“I am a feminist” — four words that could either get a smile in response or an eye-roll. But who would have thought that the meaning behind these four simple words could have resulted in so much change throughout history for women? According to the Cambridge dictionary, feminism is “the belief that women should be allowed the same rights, power, and opportunities as men and be treated in the same way, or the set of activities intended to achieve this state.” Sadly, there are many people, both men and women, who are in disagreement with this powerful word. Most of the time, it is because they don’t have a full understanding of what it is to be a feminist and the importance of being one. Hence, as a result of my passion for this social, political and economic issue, I have decided to challenge myself by focusing my art on raising awareness on what feminism is and why it should be taken seriously.
Growing older each year and continuing to experience the joys of being a woman is something that I am very grateful for. Nevertheless, I am also exposed to a lot of inequality and unfair treatment – whether it be back in my home country (Trinidad and Tobago) or in the country I currently reside in (U.S.A). Women deal with this treatment on a daily basis and not only is it just plain frustrating and annoying, it can also be quite traumatizing. I am really tired of hearing about woman inequality in this world, where there are countries that don’t even allow them the right to get an education, enforcing their main role in their society to be someone who takes care of the children, cooks, cleans and obeys their husbands. Some countries even hide behind religion and use that as a controlling mechanism to keep women at bay. This is not right and the more we stay silent and ignorant about it, the more we’re doing the world an injustice.
When having discussions with people about my stance on Feminism, I have gotten nods in agreement as well as disagreement. There were a good few people – mostly guys – who just could not understand why Feminism was such a big deal. I think many of them got confused with the words “equal” and “same”, because a lot of their responses would be that “women and men can never be the same”, but like the writer Kathy Caprino from Forbes magazine stated: “The issue here is about equal rights and equal access to opportunities. Men and women don’t have to be the “same” in physicality to have the right to equality.” Making people really dive deep into why they feel so strongly against feminism is something that I want to do. Whether they believe that they have a great explanation, or realizing that all humans should probably be treated equally with the same level of respect (a decent way of thinking in my opinion), hearing what they have to say is always interesting for both myself and them – provided that a heated argument doesn’t arise.
Feminism, to some, has a negative connotation to it as a result of the unfavorable stereotypes associated with the word – which is why I think there are so many people against it. Many times, women have to be/appear to be forceful, angry and strong in order to get people (men- the ones who are in charge of making the change wanted) to actually listen to them. Not all women are light, delicate flowers who just sit still and look pretty. There are women who want opportunities that men get to have without a blink of an eye. This has been an issue throughout history, and it is still like this presently. Here in the U.S, they’re trying to take away women’s reproductive rights by banning abortions. In the state of Georgia, Governor Kemp signed off on the ‘Heartbeat’ bill, making abortions illegal. Thankfully, this bill has been temporarily banned as this does directly attack another law called “Roe vs. Wade”, which is the law that currently makes the access to safe abortions legal. Governor Kemp is a man, and so are many of the people that are making these laws that impact women and their reproductive rights. They have no idea what it is like to be a woman and what we have to deal with on a daily basis, but many of these government legislators believe that their intentions are solely in favor of protecting the health of women. However, according to the Hill, “when abortions are restricted, deaths rise.” How could they not know this? It’s actually quite scary thinking about the number of women who would risk their lives to carry out an unsafe abortion as a result of this becoming illegal.
Overall, feminism is about equality of the sexes. No man should be treated better or given more opportunities just because he is a man. It’s wrong and needs to be stopped. There are many people out in the world that are joining in action and helping to make a positive change so that every person can be treated fairly. The more this is done, the more change can actually happen. It all starts by educating and raising awareness.
A great quote to adhere by is, “Knowledge is power, Power provides Information; Information leads to Education, Education breeds Wisdom; Wisdom is Liberation. People are not liberated because of lack of knowledge,” said Israelmore Ayivor.
