What’s in your “Feminist” Toolkit?

March is Women’s History Month, and all month long, my blog posts will center around the themes of women and girl’s rights, gender equality, feminism, intersectionality, and the likes. The theme for March’s “What’s in Your Toolkit? is, of course, FEMINISM. Three amazing writers share one item each in their feminist toolkit and how the tool has helped them in navigating through issues around gender inequality and the fight for it. My hope is that as you read the stories of other women and humans just like you, you’d be encouraged to build up your own toolkit or adopt their tools for your kit. In addition, pay attention to the tools you already have and how you can use them to navigate successfully through life.

Feminism/ˈfeməˌnizəm/
noun
the advocacy of women’s rights on the basis of the equality of the sexes..

Intersectionality /ˌin(t)ərsekSHəˈnalədē/
noun
the interconnected nature of social categorizations such as race, class, and gender as they apply to a given individual or group, regarded as creating overlapping and interdependent systems of discrimination or disadvantage.

Vera Ezimora — Gutsy Storyteller | Conversation Starter | Question Asker | Computer Presser, Verastic

Tool: A woman’s submission has to be earned.

I learned this during my marriage, which is now over.

When I realized I was a feminist, I learned and unlearned a lot of things. For example, as a feminist, I used to think that submission was a dirty word. I thought it was a way for a man to hold a woman down. I thought it was one more proof that marriage was repressive to women. But I officially unlearned this in 2017, a few months before I walked out of my marriage. My now-ex-husband had told me that we would be traveling to Nigeria and that when we did, I was to obey his every command, that if he told me we were going somewhere to do something, I was to oblige with no hesitation because you know, he was my husband and my leader.

I might have slightly lost my mind for a few minutes that day. I realized almost immediately that this boy had not earned the right or the…