I’m a feminist not a sexist… gerrit?

I’ve been thinking of doing an article on Nigerian people (mostly women) who go on and on and on (ad infinitum) about their not being feminists, on the other hand I was thinking I shouldn’t because… ‘hey, it’s alright, your opinions are valid’. And because it’s a pleasure seeing women expressing their opinions, no matter how reprehensible I personally find it, that’s what feminism is about, giving voice to people the society has fought for so long to silence…
… but … there are times that these fingers of mine just can’t keep their thoughts to themselves, they are too opinionated for their own good… and their opinions are as valid as yours.

One of the things I try to do before jumping into any conversation (in my usual half-assed, screeching, bush-Ibadan-woman way) is try to understand the other person’s side of a story. So I’ve read a whole slew of articles (written mostly by Nigerian women) on why they do not like the label – feminist – being used on them. And the one thing I’ve come away with is that most of these women keep confusing feminism with sexism… the summary of their arguments? ‘I believe in equality but I don’t hate men, so I’m not a feminist’, I guess this is as opposed to ‘I believe in equality, I hate men, so I’m a feminist’.
Well I’m a feminist, I believe in equality and I do not hate men.
My men can attest to this. I grew up with a bunch of feisty men. I’ve loved some as friends, I’ve loved some as part of my support network, I’ve loved some at the back of cars, up a wall, on chairs, in trains (no I’ve not joined the Mile High Club or whatever they call themselves…yet). I’ve loved them in the missionary position, doggy style, straddling… don’t let us get side-tracked here but you got it, right?
Now, a feminist is someone who believes that men, women, trans, asexuals, intersex or whatever label you paste on yourself (or whichever one the society has stuck on you) are first and foremost, HUMAN BEINGS, and should be treated as such… equally.
Everybody should be treated equally.
Nobody should be fired because they are pregnant, or don’t look feminine/masculine enough.
Everybody should have rights to justice, should live their lives fully without being afraid that they’ll get raped because of the way they dress or are undressed. They should get equal pay for equal work. Should be able to choose how they want to live their lives, without being judged by the ‘society’.
They should be free enough to choose whether to marry or not, to have children or not, to make career choices based on their abilities not because they have been told to or not, or because they are afraid there won’t be room for promotion for them because they are going into a field dominated by one sex or the other.
A society where equality is a tangible fact, not something someone is paying lip service to by forming ‘Ministry for Women and Youths and Children and the Disadvantaged and fools and idiots’ or distributing stoves to women so that they won’t return to the kitchen (oxymoronic right?).
Feminism goes beyond hashtags and social media banters, it is when women (mostly feminists) spend almost fifteen to twenty years pushing a bill called ‘Violence Against Persons’ into law. When they stepped in to make sure that the IDP’s do not go hungry or naked. When they are presently working on changing the language of our constitution so that someone cannot decide to marry off a 3months old child and there’s nothing you can do about it because the constitution clearly states that anybody who is married is a woman or you can’t bestow your citizenship on your spouse or partner because you are female.
Feminism is about working on inheritance rights, so that women can have access to the lands they work on.
Feminism is beyond Facebook or Twitter ‘rants’.
They are not rants, you moron! It is giving voice to people who have been systemically silenced over the years because you can’t talk too loudly or complain about the way you’re being treated simply because you’re of a certain sex or you will not be considered a ‘lady’.
Feminism is about giving platform to women who have been abused beyond your self-satisfied lower middle class smirk about how YOUR husband pays ALL the bills so what’s the big deal about a slap or two here and there? And how sharing house-hold chores is no big deal because you have a fucking under-aged boy or girl enslaved in your house in guise of a ‘houseboy’ or ‘housegirl’.
We are talking about women whose husbands take iron rods to them at the slightest provocation, break-bottles on their heads, turn them into punching bags. Women who genuinely have nowhere else to go, because they are economically disadvantaged and not staying in abusive relationships because they love the title of ‘Mrs’ so much they’d go through hell and fire and brimstone to keep it.
This as far as I’m concerned is a simple thing, as simple as abc. Unfortunately there is no equality anywhere, there is no justice (just us) but there is such a thing as the patriarchy. A system that has been so institutionalized it has even succeeded in making the oppressed oppress other people. It stands to reason that if you were bullied by your mother-in-law, for example, chances are that you will bully your daughter/son-in-law. If your clitoris was cut off as a child and you never got to feel sexual pleasure, chances are that you will cut off the clitoris of your female child.
There is no such thing as the Matriarchy or whatever ojuju is lying inside your wardrobe at night about to jump out and eat you up because you call yourself a feminist.
Feminism is not a cult, it is a choice… you can actually choose to be one or not. Nobody is trying to ‘recruit’ you or force you to work for the emancipation of women who are not as advantaged as you. It is not a superstardom, in fact you lose a lot when you’re tagged a feminist but you gain yourself freedom from mental slavery. Nobody will knight you or pay you for being a feminist. The fact that you even have a choice is because some people in the past (or presently) have decided they’ve had enough of being oppressed, refused the right to vote, raped in the name of child marriage or any kind of marriage, paid a pittance for what men are getting loads of money for doing.
Feminism is activism not for the faint hearted.
So please keep apologizing for daring to believe in equal rights and emancipation of the sexes, in fact you can continue jeering at women who are feminist, but please, get your fucking facts straight while doing all these, because you just look plain stupid.
Repeat after me … feminism is NOT sexism.

