By Ephraim Modi Duku
One of South Sudan’s promising female artists, Irene Toss has encouraged women to work hard and be independent rather than depending financially on men.
Speaking in an exclusive interview as South Sudan celebrated the International Women’s Day (IWD), Irene Toss said she cherishes every bit of her life as a woman.
“Women should prove a point that they can do what men can do by working so hard and depend on themselves, what gives men the rights to think they are superior than women is the fact that women depend on them literally on everything in marriage and in daily life but we should overcome that weakness by fighting for our rights to education and fight against early marriages” she said.
The IWD is commemorated yearly to highlight the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women, and raise awareness about women’s equality, accelerate gender parity.
“I feel blessed, people always say being a woman is the hardest reality but to me it’s what I call blessing because in my personal perspective women make a world, a home and a nation”.
She also said that it is very important to commemorate the International Women’s Day in honour of the efforts that women have played in so many areas.
“It’s important because we have to feel honoured and appreciated for our hard work and restlessness since it is the day women are supposed to be honoured and appreciated for their existence. Women have to feel special in days like this,” Toss added.
She also pointed out that women need to work hard to ensure that equality is fought, highlighting that women face a lot of challenges in their lives, yet they are the main pillars in our society in many occasions.
“Women face challenges in a daily life, be it growth, marriage, delivery, raising up the children and even keeping a family, but they overcome every challenge through hard work, women are hardworking people. When women actually realize, they have rights and stand out to fight for their rights, women can easily win the rights to do things on their own without a fear of being under circumstances of men power over them and they are the solution to their problems” Toss said.
Toss also believed through music, the society can change literally on the scope of life.
“I believe my music will touch a lot of souls because there are people who listen to my music and cry especially when I perform songs like the “World’s child and Uma ta junub because they see their stories being told live and get encouraged, I performed uma ta junub twice and the audience cried, so I actually stopped performing for some time because of her. My music is touching souls” she added.
Toss started her music career in 2017 while still a high school girl. One of her songs is titled “STRENGTH OF A WOMAN” which has a powerful message about women empowerment.
The global theme for this year’s IWD is “Gender equality today for a sustainable tomorrow”, while South Sudan marked IWD under the theme: “Break the bias and celebrate women and girls’ achievements and resilience.”
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