Hiya,I’d like to share a secret with you, bring your ear and let me whisper it, lol. So here goes:
I love love love the way the sky lights up at night, have you ever gone out in the evening, just at the beginning of dusk and just sat in an open field, breathe all the air in and just watch the stars? It’s amazing I tell you, easier to put things in perspective when you’re viewing something on a grander scale. Hello, it’s me Gloria (not Adele) and a huge welcome to another episode of For Butterflies, so what shall I write on today? Something happy, something beautiful (damn, I seem to grow cheese when I start writing these things). Did you guys see the halo around the moon yesterday? Oh it was magnificent! The moon was just there in all its splendour within one huge circle of light, between them was one lone star, reminds me of the hymn ‘how great thou art’.
Speaking of music, Darey Art Alade’s music video is out for his song ‘pray for me’; Simi’s ‘love don’t care’ video is also out, Darey’s video was so beautiful, impeccable acting, vocals on point, everything just blended into each other, it brought me to serious tears (I hope no one saw me crying, cause it would certainly be a bit tough to explain the early morning bawling), and Simi’s was quite unique and tasteful. Another surprising artiste for me is Olamide with his single ‘alaaru’, mahn that song, it was like I went to a rock concert but then the people got confused and decided to rap in Yoruba (some tower of Babel stuff), I think the Nigerian music industry is heading to places where it actually graduates from being just a cacophony of beats to a perfect assemblage of effusive work of art.
Ok ladies now let’s get in formation! Feminism is a seemingly over flogged topic in the 21st century world today, but really is it?
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 rights for women.
So the first thing that you should know is feminism is a range, repeat after me people, r-a-n-g-e, clap for yourselves, now, what’s a range? It is a selection, a collection of extremes if you will, meaning it involves a wide array of ideas, yours may be different from mine, but it doesn’t make it any less valid as long as we have the main objective in view which is equality of the sexes.
Feminism is not a movement of absolutes, this is because it involves diverse cultures, norms and traditions around the world, I’m an African, what oppresses me as a 21st century African girl is different from the oppression an Arab girl faces which is equally different from that which an Oriental girl would face which differs also from what the Western girl is facing, get it? I’m a Christian; my feminism may not resonate with a Muslim simply because we have not the same ideology. With that being said, what is my feminism?
My feminism is: all humans are created equal under God, there is neither Jew nor Greek, no slave or free, no male or female, first and foremost, we’re all humans and as humans we’re entitled to live as humans. Forget the rules, forget the class or caste system, just let it go for a minute and imagine this; how would you feel if I said you couldn’t do something or be something in life based on the fact that you’re considered physiologically incapable, if your role in life was confined to duties some people somewhere thought were for lesser beings, if I said if you did things out of the norm, then you deserve the consequences that came to you for doing that? That is not really nice, is it?
My feminism is equity; it’s giving both sides a ‘fair’ chance to live an optimal life, teaching boys to respect women, that they’re not in fact superior beings, equal but different. Marie Curie, the famous French-Polish physicist, even though she was loyal to her country Poland, couldn’t have been the winner of two Nobel prizes had she stayed there, there wasn’t a chance for her to get a good education in sciences not to talk of a laboratory to work in, just for the simple fact that she was a woman, so she had to move to France. Other than that, she had a strong support system in her husband, obviously Pierre must have been raised by a queen to give Marie everything she needed to succeed, even giving her credit for her work, and complaining when he learnt that her name was being omitted for the Nobel Award, he understood the difficulties she faced as a woman and created an enabling environment, gave her a ladder where he himself only needed a stool – that’s equity.
Marie was a wife and a mother yet she was able to achieve heights none of her peers had ever reached. We remember Marie as the first woman to ever win a Nobel Prize, but all that would not have been possible if someone had not given her what she needed to succeed, a platform to show what she was capable of.
That’s what I want for women all over world, a fair chance, a fighting chance. It starts with us as individuals, why not take your sister along with you and show her how to work the generator, just because she loves dresses doesn’t mean she can’t be an engineer, your wife might be a good cook and a good housewife, but if she isn’t satisfied, let her do what she wants and flourish at it, it wouldn’t take away your manly pride besides; I think a successful women should be more of a jewel in your crown than a thorn in your flesh.
P.S. never, ever, I repeat never tell a woman she can’t do it just because she’s a woman. If a woman was strong enough to birth you, then she’s strong enough to do whatever she puts her heart into!
