Ani Difranco, American singer-songwriter, Activist, Feminist, Woman Warrior

 Ani DiFranco was born September 23, 1970. Her full name is Angela Maria DiFranco. She is an American singer-songwriter. Early on in her career, Ani created her own record label Righteous Babe Records. She has released over twenty albums on her own record label. In doing this, she provided herself with complete creative control over her own music and her own voice. The name of her record company itself, is a tongue in cheek reference to men, catcalling to her "Hey baby", "babe", ect.                          

 Ani has a unique and distinguishable voice. Her lyrics are deeply personal, political, and socially aware. Ani developed her own signature style of playing guitar, a sort of finger picking and using the guitar as a percussive instrument. Ani's style of music does not neatly fit into a box. Her music has been categorized as folk, jazz, punk, hip hop, and funk. Ani's Avant guard music is unique to her and her art, she also does not fit into a box. The song, Not a Pretty Girl, is an early work that encapsulates the woman and her message.

 Ani DiFranco tirelessly fights for the causes that plague our world as is reported on her wikipedia page, "Through the Righteous Babe Foundation, DiFranco has backed grassroots cultural and political organizations supporting causes including, abortion rights and LGBT visibility." Ani DiFranco's political and social awareness is admirable but it is in her fearless personal vulnerability that I myself am in awe of. She is truly a woman warrior. 

“I love my country, by which I mean I am indebted joyfully to all the people throughout its history, who have fought the government to make right. Where so many cunning sons and daughters, our foremothers and forefathers came singing through slaughter, came through hell and high water so that we could stand here, and behold breathlessly the sight; how a raging river of tears cut a grand canyon of light. Why can't all decent men and women call themselves feminists, out of respect for those that fought for this?”

― Ani DiFranco

Quote from goodreads.com

Works Cited

Wikipedia. 2021. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ani_DiFranco> [Accessed 15 February 2021].

Goodreads.com. 2021. Ani DiFranco Quotes (Author of No Walls and the Recurring Dream). [online] Available at:      <https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/79372.Ani_DiFranco> [Accessed 15 February 2021].

2021. [online] Available at: <https://youtu.be/9v1Bb_oEiCg> [Accessed 15 February 2021].

Jameela Jamil

 

Photo of Jameela Jamil

        It's no secret that all different forms of media have a huge   impact on consumers, especially young and impressionable women. In Hollywood films, women are portrayed in a specific way, shaping and creating the beauty standard of young girls to be impossibly thin, but still curvy, have long legs, but still be small, and to possess eurocentric features. Jameela Jamil is painfully aware of this reality, especially since landing her role as Tahani Al-Jamil in The Good Place. Since gaining a fanbase through this show, Jamil has been using her platform to voice her concerns about stigmatizing women's sexualities, to fight against systemic racism, and to "call out" companies and other celebrities on harmful behaviors. 

        Born in London in 1986, Jamil did not have an easy childhood. She was born with congenital hearing loss as well as labyrinthitis, which she has several surgeries to correct. When she was nine she was diagnosed with Hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, a genetic disorder affecting the connective tissue in the body. At twelve years old, she was diagnosed with coeliac disease, and at just 15 years old, she began to suffer from anorexia nervosa, which motivated her to start her activism once she gained a platform.

iweigh cover

    In 2018, Jamil was inspired to start a body positivity campaign called "iweigh" after seeing a photo of the Kardashian sisters detailing their weights. She captioned her first post “ I'm so fucking tired of seeing women just ignore what’s amazing about them and their lives and their achievements, just because they don’t have a bloody thigh gap". She then encouraged women, and men, to take a selfie or a picture of themselves, leave it completely unedited, and caption it with all of the "weight" they hold in the world. For example, Jamil's own post was captioned "I weigh: Great friends, loving my job, body positivity activist, loving myself despite what the media says, a lovely relationship, and overcoming my eating disorder". On top of starting iweigh, Jamil is also extremely vocal about the toxic culture surrounding dieting supplements, appetite suppressants, and "detox teas". In an interview with Krishnan Guru-Murthy, Jamil called out the Kardashians and rapper Cardi B. for promoting detox teas stating “It’s a wolf in sheep’s clothing: Just because you look like a woman, we trust you and we think you’re on our side, but you are selling us something that really doesn’t make us feel good …. You’re selling us self-consciousness".

