We teach girls that they can have ambition, but not too much … to be successful, but not too successful, or they’ll threaten men – Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.

There was a time when being a woman meant that you were nothing more than a commodity. No matter how highly placed a woman might have been in society, that perspective didn’t change. In fact, princesses were given away in marriage for the main purpose of helping the king expand his kingdom to other countries or help foster good diplomatic relations.

As strange as this may sound in this day and age, there are societies where women are still treated with disdain or subjected to the worst conditions. However, with the amount of awareness that is being carried out things have gotten a lot better.

Despite this, I feel that there is still a lot to do. We should all be feminists and there is still a massive room for improvement. Here are the reasons why I believe there is still a lot to be done.

Women are shamed for being feminists

I think this is the important issue we are having today with regards to being a feminist. Many women are shamed for being feminists, and they are mostly shamed by other women, which I find bizarre. Feminist is now a very dirty word not to be mentioned anywhere on social media, because the many trolls would devour for even thinking the thought out loud.

Women are not owning up to their femininity

There are a lot of ladies out there who feel that being strong, confident or independent means they have assumed the masculine role, which is so not true. You can still be feminine and be strong, confident and independent.

We females need to continuously appreciate our feminine side. Many of us fail to own it! We push the femininity aside because we feel that we won’t be able to go far in life, showing off that side to us, the side that makes us. We need to own our femininity without shame.

Sexual abuse is still on the high side

I still get shocked at the number of sexual atrocities women go through on a daily basis. Being sexual abused gives hints as to the ancient perspective that women are objects that you can use and dispose off.

This type of perspective is one that needs to be flushed out from society. If we don’t have enough women and men who embrace the feminine cause, then these sexual vices will continue.

Women get paid lower than men

One of the places where we see gender inequality is in the workplace. Women are still given lower pay than men. There has been no reasonable explanation to this. We can only sense that gender issues are still at play.

Women are known to work as hard as men and are equally capable of climbing the ladder of success with their educational qualification and experience. But when the push comes to shove, gender gets in the way, and the woman is robbed off what they truly deserve.

There’s a lot of marginalization as regards to things that women can do

It was just recently that women were allowed to serve in the armed forces. Although that can be counted as a small victory there are so many areas where women are either not allowed to be in or are seen as odd creatures in that zone.

A good example is that there are very few female civil engineers as it is seen as more of a man’s trade than a woman’s. It is also seen as odd for a man to be a stay at home father, while the woman is the breadwinner of the family.

I had the pleasure of listening to Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s  TED Talk, and I found it enlightening. Do have a listen when you can.

So just for record, I am a happy feminist. I love fashion and makeup, I dress for myself and I don’t hate men. I am an unapologetic FEMINIST!

What are your thoughts on this?