By: June Shimuoshili
Namibian women are often praised for being strong.
The mother who sells vegetables from sunrise to sunset is called strong.
The woman who raises children alone is called strong.
The grandmother who sells food to pay school fees is called strong.
The woman who survives an abusive relationship is called strong.
But sometimes I wonder whether calling women “strong” has become another way of asking them to endure things they should never have had to endure in the first place.
We celebrate women’s resilience, but do we give them enough support?
A woman should not have to be extraordinarily strong simply to survive poverty.
She should not have to work herself into exhaustion because affordable childcare is unavailable.
She should not have to remain in an abusive relationship because she has nowhere to go.
She should not have to choose between feeding her children and investing in her own future.
True empowerment is not telling women how resilient they are.
It is building systems that make it easier for them to thrive.
That means access to finance, healthcare, education, childcare, legal protection, markets and safe employment.
It also means changing how we see informal workers.
The woman selling kapana is an entrepreneur.
The woman selling tomatoes is an entrepreneur.
The woman making crafts in a rural community is an entrepreneur.
The mother financing her child’s university education through a roadside business is building generational wealth—even if society does not use that language to describe her.
Namibia must celebrate women’s strength, yes.
But more importantly, we must reduce the number of times women are forced to rely on that strength simply to survive.
Empowerment should not mean teaching women to carry heavier burdens.
It should mean helping them put some of those burdens down.