    Despite all of Jamil's body positivity activism, she is far from perfect, and acknowledges that. On her social media platforms, Jamil refers to herself as a "Feminist in Training". Jamil has even been accused of "flattening" her body positivity movement to include less plus sized women, seeing that she herself is conventionally attractive.  In an interview with Forbes in 2019 Jamil stated, "It’s very important in this day and age of cancel culture and call out culture to remind people that nobody is born with perfect moral purity, that we all have something to learn. And as our society and humanity continue to progress, there will be more learning for all of us. We'll have to constantly update ourselves like iPhones. And that's okay. It's okay to not know all the answers. I worry that with this moral superiority that seems to exist on social media, that some people will be afraid to put their hands up and admit they have any ignorance. I am not perfect. I have to constantly check myself, and I want to normalize that and make it okay to work on yourself."

    To learn more about Jameela Jamil's body positivity movement, click the link below to visit iweigh. 

                                                        https://iweighcommunity.com/

Citations:

Dickson, E.J. How Jameela JAMIL Built a Brand around Body Positivity. 4 Dec. 2018, www.vox.com/the-goods/2018/12/4/18124392/jameela-jamil-good-place-body-positivity.

Doherty, Brendan. “Icon Of Impact: Jameela Jamil Is The Modern Activist We Need.” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 10 Oct. 2019, www.forbes.com/sites/bdoherty/2019/10/10/icon-of-impact-jameela-jamil-is-the-modern-activist-we-need/?sh=cdfdc8012a38.

“I Weigh Community.” I Weigh, 12 Feb. 2020, iweighcommunity.com/.

Olivia Fleming Olivia Fleming is the former Features Director at HarpersBAZAAR.com. “Jameela Jamil Is the Feminist-in-Progress We Need Right Now.” Harper's BAZAAR, 6 Nov. 2019, www.harpersbazaar.com/culture/politics/a29564304/jameela-jamil-gloria-steinem-women-who-dare/.

Kirsten Gillibrand - "Off the Sidelines"

Kirsten Gillibrand (1966-)

    Kirsten Gillibrand is from Albany, New York. She was raised in a house of women which one could categorize as "independent" and full of "free thinkers". Her household role models were only the beginning of the conscious and thoughtful approach to equality which Kirsten Gillibrand seeks out today. Being raised in a house like this, how can one expect to result in being anything but a strong and independent woman as well. 

    As a young lady transitioning into adulthood, Gillibrand had a lot of influence in the area of having her own opinions and voicing them. Gillibrand left the house to attend an all-female prep school followed by Dartmouth College. Unfortunately, in the educational establishment of Dartmouth, Kirsten Gillibrand experienced strong sexism. 

    Gillibrand majored in Asian studies in college. To grasp a deeper and more complete understanding for the culture, she traveled to China where she was given the opportunity to interview political leader Dalai Lama.  Following her education at Dartmouth, she attended the University of California for her law degree.

    In 2006, Gillibrand received her sear on the House of Representatives despite New York's tendency to remain primarily Republican whereas Gillibrand ran Democrat. She resigned from the House in 2009, but only to move on in becoming the youngest elected member of the Senate at the age of 43. She began to run in the 2020 presidential election, however, unfortunately experienced low success with this election.

    Kirsten Gillibrand has been advocating for gay rights and same-sex marriage throughout her time in politics. The senator led in the repeal of the "Don't Ask Don't Tell" policy which banned open service of gays. She also took part in fighting for women's rights. She fought for change in the handling of military sexual assault. When calling for a vote for the Military Justice Improvement Act, the vote was lost. However, Gillibrand's relentless determination allowed her to partake in proposing the Campus Accountability and Safety Act (link below), which increases the regulations when handling sexual assault cases along with having the intent to influence a decrease in cases.

