While there is no denying that women’s roles and contribution to the development of this nation deserve to be recognised, a woman’s statue for public admiration and respect could be a controversial object that could soon defeat its initial objective. To run away from accusations of being sexists, perceiving women as sex objects, or housewives, we need to start investigating how our women would want the form of the statue to be like. How should they depict the women, which parts need not be emphasised, should the statue look slender and sexy, or have the full African figure? Would a woman carrying a bucket on her head and a child on her back, be perceived as representative of women’s roles, or does it promote the man’s stereo-types about women? It would be embarrassing to go ahead and erect statues conceived in males’ minds, only to face unending legal tussles as some women sue for what they perceive as degrading statues. Before we even start thinking of how much the statues will cost, we need to produce a document reflecting the views of women regarding how they would want to be celebrated or recognised in the statues. It has been suggested by the mainly male led parliament that the statues could be used to spice up the beauty of the landscape, and inspire related businesses like cafes, public gardens, and also as tourist attractions. What immediately comes to mind is a similar success story, the statue of liberty in New York, which has become a landmark of the USA. Elsewhere however in Senegal a statue built to copy the statue of liberty has had unintended consequences, as it was shunned by the general public who felt it was a waste of public funds. In California, USA the city of Glendale is being forced to remove a controversial woman statue in a public park that honours women victimised by the Japanese government during World War II. On the surface the statue looks innocent with a value of about $30,000. However, Glendale’s statue in Central Park, which features a woman in Korean dress sitting next to an empty chair, has reawakened an international debate. Michiko Shiota Gingery, the Glendale resident who filed the lawsuit, said that because of the statue she can no longer enjoy Central Park and she suffers “feelings of exclusion, discomfort and anger” due to the bronze monument, which is often surrounded by bouquets of flowers. We know that even here, women have suffered a lot of prejudice from time immemorial, and we should tread with caution when we attempt to celebrate them, lest we are found to be merely satisfying chauvinistic tendencies.
