Richelle Benoit is a feminist who was inspired by the teachings about feminism and gender equality after taking a Women’s Studies course in her first year of studies at Carleton University. “I realized that there was this whole new science to looking at the world that then opened my mind to a lot of new things.”

Although a lot of people might disagree, Benoit said she believes that it is important to act on feminist instincts in all aspects of life. “Feminism means standing up for yourself and for gender equality in all the little daily minutia. Even in the work force you’ll see people say stuff and you’ll think ‘hey that doesn’t feel right’. It’s important to speak your mind in a non-combative way. Always do it every single day, a million times. Not just doing it at school and then going to work and not saying anything. Not everyone went to school for the certain topics that you did. It’s important to not just be silent and to keep people educated when you feel like they have an open ear.”

With the urge to fight for gender equality, Richelle Benoit attended the Art & Feminism Wikipedia-Edit-A-Thon; an international event aiming to improve the coverage of female artists, encourage female editorship and remove negative-based language in Wikipedia articles. “I’m going to start looking into Wikipedia pages that are about sexuality and the older ages. I’m going to expand on them by taking the negative biased language away that is used regarding older people and their sexuality.”

To make a resounding impact to problems regarding inequality, Benoit believes that there needs to be a strong sense of community behind that cause. “One person can’t drive a whole movement. It’s the community events like this Edit-A-Thon that will really bring about change.”

Author: Berkeley