Because I am a woman

Asserting my sexuality and femininity

Makes me indecent, a tramp or promiscuous

My body is theirs

And when I get raped because I wore a mini-skirt

It’s my fault.

Because I am a woman

Giving birth to a girl child

Is my biggest fear

Because I know how cruel the world is

To a human being born with

a vagina between the legs.

Because I am a woman

I am expected to aspire to marriage

family and child-rearing.

My dreams and goals can wait

As my ‘womanly’ roles need to come first.

Because I am a woman

I will probably be killed by my partner

Abused or raped in my lifetime

And justice might be something

I will never get.

Like the countless women who

have suffered the same fate

Here on earth or in the heavens up above.

Because I am a woman

I have to stand up and fight against this injustice,

To make the world a safe place to live in

for all girls and women.

And because I am a woman and you are a woman

Let’s unite and fight to stop inequality, discrimination and

violence against women.

Together.