Nigerian Justice is not a Lady - With Temilolu Bamgbose

Justista, the Roman deity that represents justice is female. She is the ancestor of the modern-day, double-edged-sword-wielding, scale-carrying, Lady Justice who stands (or sits as the case may be) outside every courthouse or institution saddled with the responsibility of upholding the law of any community.
Yet, many people agree with the view American feminist and lawyer, Catherine Mackinnon expressed in her essay Feminism, Marxism, Method, and the State: Toward Feminist Jurisprudence, that “the state is male and the law is an expression of a male point of view…The law sees and treat women the way the men see and treat women.”
Mackinnon’s assertion is particularly true in Nigeria, in view of the language used in the Nigerian Constitution, where “his and he” were used for humans, except for sections concerning women or children, and in most cases these references emphasise the fact that women are considered second class citizens, it makes women “the other”.
“Women” was used twice in the constitution (in connection with Social Services), women were, of course, grouped with children because it stands to reason that women need “nurturing” since they are in the same group with the “disadvantaged” and are considered “vulnerable” by the Nigerian State.
This assertion is proven under the law establishing Abuja as the Federal Capital Territory which states that “Social Services and Development includes the provision of a nurturing environment for women and children in the Territory, seeing critical social enablers such as the provision of microfinance for vulnerable and disadvantage groups...” (Establishment of Functionaries and Departments) and Ministry of the Federal Capital Territory (Dissolution) Order No. 1, 2004 S.I.4 Of 2005
The word “woman” also appeared in the Nigerian Constitution twice, the first was in Section 26, subsection 2(a) which says that a person may be registered as a citizen of Nigeria if the president is satisfied that the person has good character, shown a desire to be domiciled in Nigeria and has taken the Oath of Allegiance but the section only applies to -
(a) any woman who is or has been married to a citizen of Nigeria;
What the section says in essence is that only Nigerian men can bequeath their citizenship on their spouses. So, if a Nigerian woman marries a foreigner, he is not eligible for Nigerian citizenship (kind of similar to traditional marriage in some Nigerian communities, once a woman gets married, she is no longer considered part of her parents community).
It was used again in Section 29, subsection 4(b), where, in spite of the fact that the subject of renunciation of citizenship was being addressed, our lawmakers were able to sneak in the point that “any woman who is married shall be deemed to be of full age”, and since the Matrimonial Causes Acts (CAP 220 LFN) did not provide any minimum age for marriage, it means a girl married off at say, three years of age, is considered an adult in Nigeria.
The law specifically allows an under aged married woman to revoke her citizenship even when she has not attained the constitutional voting age and there is no corresponding provision treating a male married minor as an adult. A female minor is allowed to marry, but not allowed to vote... in Nigeria.
A Police woman must submit her prospective husband details for approval before marriage. As a “vulnerable” set of creatures, the Nigerian Police insists that women police must apply for permission to marry, in case she’s stupid (as women are considered to be) enough to marry a criminal or maybe someone just not “good enough” for her.
Police Regulation Act, 124. Women police to apply for permission to marry [L.N. 93 of 1968.]

