These days it is considered almost blasphemous to call yourself a feminist… Automatically, people assume you are a man- hating, anti- feminine rioter. Many of you think: “I am not a feminist, I am feminine”. But this is all wrong!!! Calling yourself a feminist is about believing in equality of the sexes, calling yourself feminine is about an attitude.

What I fail to understand, is how the struggle endured by so many women, to give us the freedom and independence, in a society that treated us women as inferior beings and that allows us today to make all the choices we want, could still have such a negative stigma attached to it.

Even if every movement has its extremes, the fundamental point is that if we want to continue building a world where men and women are totally free to be who they want to be, then there is no doubt that we owe this to the feminists (women and men) of the past, and should be grateful for what they have given us.

The sustainability of our acquired rights and the strengthening of our confidence needed to live out those rights must be recognised through our history and the recognition owed to our liberators. Millions of women in history have planted that seed for it to grow… it is up to us to cultivate it to make it accessible to all.

It is also essential for us to communicate that message to our daughters. More and more statistics show that young girls are reverting to old habits and stereotypes, favouring the ideal of prince charming and the perfect family, instead of a great job and their financial autonomy. We are also seeing a trend towards more and more women avoiding ‘masculine’ jobs, such as scientific jobs. Being a feminist is about wanting to give to our daughters even more opportunities then those that we already have or at least try and preserve.

Feminism = equality = respect of all human beings = Freedom of choice – all choices. Nothing else. So if we want to continue on the route to personal growth for women and men, we must declare ourselves feminists- Nothing less and nothing more.
I wish you all a happy celebration!