In Her Words Book Review

Question: What does feminism mean to you?

Answer:

“Femnism to me is….

“I like to describe my feminism as…..

“From my experience, feminism is……

Those and more are the starting line I have heard from people when defining feminism.

In Her Words is a body of different lived experiences of young women from different African countries. It shows that feminism is not one thing, cannot be one thing as women are not just one thing or facing just one form of oppression. It is a free anthology of African women’s perspective on gender equality. Each woman wrote from her personal experience with the culture, religion, and politics of their countries. No story is the same and to review this book, I will be sharing my highlights from each story.

When We Talk of Freedom: Hijabs, Respectability and What it Actually Means To Be Free — Hauwa Shaffii Nuhu

“To revisit oppression is to invoke the pain that accompanies it and so, I try so hard not to”.

Hauwa’s story reminds me of how many times I have had to tell a story over and over again to validate an abuse or harassment. Will there be an end to sharing these stories? Will there be a time where 100 women will be asked to share a recent experience of abuse and the report will be 0 cases?

“Everyday Feminism — Amanda Marufu”

“When you speak of feminism people often look for simple things. It’s easy to attack a culture, attack traditions or even beliefs without first understanding the systems of oppression and most times the systems of racism that hold them up. Yet if we are to be honest with ourselves, as Kathleean Hanna says, “There’s just as many different kinds of feminism as there are women in the world.”

I cannot overemphasize the importance of the last sentence enough. That there are just as many kinds of feminism as there are many kinds of women in the world. Feminism is a concept. The more people read, understand, and believe in this concept, the more they apply it to their daily lives.

Gender and Identity, in the Words of Women From Mauritania to Senegal. — Borso Tall

“I had the privilege of being born and raised in a circle of strong women who had experienced many hardships they turned into opportunities.”

I think of all the women in my family. From my mum to my aunts to my grandmothers to my cousins and sibling. How in spite of many hardships and losses, they have thrived and still thriving.

And so it Goes — Linda Tusiime

“That a different thought was labeled wild, unaccepting, deviant even.”

I have always made a point when I talk about feminism that a woman refusing to play by the stereotypes doesn't make her less of a woman. She is a full human in her rights capable of making her choices regardless of society supporting her or not. The problem is not her choices, the problem is society’s refusal to acknowledge her full humanity and her choices. Women are called so many names when we behave differently from society’s standards. That is oppressive and not acceptable, not anymore.

Nigeria and my Feminist Awakening — Chineme Ezekwanna

“What I find truly remarkable about all of these women — my mother included — is their economic independence. Irrespective of their marital status or situation in life, making and owning their own money has always been fundamental.”

Economic independence gives women more choices. Finance has both an empowering and disempowering influence on abusive relationships. While an abuser is empowered by his partner’s financial dependence, the autonomy of a woman who is victimized is diminished by her abuser’s ability to control her through financial means. Moreover, financial instability is one of the greatest reasons why, after gaining freedom, a woman who experiences battering has limited choices and may ultimately agree to her partner’s attempts to reconcile.

To What are we all Aspiring and Does it Matter — Victoria Malowa

“These complications include unconsciously engaging women in ways that disempower them by forcing them to act and speak in ways that are acceptable to those more powerful or privileged.”

It is a rather sad realization that women have been and still are being controlled by those more powerful and privileged. You can say that is a general power play and even men are controlled by those more powerful and privileged. But the reality is that women’s agency as humans is yet to be fully recognized by those more powerful or privileged.

Africans and Feminism: Beyond the Donor Funds — Makalay Saidiatu Sonda

“Owing to the negative perceptions and myths around feminism, many gender advocates I know refuse to identify as feminists. One of the consistent arguments I have heard for this decision is that identity doesn’t matter. But doesn’t it? Taking on an ideology means embodying its core principles and living out those principles.”

Identity matters. If in all your believing, you believe women’s rights are human rights, you believe in the supremacy of choice and total removal of gender roles and stereotypes, then you should claim the identity that embodies that — FEMINISM. Own it, and carry it on your head like crayfish!

Walking This Path — Nana Sule

“I wanted to be certain that my religion, and now, marriage did not invalidate my ability to fight for things I considered worth my while. I wanted, really wanted to be certain that I had the right to say that I am a feminist.”

Our multiple identities will intersect. What we should not do is ignore the forms of oppression on women and girls in those identities. We must talk about it and we must challenge the status quo because women deserve better.

To be Seen is not a destination, it’s a Journey — Nneamaka Nwadei

“We can not represent other people effectively while we constantly receive the shorter end of the stick when it comes to speaking about the things that matter to us.”

There are different things that matter to us and there is space for every matter to be shared at the same time. No more of one and less of the other. Speak about the things that matter to you.

What Kizz Daniel’s ‘Tempted to Steal’ Song Taught me About Gender Roles — Ojonwa Miachi

“Men deserve to do work that matters to them without being put under undue pressure. Women deserve the right to choose the life they want to live without being put in a box of who they should be.”

At the core of feminism is the supremacy of choice. Let women choose and let men choose — without any gender influence.

On Being Feminist but not Anti-Men: Challenging harmful gender relations and social structures that reproduce oppression. — Priscilla Sena Bretuo

“There is a need for a feminist discourse that is more socially specific, capturing the variety of experiences peculiar to the social setting of men and women in other parts of the world, including Africa.”

The idea of generalizing feminism has always been flawed to me. There is a need for context and specificity to capture lived realities of women and men.

Equality in Senegal: a dream or an eternal quest — Sokhna Mbathio Thiaw

“In November 2019, in downtown Dakar, a three months pregnant woman was killed by her husband because his lunch was not served.”

Lived realities of women. In April 2021, in Nigeria, a woman passed out from the beatings from her husband and was rushed to the hospital, her husband went to the hospital and removed the oxygen placed on her to punish her more until she eventually died.

She, Too, Belongs Here — Tawakalit Kareem

“Because shame is a potent tool that works effectively on women.”

Shame keeps women silent. Shame makes women stay in abusive relationships/marriages. Shame makes women hide the pain. We have been taught shame for so long that we are even ashamed of the monthly biological process that is called menstruation.

My Feminist Journey — Ujenyu Joy Sani

“How had I become a boy simply by playing ball?”

Gender roles are societal constructs and definitions of how a male and female should be. They are man-made and therefore can be changed.

Feminism as Freedom: To Try, To Choose, To Be — Zainab Haruna

“And most importantly, that women should not be subject to blanket expectations, but recognized as capable of independent submissions regarding our lives and existence.”

…..that women should be seen, heard, and make choices.

To read the full book, you can download it for free using the link here: https://agbowo.org/in-her-words/