“It’s a sin not to use my privilege!” - Fati Hassane (Niger) - 4/4

This is the last part of our conversation with Fati Hassane, feminist activist from Niger. 

In the previous parts, we discussed her international childhood (Part 1), her teenage years in Niger (Part 2), and her resistance through building financial independence (Part 3). In this fourth and final part, Fati explains how her resistance evolved from building self-fulfillment to inspiring others online and in her work in the development sector. 

Fati was first interviewed by Françoise Moudouthe in late 2019, as part of a global project documenting girls’ resistance. The conversation has been edited into this four-part interview by Françoise and Edwige Dro for our #GirlsResistWA series. You can find out more about the series here.

Looking back, what impact did your teenage resistance have on your life and the lives of others?

In concrete terms, I acquired financial independence, which allowed me to support several projects of family members early on. Yes, I do what I want, but I manage to keep this balance between what I want to do and the relationships I have with my community.

And there’s also my cousins’ daughters. They can see me and think: “she’s one of us, she’s creating her path, and it’s going well for her. So, it’s possible for me too, if I want something different.”

You have lived in several countries as a girl. The question of belonging has often come up in your story. You live in South Africa now. What place do you consider home?

That’s such a hard question to answer! My children are in South Africa so, when I’m here, I have this feeling of being home. But it’s a contradictory situation because I live here in South Africa as an expat. I live in a privileged neighbourhood that’s isolated from the real South Africa. So, in the end, I have little contact with South Africans. I’m aware of that. So, here I feel at peace, but I don’t feel like I belong.

And of course, there’s Niger. My mother and brother live there. My father’s house is there. My extended family lives there, so it’s my home. But today, being in my forties, I go back to Niger but always as an expat. I am aware that I do not comply with everything that is expected of me, but at the same time, I do it deliberately because I want to shake things a bit, especially because I can.

It sounds like the continuation of your teenage resistance. Tell me more. 

When I return to Niger and choose to dress a certain way or appear on television at an official ceremony with a certain hairstyle I like, there is a social cost that I pay and that my mother also pays, unfortunately. However, it is not as high as if I were living in Niger, if my job or business required acceptance from my colleagues. So, I can allow myself to do it. 

So, going back to the question of belonging, in Niger, there are these tensions between feeling at home, but at the same time, refusing to conform to certain things that today seem to be taken for granted for a very, very, very large majority, and for a very small minority who cannot afford to express their difference of opinion.

While listening to you, I got the impression that your teenage resistance was quite focused on your survival and your success. Today, your resistance – from what little I see of it! –  seems to be geared towards helping others succeed. Does that sound right to you?

Indeed, when I was a teenager, my struggle was individual and quite selfish. It was a struggle to attain self-fulfilment as an individual first, before being a woman. If I'm in hostile waters and can't swim very well, am I going to go save someone else? No. But over time, I found a way to get on a raft. I find that this raft can actually hold a lot of people.

Can you tell me more about that?

I have the privilege of having a voice. It’s sinful not to use it! There are things that I express deliberately, intentionally. And then there is also the simple fact of living my life the way I do. I realise more and more, and I'm told, that it inspires girls. It also helps some boys question certain things, and to think about things that seemed to be taken for granted. 

So, for me, it's truly another phase of my life. I can help others, but also enable change.

Embodying new possibilities?

Yes, and by showing that one can be a feminist. That you can decide to put yourself at the center of your life, without being a pariah of society. It's not about pleasing everyone because it's not possible and it's the best way to miss out on life. But you can decide to live without compromising on certain things and if you have something to offer, you will continue to have the respect of those who matter. 

How are you engaged in a more meaningful or concrete way with girls who are on their journey of resistance today?

Professionally, I always keep gender in mind, whether it's in the small things or in the big things we do. For example, I have had to ask partners to review the composition of a panel or a working group when women were not or not well enough represented. On a day-to-day basis, I take great care to ensure that enough women are recruited and that they have the right conditions to work. 

And on an ad hoc basis, when I am asked about gender issues or women's leadership, I respond. Sometimes I lead boot camps for girls and women and I do it happily, even if it is time-consuming.

You can decide to put yourself at the center of your life, without being a pariah of society.

Would you say your current resistance is collective? If so, how did the transition from individual to collective occur? 

Collective resistance is rather done online nowadays. Modestly, I use my platform to express my ideas, my background, my thoughts, so that it can benefit others, and this has two objectives. The first is to say “You are not alone” to those who think like me, but who are not necessarily as well-articulated because they have not spent as much time on these issues. 

The second goal is to make others think a little bit, to make them think, “Is the way I've always thought an absolute truth? Or can it be challenged?” So that's more for men, or more for women who are at the very beginning of their feminist journey actually. 

The collective aspect is also other feminists, European afro-feminists, American black feminists. They also kindly share their thoughts on Twitter and Facebook, and that keeps me going. Sometimes I'm the one who is challenged and that's the good part.

What place does solidarity hold in your current resistance? Is it different from the place it had during your adolescence? 

Unfortunately, at the time, because I displayed ambitions or desires that provoked at best incomprehension or even rejection, I did not have much solidarity except from my sisters. 

Today, the way I try to express this solidarity is to give of my most precious resource, that is to say, my time and my energy. 

When I think that a woman around me has the potential to do things and that she may not be aware of that potential, I also tell her: “I see you. There is this thing that is happening.I know that there are some young people already on it, mostly men. You could do it if you wanted. I'm not saying you have to want it, but if you did, you could do it and I'll support you”.

Finally, my last question: when you look ahead, what does the world look like that your resistance of yesterday and today will have helped create - especially for the girls of today and onward?

What world do I want for girls? Of course, it would be a world where being a woman is not an obstacle to self-fulfilment. It would be a world where the system we live in today, capitalism, is not based on the exploitation of women. Because this system stands nowadays because women are exploited. At least in my opinion. So, it would be a world where women and men can become accomplished thanks to our aptitudes, our qualities, our ambitions, our values...without being hindered by a defined gender. 

I really count on the next generation of women and men to resist, to refuse this system that serves neither women nor men.

We definitely share those hopes. Thank you for sharing your story Fati! 

Explore the other stories in this series here.