FEMINISM: The African Misconception (PART 4)

Misconception 3: Feminism is Unnecessary

A real feminist believes in expression and equality. Feminism is not the hatred towards men. The point of feminism is not to discriminate against men. Feminism is not a movement to discourage men. Feminism is not a movement plotting to pull all men out of power. Feminism is not a movement to promote women superiority. Feminism is for everyone.

I have countless times heard people expressing that they do not “need” feminism because feminist are all “man-haters”. It is so saddening for multiple reasons; men and women are so ill informed that they believe this is what feminism means, they might have been around people that claim to be feminists and are actually using this movement to promote their misandry, and the main complaint: feminists are just man-haters.

"All feminists are male-bashers, man haters." - If that is your idea of standing up for 'equality,' then buy yourself a dictionary. In this part, I am going to give some real life scenarios of work place inequalities as it affects both genders, so you will see that Feminism is not just for the protection of the female gender. Even the English dictionary described it as equality for both sexes in all aspect of public and private life.

Scenario 1: Marginalization of the Male Gender in the work place
It is a general saying that ‘it’s a man’s world’. That is a fact that I can’t argue with. It’s also the reason why women are more at the receiving end of political, economic and social marginalization. This is not to say that even in a man’s world men are never at the receiving end of gender inequality.

In stereotype male dominated work environment like the Army or Police Force, when violence breakout in any part of the world, male folks are usually the ones set to the battle field. They are more at risk of losing their lives. Reason; females are more fragile and should be protected from violence. My question; why did they sign up for the job if they can’t deal with pros and cons that come with such a job? In most cases, the female folks in male stereotype jobs are promoted to managerial positions to keep them away from the dangers in the field and in most cases don’t even merit such promotions.

My stand as a Feminist in this kind of situations is, if you must be a female army officer please be ready to go to war like your male counterpart. If not you have no business in that job role.  You know you are not adding any real value in that organization and you are occupying space that people who are adding value will fill. This goes for other male dominated work environment.

My inference is drawn from the fact that, back in school departments like Engineering and all other physical science departments were male dominated. In some engineering class with a total number of 60 students you’ll find 6 females. The grading system was uniform across gender. If you must graduate with a First class you must have a cumulative grade point of 4.5 and above. Nobody gave any especial consideration to any gender. Same rule should apply in the work place. The criteria for promotion and commendation should be that you can and have done the job expected of you. Not being promoted over the male folk because you are female especially when you don’t merit it.

Don’t use your femininity in any way to cheat the male folk in the work place. Do to others what you can tolerate when it’s done to you.

Scenario 2: Marginalization of the Female Gender in the work place
In the case of the female gender, majority of females face inequality in the workplace mostly due to their gender and the traditional ideology that a man should always be in charge. Hence, when they find themselves under the direct supervision of a female boss they make it extremely difficult for the woman to function by showing their disgust openly.

A certain single female had a large salary decrease in her place of work not because she performed below expectation in any way but because the management thought that it would be best to increase the salaries of married people so they can see to the needs of their family, assuming that the single lady had no responsibilities. On the other hand, single men in same position had no salary cut. The married people you are adding to their salary just because of their marital status are less productive compared to the single people. It’s not that these certain married people are doing more work compared to the singles. In our Nigeria of today, you assume that single ladies have no responsibilities so that justifies a reduction in their salaries?

How about organizations with Female heads who mess around with single men and in exchange for sexual pleasures they promote the men at the expense of more deserving female colleagues?

In both scenarios, you can see that irrespective of gender everyone is prone to be at the receiving end of Feminist fight. So as a Man don’t tell me Feminism is for women or feminist hate men or feminism as a movement is not necessary. If a woman gets favoured over you for some reason which isn't based on merit, you won’t like it. Same goes for the women folk.

Feminism stands for equality of sexes in public and private life as it relates to Political, Economic or Social rights and privileges. When the subject for Feminism comes up have this at the back of your mind; What I am doing or the implications of what I am doing to a fellow human being, if done to me can I tolerate it?  Women are more at the receiving end compared to men. Women are people treat them as you would yourself. Men are people; treat them as you would yourself.

There is an approved list of what is right and what is wrong. What is wrong is wrong; it has no other name but WRONG!!!

------By JIM

Jim is a writer who dwells on Human Rights and Social issues.
Twitter: @jimbiochore