<h2 class="wp-block-heading eplus-wrapper">Q &amp; A</h2>

These words were spoken by the author Chimamanda Ngozi AdichieA Nigerian author known for her novels Americanah and Half of a Yellow Sun. in a TEDx Talk in 2012. A year later, they were sampled in the Beyonce song Flawless, and Adichie's simple definition echoed around the world.

Now feminism is bigger than ever. Millions of women marched to protest the inauguration of President Donald Trump in January 2017. That same year, then #MeToo movement began exposing men who had been accused of sexual assault and demanding justice for women. Celebrities from Emma Watson to Jameela Jamil are outspoken about women's rights.

Women generally seem to support these ideas. Last year, when YouGovA British public opinion and polling company. It was co-founded by Nadhim Zahawi, a Conservative Party politician. asked British women if they believed in gender equality, 81% said yes. And yet something strange happened when a different group of women was asked if they are feminists: the numbers were far lower. Only 27% said yes.

In 2016, a similar survey by Survation found that only one in five young women aged 18 to 24 called themselves feminists. Half said they believed in equality but would not use that word to describe themselves. Similar results have been found by polls in America.

But don't they mean the same thing? So what is going on?

Then academic Dr Christina Scharff posed several theories when she tackled the question for BBC News this month. She pointed out that non-Whiten and working-class women were less likely to identify with feminism, suggesting that the movement may not be inclusive enough.

Meanwhile, when she interviewed young British and German women, she found that many still associated feminists with negative stereotypes - including "man-hating, lesbianism or lack of femininity".

She said many women "did not want to call themselves feminist because they feared they would be associated with these traits".

These stereotypes have a long history. Over a century ago, suffragettesWomen's suffrage is the right for women to vote in local and national elections. The suffragettes fought for this right.  - the original feminists - were often ridiculed by their opponents for being hysterical, "mannish" and cruel towards their husbands (that is, if they could convince anyone to marry them at all).

So does feminism need rebranding? If the word itself is putting people off, perhaps it is time for a new one, with none of the baggage from history - such as "equalism". If most people believe in equal rights, does it really matter what this belief is called?

Or is the solution to change the way that feminists are perceived - whether that is as man-hating killjoys or clueless rich White women? And if that is the case, is the problem one of image and stereotypes alone? Or do feminists need to change the movement itself to make it more inclusive to outsiders?

What do we know? The word "feminisme" was first used in France in the late 19th century and soon spread to Great Britain. This happened at the same time as the campaign for women's suffrage began to grow in Europe and America. A "second wave" of feminism occurred in the 1960s and 70s, focusing on issues like contraception, equal rights and equal pay. Many believe that the current "third wave" began in the 1990s.

What do we not know? Why so many people who believe in gender equality reject the word "feminism". We also do not know whether this will change as campaigns for women's rights gain more and more prominence. While you could assume that the word will become more popular as a result of those movements, it may also experience a backlash from those who think they have gone too far.

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie - A Nigerian author known for her novels Americanah and Half of a Yellow Sun.

YouGov - A British public opinion and polling company. It was co-founded by Nadhim Zahawi, a Conservative Party politician.

Suffragettes - Women's suffrage is the right for women to vote in local and national elections. The suffragettes fought for this right.