I believe that Gillibrand's fight for women's rights is making a huge impact. Gillibrand is using her political strength towards fighting for women whom are lacking justice when they need it most. Senator Gillibrand is speaking for all of the women who feel like their voices do not matter. She is fighting every day to bring back the voices of survivors and not allow their stories to be invalidated. In 2015, she wrote a novel titled "Off the Sidelines: Speak Up, Be Fearless, and Change Your World". In her New York Times Bestseller, she speaks of here personal story and reaches out to other women to make a difference in the world, because its their world too.

Most women who report sexual assaults are not believed in their stories and are never given back their justice. Kirsten Gillibrand's work really resonates in my life and I found her to be a very critical addition to the fight for gender equality. Gillibrand shares stories of sexual assault survivors whom request her voice and widespread audience with the intent to reach people who want to enact change like they do. Her fight is advancing each day as more people become aware and motivated to fight against sexual assault. I hope we can all be motivated to follow in Gillibrand's steps in staying "off the sidelines".

Off the Sidelines: Speak Up, Be Fearless, and…

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=senaor+gillibrand

https://www.gillibrand.senate.gov/about

https://www.biography.com/political-figure/kirsten-gillibrand

Intersectional Feminism’s Finest: Angela Davis

Angela Davis at a Juneteenth rally in 2020
Yalonda M. James/San Francisco Chronicle/Associated Press

Angela Davis is a name recognized by many for her activism. Her impact on left wing politics is undeniable and ever-growing as she fights against racism, sexism, capitalism, imperialism, etc. When thinking of inspirational women, her name is always one of the first to come to my mind. Her history is grand and could be and has been put into novel length works. Due to this, much of her work will not make it into this piece, but I will hit on her most influential moments along with her ideas on intersectional feminism. 

Angela Davis giving the Black Power salute in court
Associated Press

Davis was born in 1944 and was exposed to the effects of racism from a very young age. She lived in Birmingham, Alabama as a young girl when Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama, grew up in a neighborhood known for how often it was targeted by the Ku Klux Klan, personally knew victims of the Birmingham Church Bombing, etc. As early as her teenage years, she was organizing interracial study groups that were targeted by police. In her time as a graduate student, she began to join political groups, the most recognizable of which being the Black Panthers. In 1969, she was fired from her job at the University of California for her ties to the Communist Party. After she took this to court and got her job back due to the court finding this termination illegal, she was fired again nine months later for her public speeches. In 1970, a firearm registered under her name was used in a courthouse takeover, and Davis was charged with three capital offenses. She went into hiding and landed a spot on the F.B.I.'s Ten Most Wanted List. Like other prevalent black activists, the rhetoric surrounding her charges became extreme, despite her only connection to the attack being the weapon. When she was captured, Richard Nixon, who was president at the time, celebrated the capture of a "dangerous terrorist." Through this arrest and the publicity surrounding her trial, Davis became a symbol of change and revolution. After 18 months in jail, she was found not guilty. 

While Davis's time with the Black Panthers and the trial she went through are perhaps what she is most recognized for, they are neither the beginning nor the end of her activism. As mentioned earlier, she was already organizing interracial study groups as a teen. Today, Angela Davis is 77 years old and continues her activism. Davis's politics are very left wing. She is a Marxist, a prison abolitionist, an lgbt+ rights activist (which makes sense since she is openly a lesbian herself), pro-Palestine, and an intersectional feminist. While this does not cover all her political beliefs, it is enough to show that many ideas that are considered "radical left" ideology right now, Davis has been believing in and preaching since before many young leftists who advocate for it were even alive. To see the way her ideas exist today and what exactly she advocates for, her facebook is a great place to start. However, to really get a grasp of her beliefs it is best to read her work and listen to her lectures. Davis has written many books, three of which stand out as feminist readings. These books are Women, Race, & Class (a book published in 1983 delving into the feminist movement and how it has been hindered by the racism and classism prevalent in some of the loudest advocates), Women, Culture, & Politics (a compilation of poems and speeches published in 1990), and Blues Legacies and Black Feminism: Gertrude "Ma" Rainey, Bessie Smith, and Billie Holiday (a book published in 1999 discussing prominent women in the blues industry in relation to feminism). Each of these books looks at feminism as it overlaps with other areas of Davis's activism. 

