Feminist group, Pepper Dem Ministries, has sought to clarify certain misconceptions it says people have formed about a post by one of its members which sparked a massive debate on social media about the roles of women in society.
A number of Ghanaians took to various social media platforms to criticize the group for the post which they felt suggested that women who cook for their husbands were slaves.
Others also jumped to the group’s defence, backing the post and stating that the traditional roles of women needed to be redefined.
Few weeks after the brouhaha, the group has now issued a statement arguing that the initial post on social media had been misquoted and taken out of context.
“We wish to reference one particular angle which has been falsely attributed to PDM. This is that cooking for your husband is slavery and those who do so are slaves. We wish to categorically state that PDM has never made this statement, doesn’t share this opinion and does not align with it nor endorses it,” the statement said.
According to them, the post stated that “If you want to praise your slaving or hardworking or loving wife, whatever adjective you find suitable, pls go ahead without suggesting that she defines what womanhood totally entails.”
The group, which is focused on rewriting gender narratives, believes that the originator of the post did not seek to suggest that women who cooked for their spouses were slaves, but rather advised people not to “use the choices their wives make to set standards for all other women.”
The statement added that the group’s main objective is to ensure “balance and fairness” in the society, adding that many members and sympathizers of the group “support their homes and take delight in cooking for their families.”
The group also called on persons and media organisations with dissenting views to desist from spreading propaganda about them and instead work towards the “progress and build both women and men to treat each other with dignity”
Below is the full statement from the group:
Statement by Pepper Dem Ministries on the wrongful attribution of statement “cooking is slavery”.
In the last few weeks, there have been discussions on social media, television and radio pertaining to cooking from different angles.
We wish to reference one particular angle which has been falsely attributed to PDM. This is that cooking for your husband is slavery and those who do so are slaves. We wish to categorically state that PDM has never made this statement, doesn’t share this opinion and does not align with it nor endorses it.
Below is the statement which we believe has been twisted by propagandists on various media platforms:
“If you want to praise your slaving or hardworking or loving wife, whatever adjective you find suitable, pls go ahead without suggesting that she defines what womanhood totally entails.”
To help clarify the meaning of the post in question, we’d like to share some definitions:
A. “SLAVING” defined from the Urban dictionary is
i. Putting in overtime hours to get work done when you are getting paid on salary. And thus working for free.
B. “SLAVERY” defined on Google
i. Is the practice or system of owning slaves. or
ii. a condition of having to work very hard without proper remuneration or appreciation.
Clearly, “slaving”and “slavery”are not synonymous, plus the contextual meaning of slaving used in the sentence doesn’t suggest that cooking is slavery not to mention that cooking for your husband or family is slavery.
If you have followed us keenly, PDM’s goal is to promote choice, agency, balance and fairness. PDM has members, supporters and allies who support their homes and take delight in cooking for their families.
We believe that our member’s post suggesting that people shouldn’t use the choices their wives make to set standards for all other women has been taken out of context and a storm created unnecessarily out of this.
As an organization, we understand that adults can and should take decisions that work for them and also honour the dignity of both parties.
As we approach the International Women’s Month, we ask that we all work for progress and build both women and men to treat each other with dignity, especially to make commitments to train our daughters and sons for the challenging dynamics of the future in order to be useful in all spheres of their lives.
We would like to entreat media houses to act professionally and check stories before they run amok with it and create storms out of tea cups and send the whole country on a wild goose chase with time that could have been used profitably to pursue progressive gender conversations.
Media houses and people who do not agree with us must desist from these propaganda.
We are always available to confirm any statements we make to the press whenever they do their checks on the news of the day
Thank you.
Signed:
Communications and Media Team
Pepper Dem Ministries
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By: citifmonline.com/Ghana
