Special Edition: Lessons from Diary of a Feminist
March - the big month - the one where we as women and girls are finally “allowed” to be loud, angry feminists, with special emphasis gifted to us on March 8. At Politics4Her we don’t limit ourselves to a month or a day, and neither do the 10 feminists we have featured in our monthly series of Diary of a Feminist.
Instead of filling your screens with surface-level messages of “Happy International Women’s Day” we prefer to keep it real and reflect on what we know and what we need in this feminist space. To do this, we have gathered some lessons we have learned from the feminists we interviewed for Diary of a Feminist so far.
In all the interviews with Diary of a Feminist guests, we always close on one question, “what do you wish people asked you more?” Two of our guests, Lina Abirafeh and Shamsa Araweelo, gave the same answer to this question. Upon receiving the question, they both sat back in their chair, one raised their eyebrows, and the other sighed, but both came to the same conclusion: “I would like to be asked how are you and how can I help, and for the person who is asking to have the intention of following through, not just leave it as a passing comment.”
Start where you stand
This in itself is a lesson, being a feminist is not glamorous, it’s not all about speaking at the UN, marching in the street, having a video of you ranting about abortion rights going viral, it’s about caring day in and day out. Being a feminist is your personality, you don’t pick and choose what to care about, and this is exhausting in itself, it is mentally and physically draining to feel the pain of others and be constantly pushing for them.
What we must understand and take from Shamsa and Lina is to be compassionate to our network. There is no such thing as a “perfect” feminist, we are all on our own paths, we make mistakes and get burnt out, so let’s be there for one another. Always start the messages to one another with ‘how are you,’ and really invest and care about the answer, and sign off with ‘In Solidarity.’
“Start where you stand,” as Lina has always said. This means, make your impact around you, practice what you preach, and be there for your network so that we have the power to carry on as a collective.
2. Girls are NOT voiceless
In the words of Joan Kembabazi, who told us about her initiative Gufasha Girls in Uganda, “Girls are NOT voiceless.” Hearing this from Joan, who is someones who radiates passion and joy instills what every feminist needs to hear, it is not always how loud you shout, it not always your reach or impact, it is not your job to ‘save’ people, it is your job to give space to young feminists, let them lead as they are more than capable. Joan has seen this time and time again and understands the power of letting people be their own agents of change. If only more would follow suit in the feminist space, we could see real representation, and therefore real impact.
Joan was not alone in her answer, nearly every DOAF guest mentioned the overt need for fair representation, Roaa Alobeid, a Sudanese feminist climate activist, was one of them. “Removing women and girls from the discussion space on climate, is their way of making out that gender is not part of the climate, because they feel that we are there as troublemakers. They are afraid of what we will say,” Roaa said.
And she makes a very valid point, why are we allowing this to happen? At every opportunity we get, we need to call out the lack of representation, yes it’s uncomfortable, yes we get labeled “repetitive,” or a “nuisance,” do we care - no! Should we care…absolutely not!
If we fail to call this out, we are complicit in the system of oppressing the voices of Indigenous, young, Global Majority feminists. It is our job to be that “annoying” buzz, the constant reminder in the ear of every conference, every grant awarded, every webinar, every speech, that they must do better to be more inclusive.
3. It all comes back to patriarchy and colonialism
Diary of a Feminist prioritizes women from the global majority. Keeping this in mind, colonialism was a topic that arose in nearly all ten interviews due to the past and present impacts of colonial footprints and trauma. These women never shy from bringing up the blaring truth that communities and entire continents could be a very different place if it weren’t for colonial powers that imposed and stole so much.
All the women from Diary of a Feminist strongly hold the patriarchy and colonialism accountable, they invest their time, energy, and careers to making sure history is not forgotten and that it is not repeated.
In the words of Cambodian Feminist Catherine Harry: “People like to look at what they've been told and consider it to be the absolute truth, but I want people to start questioning why the generation before them taught them that and who it benefits.”
Muetter Ilquid, a feminist and human rights advocate from the Uyghur community of China, prioritizes giving space and empowering others who have been living through the consequences of the patriarchy and colonialism: “They are people with dreams, lives, and ambitions. Their voices must be heard.”
A note from the author:
I first thought about Diary of a Feminist in 2023, shortly after joining Politics4Her, I was blown away by all the people on our team, their stories and passion. I wanted to create this series to highlight the lives and fight of like-minded feminists. However, this series has become much more than that to me.
Through writing this series I have learned much more about intersectional feminism, and how important it is to give a platform to others, I thank Politics4Her and Yasmina especially as our founder, for holding this door open and creating a safe space where women can share their thoughts and journeys, as sadly in the world we live in today that is becoming less common.
Moving forward with Diary of a Feminist, one of our talented journalists, Asmae Nakib, will be sharing writing the series with me, inserting her own style and knowledge, so stay tuned!
You can read all the previous Diary of a Feminist articles on the Politics4Her Blog.
