Resilience and Community
What women need?
A friend of mine shared an amazing talk with me that she delivered in Stockholm for human rights defenders. She spoke about how women need resilience and community. For a long while, the idea that women need resilience to fight was so messed up for me. Why do we have to be resilient? Society needs to change and let us be humans. We also want to be normal human beings who don’t have to be strong all the time. Who don’t have to show resilience all the time.
Abolishing patriarchy for the sake of men and women both is a long way to go. The fight will continue but it is not a thing society will change easily. When the oppressors are in power, they will not let go of that power easily (nope I do not mean that women will take over, but a more equal society… pls don’t come at me).
Some will say, that women are now in so much power. After all, our president is a female too. But have you ever thought, why was she ‘the first female president’ and not just another president? Why was America almost going to have their first female president? Why was the New Zealand president asked about her family life and never a male president asked about that? Why is it that all pilots are male but ‘female pilots’ - can they not be just a norm? Why is it that most freedom fighters are male and then you have very few names of females? Why is it that we still assume taxi drivers to be male? Doctors to be male? Fire engineers to be male?
Why is it that in the whole world of inequalities, Afghanistan has banned women from education, work, and life? Why is it that Iraq has reduced their women to get married at 9? Or Japan to change their laws on women? Why are there so many debates on abortion but never on vasectomy? Why is it that women’s bodies are up for debate in political circles where women are still far and a few called ‘women politicians’ instead of just politicians?
All of this still tells us that equity for all genders in this world is still far-fetched. We fight, we keep up our anger, we keep teaching ourselves and the generations to come, but the fight is not over.
And thus, we still need resilience and community. We still need the support we can get from each other instead of tearing each other apart. Which is also a concept sold to us by patriarchy. In times of need, it is the women that have supported the women. Always! And together, we are really strong! Patriarchy will always fear that and have us fighting each other for the pettiest things to keep us from reaching our full potential!
This newsletter today is dedicated to my amazing friend Najma who made me realize whether we want to or not, we have a long way to go and resilience and community will get us far as women!