Strugglee of widowed woman with eight kids, without financial empowerment

ln a typical Nigerian house, the man caters for the bulk of the financial expensis of the family, while the woman also assists by giving some financial support for the little day to day expenses of the family. The woman is the one who takes care of the kids, cook the meals, clean the house and do the house chores expecially when the kids are still very little to assist, with all this, the woman is still engaged in a petty trade, like selling of home mad drinks or vegetables so she could also assist her kids financially. The man has a job, either an employed salary earner self employed business man, all he does is to go out of the house evey morning and return back in the evening, give the family money at the end of the month. If the money is not enough, it is woman left for the woman to assist with the little she gets from her business and till another month begins (this is not applicable to all Nigerian homes but many run their house this way). The man is responsible for the school levy of the children.

In my house, I am currently still a student so I am going about talk my parents, my dad before his demise used to be a civil servant, my dad never allowed my mom to get a job as he believed that an empowered woman would become disobedient to her husband. Yet, the woman was never left to remain idle or just do the house chores and take care of the children, the woman is also introduced in some petty business which consumes time, birth stressing her out and overwhelmes her.

I and my siblings are 8 kids, my dad's income was never enough to feed the house for a month, so my mom had to venture into different kinds of business that she could do from the home, ranging from, charcoal business, to melon business, to groundnut business etc. Those little home sales earned her some money that she used in catering for our petty needs like giving us a new a pencil, snacks and other daily needs before the end of the month.
This went one till the demise of my dad. Then my mom was left to cater for the whole family all by her self, with no job and no stable business, afetr all the burial rites ware performed, there was not capital to start amy business, and age was no longer on her side as for getting a job. My mom has ventured into so many businesses so as to cater for her 8 children alone, especially after my dad's family came to take everything my dad ever worked for and left behind after he left this world. It was a state of brokenness, but thank God we are all grown now and doing our best to repay her for her doggedness and her love that she has shown to our as a woman who was never empowered at any point in time.

Women empowerment is vital, never let a man talk you into thinking that all is well with a job, a skill or a business.

Thank you for reading to this point. I love you♥️