Feminism | Teen Ink

Feminism

April 8, 2018
By Celtic.M BRONZE, Troy, Alabama
Celtic.M BRONZE, Troy, Alabama
3 articles 0 photos 2 comments

Favorite Quote:
"God does not play dice with the universe." -Albert Einstein


About 47% of work is performed by women, as well as half of the food production. So why do men still consider them/us to be the weaker sex? That question and many more have been asked by women for centuries. Which sparked great waves of innovation and equality movements which has evolved over the years of this second wave. Despite how much society has grown as a people, we still face discrimination from all fronts with both genders. Which is honestly incredibly sad. As of late, despite our previous great progress, it is almost like we have been devolving.

One common misconception about feminists is that they hate men. That is completely untrue. The exact definition of feminism is "The advocacy of women's rights on the basis of the equality of the sexes." Nowhere does this state that feminism involves degrading or stripping men of the rights or advantages they already have. Feminism is simply the belief that women should have just as much power as men if they so choose. It should be a choice. No one should be forced by society to conform to the image set for them.


There is are many other mistakes made by antifeminists every single day. Such as the untrue fact that all feminists are females. That could not be farther from the truth. There are many male feminists. These male feminists believe in the equality of the sexes and that everyone has their own free will and the intelligence to make rational decisions. Most male feminists do not think that it is a woman's fault for any cases of assault. Especially when cases insinuate that it is the women's fault for dressing in an appealing way. As if the male simply could not control themselves. As if men are so primal and unintelligent that they have no self-control.
There are also plenty of females who are against feminism. One of the most common cases heard from female antifeminists is that feminism shouldn't be around because they enjoy cooking for their husbands. Because they enjoy being a stay at home mom. Because they have never been assaulted.


They basically say that feminists shouldn't be around simply because they do not need them. Because at this moment, they aren't useful to them. There are some people who give valid reasons, but most people judge feminism based on untrue facts.


Something else antifeminists say is that we don't need feminism because all problems evolving gender inequality have been solved. That couldn't be farther from the truth. While it is true that a lot of the major problems such as voting and education have been fixed, there is so much more work to do. Women have so many things they are unable to do that men are. That would be acceptable if the reason wasn't because people are still a bit biased with the capabilities of women. 


One example is the fact that every minute, twenty-eight girls are forced into marriage before they are ready. This may not be happening around you, but that does not make it any better or any more justifiable. This is happening simply because so very few actions have been made in foreign countries, and most women have been left in the dark. Without any idea that there is a hope for them to live as equals among their fellow human beings.

There is also the fact that one in three women are assaulted both physically and emotionally. Another statistic as said by Global Citizen is the fact that about thirty-five percent of women alive today have been assaulted in some way. That is less than half but it is still too much. What could make this even worse? Most often this violence is induced by an intimate partner or someone they are close to.


Another degrading factor in society is this. As provided by Global Citizen, around the world about 781 million adults are illiterate. Two thirds of those people are females. The main reason? They were pressured out of their education or were never given the resources to continue with it. In a lot of foreign countries, families are poor and have many children. Although there are school systems near them, they can only send so many of their children. Most commonly these families choose to send their male children and keep the females at home.  Thus making it where they are never given 3 / 4 a chance. When the rare situation does occur when a female is sent to school in these areas, they are looked down upon and often pressured to leave. Which has not helped with the feminist movement in other less developed countries.


Another astonishing thing is that when you have a higher status in life, you still have to struggle to get rights equal to that of other genders. Take Aretha franklin as an example. She is a famous singer known as the queen of Soul. As a singer she was the first female to ever be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, which happened in 1987. She performed at president Barrack Obama's inauguration, and has received the most Grammys ever for Best Female R&B Performance. Yet still, even today she faces descrimination by men and women alike. Not only by her sex, but by her race as well. Yet still she powers through. A prominent figure in the present day feminist movement.


A figure from one country that is still struggling with highly defined gender roles, India, is Indira Gandhi. Indira Gandhi was daughter to Jawaharlal Nehru, who was the first Indian Prime Minister after a long bit of British Rule. After she grew up, she was eventually elected Prime Minister of India in 1966. From then on she faced many struggles. Both from inside and outside her country. Other countries put down the very thought of a female ruler. Which put some real pressure on Indian politics. A lot of people debated her leadership and tact. For three consecutive terms she led India with a strong, steady, and caring hand. Dealing with Civil War and even gaining them the city of Bangladesh, a former part of  East Pakastan. On October 31st she was assassinated. To this day she has been the longest serving, and only female prime minister of  India.


Despite all of our hard work as human beings women still do not have a completely equal standing.  Feminism has evolved into many subcategories. Some represent the cause badly, but the pure intentions are still there. That much is obvious. As with the wise words of yet another activist, "Human rights are not a privilege conferred by government. They are every human being's right by virtue of his humanity. The right to live does not depend, and must not be contingent, on the pleasure of anyone else, not even a parent or sovereign...You must weep that your own government, at present, seems blind to this truth." -Mother Teresa.


The author's comments:

The inspiration for this piece is simple. I wanted to define true feminism without the common misconception that all feminists hate men. Or the thought that feminists have to meet certain requirements. Underneath all the rumours and misunderstandings there is a pure agenda that needs to be shared with the world.


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