The Fuss about Francisca~ Stan Dugah writes

I have seen people arguing against the attention Francisca is recieving, thinking we are unnecessarily focusing on her rather than the team and not giving the boys in the team their due recognition. I thought the reasons are clear enough and nobody should think recognizing Francisca is a slight on the others?

Give a teacher in a mixed school five boys and five girls to work with and if he is not sensible enough, he might think that his best three will be males even before training starts. Ketasco presented a female before, but this year was their first time going into the final and they had a girl in the team. And she wasn't there through some sort of affirmative action; she was there because she was good enough, excellent. That's something people can't resist talking about and a lot of girls are watching. 

For a school that is not as well resourced as Presec or Wesley Girls, qualifying for consecutive semi finals and then taking another step into the final is an achievement worth talking about. 

It shows that no matter where you are from and no matter your limited resources, you can still achieve greatness. Francisca and her team did. 

Until we reach a day on which a couple with twins, a boy and a girl, will let them take turns doing household chores rather than making cooking, washing, cleaning etc. solely the duties of the girl child while the boy child gets to play with his friends or run a few errands, both of them excelling will see the girl getting more recognition and appreciation, and it's understandable. 

She probably run the race of academia with cooking pots and washing bowls tied around her waist. That should have slowed her down, but it didn't. 

If she performs as well as her male colleagues, then she deserves every recognition and appreciation. It's not a snub to the boy child and the exploits of his male team members. 

Legon has a cut off point of 15 for boys and 16 for girls wanting to read Bachelor of Art programmes. Knust allows something similar for engineering. 

Equality matters. Equity matters more. Both boys and girls have potential, and a lot of them across the country are striving for greatness, but it's tougher excelling as a girl. 

Let's do this. 

By Stan Dugah

StantheStoryTeller

29/11/2021