Over the past week, our awesome team at Think Young Women has been engaging women leaders in all regions of The Gambia, with discussions focusing mainly on women’s leadership and peace-building. I joined the engagements in Basse, Kerewan and the Greater Banjul Area, and facilitated conversations on effective communication for female political aspirants and leaders. In each of those conversations, references were made to the current discussion especially on Gambian social media, regarding the (un)suitability of Ms. Marie Sock, a Gambian woman who has decided to throw her musorr in the ring and aspire for the seat of the presidency. We also spoke about the broader attitude towards female political aspirants and leaders in The Gambia, and how this contributes to the wide gap in gender representation.

The discourse has hinged on a statement that is not new, despite its foolishness: The Gambia is not ready for a female president. We’ve heard it before, in the case of Dr. Isatou Touray, when she declared her independent candidacy for President of The Gambia ahead of the 2016 elections. Away from the Presidency, it is also a rhetoric that has taken different forms to question women’s leadership, sustain patriarchal culture, and discourage increased representation of women in leadership roles across sectors. It is a rhetoric that finds its roots in a culture that equates the absence of men to a lack of leadership, even in single-mother households. This is The Gambia we have lived in for ages, and it is the country we still live in. Thanks to increased platforms and improved access to them, the conversations and debates are more visible. The insults and derogatory remarks have also gained visibility, especially with the cover of anonymity that social media provides.

We have a problem in The Gambia, and it is not the women standing up and working to get into leadership roles and participate in decision-making. Our problem is our complacency and satisfaction in mediocre leadership, incessant disappointment, and an often fool-hardy reliance on ‘Yallah bahna’ when it comes to the state of our country. Even worse, we are lost in the sauce of protecting this marker of failure simply because we have men at the fore. God forbid we acknowledge the incompetence of our leaders at different levels, if it means accepting that it’s overdue to fulfil and respect the rights of all women to seek leadership positions.

With the current state of our country and our history of purely male leadership, I’m wont to ask: is The Gambia ready for another male president?

Aren’t we tired of having men in the highest seat of power in this country continuously fail us on all fronts?

When will we look back at the track record of these men who have led us and decide that enough is enough?

I ask this last question because, quite often, people want to make us believe that women cannot lead because of the inadequacy or failure of one woman in one sector. We are told we are not suitable because we choose to look and dress a certain way. Marie Sock pops up with a haircut, and all hell breaks loose, in the same space where we ignore Henry Gomez and his fancy jerry curls and stud earrings. When we speak up, we are labelled angry, sad, lonely, uncouth and out-of-place. When one woman makes a mistake, the big brush of the patriarchy is dipped into a tub of sexism and used to paint all women as ‘not enough’. Yet, women continue to break barriers, despite the limits on our potential, the attacks on our personalities, and the constant campaigns to tear us down and keep us behind men, so they can continue to be comfortable in their mediocrity.

The Gambia has been independent from colonial rule since 1965. We are a whole 55 years old in massa’s bloodstained books but each year, on 18th February, there is always the debate on whether we are truly independent. In those 55 years, and the many years before them, (political) leadership has been disproportionately male. From the Prime Ministers to Presidents, Speakers of Parliament to Ministers, Permanent Secretaries to Directors, our affairs have been soaked in testosterone and served to us on platters of masculinity that seek to overpower, control, dominate, subjugate, silence, oppress and even kill. Are we not tired of these men who lead our country?

We have been ‘self-reliant’ for more than 50 years, but people in this country continue to suffer from poverty, food insufficiency, inadequate health care, poor education, non-existent social services and an all-round lack of leadership. Women continue to die while giving birth, and some lose their babies, even when these deaths can be prevented. Again, women continue to suffer various forms of violence in their homes, in places of work and out on the streets. We can’t even walk freely without the fear of being attacked. When we choose to get into public transportation, we have to worry about the possibility of being robbed, raped and even killed by men. When action is to be taken, we see men protecting their fellow men, with some choosing silence and others going the victim-blaming route. Again, are we not tired of these men who are charged with improving lives and livelihoods and protecting the citizenry, by virtue of their occupying leadership positions?

In 2016, The Gambia made world news, and gained much-deserved attention for the demonstration of people power and the emergence of new hope for democracy and respect for the rule of law. Gambians rested their hopes on a coalition of majority male leaders, with a male flag-bearer,  and voted them into office. The women who championed the coalition have been served crumbs, and this has been masked as representation. What has followed is a sad timeline of disappointment, deceit, disrespect and deception. Where once there were allies, now we see rivalry. Where a father and son would embrace each other and drown their relationship down our throats, now they’re at loggerheads, with a family in disarray. Our political discourse has been ridden with gaaruwaaleh, taysanteh and endless verbal shots thrown from one camp to another. Men must be men’s biggest enemies. Where there was unity of purpose, now we see factions, each one pursuing an individual or partisan interest. Project New Gambia has been abandoned. The Think Tank has tanked. The coalition is in confusion. The national cake has melted into the mouths of a few, while the majority go hungry and scramble for crumbs. These men, aren’t we tired of their failures?

I know I am. I know many women are, too. It is evidenced in the frustrations shared by the women we engaged with over the past week, and through the dialogues we have been having over the years on the state of women’s leadership. In their words, “we are tired of clapping and cooking for men who win elections and forget about women and our rights”. We are living through a global shift. It is a revolution, and it is borne from years of being silent and cowed into submission to men and their self-proclaimed superiority. The ones among us who dare to go against the norm have to fight all sorts of negativity and vileness for a chance to be heard. Women are tired of being Kingmakers. We will be King, and we will know progress, peace and prosperity.

Our backs are against the wall, and resistance is the global order. The Gambia will not be left behind. The winds of change will sweep away the decades-long history of mediocrity, poor governance, corruption, ineptitude, and arrogance of male leadership in our beloved country. It’s time to think about our current state and ask ourselves if we want another man leading us, with the opportunity to do the same or worse than his predecessors. From what we have seen so far, male leaders have only failed us.Instead of asking if The Gambia is ready for a female president, we must stop and ask ourselves if we are willing for another male one, especially given their 55-year track record.

So again, I ask:

Aren’t we tired of these male leaders?

Don’t we deserve better than the failure of male leadership?

Is The Gambia really ready for yet another male President?

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