The expression “speech is silver and silence is golden” is the complete phrase for the popular saying. Though the latter part is albeit more regularly used alone and well-known, many users of this idiom cannot tell the expression even has a part. This ignorance notwithstanding, the phrase has been used appropriately and often touted as great wisdom and rightly so I must add. However, of a concern is the comparison of speech and silence described in the expression as silver and gold respectively.
It is common knowledge that gold as a precious metal is valued above silver at least in the scheme of things of our world but it is difficult to accept the importance of silence over speech. Without a doubt, the sequence of an intelligent conversation would be tremendously disrupted if actions or speech derails what is being spoken about at the time. Also, it is highly unlikely that a contributor to a serious discussion speaking from an uninformed position will be paid the kind of attention s/he seeks. With the risk of being labelled radical I boldly submit that the wisdom in ‘silence is golden’ should be restricted, bounded or confined (sparing you other synonyms) to speaking ignorantly, being talkative and disturbing the peace with senseless expletives, speaking from an uninformed position and fighting for a cause without thorough research and understanding of the workings and practice that has been militating against a progressive change and as Nigerians would respond in Pidgin English to someone talking out of tune especially on social media “you just open your mouth waaaaa” the numbers of the alphabet ‘a’ connotes the emphasis of the absurdity.
Nevertheless, on a more serious note the objective of the write up is not so much as phrase than to ‘loud’ the contrasting expression “silence is not golden”. Silence could also mean consenting or submitting oneself to intimation and discrimination.
Thus, I will recall my days in a public primary school, primary three (3) as a matter of fact, I was 8 years old then and given to normal actions of kids of that age, during an innocent ‘rough’ play in error injured another kid of same age, I got scared and didn’t report the incident but didn’t get away with it because an older pupil in primary 5 witnessed what happened and didn’t report either, instead turned the unfortunate episode to one of blackmail and extortion, yes! Even at that age, to cut the story short I eventually challenged the bully to take the matter to the authorities and that put paid to his antics. Even though this occurred in a face to face interaction, I believe it will also yield positive outcomes if replicated widely, particularly in matters of blackmail.
Throughout history, positive social changes have never come on a platter, it has been as a result of sustained struggles amid outspokenness, not backing down in the face of intimidation and negative labels. Such changes have come as a result of someone leading, mobilizing and convincing others in the gains of succeeding in fighting for that cause.
In furtherance of the preceding, there is no gainsaying that females have suffered and are still suffering various forms of discrimination based on their gender. These challenges emanates from social institutions such as; the traditional, religious, the family, political etc. that should ordinarily be safe havens and protectors of rights. Even in the face of such discrimination true stories abound of women who chose not to sit back and reinforce their silence to be as one of permission for their rights and that of others (both male and female) to be trampled upon but undertook to shout from rooftops that ‘silence is not golden’ at least not any more than they can accept.
For starters, a certain Scottish missionary in the 19th century named Mary Slessor wrote her name in the annals of history when her efforts led to the end of the barbaric killing of multiple birth children, short-sightedly regarded as evil in Calabar, Nigeria. Rosa Louise Macauley Parks the American black civil rights activist popularly called Rosa Parks blatantly refused to stand up for a white human being in a bus as the law states at that time, an act considered abominable in white supremacist United States of America that attracted her a jail term and fine reverberated among the black community and led to the famous bus boycott whereby seventeen thousand African Americans boycotted the transport service. The country has since realised its folly and honoured her. Back to my home front Nigeria, history will forever be kind to another great woman, Margaret Ekpo, activist, social mobilizer and politician in colonial Nigeria who have been immortalized severally in present-day Nigeria, in remarkable style led various protests and strike actions, notably, in alliance with other women in southeast Nigeria carried out the acclaimed Aba Women riot that confronted the excesses of the then warrant chiefs imposition of new taxes by the colonial government. I could go and on, similar case histories of brave women who decided not to remain silent to oppression are even too numerous.
The beauty of the mentions above is that it becomes even more distinguished when you discover that their lives would have been a lot more convenient if they had maintained the status quo, kept quiet in total submission and be ‘treasured’ as model women ‘worthy of emulation’ as was common and acceptable behaviour by society, more so at that time. On the other hand, they elected to swim against the tide not for personal aggrandizement, glorification or advancement but for the greater common good and because of this posterity have continued to remember them fondly. Their wonderful stories bring to mind a sign I saw recently and it goes “ she was looking for a hero and she became one” although a school of thought will want to discourage us by stating that there are no living heroes or heroines as the case may be, I will reply them “with my full chest” (another Nigerian slang meaning; without fear) that there are living heroes and heroines but even to humour their assertion, you cannot be considered a hero or heroine living or dead unless your society is the better for it because you lived.
