I am Woman

"I am a woman, the embodiment of strength is who I am. My womanhood was birthed through pain, and that pain has forced me to be strong. Then again, by inherent nature, my womanhood is strength. Before I came forth from the passages of the womb strength was inscribed in my DNA.

The process of my birth was one of pain so strong, that when my mother delivered me she cried out “I don’t know whose I am” and the cords of emotional bond between mother and child was broken when my umbilical cord was severed and she thought by letting me go that I would be granted a better life what she did not know, is that decision shattered my life. Yet I am a woman and I was born to be strong!

A name for this girl child she could not decide, until an unknown grey-headed woman with a child by her side said, “she is Sher-na” Some say it’s a Parsi name which means Lioness others say it’s a unique name not of English origin, whoever named me, be it God, Goddess, man or an ancient, I was given a name fit for my life. For I am a woman and I was born to be strong!

The unseen hands which fashioned me, knew that the first time I would see the light after nine months of being contained in a womb of pain; that pain would be my path for the majority of my life, so I was given a name which would make me fight, fight to be strong, so strength became my shield, pain, rage and aggression my portion the latter three, tried to over me and control of my mental sanity after my vagina was abused and my body violated and today my vagina speaks its own monologues for freedom, truth, and self-expression. Because I am a woman and I was born to be strong!

Women of the World! men call us weak, they say we are emotional wrecks, however, what they fear is our strength, so they use discrimination, inequality, force and violence to keep us down and broken, but we shall rise, we shall rise like an untouched lily in the pond, shake our shoulders, hold our heads high and march on like an army into our destiny for we have a right to be here. For we are women and we were born to be strong!

When they break us we will heal and rebound; when they cast us out we find a home, when they damage us we will reconstruct ourselves, and when they cause us emotional distress and pain we will dig deep within ourselves and we will rise reborn, reenergize, and we will move forward. For we are women and we were born to be strong!

Society says that we should be at home, Patriarchy says that we should never lead, religion says that we should be quiet, what they fail to say is that they fear our leadership skills, because our voices bring peace and our words of wisdom balances chaos. And though they try to annihilate us we will spring up like trees whose seeds are well fertilised and watered through pain, to teach future generations of women to own their space. For we are women and we were born to be strong!

Though they try to hold us back we are like arrows in the bow of life, we do not wait to be let lose, we embrace opportunities to fly, and we soar even higher than the Eagle, we claim and own our spaces, and we will continue to break those supposed unbreakable glass ceilings. For we are women and we were born to be strong!

Men come into our lives and abuse our love, break our hearts and some of our fathers penetrated us snatching away our innocence while breathing “daddy’s little girl”. Men in society take us for granted for in their eyes we are invisible and they call us defiled, and though we walk global streets with an emptiness in our hearts and a hole in our chest and at times with nothing in our hands. We work, we study, we push ourselves and we RISE, we overcome our deepest challenges and fears we beat the odds. For we are women and we were born to be strong!

Patriarchy calls us feeble, and view us as their sexual objects which feed their desire, society blames us for the clothes we wear, and they moralise us for the men and women we love, they say we can never be victims for we were in the homes by our own choice and survivors! we are certainly not, for they never saw a war.

Though they break us and try to shape us, though they discriminate against us, though they use force and violence to keep us in check we will break lose, rise and show the world that we are not inferior, because we are leaders, we are queens in our own right, unsung heroes, creators, mothers and global peacemakers. For we are women and we were born to be strong!

Pain has made us, abuse has fashioned us, violence has moulded us, shame has scared us, some of our fellow women has sided against us, violation we know; wars unknown we have fought and experienced, the sting of death we have tasted and life we have embraced. Yet we stand immovable. For we are women and we were born to be strong!

We use our voices to stand in solidarity with our sisters, we use our pens to advocate for change, our fingers, when combined with technology, builds a sisterhood online which affects and effect global changes offline, and we use our minds for disruptive thinking; not for disruptive behaviours so we can create and innovate changes in national systems for generations to come. Because history must never forget that we are women and we are born to be strong!" ~ Piece created by Sherna Alexander Benjamin. All rights reserved.