Intro to Women's Studies: is Feminism for Me

Feminism is the equality of full humanity for women and men. This definition of feminism is backed up by Gloria Steinem, a writer, speaker, activist and feminist organizer. At the age of 8 her parents divorced. Those next several years Steinem lived in poverty with her mother. Her mother suffered from severe depression so bad that Gloria Steinem as a young child took care of her. At the age of 15 she lived with her sister and later on she entered Smith College ("Gloria Steinem. " Encyclopedia of World Biography). Steinem experienced India and became aware of human suffering.

Next in her career she became a journalist for magazine companies and a television show. She moves from journalism to politics which made her become more concerned with feminist issues. Her commitment to political movements paved her way to becoming a feminist leader. In 1960 Steinem grabbed the attention of others as a leader of the women’s liberations movement. By 1972 she achieved national attention as a feminist leader and is a delegate to women rights. Gloria Steinem is a feminist, journalist, activist, who makes me wonder if i am a feminist too. While growing up as a child I was surrounded by mostly males. Most of my cousins are males and only 2 of them are female. I also have an older brother who is about a year older than myself. Because I was around a male dominated family I always wanted to do what they did or join in on their activities as a kid. I never understood why my older brother wouldn't let me play with him or I wasnt aloud to play “rough”, I just wanted to play.

Now I see that females are not supposed to play rough, we as females are seen as delicate. Looking back to this memory of the want and need to be like my sibling and cousins in a way sparked a realization, at a young age I was fighting to be equal. I wanted to be equal to them, and be able to do whatever they did. In similarity to my previous point about myself at a young age wanting equality amongst me and my male family members, I recall many times in my life where I took and still take things as an insult to women. My family is a traditional one that acationaly acts less traditional. My father and mother both have good income but my father earns more. To some extent I feel he believes that because he gains more income he has more power. He is the one to do all the hard labor, mom does all the feeding and cleaning. My parents work as a team but then again my mom becomes trapped into thinking my father has the last say in decision making no matter how big or small. The word no rarely comes out of her mouth when it comes to him. I see the struggle to put her foot down. Having a male feel like they have power over me because i’m a woman is not the way I want to live.

For this reason I am a feminist. Feminism just speaks out for equality of women and men. That is all I would want to see in the near future for others. Because of a primitive society that is stuck in old traditional ways of life we have many issues. What is the reason for this wage gap in women and men? Why are a small amount of women in high level positions? Because women are taken as a joke.