Fast forward to present day, some societal challenges not for want of trying to surmount them still persists. Harmful traditional norms like the subjugation of wives in some African societies to rites which could be harmful to their well-being to prove their innocence on the demise of a spouse. The psychological torture of the suspicion coupled with the irreversible loss just suffered cannot even be imagined (Not holding brief for a guilty spouse).
Another harmful practice is the forceful seizure and denial of a wife access to a late spouse’s property if the union did not produce a male child, directly telling the female children they are a lower class and surplus to requirement in an era where a child whether male or female needs all the confidence you can help the child grow up with in order to avoid the ever-rising number of social vices the young is exposed to.
For centuries women were raised to live in silence, they were thought to stay voiceless in the service of others. They grew up believing all the power was in the hands of the men, many lived in the shadow of themselves catering to the needs of others forgetting themselves.
In addition, in present-day Nigeria female genital mutilation (FGM) is still an unwholesome and dangerous practice that has continued to rear its ugly head, my experience with the pain of female genital mutilation first came a teenager as I was mutilated by my grandmother, on the day I was cut I was held down by at my limbs by adult females, one sat on my chest. They didn’t care if I suffocated in the process all they desired was to have me mutilated. Shocking? Yes! Yours truly was a victim of this wickedness. The part most baffling is the passion and total commitment they exhibit while they set about carrying this despicable act in the name of a tradition that have consistently failed to show any evidences of successes for the reasons behind the practice.
There are traditional practices that have proven to have no use and should be thrown out and replaced but not this one, the perpetrators execute it as if their life depended on it. My grand mother’s aim was to protect me from promiscuity, it was their culture and how she was raised, it didn’t matter the complications I experienced after the atrocity.
All that was important to them was my purity and initiation into womanhood. I was able to rise above it and now in a position to help others do same. And I have taken it upon myself to continue to make my voice count until this menace is completely done away with, for good.
Anti-Female Genital Mutilation advocacy have served to bring the attention of government and the National Assembly of Nigeria to pass legislation stopping the mutilation of female genitals or female circumcision as perpetrators will want to hide behind, as if it makes it any better. In spite of this legislation this practice continues unabated. But we will not be deterred we will march on.
When you see the injustices happening and choose to do nothing you’re indirectly enabling these atrocities. Some of our political leaders in Africa are in positions of power yet indifferent to the plight of the vulnerable, consequently unable to create lasting change in their communities.
One simple reason Gender Based Violence (GBV) has continued to thrive.
Very recently, a bill was sponsored in Nigeria’s National Assembly meant to address some contentious areas as it affects women. The bills sought to;
Provide citizenship to foreign husbands of Nigerian women.
Give Nigerians abroad the right to vote.
Create ability of Nigerian women to take indigene ship of their husbands’ states after 5 years of marriage
Give women 35% appointed positions for women.
Give women 35% affirmative action in party administration and specific seats in National Assembly.
Unfortunately this was thrown out eventually after passing through all the processes, sparking protests by women rights groups as a result of this decision. As it has been made obvious in these times just as in times of old, ‘Silence is not golden’ as the society cannot afford to rest on its oars in making sure actions are taken, words are spoken at every opportunity created against injustices in the society and to women folk in particular.
There is a new trend on social media these days. And while this trend often makes me proud, it also makes me sad at the same time. I’m talking about young black people from West Africa leading their classes and being valedictorians in Harvard, Yale, Sheffield and other Universities and schools in the UK, US, …
From Underfunded national leagues and abysmal performances on the international stage to Gross Mismanagement of Funds by Troubled Associations, Africa’s Football Associations have not had it easy over the years. In Present Day, Sports, – and Football in particular, have intimately become interwoven with the developmental issues of the continent.
Ipolowo oja l’agunmu owo is a Yoruba adage that translates to; promotion is the magic potion for business, and this is true for the sports business. Sporting events are organized throughout the year in Nigeria and West Africa, yet, these events are held with little or no relevance; stadiums are nearly empty, there is insufficient …
Extraordinary! That’s the word that best describes the performance of certain African countries in the 2022 Commonwealth Games and like we would always say, a win for one is a win for all. The 22nd edition of the Commonwealth Games officially known as XXII Commonwealth Games and commonly called ‘Birmingham 2022’ after the host city- …
