By Nkasiobi Oluikpe - Lagos
Shade Benbatoum-Young
At almost 65, Shade Benbatoum-Young, President of Zonta International Club of Lagos 1, is still exercising her energy and time to defend the cause of women in the society.
Just this last International Women’s Day celebration, she and her group, in addition to other programmes of activity before then, organised a four-day resource exchange fair for women to showcase their contribution to the social development and growth of the economy in a male dominated society.
The reason, she says is because they want people to know that they are relevant and that they understand and want to work on the issues at stake, issues that border on the Nigerian woman. At Zonta, she emphasized that they believe in the importance of people using their expertise and knowledge to advance the course of women.
In an attempt to enlighten the public on what Zonta represents, Benbatoum-Young declares that Zonta works on a lot of issues to improve the life of women both locally and internationally such as in areas that have to do with education, economy, health, career, politics and just every aspect of life.
“Zonta was put together by a group of women in 1919 who were professionally okay but who saw that other women were definitely not okay. So they felt that they should do whatever they could to improve the lives and status of those less fortunate women, as regards their health, education, professional life, political rights, etc.
“We have actually done a lot of works recently on violence against women and you know how terrible this issue is all over the world. Eliminating violence against women has been number one for Zonta worldwide and even in our club at Lagos 1.
“But we also felt that in this International Women’s Day, we should also take stock, look at our women in Nigeria, see what they are doing, let other people see what they are doing, recognise them and encourage and inspire them, so as to be able to inspire others too.
She explained that the fair was organised to afford the women opportunity to interface with the public and private sector, the SME, development oriented institutions, chambers of commerce and the financial institutions, whose programmes and packages could play a major role in growing women’s businesses such as financial packages, grants, skills acquisition and entrepreneurial skills.
Not only is she the president of Zonta Lagos 1, she is also a member of the Women Arise, a non-governmental organisation (NGO), that took up the case of the Ejigbo women that were murdered over the issue of stolen pepper. She and her members ensured that justice was done and the perpetrators of the heinous crime brought to book. On the day of the public hearing, Benbatoum-Young was there live and direct.
“I want to make sure that we put an end to this most terrible form of brutality and wickedness which caused the death of two women and a baby just because of ordinary pepper. Because we decided to take action, all those that were trying to just keep quiet and pretend nothing happened, in the end started coming out to say what they knew. Within a little while, people were caught. If these women even stole the pepper, was that enough to do what they did to them. I hesitate to say what they did to those women.
It is common knowledge that most abused women are usually afraid to come out in the open for either fear of stigmatization or further abuse. That is why Benbatoum-Young and her group has set out to distribute leaflets to get these women better informed and let them know that they are not alone, that the issue is someth ing real that they have recognised.
“You will be surprised how many women I give this to that has opened up. Because of the ego of families not wanting people to say their daughter is divorced or left her marriage they don’t want to talk about it, one day, they will carry that daughter’s corpse back home.
“Indeed, it is a long journey we started. But the thing is that now we have actually agreed to make that journey together. And as we go along, there would be more and more that we will be tackling. There was also these orphanage where the pastor was defiling young girls, we took that up recently too. The difference is that then when these things happen, maybe one individual or one group will take it up, but now, it is different. We are taking action, and the more we take action together, the better. There were men who joined us on that day,” she said.
Ironically, according to her, younger girls are even the ones more forthcoming on this fight. “They are not so fearful anymore because they have realised that it is their own life and happiness that is at stake. It is not like our own generation. They are even more ready to take up the course, but the older ones don’t want to rock the boat.”
Benbatoum-Young realises the enormity of work to be done and that the women alone, without the maximum cooperation of the men, cannot do it. Personally, as often as is possible for her, she goes to a men’s only club to distribute leaflets. The men she says, starts off by laughing about it. But after some bit of explanation and making it clear to them that today, it is not their business but the day their daughter comes back home badly battered or abused by men, it will become their business. By the end of such visits, she succeeds in making them see sense in the course she and her club members are pursuing.
In a few months time, her tenure as President of Zonta Lagos 1 will be elapsing. She talks on what becomes of her, thereafter: “I think I need to rest a little bit. At nearly 65, I shouldn’t be doing these things, but I am happy that God gave me the strength to do it because he sent me. He would not come down from heaven to do it but will use human instrumentalities. In my club we believe that it is important to use your expertise and knowledge to advance the course of women.
Despite her age that betrays her young looks, Benbatoum-Young still works as if she is just beginning life:
“Hard work they say, is good for the soul. I go to bed at 3am and wake up at 7am. It is the gift of God, if he wants to use you to do something, he will give you the strength. I actually almost retired before I became the president of Zonta. Then I said if I am able to do this in the service of my club, I can still use my professional capabilities to help people at some stage, so I know I also had to earn an income.
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