Hello there! Thank goodness its Friday and time for another blog update! My week (once more) has been packed with exams and schoolwork so getting to write this was absolutely refreshing. This week for me wasn't just full of numerous and overbearing schoolwork, it was also full of new life lessons and advocacy. Advocacy for what? Well feminism of course!
Now before you bring out your pitchforks and accuse me of attempting to eradicate and annihilate the entire male gender or make them into slaves for my personal convenience, I suggest you calm down and let me finish. Today's blog is about what feminism means to me and why I am a feminist.
I grew up mostly keeping to myself and reading my numerous books. When I didn't have my nose all up in a book, I was listening (not eavesdropping abeg) to others and conversations going on around me. One of those topics happened to one day be about feminism. I listened to a group of young men talk about feminism in such a way that piqued my interest.
"They are women that want to ruin our children." one said in Hausa.
"They do not know their place." another said.
As I listened, I could not help but wonder what it was for women at all to 'know their place'. Was it cooking, cleaning, and other house chores? Was it not going into careers that was more 'male-dominated'? I soon after began to research the topic of feminism. I read it was all about the advocacy for women empowerment and gender equality. I soon decided that I would be a part of it. I will be honest here, I was afraid of the stigma that would come with this. I was afraid I would be seen as 'too known'. A few years later after moving back to the United States, my interest in feminism was reignited after I read Maya Angelou's poem 'And Still I Rise' in my English 101 class at BMCC. The poem was empowering to me and reading it, I thought about the systematic way women were put down in my community. From girls who played soccer being seen as 'masculine' and 'unattractive' to girls who decided to go to further their education after university being seen as 'too career oriented', I felt a sense to advocate for the rights of women and equality of the female gender.
So feminism to me is not about putting down men. Its not about tearing families apart. Its not about being a misandrist and its certainly not about having the voices of women being the only voices heard. Its about advocating for the next woman. Its about helping lift up the woman who feels she cannot be lifted. Its about coexisting with the male gender peacefully without tearing each other down. Its about having both our voices heard. Equally. Not more, not less. Equally.
Nice piece!!