Human civilizations have always developed and progressed thanks to women, but this is almost never acknowledged. History has not been kind to women and even the present still has a lot to answer for. Gendercide, status deprivation, social abuse, and general inequality in every part of life continues to exist. We lack female leaders the world over who can change this. However, we starting to see a difference in this, from the USA to the state of Southern Kaduna in Nigeria and beyond.

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Over the past 100 years or so, there have been a number of highly influential women, as there have been in every time period. But the key difference is that these women are now being recognized for the important role they have played. Consider, for instance:

  • Esther Nenadi Usman, former finance minister from Kaduna.
  • Margaret Thatcher and now Theresa May, prime ministers of the United Kingdom.
  • Indira Gandhi, India’s first female prime minister.
  • Eleanor Roosevelt, First Lady of the United States.

And there are many more. Rosa Parks, Emilia Eckhart, Marie Curie, Joan of Arc, the list goes on and on.

Women like Nenadi Esther Usman feel that the fact that women the world over continue to be oppressed and discriminated against is nothing short of an insult to all those women that came before. Florence Nightingale, Mother Teresa, Anne Frank – all women who changed the world for the better for women and who hoped that this would continue. Usman continuously helps people to remember this, telling women that they can have political, social, education, sexual, economic and financial freedom, if they are just ready to take it.

Thanks to women like Esther, there is a greater awareness of the continued plight of the woman. What Nenadi has done, both as Senator Nenadi Esther, and as Nenadi Esther, wife of Usman, is pave the way for the next generation. She has shown today’s women that equality is possible, and that women can take this equality, as it is their right. Esther Usman believes that women like Rosa Parks showed how it was done – in a non-violent manner, she simply refused to give up her seat on the bus. And she is now known as “the mother of the freedom movement”.

Thanks to all these powerful women of the past, and powerful women of the preset like Esther Nenadi Usman, women are no longer afraid to speak out. Nenadi has inspired thousands to show their strength as leaders, humanitarians, political figures, teachers, friends, daughters, wives, mothers, and, mainly, as human beings. The 21st century is set to be the century of the revolution of the woman. Some people believe progress has been slow, but the reality is that it is less than 100 years ago that women gained voting rights in some countries, and look where we are today. From a historical perspective, the world has changed for the better in the blink of an eye, so imagine what can happen in the next blink!