A brand is a particular product, label, or a trademark. A form of identification that differentiates a product from others. A brand has something that distinguishes it, such that the difference is clearly perceptible, understandable and unmistakable; that gives it a distinct quality and recognition.

From a packaged goods approach, real manufacturer’s outlook is that of offering a product (brand) and radically improving it in order to remain relevant in the market place. Marketing companies usually have a particular market positioning; for example, Coca-cola is the “clear leader” in soft drinks production and sales, compared to other competitors. And whenever a new brand is added there is a repositioning, offering new choices, opening a sales window to the companies biggest profit windows. Targeting to sell in more and more stores.

The emphasis is on making more products, more easily, more consistent and more profitable Eddie Binders, (Brand Builders).

However in another sense, branding can be derogatory. According to the Oxford Dictionary, it can also mean to ‘stigmatise’ such as when a person is branded a liar, a prostitute etc. It can be a short classifying phrase and a name applied to a person. Sort of name calling. This is where the typical traditional Nigerian woman has been placed in society. She has been branded a ‘baby making machine’, a ‘domestic servant,’ a ‘prostitute’, a ‘husband murderer’, a ‘fetish woman’, a ‘witch’, a ‘bitch’. All of these and more are the brand names of a woman in the Nigerian society. These names sum up the burden women face.

Recognising this, the Civil Liberties Organisation, an NGO in Nigeria has said, “The discriminatory burdens placed on women include those of chastity, of making marriage work at all cost, of fertility and fertility control, and the  ‘good’ children and to mourn the husbands to the state and dictate of his relatives. Compared to men, the Nigerian society treats the woman as a little better than beasts of burden ..”

The Nigerian woman has been stigmatised and discriminated against for ages. She has been denied the fundamental human rights of equality to man, denied access to economic power, land and capital; denied access to education, denied access to credit, denied access to political participation, access to make contribution to governance and deprived of her intrinsic worth as a woman. Indeed, she has been subjected to all forms of obnoxious practices.

The UNDP’s Human Development Report (HDR) states that, “70 per cent of the world’s 1.3 million people living in poverty are women. Illiterate women outnumber men by two to one, and 60 per cent of 130 million children not receiving primary education are girls. Women work longer hours than men but roughly two-thirds of their work is unpaid (compared to one-third of men’s working time). “Women’s under or unpaid labour”, claims United Nations Development Programme, “represents some USS 11 trillion each year”.

“Women generally lack access to credit. They are also under-represented in public life, since men hold 90 per cent of cabinet positions”, -Oxfam.

The above reveals the subservience of womanhood the world over. But the woman is a rare breed, rare specie, a brand and, an improved brand for that matter. Women have so much potentials, a basic understanding of these innate abilities and potentials places them on the pedestal where women should be, away from the prejudices, biases, roles, and unrealistic expectations of the world.

Women, carry the burden of the noble responsibility of motherhood homemakers, as builders, as entrepreneurs. The woman is overloaded. Women should discover and make full use of their God-given potentials. That is what God wants them to be.

The UN is calling for the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women, in the last decade the attention has been on how to stamp out Violence Against Women (VAW), some authors and researchers and women activists are looking at what women can do and advocating that women be given their rights and chance. Yet others are drawing attention to the purpose, power and influence of women.

I must say at this point that there are efforts by the Nigerian government of today and society, and the world at large, to make life better for women, making provision for them to participate and contribute their own quota to growth and development. But they can do more. Governments, men and all who understand the potentials of women can do more to promote their development initiatives and alleviate their sufferings.

Most importantly, women can do better for themselves by looking inwards into their innate potentials and seeking for ways to add value and dignity to womanhood and society. This is a human-centred approach to solving the prevalent problem of violence against women. Women should strive for strategic positioning for total relevance. This calls for deep introspection, articulation and clear identification of the inherent potentials, which when harnessed carve a niche, and place them in the collective scheme of things. By carving this niche, the woman becomes a brand of her unique self, indispensable and relevant. She knows where she stands, who she is and what she can do to impact herself, womanhood and the society in general. At this point, she is making a difference and contributing to growth and development globally.

Her value as a woman can be branded. This brand sells, attracts patronage and constantly being improved, she becomes needed, indispensable and profitable. Then, she can hardly be relegated to the background. This is the branded woman that is relevant in society.

Gloria Ken-Idehen