Corruption, A Patriarchal Construct

Lessons from GenZs

Someone texted me a few days ago, I think intending to provoke me to action. She asked me where the women were in all the ‘chaos’. (Did GenZ women become men? I wondered) Apparently, we are supposed to show up and take our positions instead of waiting for breadcrumbs. She went on to say that women simply did not show up and that we should be making a statement and electing one of our ‘own’. She threatened to go out herself and then lamented that we had been bewitched by someone.

And herein lies the problem with GenXers. We miss the lessons that are right in front of our eyes. This idea that we need one of our own is the problem. We need a system that works. I do not think it matters who runs it.

Corruption is a patriarchal construct. The colonialists came in with a male-centred system. Male chiefs, and male home guards. They selected the boys they thought were the brightest and took them to school, built boys-only schools first then later built something for the girls. From then on it was a fight for African women to do anything in the system. The men made it difficult and they used corruption to gain more power. The more power they had, the more disenfranchised we became. If the woman wanted any of that power, it was easier for her to be a man’s wife or his mistress to enjoy it. Otherwise, the fight was long and treacherous. 

Seeing that the women wanted to have a say in the laws that affected their lives, the men said to them, ‘Choose a leader(s) and come to the table for a chat, we shall tell you what is possible and what isn’t.’ Because when you have one leader, it is easy to corrupt that leader. (We need to stop using the word leader and try representative).

They started bubble gum ‘clubs’ like Maendelo Ya Wanawake and whatnot where some of the biggest accomplishments were wearing headscarves and lesos. They took women across the globe for seminars and workshops. When they came back they spoke of possibilities that African women once had but Western women had just found out about. They said women could lead, and, that they could be influential in their societies. They spoke of women with untold wealth and those who worked from dawn to dusk. Stories of women who could run so fast for miles or could throw spears, they call it javelin.

Yet still, women fought to get into positions of leadership. For many, it was just for the power that corruption accorded men in similar positions. Very few cared about the female agenda. The system still required them to have a man backing them. Earlier it was important for her to have a husband as it showed that she was a virtuous woman and politics would not make her a prostitute. Being male-dominated and all. They still need men in this day and age, because many of the powerful men determine whether they get a political position based on performance in different rooms.

When they get some of those positions, we clap like seals who have seen a bucket of fish. Forgetting that this is not the first time we are leaders. We had female chiefs and warriors. We led revolutions and freed our people. We were wealthy and travelled the world where we mesmerized kings and emperors with our beauty and intellect.

Enter GenZ, after three or so generations of patriarchal, tribal, and religious corruption. These youngins did not need a leader, they did not even ask each other what tribe anyone belonged to and most of all no one cared about gender. Everyone looked around for what to do, and they did it. On the street and online. When they supported you, it was on merit, and when they cancelled you, it was based on your betrayal of the movement. They are tackling important issues ministry by ministry. They are telling us that the system has to work. They are showing us that it can work. When it does, we will not need to form any more NGOs to tell fathers who have daughters that girls in schools need sanitary pads. There will be no need for a task force to recommend to a group of men and women that pregnant mothers need to be able to give birth in equipped hospitals. If it works, this system, Gender-Based Violence will be treated with the contempt it deserves.

Our focus should be dealing with corruption because it is part of the patriarchy. It is not the time to scramble for positions for ‘our’ own. We are not enemies, we are all just people who want to live as well as we can while we are still on this earth. If GenZs have taught us anything, it is that we are all people who need the same things, if only we can be open enough to share information freely, if only we can teach each other, if only we can stand together, if only we can be relentless, then we shall see, our enemy is corruption.

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