Throughout the world, boxing is a dance that is common to all people. And despite the pains and injuries that are associated with it, it still has that great entertainment value. It is a sport that has brought smiles to the faces of many people and created countless legends such as Brian Mitchell, Sugar Ray Leonard, Muhammad Ali and George Foreman.
However, the boxing match that took place at the Nyayo gymnasium in Nairobi on Saturday June 4, 2000, was an unusual one. It was a political showpiece rather than a sporting event. It was a boxing match where the boxers were punching against prejudice and gender inequality.
What was of more interest is that, it was for the first time that a boxing match was staged between a man and a woman. And that match was appropriately dubbed the “Battle of the Sexes”. It looked like a miracle when Monique Chipeta made her way to the ring to take on her male opponent, professional boxer, Pascal Bruno.
At the ring side, with her clenched fist raised, one woman shouted: “It is time for us to make a stand for proper equality.”
On the other hand, a lot of men came to the event neither for sport nor politics, but simply to see what kind of a figure the woman boxer had.
“I don’t really care whether she wins or loses. I am only interested in getting a really close up look at her body,” said one man.
Shrouded in a white towel and sandwiched between several dancing women, Chipeta circled the hall before getting into the ring. The crowd was spellbound when the referee signalled for the fight to start. The exchange lasted its full three rounds. And because it was an exhibition political fight, no winner was declared.
The two boxers left the ring holding hands accompanied by the cheering of the crowd.
“I have floored a lot of men over the past 10 years. I am yet to find my match,” Chipeta said later.
To me that was a real political lesson whose moral message is that, just like men, women have the right to occupy any position, including being head of state. But now 13 years have passed since that historic event took place and out of so many African countries, only two have managed to have women presidents. Those women are Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia, who was elected as president in 2005, and Joyce Banda of Malawi, who was elevated to the presidency after the death of her predecessor, Bingu wa Mutharika. She is there to complete Mutharika’s term which expires next year. And hopefully Malawi will not regress on this achievement.
As Africans, when we express ourselves on gender equality, we speak and write with the heat of passion. Indeed, we articulate ourselves with the searchlight of intelligence. But the problem has always been on the implementation process. As a result, post-colonial Africa has not delivered on this transformation imperative. Our transformation commitment on women being heads of state has only found a home in the world of words. And surprisingly, I have never come across any persuasive explanation for this.
I don’t think there is a valid reason that will ever be advanced to account for this state of affairs. All those who ever attempted to give me a reason took a short cut with the truth. They all resembled those who went around saying that George Bush bombed the Twin Towers because he needed a pretext to expand international capitalism to the Middle East.
Truly, all over Africa, women are hungry for the freedom of being presidents. It is a fact that our revolutions were inspired by the urge to be free as a people of this continent. And our Struggle history tells us that there are countless women who have been active in their nation’s political life. And further than that, there are some who are consummately educated, reputedly bright and relentlessly dynamic. And it is mostly among such women that we find those who are blessed with a strong sense of leadership, duty, restraint and discipline. But up to today, very few have had the opportunity to sniff at the sweet smell of presidential power in their respective countries.
So, it does not inspire confidence that Africa has not adjusted well in the environment of gender equality when it comes to the presidency. And it is important that we should not look away from this sad reality. We need to release the “prisoners” we have captured in our hearts. We need to demystify the stereotypes that regard women as unsuitable for such a position in Africa. We should be filled with revulsion and disgust when women are treated with prejudice.
We should profess our discomfort instead of behaving as if we don’t see a thing. If we continue to fail in making presidents out of African women, one day history will demand an explanation from us. And it will ask that: “Where were you when all this was happening? And why did you do or say anything to help?”
As a continent, we can’t afford to continue acting like a colonial army that is incapable of changing its mentality and freeing itself from the misadventures of its colonial expeditions. And it is up to us to know that a great democracy knows how to find within its institutions and people, the spirit that is required to amend its wrong ways. I think that we should learn from the Tanzanian Dr Frannie Leautier, leader of the Africa Capacity Building Foundation, when she said: “As a woman, you are born with the same rights as everyone else.”
Surely, the perpetuation of presidential power in the hands of men should be sensitively balanced with gender dynamics across the continent. And certainly, we don’t need another political boxing lesson from the ring mistress, Monique Chipeta. Through her actions, she expressed her dissatisfaction with the African experience of gender inequality. She has taught us a good lesson. Africa just needs to undergo a transformation leap.
* Abe Mokoena is an independent commentator based in Polokwane.
** The views expressed here not not necessarily reflect those of Independent Newspapers
The Star