5 sexist comments every Nigerian woman can relate with

My mother repeatedly said that if I didn’t know how to cook no man would marry me. While it is true that I needed to learn how to cook and I did it for my good, cooking is a life skill, it shouldn’t have to be attributed to my chance of getting married.

When I used to travel using local parks, the bus driver would usually save the most important seat in the bus, the front seat, for a man. The reason they gave was women were too fearful to sit in the front. Sometimes when I enter a keke, some elderly man would say he doesn’t want to be in the middle.

This all stems from people stereotyping women as irrational and always in a flurry of emotions. It is rude to assume that every behaviour or reaction is because she is on her period. Even if that’s the case, do not assume.

Many Nigerian women grew up hearing how they have to diminish themselves or their achievements so that they would find suitable mates. It’s like Chimamanda Ngozi-Adichie said, “We teach girls to shrink themselves, to make themselves smaller. We say to girls, you can have ambition, but not too much. You should aim to be successful, but not too successful. Otherwise, you would threaten the man”

Women come in different shapes and sizes and sometimes it feels like there is no perfect size. No matter how you are, there is a chance you have been criticised for your body. Have you been told that you are too fat? Too skinny? Boobs are too small? Too big? Too saggy? Shapeless? Whatever it is, women’s bodies are passed through intense scrutiny.