"We don't teach boys to care about being likeable."
I have always considered that people are people and that the fact that you have an internal or exterior appendage should really not dictate your behaviour. I've always sought out jobs in male dominated industries to prove that point. Lately, it has been getting to me. Equality seems more and more to be a platitude that people speak of while their actions undermine their very words.
Here are 52 short pages that brilliantly describe some of the core problems and how we might have a hope of addressing them. For instance, how can I have a father that claims to want the best for me and yet laughs at my career "attempts" and belittles any commentary I might have about the industry we have both worked in?
How is it that I if I earn more than a boyfriend or husband with far inferior intellect, skills and experience;he knows that he can potentially out do my earning potential?
Clearly the scales are not balanced and I think this tiny tome clearly and disppassionatley sets that out.
It is both equal parts distressing and reassuring that the author's experiences in Nigeria, Lagos and America reflect the same struggles around equality of gender. I share her aspirations for "A world of happier men and happier women who are truer to themselves".
In today's crazy media fixated society I worry that aspiration is drifting further away.
5 out of 5, we should all be feminists.
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