I am Generation Equality: Tina Musuya, feminist and advocate for ending gender-based violence
Billions of people across the world stand on the right side of history every day. They speak up, take a stand, mobilize, and take big and small actions to advance women’s rights. This is Generation Equality.Date:
Three things you can do to make this world gender-equal:
- Critically assess your own power and privilege.
- Seek constructive criticism from women and girls to check that you’re not directly or indirectly silencing those with less power than yourself.
- Support programmes that are gender-sensitive and ensure programming that addresses systemic inequalities between men and women.
I am Generation Equality because..
I was born into a large family with many brothers and sisters and many cousins. I noticed that there were differences in the roles that the boys and girls did. Often [only] girls were washing dishes and cooking food. I didn’t like this at all; I refused to do all the domestic chores and demanded that the boys, my brothers, should do the domestic chores too.
What are the most urgent issues of our time?
There is a pressing need to create a safer world for women to thrive in their private and public lives. We must address violence against women, including intimate partner violence, sexual harassment and violence and exploitation, female genital mutilation and cyber-bullying.
What's your advice to young people on actions they can take?
Gender equality is the fair and right thing to do because it leads to promotion of social justice and [equitable] distribution of wealth, opportunities, and privileges within a society. It is a fundamental need for social and economic development for any given community.
What issues do you think need to be worked on?
Promoting gender equality and women’s rights [boosts] greater economic prosperity. Women’s economic activity is a common measure of gender equality in an economy. Gender discrimination often results in women obtaining low-wage jobs and being disproportionately affected by poverty, discrimination and exploitation.
How can men be a part of the solutions?
Men who are allies need to stand in solidarity with women’s movements to challenge all forms of violence against women. For example, they should stand with us in condemning sexual violence and harassment at the workplace, issues of marital rape and challenging the rationale for bride price.
“...power and prosperity come from leading with humility and enabling others to thrive, not through discrimination and oppression..."
Why should everyone be a women's rights activist?
We need men to understand that the patriarchy system privileges them over women. Therefore, they must take deliberate actions to ensure that all programming and efforts in the development and humanitarian context do not directly or indirectly continue to privilege men over women. Men need to speak out against the power imbalance between men and women and how their privileged position increases women’s vulnerability to violence and leads to impunity.