Rosa Cuesta Valentin, The Netherlands
Most people find feminist annoying. Feminist complain, feminist are fat, feminist are not able to get a man, feminist live in houses with way too many cats and most of all: feminists hate men. The F-word, feminism, still remains a negative topic in this, so-called to be, 21st century ‘modern world’. Which seems totally unfair, when you know that there doesn’t exist a single place on earth where men and women have the same rights.
Ever since the beginning of the feminist movement, the development of women has been blocked by both traditional thinking and stereotypes. Even in The United States of America, which is claimed by many to be the country of freedom, respect and equality, men and women are not equal. Women everywhere in this world are still subordinate to men. Difference in wage between men and women while having the same job function, stereotypes which demand certain behavior from both women and men, the acceptation of the lower position of women in Arabian countries. They all prove us the reality of gender inequality of today’s life.
Women are subordinate to men, even here in the US in the 21st century. I don’t know whether I am a feminist or not, but when I watched Emma Watson’s speech for the HeforShe Campaign on feminism at the United Nations I felt every word she said. I had my doubt when writing about this subject, just as Emma Watson had her doubts on giving her speech. However, beyond the fear she might had felt , more outstanding to me was the power and strength that she radiated as she spoke. ‘I am inviting you to step forward, to be seen, to speak up.’ It were her last words that gave her, and me, the strike-through we needed: ‘Ask yourself ‘If not me, who? And if not now, when?’.
