This wild idea - why aren’t we all feminists?

A "feminist", as defined by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie in her 2012 TED Talk in Euston, is a man or a woman aware of the gender-related challenges willing and determined to overcome them for our common good. Because, yes, feminism benefits everyone in the long run. We live within patriarchal power structures that harm both men and women. Not equally, but it doesn't mean that men only advance from male privilege. International Center of Research for Women, in their report on Gender Equity and Male Engagement, highlights the importance of "understanding the full spectrum of these power imbalances and their ripple effects". Perhaps following this year's theme for International Women's Day, #BreakTheBias, and striving for a gender-equal world, would benefit the entire society and, hopefully, prevent us from repeating the same mistakes over and over again.

Watching thousands of Ukrainian women and children rushing towards the EU border from their war-ravished homeland, leaving their husbands and families behind, gives me little joy on International Women's Day this year. The apparent reason for it is the tragedy that these people, some of whom we know personally, go through. And I mean everyone affected. Ukrainians, Russians, and others caught up in a war they did not ask for. This unwanted and unnecessary warfare inflicts wounds that will be difficult to heal.

The other reason for the little optimism today is that war in Ukraine indicates that, contrary to what we think of ourselves, we didn't get far in the last decades when it comes to basics. We, frankly speaking, didn't get far in centuries. Some of our leaders still believe that physical strength (a metaphor for the military force) is an argument. Today, it's Putin's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, but this is one of the many armed conflicts our governments have been involved in in the past thirty so-called "peaceful years".

Do we still live in a world where physical strength wins over creativity and intelligence? Do we still live in a world where a man equals a soldier? And finally, do we still live in a world where women, mothers, have to reap what dictators sow?

Two weeks before Putin went ahead with the Ukraine invasion plans, Yuval Noah Harari wrote in his article for The Economist that what's at stake in Ukraine is the direction of human history. Harari, an acclaimed expert in the history of humankind, claims that our (humans') most remarkable achievement was the decline of war. Here we are, three weeks later, with a full-blown war just outside of the EU's borders. What a nightmare for a person born two years before the Berlin Wall fell and who got served WW2 and Cold War stories before bedtime as a child. Obviously, in good faith. Those stories were supposed to teach me, us, a lesson. We were supposed to learn from other people's mistakes and the past.

But did we?

Another question is whether we should talk about feminism during a global crisis. However, I don't remember the world not being in trouble ever since I was born. And we cannot afford to undermine the importance of this conversation anymore. During all those "peaceful years" after the Cold War, war was always pulled over innocent people's heads. One way or the other. And today, I'm having a hard time believing that it won't be brought on us again and again. Noticing this pattern, I cannot resist playing with an alternative scenario in my head and asking these questions: How would the world look today if we did a better job talking to one another? How would it be if our leaders represented us more accurately? How would it be if we all were feminists?

For, imagine a society that can break away from this violent cycle we're stuck in. Perhaps, it is a society whose progress is not inhibited by stereotypical gender roles. A society where boys don't have to be tough to earn respect. A society where women don't have to act like men to be taken seriously. A society where men don't have to be the providers for the family by default. A society where we focus on each and every individual's potential, disregarding what gender they are. Maybe, this is a society where war becomes irrelevant.

Happy International Women's Day.



Resources:
https://www.economist.com/by-invitation/2022/02/09/yuval-noah-harari-argues-that-whats-at-stake-in-ukraine-is-the-direction-of-human-history
https://www.ted.com/talks/chimamanda_ngozi_adichie_we_should_all_be_feminists
https://www.icrw.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/ICRW_Gender-Equity-and-Male-Engagement_Brief.pdf