photo by Dezaray Villarreal
CAPTION: Women all over the United States recently demonstrated in support of women’s rights. Students on campus have been inspired by the movement, and consider what their participation might look like.
With the recent women’s march that took place across the nation, and even world-wide, conversations about feminism have resurfaced on campus and in our social media feeds. Sadly, feminism has had a negative stigma, and created bias on how many people see the issues of women and society, before they understand the ideas it represents.
As with most issues, there are multiple views on feminism. Most people either outright support feminism, clearly go against the concept, don’t care because they don’t believe it affects them, or they don’t really understand what feminism is and side with the last convincing meme they’ve seen on the topic.
For those who don’t really understand feminism, they often misinterpret the positions of feminism as women-hating-men, or trying to be better than men, or any number of other misguided understandings. These misinterpretations are actually exceedingly inaccurate of what feminism is and what it stands for. As for the actual definition of feminism, Merriam-Webster defines it as, “the theory of the political, economic, and social equality of the sexes.”
The other theme that seems to be emerging in this movement against feminism, is the belief that men and women are already equal, and that because the women’s march seemed to focus on the issue of equality, it was unnecessary. Here are the facts:
- The Huffington Post reported, “According to the U.S. Department of Labor, women make approximately 78 cents for every dollar a man makes. The wage gap is even larger for women of color: African- American women earn 64 cents for every dollar a white man makes, and Latina women earn a mere 56 cents.”
- According to the Washington Post, “Although women make up nearly 51% of the U.S. population, only 20% of the U.S. Congress is comprised of women, which—fortunately or unfortunately—makes the current Congress one of the most diverse in American history.”
- And on the topic of a woman’s right to choose to terminate an unwanted or dangerous pregnancy, The Verge explains that, “In many places, rules are being imposed to make abortion more difficult to obtain, if not outright impossible.”
These examples are just a few issues that women across the nation have to face. How is it that people say women and men are equal when for one, women aren’t getting paid the same amount of money as men for the same work according to U.S. Department of Labor, secondly, women are underrepresented in government and thirdly, the government is trying to tell women what they can and can’t do with their own bodies?
Another argument made against the march was that women in America have it better than women in other parts of the world. Somehow, that means that the cause of feminism is ridiculous. It’s important to recognize that feminism isn’t just an American issue, it’s a world issue. Feminism is needed across the globe because there are millions of women and girls around the world that don’t have the same rights, education, and opportunities as men. Feminism is needed for the fight against gender inequality that occurs worldwide, and at home. Those marching believe in the rights of women here and “over there.”
It’s these issues and more that are reasons why many including myself call themselves feminist, or support what feminism stands for. Feminism is simple: all humans, male and female should be equal and have the same rights.
Before you post that meme or dismiss the messages of the women’s march, consider researching the goals of feminism more closely. For more information on feminism and standing up for equal rights people can visit http://www.feminist.org/.