As the Executive Director of Bright Light Projects, I believe that a lack of plans for the boy child will see every effort on the girl child go to waste.
Globally, the International Day for Girl Child is widely celebrated while most organizations do not have a single plan for the boy child on his day.
Because of the belief that it is a ‘man’s world’, the girl child is now being nurtured while the boy child is left in the wild to survive.
It is most prominent in Africa where we spend a lot of time talking to girls to dream and be great while the boys are overlooked in most cases.
We can’t keep building and empowering young girls for them to go back home and be abused by the young boys we have neglected.
Another sad outcome is that while girls are being taught to dream and be strong; to express themselves; to walk away, everyone in Africa especially has failed to empower young boys with the mentality to handle the strong women who are being created.
I called on more organizations to design developmental projects for boys to ensure they have the corresponding education, understanding, and mentality to coexist with the breed of modern women being created.
Women are now breadwinners in many young families because they were taught how to create something, while the boys are left to their instincts and the flow of the street
Girls learn free skills and boys pay for it. The imbalance is already making these boys feel threatened and they have no other option but to always try to show that they are in charge and that is the engine of the domestic violence that is on the rise today.
All organizations working in Africa should strategically create programs that will also encourage the proper development of young boys on the continent.
Gender equality is a good thing, but gender parity would prepare young men to better appreciate the multiple dividends of gender equality.
– Franco Bonghan the Executive Director at Bright Light Projects (BLP)
He is also the Financial Director at The Lady B Bless Humanitarian Foundation and can be reached at frank@tlbbhfoundation.org