Davis takes the term intersectional feminism to a place that not only preaches including all women in her feminism but actively practices it. Davis believes that all areas of her activism not only can but should be intertwined into her feminism. For example, being anti-capitalism is important to Davis's feminism because the suffering it causes directly affects the most vulnerable groups of women intersectional feminism is meant to include and protect. Any average person living in a capitalist society has to deal with the struggles of having their labor exploited for rich people to profit off of, but black women in this position also have to deal with the fact that, due to the head start white families in this country had, black people own significantly less wealth in the United States than white people do. Therefore, they're in the group of people who, according to Davis's beliefs, would benefit most from a restructuring of our economic system. Davis believes that white feminism has been the face of feminism for too long, and feminism that does not include all women is not any feminism she wants a part of. Davis talks at great lengths about this overlap of activism and the need for intersectionality, but this eight minute clip gives a great summary of what her ideas on it are. 

 

I genuinely believe this overlap in activism that Davis displays in her feminism is the future of the feminist movement. While the term intersectional feminism is popular and well known, I think that it falls flat far too often. It has become a buzzword that people use to absolve themselves of doing any work to help minority groups that they are not included in. Hoever, they often do not actually advocate for the beliefs that make up a feminism that truly fights for all women. Obviously, this is not always the case and there are plenty of true intersectional feminists, but too often the term is used for show and people do not actually advocate for the needs of all women. One of the most counterproductive forms of feminism that exists is "radical feminism" that focuses solely on women who were assigned female at birth and excludes trans women on the basis that they have "male privilege." This form of feminism refuses to see that the way the trans movement is trying to deconstruct the patriarchy by reworking our understanding of gender is only going to help the feminist movement. In the same realm of thinking, feminism that does not actively listen to the needs of women of color denies the fact that the patriarchy and white supremacy go hand in hand. By ignoring half of the issues that drive sexism, these forms of feminism often fall flat of any real change. When they do induce change, it is too common for that change to only positively impact cishet white women. It is not only my hope but my belief that Davis's ideas of a truly intersectional feminism will one day be the norm and not what too many believe to be the "extreme." 

Works Cited

"Angela Davis Criticizes 'Mainstream Feminism/Bourgeois Feminism." YouTube, 8 Jan. 2018, uploaded by AfroMarxist, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bzQkVfO9ToQ

George, Nelson. "Angela Davis Still Believes America Can Change." The New York Times, The New York Times, 19 Oct. 2020, https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/10/19/t-magazine/angela-davis.html

History.com Editors. "Angela Davis." History.com, A&E Television Networks, 9 Nov. 2009, https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/angela-davis

All of Us or None of Us- Gloria Steinem

Gloria Steinem was the face of the equal rights movement in America in the 1960s. She was born in Toledo, Ohio in 1934. Her parents divorced in 1944 and she became responsible for caring for her mentally ill mother. After high school, she was able to attend Smith College in Massachusetts where she received her degree in government. She then was rewarded a fellowship that enabled her to study and in India where she initially took interest in activism that led to her involvement in the ERA movement. Upon her arrival back to the United States she became employed as a journalist in New York where she wrote for multiple different publications. As a female journalist, it was often challenging to find assignments, and Gloria's work as well as many other women journalists were pushed to the back burner of newspapers called "the women's pages." Gloria took issue with this but kept persevering as warriors do and gained substantial national attention when the magazine Show hired her to do a piece on the conditions of Hugh Hefner's Playboy Club. The attention was not so positive as Steinem revealed the sexist working conditions of the club. She kept going and eventually helped to found New York magazine as she became an editor and political writer. 

