**SHOULD WE ALL BE FEMINISTS?**
This is a question that like any other has an open end to it. Before I share my perspective towards this with you, I’d like to start with an analysis of feminism and what feminism means to me.
When you think of feminists, you probably think of iconic women such as Hillary Clinton and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. You may also think of young feminists such as Malala Yousafzai. But what exactly is a feminist? We all have our different definitions of feminism and we all see feminism through our different viewpoints. In my opinion, a feminist is either a male or a female who believes that all females should have equal rights to men; whether it is socially, economically or politically. You may now see why I question whether we should all be feminists.
I am a feminist, but I do not believe in there being such a thing as “female rights”. It is nonsensical. The fact that there is such a declaration shows us what society has evolved to. Female rights are no different from human rights so why exactly should there be a wholly separate concept for women when in essence, we are no different to men. Yes, we may be different physically but surely as we are all human it is only right for us to be given the same rights? At this point, many of you may be thinking “but females are given rights”, which is correct, but we are still looked down on through many aspects of society.
Society has caused a lot of people to develop a shallow mentality whereby we suppose that the female is subordinate to the male in many parts of our daily lives. Certain jobs such as nursing are classed as female jobs whereas even studying a subject such as physics is male dominated. I was touring a prospective head of department around the campus of my school one day when she asked me what I would like to study and what my ambitions are. I told her, in the same manner as I tell everyone else, that I would like to study Politics and International Relations and further work for the UN under human rights. “Wow, that’s amazing”, she said. Before I could say anything else she hesitated and said, “If that is what you aim to do with your life, you need to make sure you marry a rich man, otherwise you won’t be taken seriously”. The fact that she has been brainwashed into believing that women must be dependent on men not only reflects the shape of our society, but puts a downer on any hope that we can have for our generation and the next generation too.
Before I conclude, I’d like to share a couple facts with you. Firstly, 66 million girls around the world today, are not given the right to education. In addition to this, if India enrolled 1% more girls into education, its GDP would rise by $5.5 billion. A future for all females is something that needs to be addressed by our generation. A change in the way the world runs needs to be assessed and we need to prove to ourselves that there is still hope for women. So yes, I believe that we should all be feminists, we are all human and we should nevertheless be treated in the same manner. After all, 52% of the world’s population is female!
By LAILA JOHNSON - SALAMI
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