Feminique

War of the ages! by Ochee Bamgboye

It has been over 70 years since the West got fixated on sex promotion and racial equality. Scores of anti-discriminatory and affirmative movements have generated enough legislation to more or less, outlaw overt practices. But just when activists may believe it was time to put down their demonstration placards, a new type of discrimination reared its ugly head.

The Menace of Ageism

In October 2006, the UK government enacted a law banning age discrimination in the workplace. A new legislation in the UK is usually a safe prediction of the extent to which an issue has become a social menace. Ageism is a growing global menace!

Ageism is a negative bias against a person or group of people on grounds of age. It includes attitudes and actions that relegate a person or group of people solely on account of their age. Ageism can take different forms but the age discrimination legislation primarily concerns the aged.

So what has all this got to do with us back home in Nigeria? How does age discrimination affect us? You may ask, since it appears to be one of those Eurocentric issues that have little or no relevance within our borders.

To say that discrimination does not occur in Nigeria would be akin to burying our head in the sand. It is an open secret that most people knock down their ages to remain within the employable age bracket.

When I consider our prevalent cultural attitudes towards the aged, I wonder whether we will ever reach the point of making laws to protect the older generation. So what’s this all leading to?

Gerontocracy

There are adult attitudes that are prevalent in our culture - adultism - discrimination against those who are young. Adultist attitude takes this form – stereotypical and generalized views - that young adults are usually immature, violent and rebellious. There are therefore, possibilities of excessive nurturing, possessiveness and undue restraint, associated with this attitudinal behaviour. gerontocracy - government by the aged is fast replacing democracy as most of the ‘young’ elects in the last polls rode on the back of either a biological father or a godfather( mother) to their posts. Our educational system also bears hallmarks of cultural adultism.

Our rich African culture and traditional views is set on an idealized construct that age symbolizes strength, character, wisdom and nobility. It also connotes the need not only to nurture young people into the position of strength and nobility, but to be endorsed by older associates or rela-

Our rich African culture and traditional views is set on an idealized construct that age symbolizes strength, character, wisdom and nobility.

tives. While this belief is not a problem in itself, it is, however, necessary to consider the social projections of this worthy traditional viewpoint.

Cultural adultism, tends towards a misconception that the youth are volatile and unstable. This belief, can lead to organized and systematic procedures that serve as mechanisms to leverage and perpetuate youth discrimination within the society. This is not new or peculiar to our culture, as examples abound in the Scriptures of several individuals who were disdained because of their youthfulness, but whom God put to great use having by -passed the ‘old’ folks, need I mention Samuel, David, Gideon, Joshua, and Timothy as references to those strict adherents of cultural adultism?

Recently, I was shocked when my twenty-something-year-old work mate lamented about her predicament. She wanted to get a place of her own but said her father would not even consider it. She was under strict instructions to remain in her uncle’s overcrowded house where she shares a room with two of her male cousins of the same age groups!

I encountered another lady who chauffeurs her twenty-year-old undergraduate son, within the Lagos Metropolis. When I asked why her son was not doing the driving she told me frankly that, he was too young to drive.

Another friend of mine recalled an occasion when she asked her husband to buy a particular brand of baby milk for their new born. She said her motherin-law overheard their conversation and advised that he buys the brand with which she fed him when he was a baby, which she considered better than the rest. The nursing mother did not want to change brands at that point, so when her mother-in-law was out of earshot she insisted on the preferred brand. Adultist attitudes do have its advantages since it promotes positive and strong caring attitudes towards the elderly, a virtue which is on a fast decline with increasing Western modernisation,...

When her husband returned with the tin of milk, she watched helplessly as her 33-year-old husband cowered in fear as his mother gave him a vicious tongue lashing for not heeding her advice. These are extreme cases but a reference point for evaluating our cultural attitudes.

Adultist attitudes do have its advantages since it promotes positive and strong caring attitudes towards the elderly, a virtue which is on a fast decline with increasing Western modernisation, culminating in the general view that aged parents are a liability that should be locked away in an old people’s home.

The sheer thought of being banished to an old people’s home has caused many aging Nigerians in the Diaspora to scuttle back home to enjoy their retirement in a society where the aged are treated with respect and reverence.

The West is, today, inundated with social problems stemming from an inability to supervise the youths. The last 10 years has been spent quenching fires caused by unfettered exercise of Child Protection Legislations. Most interventionist policies and support projects are no doubt doing well in the fight for the rights of children but also tend towards extreme cases.

While we may not want to swing the pendulum in the direction of the West, there is the need to re-evaluate our stereotypical views on age particularly as it concerns young adults between the age of 18 and 35. We also cannot ignore the threat that extreme forms of adultism poses. We must create awareness on the problems that could emanate from this practice. Extreme veneration of the aged and fear of inclusion of youth can lead to negative self image, frustration and prolonged dependability among young adults.

There is a growing concern amongst Human Resources practitioners and recruitment agencies about the widening skill gap between young adults and their older counterparts.

Extreme adultism can lead to a legitimate arrangement of power relationships between the young and the old that represses development potential and quashes crucial life skills in young adults.

We also risk over-nurturing of the younger generation to the point where they lack basic employability skills such as decision making, assertiveness, initiative and confidence.

Discrimination against the young or old must be shunned as we have increasingly witnessed the harmful effects of a failure to take the welfare of youths into consideration as the case in the Niger Delta, and the street urchins.

We must attempt to find a balance so that we do not further widen the generation gap or increase the rate of economic impotency among our youths in addition to other social concerns.

July/August

1 week

DAY 1

You are a success walking on two legs!

DAY 3

For a child of God, every place is a good place.

2 week

DAY 8

3 week

DAY 15

May you be found as a woman after God’s own heart.

DAY 2

DAY 10

Teach us to number our days and recognize how few they are. Help us to spend them as we should.

DAY 9

In everything you do, put God first. Then, He will crown your efforts with success.

Being dependent on God is not a sign of weakness but of strength.

DAY 17

No matter how bad things are, some are praying to be just like you.

4 week

5 week

DAY 22 DAY 16

God is not restricted by time or space. He can reach you wherever you are.

DAY 28 DAY 24

It is not impossible for God to do; so stop worrying.

DAY 23

Getting older should make you ponder on the goodness of God; not everyone is where you are now.

What you think about yourself goes a long way in what you make of your self. So think big!

DAY 29

Growing old has its challenges but believe Him, you were born to overcome.

DAY 4 DAY 5

He calls even the aged; you are not too old to be used by God. The lilies of the valley are always taken care of. Are you not more important than the lilies?

DAY 6 DAY 12 DAY 13 DAY 7

Follow the steps of the Godly instead and stay on the right path for only good men enjoy life to the full.

Turn your back on evil; then you will be given renewed health and vitality. Wisdom gives a long, good life, riches, honour, pleasure and peace. And God is able to make all grace abound towards you.

DAY 11 DAY 18

It may take time but He always comes through for His children.

DAY 19 DAY 20

It might not seem so but there is a purpose for which you were born into your family.

Remember how He brought you out of the storms and give thanks.

DAY 25 DAY 30

be yourself: that’s all the Lord asks of you.

DAY 26

If it were not for God, where would you be? Count your milestones in grace not in years. Seasons may change but God remains the same.

DAY 27

Thank God you made it.

DAY 14

It is time to wait on God.