Vogue.com

Her involvement in women's rights activism began after she spoke publically about her experience overseas getting an abortion at age twenty-two. After this event, she started attending and speaking at many different protests. As Debra Michels puts it, "her strong intellect and good looks made her an in-demand media guest and movement spokesperson" (NWHM). It's fascinating to think that her good-looks are something that made her more appealing to be listened to by powerful men at the time. Women being judged for their value based on their looks isn't a new occurrence in history. I can't help but wonder if her influence would have been less remarkable had she not been so attractive on top of her remarkable intellect. 

In 1970, Gloria alongside her group of feminist activists argued against Ladies Home Journal for only sharing articles about housekeeping and motherhood and lacking to provide information on the ERA movement and women's rights. It was during this time that Gloria saw value in having a magazine that shared information on the women's movement thus causing her to team up with Patricia Carbine and Letty Cottin Pogrebin and in 1971, together they helped cofound Ms. magazine. Gloria was an editor and contributor for the next fifteen years and she still contributes in "an emeritus capacity to the present" (NWHM). Her work in the equal rights movement focused not only on the rights of white women rights but also on the rights of black women. Inclusion was always a driving factor in Steinem's activism.

CRFashionBook.com

One of Gloria's most crucial accomplishments in women's rights activism was her role in forming the National Women's Political Caucus that was designed to support gender equality and continue to ensure the election of more pro-equality women to public office (NWHM). She has since co-founded several other similar organizations and was recognized by President Obama in 2013 with the highest honor a civilian can receive, the Presidential Medal of Freedom. 

Gloria's role in advancing women's rights was not easy, it is because of persistent women like her that we are able to elect a woman into the vice-presidential position in 2020. It's her warrior-like spirit that helped her navigate through the patriarchy and prevail through so much doubt making her such an admirable woman. Her story and achievements are so significant they have inspired many TV shows, movies as well as documentaries about her life and her accomplishments. Gloria often simplified the ERA battle by defining a feminist as "anyone who recognizes the equality and full humanity of women and men." 

"The truth will set you free, but first it will piss you off" -Gloria Steinem

Works Cited

Michals, Debra. “Gloria Steinem.” National Women’s History Museum, 2017, https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/gloria-steinem

"Gloria Steinem- Full Biography". Office of Gloria Steinem. Brooklyn, http://www.gloriasteinem.com/about

Photos:

Unknown. Title Unknown. Found, CR. 14 February 2021, https://www.crfashionbook.com/culture/g28636093/angela-davis-quotes-inspiration/

Unknown. "Gloria Steinem at the Women’s Strike for Equality meeting, August 5, 1970." Found, New York Daily News Archive, Vogue Magazine. 14 February 2021, https://www.vogue.com/article/gloria-steinem-cfda-fashion-awards-2017-long-hair-blowout-glasses-diane-von-furstenberg

Hida Viloria

Source: (1)

Are you a boy, or a girl?

This is a popular question, ranging from the start of Pokemon games to a visit to the doctor's office for an ultrasound. It is a question that most people don't hesitate to answer. However, for some, the answer is not so simple.

There are more options than "boy" and "girl."

A child can be born intersex, meaning they can be born in abnormal genitalia resembling aspects from both the typical male and female genitalia. These people make up around 1.7% of the population, making them about as common as people born with red hair (6), so it is likely that you have already met an intersex person without even knowing it.

Intersex awareness is not well-known. Hida Viloria was told ze was born a girl all her life. In zir young adult years, ze learned that zir genitalia did not fit the typical characteristics of a vagina. After some digging into gender and sex education, ze eventually discovered that ze was a hermaphrodite or, as one would more likely call today, an intersex person (3). Since Viloria had grown up using she/her pronouns, went a few years using he/him pronouns, and spent some time using they/them and ze/zir pronouns, Viloria identifies as gender-fluid and pronoun indifferent since ze is not bothered by the pronouns people use for zir (5).

