I am a feminist. No, I am not disrespectful and neither am I one to despise anyone belonging to the male gender.

I am a great believer of balance and therefore each individual does bring something to the table regardless of whether they’re female or male. However, a lot of biases stem from the mere mention of the word and of which many turn out to be misconceptions.

I had never heard about the FIFA women’s world cup until most recently and I am not sure I can really put in to words what I thought at that very moment.

My mind went back and forth pondering on what exactly took the world so long. I then went on to learn that FIFA and the Canadian soccer association decided that women were not to use the ‘superior’ natural grass soccer fields but to use artificial turf instead for their matches.

Could it be that women weren’t as great at the game? So I set out in pursuit of answers to my dilemma and my first notion was to start with the society to which I belong – the African society.

Not many African countries encouraged young women to join the various types of sports up until most recently. It is a general belief even to this day that girls or women don’t know much about sports, the best example here being soccer.

The ‘only’ reason a girl/ woman knows about the sport is probably because she wants to impress someone and that person is often of the male gender or at least that’s what many think. Many even refrain from talking about soccer in the presence of a lady in an effort to avoid sounding boring or come off a bit too macho.

So I deducted that It all comes down to perspective, because like it or not many societies in Africa still cling on to primitive cultural norms that victimize women. This then calls in to question the willingness to adapt to change but soccer is just one of the many examples of stereotypes against women today.

Nonetheless there is progress, many policies have been amended in favour of women. I am also very proud to come from a country that takes proper note of the role of women in society.

However, the world and most especially Africa should understand that everything in life such as culture is subject to change and it is only until we acknowledge to change this that we will reap the benefits.

Feminism is not the total disregard of cultural norms but it is a way to break away from many gender based stereotypes faced by women today. Feminism is also not to degrade or undermine the role of a man, it is instead to consider that a woman too can make sound judgments.

Staying open minded is very key in order to avoid repeating the mistakes made in the past. Misconceptions and stereotypes are often inevitable with every society but since we are a people set on developing proper judgement, it important that we never stick with just one part of the story.

Dare to peek in to the other side and see for yourself!

The author is a student at University of Rwanda, College of Science and Technology.