Issues with self esteem affect Nigerian girls more than boys - Ronke Giwa

Ronke Giwa, the convener of Who's That Girl has revealed that ladies are more affected by mindset issues of self esteem than their male counterparts.

According to her, while it is easier for a boy to shrug away self esteem issues, it is more difficult for girls to cope with such issues.

"As ladies, we are not like boys who can say “we don’t care.” When girls have mindset issues with self esteem, it can affect them," she told IBPulse.com

She also expressed her displeasure with parents who don't talk to their female children on topical issues such as sex.

She said: "Some Nigerian mothers also don’t talk to their children about issues such as sex. Ladies need education; we need to let them know what is wrong and what is right."

Helping Nigerian girls with such issues and to direct them to where they can get right answers to some of their questions, she said, is the focus of the Who's That Girl initiative.

"At Who’s That Girl, girls will be able to interact with each other and learn new skills like etiquettes and hygiene. It is my way of giving back to the society," she said.

She added: "It is my pet project and we are launching it on December 15, 2013. It is for all girls, ladies generally. Many ladies especially teens need guidance. They follow wrong paths and act wrongly because they don’t have people to guide them through."

She spoke about her experience growing up as a lady, and how the right people helped her to get proper direction on what she should do with her life.

She said: "I discovered myself when I left Nigeria. When I was here, I felt so frustrated and I needed to just leave the country. I didn’t know what I wanted to do with my life. But outside Nigeria, I was with the right people at the place and time.

"It could happen to anyone in Nigeria and you don’t have to travel out to discover yourself. But it was the right thing for me at that time."

On the issue of distrust among ladies, she said it is due to the sixth sense that allows them to easily identify individuals with ulterior motives.

"Ladies don’t open up, especially when they feel like they can’t trust you. We ladies have sixth sense, we are able to identify people with ulterior motives. But I do get lots of mentorship requests but I cannot be everyone’s mentor. It is an emotional thing to be a mentor," she told IBPulse.com.

She added: "People relate to me because they like the fact that I’m not the average authority because young people don’t like authority – principal or teacher. I come across as cool; someone that many ladies can relate and talk to. With the event, I’m trying to create a center point, a place where ladies can come and refer them to people who can help them."

Facilitators at the event, she said, would be experts from the medical field and worthy role models that are not more than 30 years old.

"We will have mental wellness experts, a gynecologist and women who under 30 years old. They will be individuals that the ladies can relate to and we plan to have the event every two months," she said.