Source: (4)

Viloria had dedicated zir life to activism regarding intersex rights and awareness. Ze uses zir own experiences to educate others about intersexuality and non-binary people. Zir name grew popular, and ze eventually became a lecturer and a consultant for a number of organizations, such as Lambda Legal, Human Rights Watch, IOC, and Williams Institute (2). Ze had also been featured on television in an interview by Oprah and Inside Edition (2), providing a spotlight on the presence of intersex people. In her memoir, Born Both, Viloria talks about zir experience preparing for zir first big interviews. Ze includes her experience with being on screen with a doctor, who was arguing for gender-corrective surgery, but ze countered his argument with statistics and the stories of intersex people who had underwent these surgeries and the impact it had on them, effectively batting down the doctor's argument (3).

Due to zir presentation of intersex awareness, more people are aware of this third gender than ever before in our first-world country. Ze argued against the label for intersex people "Disorders of Sex Development" (DSD) due to the negative stigma it promotes, as mutilation of genitals at such a young age is unnecessary and causes more harm than good (2). With her efforts to dismantle the toxic label, ze (along with other gender activists) successfully had "intersex" as a recognized third gender (1), meaning that gender-corrective surgery on intersex children is not considered legal, especially if surgery does not have any medically beneficial purpose (1).

Viloria's train of activism is still barreling down the tracks of intersex awareness and rights. Ze already has a memoir about zir experiences growing up intersex, titled Born Both: an Intersex Life. The book talks about zir experiences with being raised as a girl and her overall experiences with gender and sex. Additionally, nearly a year ago, she published a book called The Spectrum of Sex: the Science of Male, Female, and Intersex. It is a novel that was co-authored by a biology professor and novelist named Maria Nieto (1). Along with publishing books and speaking on television and for news articles, Viloria had also lobbied for "the full inclusion of intersex female athletes - without mandatory, medically unnecessary "feminizing treatments" - in competitive sporting" (2). Ze advocates for third-gender legislation since maintaining a binary system of "male" and "female" only benefits those who are comfortable with the system and do not want to stray from something familiar. Thankfully, with the increasing awareness of intersex people and the harms of genital surgery at birth, another intersex and nonbinary activist, Gopi Shankar Madurai, led the phrasing of these surgeries as "infant sex reassignment surgeries," (1), leading to a ban of these surgeries in Tamil Nady, a state in India, which has over 70 million people (1). If about 1.7% of people are intersex, then that would mean over 1 million people in Tamil Nady would be spared from these unnecessary surgeries. Viloria sees this change, and ze is happy with the progress of protecting intersex people.

Our world has much more to tackle in regards to intersex and nonbinary rights and awareness. Hida Viloria is continuing zir activist role and helping to get third-gendered people seen.

So I will ask again: Are you a boy, or a girl? Boy? Girl? Both, or neither? Regardless of your answer, whether it attains to sex or gender, you are seen, and you are valid.


Works Cited:


(1) O'Donnell, Chris. “'It's Hard to Come out as Intersex . . . People Still Don't Know What It Means'.” The Irish Times, The Irish Times, 13 Nov. 2019, 6:01, www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/health-family/it-s-hard-to-come-out-as-intersex-people-still-don-t-know-what-it-means-1.4073377.

(2) Viloria, Hida. “About.” Hida Viloria, 2020, hidaviloria.com/about/.

(3) Viloria, Hida. Born Both: an Intersex Life. Hachette Books, 2017.

(4) Viloria, Hida. “Hida Viloria.” Facebook, 16 Nov. 2017, m.facebook.com/232314113866823/photos/a.146738060601455/394838047614428/?type=3.

(5) Viloria, Hida. “How Now Pro Noun?” Hida Viloria, 21 May 2014, hidaviloria.com/how-now-pro-noun/.

(6) Viloria, Hida. Intersex Campaign for Equality, 1 Apr. 2015, www.intersexequality.com/how-common-is-intersex-in-humans/.

Parting the Patriarchy: Doria Shafik's Forgotten Fight for Egyptian Women

Credit: Doria Shafik Official Site

    A woman revered; a woman forgotten. 

