Misconceptions about Feminism

I find it annoying that women are treated like lesser beings simply because they're women. I've heard countless situations where women are undermined, mistreated and faced with injustice every day and Ghana seems to shut their eyes on them. The world is now shifting and women are fighting for their rights but people (sadly including women) have created bad images about these women and what they stand for and that whatever is happening to women is their fate and so should just accept. I think no woman and for that matter, no human should just accept injustices coming their way.  In this post, I enlist some of these misconceptions I've heard and try my best to debunk them.

Superiority over Men

The anti-feminist world thinks that feminists are out to claim superiority over men. That’s completely false and should stop spreading. How can one think of being higher when they aren’t done being lower. Women don’t want to be superior over men; they want to be treated equally as men are. They want to have a say in matters that affect them as much as men do. Here in Ghana, you have women being sidelined in the homes and traditional meetings simply because they’re women. If she’s not capable of being in such meetings (not being because she’s a woman, but that she may not be well versed in the topic area), let her know. Don’t exclude because you think decision making is for “higher beings”. Men and women are doing the exact same job but men are getting a higher salary because they’re “higher beings”. Women have great ideas for development but because they’re not “higher beings”, they’re hit with “what do you know?”.

House Work

This I found very laughable on social media; where I saw some posts ridiculing feminists for “thinking” they would not do any housework when they’re married. Feminists don’t believe that they’ll enter marriage and not do anything. However, what they are trying to convey is that there shouldn't be any work that’s considered feminine at home. Men can wash dishes, cook, wash clothes, take care of babies, and every other thing society has pinned as “a woman’s duty”. She cooks because everyone is hungry and wants them fed, not because she’s a woman. When a man cooks, he’s not helping the woman; he’s cooking so his family can eat. These tags should be removed, that’s all that feminists are saying.

God made it so

I’m a Christian and so my reference here is based on Christianity and not any other religion. God created man and woman and declared it was good. He made the man the head of the family and gave the man authority over the family. He didn’t make the woman a lesser human being than the man, he made man the head. Women claiming equality doesn’t override this institution. Think about this; in your high school days, you had a class prefect or class president. Did he being the class leader make you less of a human being than him? If you were the leader, did it make you feel better than your mates? Most likely no. That’s the same thing here; the fact that you didn’t feel inferior to your classmate didn’t mean you didn’t give him the respect he deserved. Or the fact that you were a prefect didn’t make you treat your classmates badly or inferior. That’s the aim; women understand that men are the head but they too should be treated with respect. The Bible esteemed women (Ruth, Esther, etc) that were leaders in their own way, even with the presence of men, so definitely God didn’t make it so.

Women can’t lead

This can sometimes make my blood boil; that because they are women they can’t lead. This is really absurd. Some people believe that having breasts and female genitalia means you can’t lead anything and that’s very mind-boggling. Is it the flat chest or the abs, or the toned arm muscles that makes one a leader? Isn’t it one’s capabilities that make them a great leader? We’ve seen women single-parenting children and doing very well at it. When former first lady of Ghana, Mrs. Nana Konadu decided to stand for the presidency; I thought people would be giving tangible reasons for not electing her. I heard a lot of because-she-is-a-woman talks, even from certain women and I was appalled. Being a leader depends on your capabilities, not your sex. If a woman has those capabilities, she’s competent to be a leader.

 Propagating some of these misconceptions tend to discredit some of these individuals who fight for the course. I think that before we hop on to ideas, we have to make sure we have a better understanding and not based on hearsay. I recommend this talk by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie titled "We should all be feminists". It is a deep and insightful talk that brings to bear all the issues women face and a deeper understanding of feminism. Comment your views, doubts, and questions and I'd be glad to respond and give answers.