Weekend round-up-"So you're not a feminist, huh?"

In football, the weekend round-up is a summary of the week's games.  This weekend, my 'round-up' is a response to those women; many, whom I love and respect (and are engaged in doing so much good for so many women), but who insist that they are not feminists.


Many of these women (whom I love and respect) contend they are humanists.  As if to admit that you are a feminist somehow precludes you from caring about racism or being concerned about the environment or poverty..


Arguably, in the light of the week that was, feminism is still necessary.  That does not mean that being green or caring about poverty and other human rights abuses do not matter also.  But a feminist lens does imply that women, who live in poverty will experience the oppression of  poverty differently to men, who live in poverty.  In my opinion, highlighting women's oppression is intrinsically a feminist act.


Sadly, many feminist acts are no longer called feminism.  For some women, who work in the refuge movement, it is enough to resist domestic violence without calling it feminism.  


I beg to differ.  We need to admit there is a need for feminism even if we don't like the word and even if other social movements leverage our attention because to deny the need for feminists is to concede that the level of equality we have is good enough.  Worse still, we are subscribing to that laid-back and dangerous philosophy of apathy that rights that were hard-won are not easily lost  (Or, as countless of my more regrettable ex-boyfriends would put it, 'She'll be right, babe!').


So, here's a very abridged summary of why this week, I still need to call myself a feminist:-

• A police officer was charged with forgery for allegedly retracting woman's harassment report without her knowledge.
• Feminist activists protesting the link between football and prostitution have been allegedly kidnapped.
• A female lawmaker was silenced for her reference to the word 'vagina' during a debate on abortion.
• A prime minister equated abortion to murder.
• A 35 year old set alight with spirits by a man she rejected.
• A 20-year-old woman has been sentenced to death by stoning for adultery.
• Only 6-12% of reported rapes end in conviction
• A woman challenging gender stereotypes in video-games received death threats.
• New family court legislation will result in women spending years in court after escaping domestic violence.
• 0.00006% of national government spending allocated to prevent forced marriages.
• 47 women murdered in gender-based violence

Note, that the geographical context of these events and statistics are not included.  Arguably, these things can still happen anywhere.  And, when you read one of these dot-points and think, 'But that couldn't happen here...', I challenge you to ask, 'Why not?'  Is there a feminist movement resisting the retraction of rights and advocating for more gender equality?

To be fair, there is.  But we need you... all you women, who fight the good fight, but do not call yourselves feminists.  There's been enough time spent eschewing feminism as an 'f' word because it implies a radicalism that is incompatible with other values you hold dear.  

Fuck it!  My weekend round-up is the tip of the ice-berg.  Doesn't that tell you that there is a need for you to identify as a feminist- not because you identify with every feminism (and there are many feminisms!), but because women are still not equal and because that is not okay.  

If you can agree with me on that, my humanist (I'm not a feminist but...) friend, then you are a feminist.  Please stop denying the label.  There are enough people out there making it shameful.