I truly believe most adult Rwandan women have plenty of inner and outer beauty and a level of grace that most women can only wish to have one day. However, their lack of care for their bodies is very evident. Every Friday around the gardens in front of the Prime Minister’s office you will find men running their butts off and seemingly very comfortable with their running pace while the women are chatting it up with their colleagues and walking around. Our society expects so much from women in terms of domestic and work life and forces them to never put themselves first. You find men still waking up early to hit the gym or finding ways to sneak in some exercise; however, women pack on the pounds because they are either too busy taking care of business at work or at home. I know it goes deeper than just taking care of ourselves with gender roles in society and some women will argue that they enjoy these gender roles. That’s fine. My complaint is that we are not putting our health first and this is why we end up in the hospital after weeks of ignoring stomach pains and persistent headaches. I am definitely a victim of this and I do not even have children or a husband to take care of! But I will admit to putting my job first before my health. Every morning I promise myself to get out of bed an hour earlier and get a good sweaty workout in but it never happens and I really do not like myself for this because this affects not only the waistline but even the mind. What is worse is that I have developed a habit of skipping breakfast! That is a horrible habit and anyone who has it should drop it. Fortunately, I am still of age where I can knock the pounds off easily with a good change of diet and exercise but to my bosses and supervisors who leave work late and never put themselves first, they need to change. If you have time to go to the salon and get your hair done, you should time to sneak in a 30 minute workout most mornings. My last boss was my idol. She woke up early every morning and got a good 30 minute run in. She had energy for days and was always at work later than any of us but it showed in her confidence and mood that she was healthy and happy with her life. I think as Rwandan women we need to be more conscious of our inner beauty as much as we are about our careers and families. What do you think can make this more of a culture in our society?
