‘Each widow in this society is Every woman’ means that

  ADUKE: Listen my fellow women. The issue has little to do with being literate or not. It is true that most members of NAM (New Awareness Movement) are literate, but this does not make all of us enlightened. We must be able to draw a line between the two. You may be literate and yet possess a consciousness that is decadent and servile. On the other hand you may not have received formal education and yet may be the greatest exponent of progressive ideas.

  HASANA: I agree with what our sister has said. Let us not allow ourselves to be divided by a greedy and an inflated notion of the certificates we possess. In this century, as we march towards the year 2000, our primary concern should be how best to improve the lot of womanhood in our society. Let us not forget that for each woman who is beaten up by her man for flimsy reasons are status of all of us here is downgraded. For each woman who is insulted for no reason than that of her sex, every one of us here is spat on in the face. For each woman who is denied opportunities in the society simply because she is a woman, the whole lot of us are dehumanized. Each widow in this society is an everywoman, and the lot of each of us should be viewed as collective. Each rotten egg that is thrown at anyone of us is an eternal splash of dirt on our faces. Each decayed tomato that is cast at her is a collective curse on our fecundity: each pebble thrown at her, a missile against our womanhood. This is an age of awareness, and it is the duty of NAM to collectively rise in defence of the right of women.

  IME: We can no longer allow ourselves to be fried alive. We are going to squeeze ourselves into tight-fitting trousers, register into judo classes, and then file out into the street and punch the face of every man we behold.