I read this book a while back. Somehow I didn’t finish the post until now. What a book..!! It’s more of an essay about the author and her experiences regarding, well, if it’s not clear by now, how women are perceived by the society.
My knowledge about Africa can be very well compared to how much our scientists know about Saturn. My mind, just by default, paints a picture of dense forests with a few cities within. To be honest, this is after I was taught about the Republic of Congo in my social studies book in 8th class (ICSE) . Before that, it was just a weird triangle shape on the map for me. Besides this, the cricket world cup has added a few more countries to my list of African countries, but nothing more. Telling this was important here, because, from the book, her country (Nigeria) and people seemed very similar in beliefs and cultural setbacks to me.
For the ones, who don’t have the book, there’s a TEDx talk by the author herself reading her book. open the link👇 https://youtu.be/hg3umXU_qWc In one of her interviews, she revealed that she was surprised at the standing ovation in the end of her talk. She was not expecting any of that. By the way, she deserves all of the appreciation and much more.
Considering ny personal experiences, from a recent travel to another Indian city, I noticed that often the men (usually the drivers abd shopkeepers) wouldn’t talk looking at me. They would look at my husband instead, while answering the questions, I had asked. The main intention might have been giving respect, or sometimes just plain shyness. But, it feels bad man, feels dehumanizing, trust me. Again, this is a reference to a very similar story in the book. I got reminded of it while reading the book.
Why do women have to think twice, sometimes more, before they dress up? Whether it’s too much or too less. Why do they are the ones more responsible for their kids and the families? We applaud men for even helping in household chores while our mother have been working almost 16 hours a day. When I ask these questions, I was told, I am taking everything very negatively. The world around us, has changed and progressed a lot. Women are working and independent. They have earned their respect from the fellow family members and society. But isn’t it should be the norm. Men can, by default, command respect, while a woman has to toil ten times harder to obtain such feat. I understand, the society is changing. But is it sufficient enough..!!
The book is much better than this, I swear. I hope all of us become feminists one day without any baseless and hopeless resistances.
Until, I write again.🙂
Just Being Me 