Advocating for women’s rights doesn’t make one a ‘feminist’

It’s annoying when a man brands you a feminist or sexist simply because you were trying to discourage the abusive life some women go through on a daily basis.

Wednesday, July 04, 2012

It’s annoying when a man brands you a feminist or sexist simply because you were trying to discourage the abusive life some women go through on a daily basis. Although a long time ago women were considered the weaker sex, in this century, women have worked really hard and are refusing to be called weak. We’ve stepped up our game to show men that we are stronger than they think. Last week, l had a lengthy talk with a woman who was abused by the person she considered the love of her life. At first she thought it’s the uneducated and poor men who were abusive as a result of frustrations that they can’t look after their families, but she got a shock of her life when she got married to a violent educated and wealthy man. When he got drunk he would beat her up to the extent that one time she got a miscarriage.  With this story, I decided to do a survey and I asked different men why some men become extremely violent especially when they are drunk, one of them just branded me a feminist. He went on to say that I can’t solve all the problems women face in the world. To add salt to injury, he said that women are not capable of achieving things on their own besides getting favours just because they are women. I felt humiliated; it was as though he had stepped on my head and thumped it to pieces. I decided not use insulting language while talking to him so I thought of ways to show him that women were stronger than he thought and they would achieve great things in life without being favoured. I asked him if he can remember anything during his childhood and he said he remembers a few things.  I also asked him if he would be able to do all the things his mother did while raising him. And that was when he wanted to take back his statement about women not being able to achieve things on their own. Dear brothers, before you start branding women as the weaker sex try to think of your mother and think of what she would say regarding the fact that you’re trying tarnish her hard work of raising you into a man you are today. From time memorial, women have been abused and they have silently held back the pain. Therefore it’s bad to brand a woman who is trying to advocate for women’s rights as a sexist. Someone has to speak out for the voiceless and thus make this world a better place. Let’s work together as sisters, brothers, husbands and wives to fight gender based violence.