Column: Last feminist standing

By Esmeralda Tijhoff

Feminists are an underappreciated, underpayed species, threated to be extinct. And I can prove this. Yes there are about 200 feminists at the Peace Palace in The Hague at the moment. But these people are all concerned about 'the next generation' that seems to be preoccupied with consumerism. In the plenary session of day one, the question was posed: 'Who is concerned about the young feminists'? And all hands rose. But nobody asks who of the participants belongs to this so called 'next generation'.

I thought I did. But then again, I am already 27 years old, and that is pretty old in this world. Yet, on all the pictures of the Second Feminist Wave, I do not see girls of 16 years old. Then why do these women over 30 complain that todays girls are not interested in feminism? As I see it, you can be a rebel at 16, but you will become a feminist when you are over 20. If you are really worried about feminism, try to offer this future generation a job or internship in your organization.

Are feminists under payed? Well, yeah! More then 90% of the participants at WIDE stated to have done volunteer work in the last month, e.g. underpayed work. And how many feminists in the room do you think earn more then 5.000 dollars as a feminists? That would be zero. But then surely, there were no feminists in the room earning less then the minimum wage? But that's where you're wrong. These women might not have been quick to stand up, but I know for a fact that they are among us.

And are we feminists underappreciated? Yes. We don't even present ourselves as 'experts'. No, we are 'activists', and sometimes we like to see ourselves as 'professional NGO worker'. Now do you understand why feminists are so badly payed? You have to pay big time for an expert, but you can hire someone with an opinion almost for free!


This article has been published in Daily Visions 10-10-2008