The
F Word Speaker Series
“I ... have never
been able to find out precisely what feminism is; I only
know that people call me a feminist whenever I express
sentiments that
differentiate me
from a doormat.” ~ Rebecca West ~
In the last
twenty years, “feminism” has become a term that men have
begun to apply to themselves more often and that young women
have often resisted. What exactly is feminism? The F
Word speaker series begins to find out by asking staff,
faculty, and administrators on campus to discuss why they
consider themselves to be feminists.
February
2007: Dean Jane Jakoubek, Vice President of Academic Affairs
and Dean of the Faculty
March 2007:
Ruby Pentsil-Bukari, Director of Intercultural Life
Abstract: Feminism
cannot be understood independent of context. While the
fight for equal rights of the sexes is still relevant in
the 21st century US, Black feminism or
Africana womanism is equally relevant to the Black
African. What the feminism movement stood for has
benefited many women including women like me working and
actually getting paid in the US. My hope is that
feminists of the west broadened the noble quest for
egalitarian relationships to include all races
and classes. Personally, I
look forward to the day when feminists all over the
world would actually have their children carry their
names as well, so it would be the
Pentsil Bukari family
and not only the Bukari
family, and to the day when
women will not lose their maiden names once they get
married. Someone may say: “what’s in a name’? To those
I say: “What’s not in a name”?, To me that is equal
opportunity. From a heterosexual perspective, I also
think of the day when women can ask for men’s hand in
marriage or propose to men for marriage and not have to
explain to society why this is an equal opportunity.
April 2007:
Professor Stacy Cordery, Chair of the Department of History
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