#likeagirl

By Rebecca Benn

Why, as a society are we so comfortable with casually putting down the female gender? Even women themselves so often use phrases that take away female agency and make woman less, in so many ways, to their male counterparts. How often do you tell someone to stop being ‘a girl’ or to not do something ‘like a girl’, we have become so numb to the term that we don't see how degrading it is. Patriarchy has taught us that everything a women ever does will be of less importance as compared to those things done by men, society has created a history for itself that praises men and their accomplishments and so often makes women hide in the background.

To this I say: so far and no further.

Women are strong. We are clever. We are creative. We are brave, bold, daring and wise. Society can no longer diminish the many amazing achievements of women and it can certainly not put them down any more. Yes a woman will do great things #likeagirl but that because she is one. We as women will do things #likeagirl, just as Queen Elizabeth I ruled a kingdom, just as Albertina Sisulu and Ruth First fought apartheid, just as Marie Curie revolutionised science, and just as my grandmother cared for her family.

It is time that women take back the saying ‘like a girl’ and show the world what it really means. Lets live our lives #likeagirl.