No need for feminism in the XXI century.
I encountered the term feminism when I was
around 13 years old, and I started slow, by the teacher of many
things: The internet. I learned how important it was to have each other’s backs,
and how it stood for women's rights which have often been violated and overlooked.
In school they thought me for the first time about the real meaning of women’s
day and what happened in 1911 that marked that day, not as a celebration but as
a commemoration, however, it was also in school that every year they
chose to perform an event that would give the most “girly” girl on each grade a
gift, usually mirrors and chocolates. At home I always had different examples
of feminism, my grandmother has always been the head of the household and had
faced many difficulties being the mother to six girls, all very opinionated and
strong. However, the women in my life always ran from the term just like many
others. For me, it was like diving into a whole new world on my own and finding
so much familiarity and support at the same time. So, when I was catcalled for
the first time, being just a child, I found within many websites women who had
experienced the same and that assured me that that was not ok. A world of
knowledge and information on my feet, I learned about periods, the pink tax, my
right to make decisions on my own body, the wage gap, the glass ceiling, rape culture
and so much more. It was my first political opinion that was formed “on my own”
even though I have had much influence from my environment, I the first girl in
my friend circle and among my family that identified as a feminist. I have had
many people question this throughout my life, friends, professors, boys, my
brother, and they genuinely do not understand why we use such an uncomfortable
word if what we want is equal rights then, why the “fem” in it? They feel like we
are taking it to the other extreme, and some people do not see the point in it,
we can vote, we have jobs, what is missing? For the first part of the equation,
to answer their questions, I usually make a parallel with the Black Lives Matter movement
in the U.S, is not All Lives Matter, because is not the white population that
is being shot on the street or that are being discriminated against, here we
are fighting to get the same rights men have.
For the second part, and to complete the first
one, we can look at some data, just in Colombia, in 2020 accounted until September
there were 445 femicides, according to DANE, women receive 12,1% less salary
than men for the same job, while having the same education. These are just some
numbers and there are many other indicators we could look into, like
opportunities in education, women in politics, without mentioning this is only in
Colombia, the prospects are not much better for the rest of the world, it is estimated
that 87,000 women were murdered and half of them was by the hand of their
partner or family member, even in developed countries we find disparity between
women and men. It is not without reason that gender equality is part of the SDG’s, just
because harassment has been standardized in our culture does not make it ok, or
just because you don’t perceive the salary difference, does not make it it a
work of fiction.
So, when people ask me why feminism is
still a thing, I sigh and think of the girls that are not able to get good
quality education, of the women that don’t have access to menstrual products,
of girls getting their clitoris removed because feeling pleasure is a sin, of
my little cousin that since the age of 12 was already being sexualized, of my
friends, that urge me to text them when I get home, and many more, so no, for
me feminism is not only relevant but a necessity.
Comentarios
Publicar un comentario