I am feminist because I am female, and where I come from, giving birth to only females in succession earns you ridicule and disrespect. You are no longer barren since you have children, but the children you do have are not good enough because they are not male.
I am feminist because people keep telling me that even with all my degrees and career achievements, I will always be an incomplete woman if I’m not domesticated, because my primary assignment is in the kitchen and in the home. I know I wasn’t born the kitchen, and I refuse to accept this reductive tag.
I am feminist because women and girls like me all over the world are unsafe. They are raped and abused and blamed for it, they are sold, mutilated, denied access to education and basic human rights, and are given away in marriage before they are even old enough to understand what marriage is. I want to do something to help and it kills me that I can’t.
I am feminist because women like me are ignored and overlooked in the workplace, simply because they are women. They are bypassed for promotions and pay raises which are then given to men who are sometimes less worthy than they are. They are denied employment opportunities because they are mothers pregnant, married, or engaged to married.
I am feminist because I know my worth. No, I was not born to be the neck, or to be in the background or in the backseat. I was not born to only be the proverbial “woman behind the great man”. I want to be my own person, and do my own thing.
I am feminist because I am tired and angry. I am feminist because I want to make the change I want to see in the world.
Oyinda Loves Books 