    There are minimal people outside of Egypt who know of Doria Shafik, an intelligent author who commenced the liberation of females in the country, but ironically not many Egyptians know of her either. Shafik's efforts were silenced, the truth of her advancements erased from Egyptian history by the President, Gamal Abdel Nasser, who disliked how Shafik cursed his name. He ordered for the destruction of her books and poems, as well as her imprisonment and ban from public media. Her followers would go on to attempt to preserve her fiery legacy, as well as try to rekindle the feminist movement of Egypt. Shafik left her people with this heavy remark to consider,

"A nation cannot be liberated whether internally or externally while its women are enchained".

Credit: Doria Shafik Official Site

    Born in 1919, Doria Shafik grew up with devoted parents and an early education. She quickly became immersed in the free style thinking and philosophy of western cultures. Under the guidance and influence of Hoda Shara'awi, an Egyptian feminist, Shafik was able to further her studies in France, where she eventually earned her doctorate from the Sobornne, one of the first universities in the country. During her time in France, Shafik drew creative inspiration from individuals such as Gertrude Stein and Pablo Picasso. She'd later go on to return to Egypt to write poetry and teach in her homeland, where she would later publish her own feminist magazine the Bint al-Nil.

Credit: Dutch National Archives

    Experiencing discrimination firsthand and hearing the cries of her fellow female Egyptians, Shafik decide it was time she aided in the fight for equality. Gathering support from local feminist, Shafik established an organization under the same title as her magazine. Her most notable call-to-action was on February 19th, 1951. Shafik gathered a crowd of women who were tired of seeing their rights diminished and encouraged them to take arms and storm the halls of parliament, where they had the best chance at having their voices heard. This stampede of 1,500 women shook the walls of the all-male government. They were surprised and flustered, but just after four hours they decided to yield and listen to a few of the organizations demands. Doria Shafik had courageously stood by the women of Egypt and had a part in gaining them the right to vote and hold political office. Her efforts would not go unnoticed by Egyptian women. 

Credit: Bettmann / Getty Images

    The fight for equal rights never seems to be over. There is always a problem to be fixed or an issue to be discussed. A few years after her parliament demonstration, Doria Shafik led the Bint al-Nil to undergo a hunger strike to further highlight the injustices brought upon women in the country. Historians believe that Shafik's efforts influenced the shift to equality in Egypt.  Her time in the political area was cut short, when she stepped too far and criticized the dictatorship of Egypts president. He had her imprisoned where she eventually took her own life by jumping out of a six-story window. Her life would be a symbol to those fighting for equal rights, but it would quickly be erased by Nasser from the history books of all Egyptians. Shafik's organization would live on to see out her dream and keep alive her legacy for as long as they could; however, feminist movements have been minimal since her death and Egypt's politics have not grown to favor women.

Credit: Sisterhood.com / Public Domain

    There is an incredible amount to be learned from Doria Shafik's bravery. She fought for the women of her country who were limited in their education and timid in their ways. She wasn't afraid to fight against the patriarchy, pinpointing its weaknesses and using them to her advantage. Shafik didn't just suggest change, she demanded it. The equality of women is not something that can wait, it's something that should already be practiced. Shafik fought until the end of her life, unknowing that many of her poems and books would be destroyed, along with her reputation. It's the hope that she sparked in Egyptian women that will live on and that she would be proud of today. Let her most famous quotation, written below, inspire you to strike out against injustices and inequalities, because in the end, the world cannot become a better place if no one is willing to commence and commit to change:

"To want and to dare! Never hesitate to act when the feeling of injustice revolts us. To give one's measure with all good faith, the rest will follow as a social consequence."

    Visit her website to learn more about her life before she was an activist and to read some of her poems historians were able to find.

Works Cited

Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. "Durriyyah Shafīq." Encyclopedia Britannica, 10 Dec. 

           2020, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Durriyyah-Shafiq. Accessed 13 February 

           2021.

Kirkpatrick, D. David. “Overlooked No More: Doria Shafik, Who Led Egypt’s Women’s Liberation 

           Movement.” The New York Times, 22 Aug. 2018, 

           https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/22/obituaries/doria-shafik-overlooked.html.

