The Concept of Feminism as a Carrier of Prejudice Today

Did you know that women earn on average 9% less than men? Did you know that only 7% of directors behind 2016’s top-grossing films were women? Did you also know that worldwide only 22% of parliamentarians are women? I believe that “Feminism is worth fighting for because it’s for everybody” and that sexism can be described as one of the prejudice examples today. 

Galloway admits that the word feminism “carries a heavy taboo” and has negative connotations. Due to the unfavorable representations of feminism movements by the media it “becomes misleading” and derogatory terms such as “man-hating”, “feminazis”, “anti-men” and “bra-burner” have been heavily afflicted. However, feminism isn’t “man-hating” or women wanting to have more power than men but about equal opportunities and respect for all individuals regardless of gender of sex. Feminism: “the advocacy of women’s rights on the ground of the equality of the sexes”. It could be argued that as Galloway suggests, we have lost the true meaning of feminism in society today

She then continues to talk about “feminism as it applies to us”. There are thousands of cases of sexism that “integrate themselves into our culture” every day. I believe that one of the main issues today begins with women not being viewed as having equal capabilities and opportunities as men. Women have been treated as lesser than men since the beginning of time: absence of legal rights, scant amount of liberty from their husbands and not being allowed to vote. These are only a few examples. Although we have progressed to some degree one of the biggest issues in our modern day are wage and income inequalities; according to 42% of working women in the US they’ve experienced gender discrimination at work and 25% of working women say they’ve earned less than a man that was doing the same job. Women are obviously still facing unfair treatment and prejudice today. Even the United Nations has stated “no country in the world has successfully eliminated discrimination against women or achieved full equality”. I therefore question if we will ever be fully equal in modern society

Furthermore, she rightfully states that the public’s reaction to sexist issues has been “turning a blind eye” for decades and that they’re “easier to deny”. Many people strongly believe that women all around the world have already achieved equal rights because larger matters have already been taken care of such as, women being able to vote/work, yet that is clearly not the case and we still have a long way to go. Sexism is still an issue today. Why have cases of sexism become so frequent? In a poll published by Ispos only 37% of the UK participants defined themselves as feminists whereas 46% did not. Feminists nowadays tend to garner very hostile and threatening reactions from people due to them mistakenly thinking that women want to attain more power over men and dominate them. This is inaccurate. “Why can’t women fight for their own right without being labelled as a man-hater”?

Although “sexism isn’t going to die overnight” we can start by changing people’s negative perceptions through “our actions and our words”. Instead of being afraid to define ourselves as a feminist we can all make a positive impact and change to benefit men and women all around the world. She rightfully believes “that the answer starts simply with awareness” and that it’s for a “moral purpose”; with people not ignoring and acknowledging as well a speaking up about their experiences with sexism on social media, such as the #metoo movement, gradual progress is bound to be made. Surely, we can progress as an equal society.

To reiterate, feminism benefits males too. I strongly agree with Galloway that “Feminism is for everybody”; one of many misconceptions is that feminism only benefits women however, there have been many cases where it has benefited men too. In custody feuds women are traditionally more likely to receive parental rights because of the stereotype that women are more adorning and affectionate. Men are also traditionally recognized for being strong, intelligent and tough whereas women are recognized for being weak, fragile; this sets expectations for men preventing them from being sensitive and encouraging them to stifle their emotions to appear more “masculine”. Why can’t men and women share the same qualities? Due to women being able to work and, in some cases, earn enough money to allow men who have children to have paternity leave. Without feminist activism, how would men be able to spend time with their newborn child? If, as a society we continue to be active feminists, men and women will be able to have equal rights.

Overall feminism dispels long-established gender roles, stereotypes and expectations with the idea that we are all equal and should be treated the same. Feminists. Becoming one yourself would “better our communities” and “better ourselves”. I am a feminist. Are you?