‘Do They Remember?’ by Shekainah banda

Do they remember when cross belts were the only thing and tints 
The only dominant shade of colour on our portraits?
There were no females in government, 
Employment was on the bias of gender.
Told to surrender our ambitions and trade our voice for standing
By pots and changing diapers.
[Do they remember] 
When there were no laws to speak for us?
All we were remembered for was multiplying generations.
You need to know that independence did not just break our men’s chains 
But the confines on the female kind, the women, the wing, the revolution, the answer. 

Shekainah Banda writes from and lives in Lusaka, Zambia.