I was browsing through my discovery page on Instagram yesterday, when I saw a picture of Yemi Alade (Nigerian pop singer and BET nominee for Best International Act-Africa) holding a plaque that read “gender equality”. Being the amebo that I am, and a genuine admirer of her hard work and independence as reflected in the music industry, I went on to her page to find out what the gist was about. Underneath the picture, her caption read:

“If gender means tagging women with ‘FEMALE’ and attaching inferior standards or double standards and DISRESPECT each time it is mentioned… then I certainly do not believe in GENDER….. #King ofQueens is my debut album title and it’s true meaning is not for the faint hearted!!!!!! #genderequality #globalgoals #un”

The first question I asked my self after reading the post was “What is wrong with women being tagged as female when quite frankly that is what we are?” Don’t get me wrong, I am very pro gender equality and anti degradation/ anti inferior standards.

 However, I cannot help but wonder what she implies when she refers to “being tagged as FEMALE” like it is something derogatory. It is , after all, what we are, female-women, not male, not men.

Another thing that stuck out to me was her ending statement which I believed was quite contradictory to her overall stance. Hear her “ #King of Queens is my debut album title and it’s true meaning is not for the fainthearted!!!!!! “. This poses another important question”, If she is for gender equality and against inferiority complex then why name her album King of Queens?”. Why not King of Kings or Queen of Queens?. The phrase “King of Queens” absolutely implies that the King-male is lord over Queens-females, hence, superior. I do not believe this was what she intentionally intended to pass across yet, one cannot deny that this is what that phrase blatantly and unarguably means.

The idea of double standards is something that should be totally frowned upon as she says. However, we must come to realize that double standards should be frowned upon not just in case of women but in case of men as well; gender equality for, not just one sex but for, the both sexes. Even more importantly, we must learn to chose our words carefully and understand the true meaning of that which we preach about before referring them to the public. Words and their varying meanings can be extremely powerful with different contextual meanings.
Gender equality doesn’t equal male supremacy or female superiority; it should be that which it means- male and female equality
#Prounity #Prosamesexpeacefulcoexistence #progenderequality

What do you think about Yemi Alade’s stance and how she contradicts herself? Drop your comments below.