Feminist Series — Good Fight
by Manon Koningstein
My name is Manon and I work as a Communications Associate at Includovate. Born in the Netherlands, I have lived in Latin America throughout my twenties and am currently living in Southern Spain. I finished a Bachelor’s degree in International Business Communications in the Netherlands, and have a European Master Degree in Intercultural Communications.
I started travelling by myself at quite a young age; my early twenties, when I travelled around Latin America with a backpack and catching buses. It’s when I learned that there are things that are simply more dangerous for women, than for men. Some places are unwise to travel in without company; in some places women need to wear a fake wedding ring, and have photos of their ‘children’ and ‘husband’, ready to show.
However, it was not until I started working and was sent to conduct fieldwork, that I came across situations in which my professional capacity was not taken seriously. Being a blonde girl in her mid-twenties, workshop participants would make public jokes that they wanted to be in the ´focus group with the cute girl´ or ´that I would have to forgive them if they couldn’t entirely focus on the questions I asked during the interviews´. And although these are innocent jokes, meant to break the ice, not once were the same jokes made in the direction of my male colleagues, and that made me realise that I have to fight just a little harder to earn the respect.
Fighting hard to take the same working approach as my male colleagues, took me some years to understand, and accept. However the female approach in fieldwork also meant that being a younger woman created a bond of trust, especially with other women. Women trust me, more than they would trust my male colleagues and that provides a better result from interviews.
And this, in the end, is the main point: feminism is not about making us the same. We are not the same, biologically. However, our biological differences do not mean that one deserves ´less´, or that the other one automatically deserves ´the power´.
As stated by Barbara Ehrenreich: “Of all the nasty outcomes predicted for women’s liberation … none was more alarming than the suggestion that women would eventually become just like men.” And I couldn’t agree with this more.
Am I a feminist? I don’t even know what feminism means any more nowadays. Sure, as a travel photographer, active on social media, when I ask the question ‘would you have posted this same revealing photo if this were a man’ has made many (men) call me a ‘feminist’. Though if you ask me, I would say I am an equalist. I believe that we all deserve the same rights, no matter the biological sex, no matter the skin colour, no matter the sexual orientation, religion, or background. Because in the end, we are all human, we all deserve to be treated with respect. And no, luckily we are not all the same. So let’s use that same diversity for our good fight.
About the Author
With a Master’s Degree in Intercultural Communications from the University of Utrecht, the Netherlands, Manon has over 9 years of experience working in the agricultural development sector across organisations and continents, focussing on gender-inclusive and participatory communication outreach. She works as a Communications Consultant on the production of (audio)visual content for Includovate, taking into account a gender-inclusive perspective. Prior, she worked at different organisations within the CGIAR; as Director of Communications for WeForest; and as Communications Manager for EcoAgriculture Partners, amongst others.
Furthermore, she works as a consultant on different participatory video and photography, as well as community building projects. While being a Dutch national, Manon has lived for over nine years in Latin America and is currently based in Spain. She can mostly be found where the waves are: surfing and kite surfing, escaping with her van, cycling and photographing. Finally, she is the brain behind Be the Waves of Change, a project (currently in development) to use surfing as a sports therapy for women that have a difficult relationship with self-esteem and self-acceptance.”
Includovate is a feminist research incubator that “walks the talk”. Includovate is an Australian social enterprise consisting of a consulting firm and research incubator that designs solutions for gender equality and social inclusion. Its mission is to incubate transformative and inclusive solutions for measuring, studying, and changing discriminatory norms that lead to poverty, inequality, and injustice. To know more about us at Includovate, follow our social media: @includovate, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram.