A woman police officer who is desirous of marrying must first apply in writing to the commissioner of police for the State Police command in which she is serving, requesting permission to marry and giving the name, address, and occupation of the person she in- tends to marry. Permission will be granted for the marriage if the intended husband is of good character and the woman police officer has served in the Force for a period of not less than three years. [L.N. 93 of 1968.]
The Nigerian Police is your friend, and your father and your “big brother”, looking out for you because you are the “weaker” sex and cannot make sane decisions, particularly when you’re about to make a life changing decision, like ... marriage and because of their kindness they will not allow you to marry as soon as you join the force, you need to wait for a period of three years. Unfortunately, under-aged girls do not get to enjoy this luxury because they did not join the Nigerian Police.
No similar provision is made for men, therefore a male police officer can marry anybody, at any time, because, they are the more intelligent set of human beings.
Not wanting to be left out, the Nigerian Labour law states in Section 55 that:
‘...no woman shall be employed on night work in a public or private industrial undertaking or in any branch thereof, or in any agricultural undertaking or any branch thereof.’ (2) Subsection (1) of this section shall not apply to women employed as nurses, in any public or private industrial undertaking or in any agricultural undertaking, nor to women holding responsible positions of management who are not ordinarily engaged in manual labour’.
We believe that this is due to the fact that the primary “work” of a woman is done properly “at night” preferably “in bed”. Although female nurses are exempt from this wonderful clause, female doctors are not (or maybe they were left out because there are NO female doctors in Nigeria!)
The upside of this law is that since there are no laws in place concerning sex work in Nigeria - yes you read that right, sex-work is not illegal in Nigeria( not in the constitution, criminal code or penal code were they mentioned), sex workers are allowed to work during the daytime.
Section 56 of the Act also provides:
(1) Subject to subsection (2) of this section, no woman shall be employed on underground work in any mine.  (2) Subsection (1) of this section shall not apply to:
(a) Women holding positions of management who do not perform manual labour; or 
(b) Women employed in health and welfare services; or
(c) Women who in course of their studies spend a period of training in underground parts of a mine; or
(d) Any other woman who may occasionally have to enter the underground parts of mine for the purpose of a non-manual occupation.
Nigerian women are not allowed to be miners, or archeologists, or cave explorers, except when you’re studying to be a miner or an archeologist, but after your study you may “occasionally” enter the underground parts.
In the criminal code, the indecent assault of a female as a misdemeanour punishable by imprisonment of a statutory maximum of two years (see Section 222 Criminal Code Act Cap 38 LFN). If the girl is thirteen years old, the maximum imprisonment is three years, while the same offence when committed against a male attracts punishment with a term of imprisonment of more than three years.
The above code is the endorsement of the widely held belief that boys are more “important”, more “valuable” than girls, because assaulting a girl can only get you two years imprisonment but if you dare assault a boy, then you’re in for a long haul in the Nigerian prisons system.
In order to make no bones about the position of the ‘Nigerian People’ on domestic violence and child abuse the penal code Section 55. (1) states that “Nothing is an offence which does not amount to the infliction of child, pupil, grievous hurt upon a person and which is done-…”
(d) by a husband for the purpose of correcting his wife such husband and wife being subject to any customary law in which the correction is recognised as lawful.
This is an express permission for wife-beating insofar as it does not cause grievous harm (S55 of the Penal Code). The defence f:-) or reasonable chastisement is that the husband and wife are subject to native law and custom that recognises such corrections.
In Nigerian English, you may beat your wife or child, as long as you do not cause “grievous harm” to them, the question now is, who measures what “grievous harm” is, does it mean you may break an arm or a leg as long as it’s not totally detached from your victim’s body, or is there a specific amount of blood, considered “grievous”?
From the above, it is apparent that Justista has no business adorning our halls of “justice”, the law in Nigeria is blind to equality, Nigerian law is not a lady ... Nigerian law is not a gentleman.