The New Feminist Movement

Photo cred: racereport.com

When someone uses the word feminist or feminism, it sometimes has a bad connotation. Mainly people think its man bashing but it's not even close. We may have all learned about feminist movements throughout history in high school and college; from the time when women fought for the right the vote to their fight for workplace equality. Now we are a part of history with a new age feminist movement.



While we're in the middle of dancing to Beyoncé's Flawless. "I woke up like this, I woke up like this" (sorry I couldn't resist.lol). We hear a woman speaking about feminism in the song; its Nigerian author and feminist, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie:

 Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Photo cred: nationalmirroronline.net

“We teach girls to shrink themselves to make themselves smaller. We say to girls, "You can have ambition but not too much. You should aim to be successful but not too successful. Otherwise you will threaten the man." Because I am female, I am expected to aspire to marriage. I am expected to make my life choices. Always keeping in mind that marriage is the most important. Now marriage can be a source of joy and love and mutual support. But why do we teach girls to aspire to marriage and we don't teach boys the same? We raise girls to see each other as competitors, not for jobs or for accomplishments, which I think can be a good thing. But for the attention of men. We teach girls that they cannot be sexual beings in the way that boys are. Feminist: the person who believes in the social, political, and economic equality of the sexes."

When I first heard this, it totally caught me by surprise. Then I tuned in and really listened to the words and I couldn't agree more. We shouldn’t be ashamed because we’re educated, work hard, and are ambitious. Why am I wrong or less woman because I haven’t married or had a child yet? Why can’t I travel the world, continue my education, hustle and further my career before I choose to settle down? I’m tired of hearing ‘when are you going to have a child?’ I wonder if men my age are hearing this same question often.

My friend recently sent me a video of the Always #LikeAGirl commercial (below). It mainly shows that as we get older, we start to somewhat behave or believe what ‘society’ describes woman as. We may beat ourselves up; if we’re not girly enough, if we work too hard, if we’re not married, and God forbid when we expect to be paid as well men. We have to remember to not care what the world thinks and fight for what we believe in. It’s ok to be educated and ambitious. It’s ok if you want to break barriers to work in a male dominated field. Its ok to want to move up that corporate ladder and negotiate your salary. It’s ok to compliment other women and support each other. And always remember; never settle for less than what you deserve!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjJQBjWYDTs