She WILL Be.

Yesterday, I was studying Kiswahili at my school in the evening.  (We have a final exam early next week, and I still have much to learn before I master the language!)  As usual, a group of students came in to greet me.  This time, there were only girls.  They arranged themselves around me as I flipped through my flashcards, practicing their English as I practiced my Kiswahili.  These girls were far more fluent in English than my Form I students, and we were able to play a few games as well as talk freely with me.  Our conversation wandered to women presidents of the world.  Joyce Banda had become president of neighboring Malawi, and she is a role model to all women of East Africa.  These girls were shocked to hear that the U.S.A. has never had a woman president.  Frankly, I am too!  So many driven and intelligent women graduate from top universities in our country each year.  Why does the glass ceiling still extend over the most prestigious public office in the most modern country in the world?  I firmly hope and believe that I will live to see the day when a woman holds the place of honor on Air Force One.

I know much less about Tanzanian history than my students do, but I do know that Tanzania has never had a woman as president in its short time being free of outside rule.  Still, I asked the girls, “Has Tanzania ever had a woman president?”  Their heads nodded vigorously, NO.  But Fatuma, the girl sitting closest to me, with her hand poised on my book, gave me a solemn look and said, “But she WILL be.”

A tangible chill went down my spine as I processed her words.  In a country in which women are sold for marriage for the price of livestock, and expected to cook, clean, and care for children in every waking moment, it is very difficult for females to make achievements even in primary and secondary school.  The ceiling that prevents most girls from entering university and careers outside the home is hardly glass.  It is solid, forged with concrete and the heavy rock of the Kilimanjaro foothills that decorate the Tanzanian landscape.  The obstacles facing women are tangible, visible, and extremely resistant to change.  Young women like Fatuma, and all of the wonderful girls in my classroom that day, make me so hopeful for the future of the women of Tanzania and the world.  Girl Rising (check out the documentary!) to Woman Empowered.  In this country, as well as around the world, “She WILL be.”