Dear Ijeawele, is a little book with so much insight about Feminism.
What is feminism?
Feminism is a range of political movements, ideologies, and social movements that share a common goal: to define, establish, and achieve political, economic, personal, and social equality of sexes. This includes seeking to establish educational and professional opportunities for women that are equal to those for men.
Why do some men and women hate feminism?
Is it not all about equal opportunities to reach developmental goals? I remember the argument we had at the just concluded free market principles workshop, when I said women are disadvantaged and need friendly legislation for example, if there is a policy that allows institutions to treat women specially, when they have babies and are in school ,they should have a place close to the class to nurse their babies and still not miss out on any lesson, while she learns and maximize her potentials it is for our own good,and I gave an example with myself and my aspirations to be president of my country, I need all the support while I build capacity and branding towards that direction.that will come with “healthy privileges” In the end is a win win scenerio some one said to me
” fix ur priorities right, then don’t get married or think of having babies” Nobody is disadvantaged, it sounded like do what you want to do but make sure you clean and cook, when you are exhausted, you will know your place. I was really surprised that we don’t even recognize there is an issue and that’s the main problem . Then Nigeria will still not reach gender parity by 2063. But the stakes are high,the earlier we understand the problem the better for us!!! But I think the reason for hating Feminism by both men and female is simple. The emphasy mostly is on the means not the end.
Equality should be the means to an end, The end being Equity, Equity and equality are two strategies we can use in an effort to produce fairness. Equity is giving everyone what they need to be successful. Equality is treating everyone the same. Equality aims to promote fairness, but it can only work if everyone starts from the same place and needs the same help.
What is equity?
Equity is about fairness. Jim Falk and his colleagues put it this way:
“Equity derives from a concept of social justice. It represents a belief that there are some things which people should have, that there are basic needs that should be fulfilled, that burdens and rewards should not be spread too divergently across the community, and that policy should be directed with impartiality, fairness and justice towards these ends.” (Falk et al. 1993, p. 2)
In the narrowest terms it means that there should be a minimum level of income and environmental quality below which nobody falls. Within a community it usually also means that everyone should have equal access to community resources and opportunities, and that no individuals or groups of people should be asked to carry a greater environmental burden than the rest of the community as a result of government actions. It is generally agreed that equity implies a need for fairness (not necessarily equality) in the distribution of gains and losses, and the entitlement of everyone to an acceptable quality and standard of living. This is the bigger picture
This 15 page book, with so much more lessons that few pages can take writes to a woman who wanted a clue on how to raise her girl – child a Feminist . The writer seeks to describe an ideal society, but in fact every lessons there is not practicable, a lot of philosophy are tempered with expecially a typical African setting.
In this book we get to know how gender roles sets in subconsciously and sticks through growing process, we all are guilty sometimes, I caught myself saying to myself, I want to be the vice president instead, then I see the limits appear then I ask myself why can’t I be the president. Is like hmnnnnnnnnnnn…… Female president in Nigeria, you are joking, just like I catch myself saving some particular job descriptions for my husband, like changing the bulbs, servicing the car, carry that heavy item I bought, while I carry the lighter one or nothing at all. it’s so nice to think that men are the issue, but this are things we grow up to see and it seems right, Since everyone is different and we embrace these differences as unique, we must also redefine our basic expectations for fairness and success as contingent upon those individual differences, because differences exist, that is why a woman gets a maternity leave and while I advocate for paternity leave but just a week (on a lighter note) . So my stand will be as long as we are comfortable with the roles, I think is cool, but when it limits a woman from maximizing her potentials then it becomes injustice. If we cannot blame our differences, then we must look to systematic obstacles. A monkey can be said to be very swift, from tree to tree, it swings but it cannot do that with the same speed when it is on the road.
So, I will look at the writers longtime intension not the form it came. Cause some of her lines jumped at me and almost provoked me. Yeah!
We properly will have to stay around pseudo equality or as the author puts it Feminist Lite the one we say “He is the head and I’m the neck’’ in practice that is always trues, it will be OK if we till arrive at destiny, Justice, equity, fairness. So the end justifies the means.
The writer emphasises the role of spoken words and mindset of a girl – child a typical example that comes to my mind is instead of telling a girl,” “sit like a girl” how about, sweetheart, you can actually sit, like this, (show her how) is better!!! Tough right? The emphasy is on how you send messages subconsciously to her, that limits her.
women must have equal rights as men.
The writter gave deep insight as suggestions, one of my favorite is the fact that a girl should be ‘whole’ unlike reality we have girls incomplete in themselves and sadly waiting for a man to make them complete. Getting married should not be the ultimate goal, if she wants to, she should be complete in herself, not dependent on the role of the man in the marriage to make her complete.