“From siblinghood to solidarity and to showing up for each other” 

Shyleen Momanyi is a feminist leader, plant mother and Executive Director of the Young Women’s Leadership Institute. 

From her experience, Everyday Feminism is living the joy of liberation everyday, economically, socially, politically. It is about women and non-binary people enjoying equal pay and working in environments where they thrive. 

My experience with feminism 

For me, feminism is bravely and fearlessly showing up for women and girls of all diversities. I understand that feminism is political, it is about justice, it is about rights and being free to exist and enjoy every right without compromise. We don’t settle for less. 

Feminism is home and resonates with my thoughts from siblinghood to solidarity and to showing up for each other. My feminism found me at the time I needed a space to direct my anger. Living in a household where my mom experienced violence and could have been a statistic  gave me so much rage. I needed a space to vent and understand why it was difficult to hold an abusive man accountable. Coming from a space of trauma and being in a space where most of the time you have to respond to violence, my expertise is advocacy around ending violence and femicide and organising young feminist activists and women to be part of the process.  

These young activists have witnessed serious violence and  seen their parents or their mothers go through violence. There’s a particular time where you have so much threat, but you do not know where to direct that rage. For me, I think feminist spaces found me when I needed to be in those spaces. I think also through the trauma, I’ve been an introvert, but also an extroverted person.  I’m socially extroverted, so I tend to work with fellow activists because they are also my peaceful space. I learn, and I get so much motivation from what other young families across Africa are doing.  They have a wonderful impact towards ensuring that we actually achieve liberation. Liberation for every girl, every woman, every non-binary person, every sex worker who is murdered in their line of work and shamed and blamed for their death.  

What Everyday Feminism means to me 

Everyday Feminism is living the joy of liberation everyday, economically, socially, politically. It is women and non-binary people enjoying equal pay and working in environments where they thrive. Where every form of work is dignified and not criminalized, such as sex work.  Living in a society where women don’t have the burden to ensure their safety, where women are not blamed and shamed and killed. Everyday Feminism means living in a society where women are safe and we don’t have to literally beg to exist. In my daily feminism and power I strive to create brave spaces for other girls to learn, vent and be girls and young women.   

My peaceful space is that I’m a plant mom, and I find so much motivation and healing through plants. I take care of plants, I learn about plants. I have a collection of plants as well. That’s where I think I belong. And therefore, even beyond just the collection of my plants, taking walks in Nairobi’s Karura Forest. It really makes me breathe and just re-energize because the struggle is not easy. And being a feminist is that you are committed to ensure that you challenge the status quo, which is really not easy. It is risky, but then we’re always committed to be at the frontline to challenge status quo, to challenge oppression but also really rally and look for resources.  

As a young feminist who is also leading an organisation, it is for me to ensure that the space continues to exist for other feminists, for other young African feminists, to be able to thrive within the space. My aspiration or inspiration for young feminists is that they just need to start. They need to breathe. They need to find joy within the family spaces. There’s so much in the world that can make you really angry, but always find joy. Always find joy in sisterhood in our siblinghood because feminist spaces are beautiful spaces. They are wonderful spaces. For me I think I’ve really thrived and have grown within those spaces. So finding those spaces and being able to thrive and being able to fearlessly and bravely express themselves within those spaces is what I really tell them.