How do you tap into joy in your work?
Joy comes when we share our experiences.
This is all about everyday feminism. So, what’s one way you ‘feminist’ every day?
One of the things I do every single day, fixing myself, is unlearning patriarchal notions that were imposed on me, like ensuring that I wash my feminist hat every single day to pump it and make it fluid… I know it’s a difficult part… This is how I was nurtured and I need to unlearn it.
What is a win that you’d like to celebrate?
So the only thing that I’ve taken away from the winning thing is making women compete for us to be celebrated… For me, that is not feminism. Because if we are celebrating me, you are celebrating me as a woman and because maybe I’m unique. Not because I’m higher than any other woman in the world. It is because it is my time. And deserve to be celebrated for the work that I’m doing.
What is one thing around everyday feminism that you are grappling with or seeking answers to?
I’m really struggling with a lot of things that are really systematic. But the advantage that I have today [is that] I acknowledge them. I see them, whether they are invisible or I can see them with my eyes. I see them coming. I see invisible power.
When it comes to everyday feminism, for someone who doesn’t know where to start, what would you tell them?
When you’re getting in feminist spaces, come the way you are. Be open-minded because you will unlearn so much that we were never taught. You will understand how power dynamics look and how power dynamics suppress women, and oppress women every single day, so it’s just about embracing each other. And also understanding that expertism doesn’t mean going to school for 10 years… but also the experience that they have at that level means that one is an expert, and how do we learn from that knowledge and experiences that they have that they are bringing to feminist spaces.
This Q&A is part of Everyday Feminism: The Anthology – a book spotlighting and celebrating the stories of 10 feminist activists from across the global movement, all contributing to women’s rights and gender equality in their own way.
