It’s kind of hard to pinpoint when I became a feminist. Given I’m a stickler for detail, I presume the simple answer is ‘since I came out of the womb’ but maybe that’s exaggerating it a little. Basically I can’t remember a time that I wasn’t a feminist.
I was raised by two feminists, not that they would have proclaimed that when I was younger but I was. My parents never told me I couldn’t do something just because I was a girl. In fact they actively encouraged me to try everything. Well except mushrooms but I think we can forgive them that.
“Patriarchy and capitalism go hand in hand when it comes to oppression”
Feminism for me has always been relatively simple to understand. It just means that everyone is equal no matter gender, race, religion or whatever else normally divides us. I could never understand people who didn’t want that. Were they afraid of having their privilege revoked or did they just not care? The Grandpa Simpson in me would say ‘A little from column A, a little from column B’. The feminist in me would say it’s all down to the patriarchy.
Patriarchy and capitalism go hand in hand when it comes to oppression. There’s no ethical consumption under capitalism so instead we have to unite and fight the system. Patriarchal systems want us to fight amongst ourselves by arguing whether there’s a gender pay gap (there is), what day is International Men’s Day (pretty much every day) or whether we should respect pronouns (we should). By arguing back and forth about these issues, it distracts us from the biggest issue of them all – dismantling capitalism.
Now that my slightly Karl Marx rant is over, I should probably explain why I believe in this. I’ve grown up as a white, middle class, cis woman. I attended a private school and my parents did everything they could to give me advantages they never had which means I’m inherently privileged.
I didn’t really realise this until my late teens and while that makes me sound slightly thick, it is true. It was only when I started campaigning for the repeal of the 8th Amendment that I realised how it affected everyone in different ways. Middle class women with money were always going to be able to travel for an abortion whereas working class women or migrant women would not be able to. My privilege didn’t mean my struggle wasn’t valid, it just meant that it affected me differently. It meant that I could only speak about my experience and amplify the voices of others who were more disadvantaged people. My feminism HAS to be intersectional, otherwise it’s worthless and this is the shared belief between me and Kildare Feminist Network.
So there it is, as plain as day, my mantra of why feminism is important to me and why I’ll continue to fight for it as long as there’s breath in this body.
Because we all fucking need it.
Written by Rachel O’Neill
Twitter: @ronronzo
Blog: ronronzo
Kildare Feminist Network 