"We cannot all succeed when half of us are held back." ~Malala Yousafzai
"Feminism." It's a buzzword all over the media nowadays. But for something so prevalent in modern society, it's incredibly misunderstood. The word has taken on several different connotations that don't at all represent what feminism truly stands for.
Feminism is not "man-hating." There's nothing, in fact within the goals of true feminism that say that women are better than men. Rather, the two genders are equal . The reason the word is "feminism" is because we live in a patriarchy, so equality means allowing women to have access to the same privileges as men do.
Feminism doesn't say that women work harder than men. Rather, it says that people who do the same work should get the same pay, regardless of gender. We recently celebrated Equal Pay Day on April 12, which symbolizes how long into 2016 women have had to work to "catch up" to the annual pay of their male counterparts in 2015. These numbers are calculated based on males and females who are doing the same work, yet are being paid less because of gender. Where's the fairness in that?
Feminism is not just for women. Do you believe in equal rights for people, regardless of gender? Yes? Then you have feminist beliefs. It doesn't matter if you're male, female, or another identity on the gender spectrum. Anyone can be a feminist.
Feminism doesn't say that women should take over. It recognizes, however, that women are oppressed in society. That doesn't mean that feminists want to reverse that system of oppression. We want to dissolve it so that gender doesn't constitute oppression.
Feminism does not say that we are all the same. If you take a look around you, it's pretty clear that we're not. But, these differences should be empowering, rather than detrimental. Regardless of someone's gender, race, age, ethnicity, etc., we're all human beings.
I hope that these clarifications have helped to reframe the idea of what feminism is and why it's so important. Let's break the gender barrier in society and work together for meaningful change, because we do need feminism.