 

 Greta Thunberg

         Our planet’s climate is deteriorating, and politicians are turning blind eyes when it’s only a matter of a few decades before our planet becomes inhabitable. Greta Thunberg, a Swedish 18-year-old climate activist, has been able to spark uproar over these prevalent issues and challenge our world leaders to pay attention to this issue before the future is nonexistent for our youth. It is because of Greta that millions joined her in her cry for our planet to change.      

Thunberg is most known for starting a global climate movement in 2018. She started by herself, opting out of school to sit outside of the Swedish Parliament with a sign that said “Skolstrejk för klimatet” (School Strike for Climate). A couple journalists took pictures of Thunberg  outside by herself, and that soon sparked a movement. Every day, more and more kids kept coming to the Parliament to take a stand with Greta, and one person soon turned to thousands. Greta decided to just make the strikes on Fridays after the mass amount of participation, and thus “Friday’s for Future” began and Greta became a global climate icon.

Greta has given many speeches on our climate in front of many different country’s legislatures including Italy, France, United Kingdom. In 2019, Thunberg even traveled to the United States to give a speech at the UN Climate Action Summit. And while staring into the eyes of world leaders, she gave her infamous “How DareYou?” speech that shamed them for their decisions and lack of care for the next generation’s future. Her speech inspired millions to join the fight for our climate and Greta was named Time Magazine’s Person of the Year in 2019, the article saying “she refuses to use the language of hope; her sharpest weapon is shame…she is an ordinary teenage girl who, in summoning the courage to speak truth to power, became the icon of a generation”

 And like all successful women, Greta has had to face the inevitable backlash that comes from toxic-masculinity-filled men that cannot bear to see a young girl in power. Many world leaders, such as Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro and Vladimir Putin, have been outspoken about their distaste for Thunberg. Donald Trump even mocked her online, ridiculing her for her successes. Yet, Thunberg is able to take these hateful comments and insults and use them as gas to her burning desire to make a change. She believes that hate only means that you’re doing something right because you must be a threat to those who direct it towards you. She was even able to throw it back to Trump, later using his exact words against him to give him a taste of his medicine. Greta is able to break gender norms by standing up for herself and not care about what people, especially old idiotic men, have to think about her. She's driven to stay focused on the thing that matters the most to her: fixing our climate crisis.

                                                                  
    I chose Greta Thunberg because she’s someone who many girls in my generation can look up to and be inspired by. It’s not often you see someone our age be able to take a stand and make as much of an impact as Greta has. She has stood in the face of our world leaders and told them off. She has raised the voices of millions people my age. She is making the difference all young activists could possibly dream of making one day.

 

                                              I feel strongly about a lot of issues in society, wanting to use my voice to make a difference. I always believed I’d have to be older, smarter, or stronger to make a difference, but it’s people like Greta who show that anyone can. If I wanted to take a stand, I could right now. Waiting until the time is right is not going to fix the problems that need to be solved now. Believing I am not capable is allowing myself to lose the battle already.    Greta having the power to face the fights she does and take a stand for what she believes in inspires me and many other young women alike. Seeing someone my age capable of inspiring as many people as her has makes me want my voice to be heard. She shows that even if your voice is small, even if there is only one and there’s a good chance no one will listen, it’s worth all the effort if it’s something important. 

  "We showed that we are united and that we young people, are unstoppable." - Greta Thunberg

 

Works Cited

“Greta Thunberg.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 1 Jan. 20 www.britannica.com/biography/Greta-Thunberg. 

Alter, Charlotte, et al. “Greta Thunberg: TIME's Person of the Year 2019.” Time, Time, www.time.com/person-of-the-year-2019-greta-thunberg/.         

McDowell, Erin. “Kamala Harris Was Just Sworn in as the First Female Vice President in US History. Here Are 35 of the Most Powerful Women in 2021.” Business Insider, Business Insider, 20 Jan. 2021, www.businessinsider.com/most-powerful-women-in-the-world-2020-2#gretathunberg-climate-activist-8.

 

 

Photo Credits:

 

Photo #1: Getty Images / Stephanie Keith

Photo #2: AP Photo / Markus Schreiber

Photo #3: Getty Images / Lionel Bonaventure