Thread by @Kudu_ze_Kudu

I have to disagree with him.
These changes are NOT going to happen over a year, or decade maybe not even century.
Suffragettes fought for votes over 100yrs ago.
Yet even today, studies have shown that in some areas, women don't really have the freedom to vote for who they want.

https://twitter.com/bintibena/status/1377661097499590656

I mean, there were cases the other year of divorces and DV because the wives voted for someone that their husbands didn't like. Actually, statistics show that DOMSTIC VIOLENCE cases go up during elections because of these incidents.
There are countries that allowed their women to

vote just few years ago.
But should we say the suffragettes of all countries work was just superficial because we still have issues in women voting? It is very ridiculous to do that.
The suffragettes and all other women movements are under the umbrella of feminism and have done

so much to help women.
But, one thing that people with such thinking like the Professor don't say, is that the problems women face especially DOMESTIC VIOLENCE are SYSTEMIC and STRUCTURAL.
They're embedded within our CULTURE, RELIGION and every aspect of way of lives.
You can't

just uproot all that SIMPLY
IT TAKES MORE THAN FEMINISTS, it takes THE WORLD. It takes the JUSTICE SYSTEM punishing abusers as they should. It takes RELIGIOUS ENTITIES stop shaming women who walk away from marriages/relationships.
It takes dismantling the CULTURE that has groomed

women for CENTURIES that their worth is tied to marriages/relationships and that it is the work of them(women) to MAKE IT WORK.
It takes FINANCIAL INDEPENDENCE, which involves dismantling A LOT of structures that hold women backward academically, socially and cooperately in

attaining financial freedom.
It takes having GOVERNMENTS that actually DO SOMETHING about DOMESTIC VIOLENCE, including making policies, laws and acting on them.
It takes UNLEARNING, LEARNING & RELEARNING a lot that we have been brought up to believe that facilitate women to be

victimized.
It takes GENERATIONS PARENTING OTHER GENERATIONS against these acts and showing their girls what to do and what NOT to "vumilia"
But, the people who with these views NEVER consider this. (probably they don't think that they too a part of the change we want）

Feminists can't provide water for these women in low SES. They can try to make projects, but it is the work of THE GOVERNMENT TO DO SO, by the push of LEADERS who actually give a damn about these women (but they won't cuz they use them for poverty porn during elections, so..)

The problems women face are SYSTEMIC and STRUCTURAL.
That's why we say the patriachy and misogyny are structural (just like racism).
And it takes a lot more than a couple of self-identifying feminists to make that change in a blink of a moment or in years time.

So, until THEN, we will celebrate every little win we have, eevry little step, every little change we impose while reassessing how to do better especially for our sisters in rural areas and low SES.
That's how social justice movements work. It's dishonest to think otherwise.

Days ago, I arrived home to find my father back. And we had a similar conversation. He told me how I can make more impact to women in Tanzania through my talent and my career.
He said one thing that stuck with me, "changes don't happen overnight, you might not live to see them"

But changes DO HAPPEN. (just not overnight)
Bibi Titi did not live to see Samia Suluhu becoming a VC (and later President)
RBG lived to see some of the laws she fiercely fought for in protection of women being overturned in some states, pulling women 100yrs backward AGAIN.

When you watch the documentary, "She's beautiful when she's angry", you'll get what I'm saying.
I mean we celebrate Independence EVERY year, knowing damn well that neocolonialism is VERY alive and no African country is *really* that independent or even sovereign, but here we are.

I mean @a_nickabugu has been writing laws that discriminate/oppress women DAILY since 23/05/2020 (She just posted law no.314 today) and someone really think that it is that easy to dismantle these systems that uphold misogyny? It is absolutely dishonest to think lile that.

Feminism like any other social justice movement need people of all kinds, sometimes it is pushed forward by people who don't even identify as feminists or "allies".
It needs kina @RebecaGyumi who challenge laws in court, kina @CarolNdosi who empower women in tech/enterpreneurship

kina @Geuyah who call out misogyny in religion with no fear, kina @TweveDevota who campaign for girls education, kina @anabahatimlay who teach women in cooperate and mentor young women, kina Brenda Msangi and Ruth who prove to women and young girls that tjey can lead major

cooporates/companies, kina @SuluhuSamia to prove to women they can climb in ladders of leadership up to the top most i.e President na kina Kuduishe who can write and tell women stories and amplify them.
Just like how RBG's work in changing 100s of discriminatory laws was possible

only because there were hundreds of thousands women marching, protesting, pushing for changes in every area and challenging the status quo.
One of the most famous RBG quotes was not by her but she quoted Sarah Moore Grimké, a 19th century abolitionist and women’s rights activist:

But that statement was (and still is) VERY POWERFUL even today, it brought a huge impact when RBG said it (at that time) and that is how impacts are made in social justice movements. It's a chain AND a WEB of people acting together knowingly or unknowingly to bring changes.

@threadreaderapp please unroll