Emeka Ugwuonye> The Due Process Advocates (DPA)
THE STATE OF FEMINISM IN NIGERIA: A HUGE GAP BETWEEN WORDS AND ACTIONS.
When I deal with a complex topic, I start by defining it so that my readers will understand where I am going. So, by definition, feminism means the advocacy of the rights of women on the basis of equality of the sexes or, infrequently, the superiority of the female sex. So, you cannot be a feminist if you do not believe either that man and woman are equal or that woman is superior. Also, you don't need to be a female to be a feminist, though overwhelming number of feminists are naturally women.
If you get deeper into the definitions, you will come upon terms such as "moderate feminism" or "benign feminism" and "aggressive feminism". But let's not get into all that confusion here. The purpose of this short post is to confirm whether the Nigerian feminists are real feminists or whether they are theoretical feminists only.
Judging by the various writings and comments on the social media, you will find feminists everywhere in Nigeria. A particular brand of these ubiquitous feminists are those that lay claim to that title by the number of times they abuse any man in sight or within reach.
DPA supports the idea of gender equality or, at the very least, significant, fundamental and comprehensive upgrading of the rights and status of women. We want women to have more rights; simple.
However, one must observe that most of the Nigerian feminists are pseudo feminists. Every notion of the equality of the genders in the utterances of these women is soon defeated by their actions and thoughts in real life.
Examples abound:
You are a feminist, but when you visit your boyfriend's house, do you expect him to give you money when you're leaving? When you visit your lover for the weekend do you have the natural understanding that you will be up early in the kitchen to make his breakfast? When you are traveling with your man by road from Lagos to Onitsha or Abuja to Enugu in (his) car, would you normally get in behind the steering wheel to drive the car while your lover sits on the passenger's seat next to you, or is it always understood that the man drives while you buy snacks from hawkers on the road as the journey progressed? When you are visiting your boyfriend, do you ask for T-fare for you to get to where he is; do you expect that? Does the man have to drop money for food or can it be expected that your own money is just as acceptable in the shops as his money? You go to the restaurant with a male friend, how many times did you pay the bills with your ATM, instead of him paying? Do you expect cash from your boyfriend as a birthday gift?
Well, you understand where I am going. How many times have you seen a man that you liked and you walked up to him to say: "hey, I like you. Are you available to be in a relationship with me"? Or did you just pray silently that the man you like would come to you first because you fear he will consider you cheap if you were to make the move first?
So, you're not really a feminist. You are a natural dependent on a man. You have accepted your subordinate status, and your man is aware of it. He knows your place is in the kitchen, irrespective of the posts you make on the social media from time to time castigating men. Occasional flash and abuse of men does not make you a feminist. We must change the way you the way you think first.
Feminism, like other causes, is more of a state of the mind and material condition that it is a matter of slogans.

I think people are learning form the west how feminism is been run and the effect on society that why people don't take feminist serious

biko....in reality dere no feminist in nigeria..
u can only see dem online (esp nairaland)

madami123:
I think people are learning form the west how feminism is been run and the effect on society that why people don't take feminist serious

true. the West is just chaos right now.