[eng] Grace Akira - To be a feminist

In this era, the word “feminist” becomes a trend.

It is fundamental to ask ourselves what it is to be a feminist. 

Who can take this label or not? 

So, what is a feminist? 

A feminist is a person who believes in equal rights for women.  To be a feminist is to recognize that something is wrong with how women are treated in society. To be a feminist is to admit that we need change, and we need to fight for those changes. 

But the manner that we fight for equal rights for women can be done in many ways. Every area in this world has its strategy. 

Feminists are not just those intellectuals who read Audre Lorde, bell hooks, Mona Chollet, or Simone de Beauvoir and share their wise thoughts worldwide.  

It is true… we need those essays to challenge our existence and our vision. 

But what about those women or men who cannot access those great words? 

What about those women or men who do not have time to read, write, or fight? 

What about those women or men who are uneducated? 

Are they not feminists?

I am a feminist as that woman and man who nodded and saluted me when I was in Paris during the march against gender-based violence but could not join me in the streets.

I am a feminist as that woman and man who fights for their daughters, cousins, nieces, and aunts to go to school. 

I am a feminist as that woman who defends herself and her right to live before a village condemning her because she is different. 

I am a feminist as those women who collect money to have water in their village.

I am a feminist as those young girls who escape from their village, refusing a marriage. 

I am a feminist as the woman in a factory who asks for better conditions of work.

I am a feminist as that widowed woman who fights to keep her land.

I am a feminist as that woman and man who helps their friend to abort.

Our ways to change things can be different. It is not only studies or essays or color or social class or gender that defines who can be called a feminist. It is what we do or what we believe. To believe that every woman deserves better education and better choices. Those little things we do every day to uplift a woman's life, those small steps to make a better world for every girl and woman, are feminist. 

* Grace Akira is an author, doctor, and humanitarian worker. She works for an NGO between Niger and Mali to promote better sexual and reproductive health among young girls and boys and prevent gender-based violence.