
experience, is his calibre. President-elect, Donald Trump, is a
self-proclaimed grabber of women’s genitals, son of a Ku Klux Klan
affiliate, hater of Muslims, employer but ironically detractor of
Mexicans and immigrants. This calibre of man went on to defeat an
intelligent, qualified, politically experienced candidate, who just so
happens to be a woman.
Before I go any further, I’d like to make it clear that Hillary
Clinton isn’t necessarily my cup of coffee. Yes, I’m thankful for the
massive crack she left in the glass ceiling, she continues to inspire me
and many women across the world to be audacious, hard working, and
persistent in our pursuit of equity.
However, in line with my theory that no human being is completely
good or completely evil, it is worthy of note that Clinton has made some
fundamentally horrible decisions that resulted in the death of many
individuals, including my fellow Nigerians.
Lest I remind my readers that not so far back in history, 2009 to
be precise, in Clinton’s official capacity as secretary of state, she
refused to declare Boko Haram a terrorist group during the early stages
of their operation. This allowed room for them to gain more grounds and
power. Clinton later on recommended that the U.S.A should not sell
weapons to Nigeria due to trumped up humanitarian allegations.
Clinton, under the leadership of Barack Obama, led the Gaddafi hit
squad which destabilised Libya and set the country and its citizens
score years backwards in terms of development and governance. It is
impossible to convince me that the “all knowing”, “all powerful”, United
States of America was naive enough not to think of the consequences
that would emanate from murdering an incumbent president without
installing a replacement. So, no. Hillary Clinton is not my cup of tea
or coffee.
The fact still remains, however, that Clinton was more qualified to
be president than Donald Trump ever will be. But before I fully delve
into the matter at hand, I believe this is a great opportunity to remind
our leaders (not ‘inform’, but to ‘remind’ them) because they know and
have refused to act on the fact that most “development partners” in
Africa are self-righteous narcissists who aversely work against the
growth and development of our continent. African leaders must stand up,
stand together, support one another, and begin making decisions that
please us first before pleasing the international community.
Before I digress too far, Donald Trump’s emergence as
president-elect is not just a colossal disaster waiting to unfold but a
true dampener of the spirits, hopes, dreams, and aspirations of many
young women and girls around the world, which was why I decided to write
this article. Trump’s victory is a slap on the face of feminists and
females who work hard to succeed in life, young girls who dare to
believe their dreams are valid.
How do we begin to convince teenage girls that despite Trump’s win,
if they go to school, get good grades, work hard – really hard, they’ll
achieve anything they put their minds to? This ideology was trashed
when Trump defeated Clinton (but maybe it’s for the best because this
notion has always been problematic and far from the truth. We’ll save
this thought for another day).
Not only are Trump’s ideologies fundamentally flawed, Clinton
outsmarts and outperforms him in every facet of life, not to talk of
leadership. Clinton has significantly better people skills, she’s far
more politically exposed and experienced, and she is more sensitive to
diverse cultures, people, religions and races. You don’t have to love or
even like her to see that, which is why it came as a huge shock to
people across the world, especially us women, who believed there was no
way on earth, in heaven, hell and in between that Donald Trump, a
chauvinist, misogynist and bigot, could defeat his not-so-perfect but
not-as-bad rival, Hillary Clinton.
President-elect, Donald Trump, is the same man who rode down the
escalators of Trump Towers and addressed a gathering of pressmen saying,
I quote; “Mexicans are rapists and drug dealers” and described a
professional, articulate, female journalist who was tough on him during
an interview that, “she was bleeding through her eyes or wherever she
bleeds”. It is simultaneously shocking and scary to know that a man of
his calibre will assume the role of Chief Commanding Officer of the most
important elective position in world. One can only imagine how the next
four years will unfold.
The most significant question we must ask ourselves however is, how
big a role did Clinton’s gender play in her defeat? My take is, her
gender played a role but it was not significant enough to make her lose
the electoral college votes. As aforementioned, Clinton won the popular
vote, meaning more people voted for her than Trump, although not
significantly much.
Michael Moore, American political commentator and filmmaker,
rightly stated that Trump’s victory was The Last Stand of the Angry
White Man: “there is a sense that the power has slipped out of their
hands, that their way of doing things is no longer how things are
done[…] the rule that said girls in school should get an equal chance at
playing sports.
Then they let them fly commercial jets. Before we knew it, Beyoncé
stormed on the field at this year’s Super Bowl (our game!) with an army
of Black Women, fists raised, declaring that our domination was hereby
terminated! Oh, the humanity! That’s a small peek into the mind of the
Endangered White Male.”
He further elaborates, “nearly 70 percent of all voters think
Hillary is untrustworthy and dishonest. She represents the old way of
politics, not really believing in anything other than what can get you
elected. That’s why she fights against gays getting married one moment,
and the next she’s officiating a gay marriage.” Moore’s analysis is spot
on! Clinton’s defeat cannot be solely attributed to her gender but a
plethora of factors.
For one, most female millennials couldn’t bring themselves to vote
for Clinton because they did not trust her. FBI director, James Comey’s
decision to reopen her “email gate” investigation 11 days to the
election dealt her campaign a huge blow which most definitely
contributed to her defeat.
With hindsight, Clinton’s loss should have been anticipated
considering the fact since the Great Depression, Americans have never
voted a third-term leader and in the perspective of most Americans,
Clinton was, by extension, Obama’s third term.
According to CNN polls, White male voters (who are predominately
responsible for Trump’s victory) were sick of America’s political
establishment: corruption in Washington and the perceived threat of
losing their jobs to immigrants. Voting for Trump was their way of
lashing out and fighting back.
Clinton’s defeat is not a defeat of women.
In summary, my message to young women and girls across the world is
simple. Do not let Clinton’s loss derail your ambition. As a matter of
fact, it should be a lesson to us all that when we find ourselves in the
battlefield of politics, business, whatever it is we are involved in,
we must rise above: fight fair, fight clean, ensure we go home with a
clean conscience but fight, we must!
Do all in your power, that is just, to achieve your goals. The bad
news however, is the fact that you must work significantly harder than
your male counterparts to achieve the same goals due to the glass
ceiling that looms. But guess what? The glass ceiling is just glass;
meaning that it’s breakable, it can be shattered! Collectively, we can
overcome as long as we refuse to grow weary!
Wherever you are, whatever it is you do, never, ever, ever, accept
the archaic rhetoric that a woman’s place is sectionalised to a handful
of rooms.
