Fight Like a Girl: Scholar Leads Battle for African Girls

International Women’s Day 2018

In celebration of International Women’s Day and the African Women’s Leadership Conference at Wellesley College, Scholars explain how gender has shaped their leadership journeys. Eunice Adu studies Business Administration. She is a Scholar in the Program at Ashesi University.

At age seven, I realized that the world I was living in was just a figment of my imagination. I was confronted with a harsh reality — a reality which revealed to me the abuse my mother went through because she was a woman. At this age, I realized that ignorance was a disease which silenced me, making several subjects unspeakable and forbidden.

Then in the span of a year, at age ten, I suffered sexual abuse and was taught that leadership was not for a woman. The teaching was engraved within me and could not be erased until I was exposed to books; until I was exposed to the works of Jane Austen, the stories of Sojourner Truth and Eleanor Roosevelt; until I learned that the conditions I lived in and the perceptions placed on me were replicated in the lives of women in my community.

I was a woman. And society expected me to never aspire for leadership, to struggle for the attention of a man so I could marry, to be submissive and never voice my opinions. If my assault taught me anything, it was to never be weak again. Perhaps, it taught me to say no to the constraints placed on me due to my femininity. It taught me to fight so I never went through that ordeal again. And so, I fought.

I fought through primary school, competing with my male classmates for leadership roles. I won. I fought through senior high school, competing with male counterparts in both intellect and leadership. I won again. I was hailed a hardworking and determined leader. I still fight in the university; this time, not for myself but for the young girls who faced what I faced.

During this time, I joined A New Dawn, now Bowney Initiative as a Programs Coordinator. A New Dawn is a non-profit organization that envisions a world where all underprivileged girls have access to adequate resources to unleash their potential and become who they wish to be without being limited by the societal definitions of who they should be. We taught them to be confident; we taught them to say no and we taught them to study since education is the key to unlocking their futures. Most importantly, we taught them to believe in themselves and their talents.

Gender taught me that I was being defined by my femininity, that I was weak and should never aspire to be a leader. Yet, gender showed me that it was a constraint that I should overcome. So, I overcame it — I understood it, I embraced it and I changed it. I am changing the lives of young girls who are restrained by gender. I became a leader, a role model to these girls and an inspiration to them. My fight is not over. I am fighting for a world where women are given equal opportunities to develop themselves and to become major influencers in society’s decision making.

Meet Eunice Adu

Eunice Adu, Mastercard Foundation Scholar at Wellesley College.

Eunice’s story is part of a series for International Women’s Day that is highlighting stories from Mastercard Foundation Scholars about how gender has shaped their leadership journeys. Continue reading more posts in the series here.