They Told Her She Was Too Loud. She Refused to Shrink | For Mannerless Women

What happens when a woman decides she’s done making herself smaller? This week on For Mannerless Women, Adelle sits down with feminist activist and Executive Director of Dada Collective Network, Zaha Indimuli, for a fiery conversation about speaking up, taking up space and refusing to shrink to make other people comfortable. Zaha takes us back to being just 9 years old, when she organized her schoolmates to stop bulldozers from cutting down trees and shrinking their playground an early glimpse of the activist she would become. Together, Adelle and Zaha unpack respectability politics and the ways women are taught to lower their voices, soften their anger and constantly question whether they are “too much.” Zaha shares why she believes self-love, joy and rest can be acts of rebellion and why loving ourselves may be one of the most powerful places from which to create change. They also explore the power of sisterhood, women who become gatekeepers of patriarchy, building activism that doesn't run solely on anger, and what becomes possible when women organize collectively. Zaha shares her extensive work organizing around End Femicide Kenya and her current mission to build Kenya’s largest women’s voting bloc, mobilizing women to register, vote and participate more fully in the country's democracy. In this episode: Why women are constantly told to tone themselves down What respectability politics teaches women about being “too much” Why self-love, joy and rest can be acts of rebellion Finding a place for both anger and love in activism Women who become gatekeepers of patriarchy The healing and political power of sisterhood Organizing around End Femicide Kenya The barriers women face when participating in politics Why women remain underrepresented in political leadership Building collective political power among Kenyan women Why being Mannerless means believing you deserve better and showing up for it CONNECT WITH ZAHA INDIMULI Instagram: @zaha.speaks TikTok: @zaha.speaks LinkedIn: Zaha Indimuli DADA COLLECTIVE NETWORK https://dada-collective.network END FEMICIDE KENYA   / endfemicideke   FOR MANNERLESS WOMEN For Mannerless Women is a space committed to nurturing a new generation of shame-free African women. Subscribe to the Legally Clueless YouTube channel and turn on your notifications so you never miss an episode. Share this episode with a Mannerless or almost-Mannerless woman in your life. #ForMannerlessWomen #LegallyClueless #AfricanWomen #ZahaIndimuli #EndFemicideKE