...Which won't happen in my lifetime, I'm sure, but still: I do not want to be a feminist, per se. I simply think it is my duty to be one, and the movement is still desperately needed worldwide.

I've encountered people (mainly men, but some women too) who have asked me the question: why do I bother? Why do I care so much about these things? And the answer is: why don't YOU?

My biggest dream is a world where feminism will no longer serve a purpose. A place where we've reached true equality. It's not like I have some great, burning desire to climb the barricades and declare war on inequality: I honestly feel it is my duty to do so. I won't make a huge difference, I am just one woman. But I am determined to fight the fights that I face personally, and the battles of other women where I feel like I have something constructive and positive to offer.

Feminism in my opinion is not simply some "political choice" or a fad or something that makes me look cool or woke. It's an endless, essential fight against numerous things. Often it makes me hopeless and tired. For every small victory, every tiny hill we've climbed... There's another mountain in sight.

I do not have children, nor do I wish to have any of my own, but I hope - truly hope - that my nieces for example (or their kids or grandkids...) will read about feminism in a history book. Not because it was some useless, stupid ideology, but because we finally won and managed to create the world we wished we had all grown up in. Anyway. Let's keep fighting tooth and nail. Every small effort matters. Courage, fellow women and allies. It may be a desperate fight but it has not been lost.

(And before you ask - it's been boiling hot where I live for weeks now and I may be losing my last marbles. But if necessary, I'll have a marble fight then. Mwah!)