Nada Al-Ahdal | Feminism saved me from early marriage, from naive lovers, from having a child with a man I do not love

Feminism saved me
from early marriage
from naive lovers
from having a child
with a man I do not love
from the locked house
in the small village
for a man who comes home in the evening
looking for food
from five children
I would have borne
before I turned twenty-eight
and turned, automatically,
into a sad woman
who loves her children
because it is shameful for a woman not to love
her children
and raises girls
who are sad
like her
pouring food
and coffee
into dishes
and into men's bellies
and more than that…

Nada Al-Ahdal | Human rights activist campaigning against child marriage