INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY: Celebrating Feminity and Courage

“The way my mother explained it, the traditional man wants a woman to be subservient, but he never falls in love with a subservient woman. He’s attracted to independent women. He’s like an exotic bird collector. He only wants a woman who is free, because his dream is to put her in a cage.” 

Born a Crime by Trevor Noah; Pg 195.

Some of us were born into freedom, so to speak: born to liberal parents, born into families populated by brilliant, dauntless women and raised under their strong influence, and so we are, by default, audacious; a constant nuisance to patriarchy and its custodians, and unapologetically so.

But there are also some of us who did not get these privileges. Some of us were raised by timid women who stifled the desire in us to break free from stereotypes, raised by abusive male figures who killed the confidence in us and left us alone with no support to face the highly prejudiced society. 

Thankfully, we have strong women around us who have taught us boldness, and courage, and pulchritude, and ambition, using their own lives. And I make this post in honour of these women, and the generation of women they are influencing, and the generation of women that that have not yet come to the light of their uniqueness and strength, but will, very soon. 

This is to Madam Olufunmilayo Ransome Kuti, God rest her soul, who understood the dynamics of the social systems and how they conspired to limit women’s options and chances at self-actualization by impoverishing them. This is in appreciation and celebration of her successful protest (successful because the aim was achieved), alongside 50,000 other women of her Abeokuta Women’s Union in 1956, against the tax imposed on market women alone.  We celebrate her feminist activism in favour of women’s suffrage and political participation. 

This it to Stella Adadevoh, the national hero in scrubs, whose fierceness in opposing a national government saved Nigeria from the Ebola scourge. To her who died selflessly serving her country

To Erelu Bisi Fayemi, First Lady of Ekiti State, who shines as a beacon for young girls, young women like me, and older women. To her who reminds me that it is okay to be uninhibitedly feminist. To her who is never afraid of being perceived as a broken record, and who remains unrelenting in the fight against gender-based violence; a woman dedicated to making the society more enabling of women’s safety and development.

To Enwongo C. Cleopas, for inspiring with her wisdom, for her productive socio-political participation, and for disrupting opinions on how a woman should look, or be.

To Eden Onwuka, for living a life that proves that feminity, feminism, and spirituality are not mutually exclusive. To her victory over cancer, and her message of hope and strength to other women.

To Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, for blurring the lines between feminity and feminism. For teaching us women how to be as assertive as men without losing our feminine beauty. Thank you for inspiring intellectualism, and arts, and nationalism, and passion, and grit. 

To my stepmother, Adetutu Adefoluke Shittu. For her doggedness. For refusing to allow marriage or motherhood be an impediment to the realization of her youthful ambitions.

To my biological mother, Adepeju Onabanjo. The kind of stubbornness and fierceness needed to push back against voice stifling and unfair treatment, I got from her. 

To you. To me. To all of us. 

Happy International Women’s Day!

PS: Why not celebrate the women who inspire you by posting their pictures (and telling us in one or two sentences how they inspire you, if you like). This should be fun! 😁