I was in Harare, Zimbabwe for the African Feminist Forum (AFF) which took place April 9^th-13^th. It was the 4^th AFF and it brought together approximately 160 African Feminists from 30 African countries.  On the first day, a representative from the Zimbabwe Feminist Forum (ZFF), our Zimbabwean hosts, told us how, when they were conceptualising their input for the regional AFF, they decided to undertake an exercise in order to explain concepts of Patriarchy and Feminism more clearly. They needed to do this for themselves as well as for other people. At the African Feminist Forum, we define Feminism as the global struggle to end all forms of patriarchal oppression. However, many times, we have to educate people on what we mean by patriarchy and how important it is to address our relationship with the institutions under patriarchal domination and control. According to our ZFF sisters, they decided to give the concept of patriarchy a name. So they gave it the name Patrick. At this point, I would like to apologise in advance to all the men who happen to be called Patrick, but please allow us to use the name for the time being in order to enhance our sensitization work.

When I gave my presentation at the AFF opening plenary, building on the input from our hosts, I decided to be a bit creative with the use of the name Patrick. Since we understand Patrick to be a man who has been able to set up political, economic, religious, social, cultural and technological institutions, which have endured from generation to generation, he seems to be a smart guy. Patrick has an intimidating legacy, which has seemed immune to the changing times. When he feels his power is diminishing in one part of the globe, he simply tightens his grip on another area.

Full Reading in

Bisi Adeleye-Fayemi is a Gender Specialist, Social Entrepreneur and Writer. She is the Founder of Abovewhispers.com, an online community for women. She can be reached at BAF@abovewhispers.com