We Should All Be Feminists

Culture does not make people. People make culture. If it is true that the full humanity of women is not our culture, then we can and must make it our culture.

When women say ‘I did it for peace in my marriage,’ it is usually because they have given up a job, a career goal, a dream

Gender as it functions today is a grave injustice. I am angry. We should all be angry

Some people will say a woman is subordinate to men because it’s our culture. But culture is constantly changing.

My own definition of a feminist is a man or a woman who says, ‘Yes, there’s a problem with gender as it is today and we must fix it, we must do better.’

like politics and history and am happiest when having a good argument about ideas. I am girly. I am happily girly. I like high heels and trying on lipsticks.

Culture does not make people. People make culture

Some people will say a woman is subordinate to men because it’s our culture. But culture is constantly changing. I have beautiful twin nieces who are fifteen. If they had been born a hundred years ago, they would have been taken away and killed. Because a hundred years ago, Igbo culture considered the birth of twins to be an evil omen. Today that practice is unimaginable

We teach girls shame. Close your legs. Cover yourself. We make them feel as though by being born female, they are already guilty of something. And so girls grow up to be women who cannot say they have desire. Who silence themselves. Who cannot say what they truly think. Who have turned pretence into an art form.

Gender as it functions today is a grave injustice. I am angry. We should all be angry. Anger has a long history of bringing about positive change. But I am also hopeful, because I believe deeply in the ability of human beings to remake themselves for the better.