Recently, I was reading a chapter for a political science class on why women don't run for political office as frequently as men. As textbooks usually are, the chapter got kind of repetitive after a while, but the basis of the argument was that women don't run for office because they simply don't feel that they are qualified enough.
Not because they aren't qualified because they have lower self-evaluations of their own competency.
Frequently, women are even more qualified than men because in the male-dominated world we live in, females will often have to work twice as hard to get half the recognition of a male counterpart.
When women have a positive self-efficacy, they are just as likely as men to run for office, but a man does not have to have a positive self-efficacy in order to run for office. When a woman claims she is not at all qualified, she is half as likely to run for office than a man who says he is not at all qualified.
In essence, men are more willing to go out and do something, like run for political office, even when they don't think they have the qualifications.
Because they tend to be more confident in themselves.
So when people are scoffing at the idea of feminism, saying that women already have the right to vote, they can drive, we have equal pay...I don't think they realize all the subconscious faucets that go into feminism.
When I think of feminism, I think of a world where a woman doesn't feel that she has to do double the amount of work expected of her to get approval. Or that she can turn in a document without saying "I don't think I did a good job, I can do it again if you want."
I don't want to have to doubt myself.
I want to know that I am qualified and go for what I deserve without holding back.
My version of feminism is not even that political because the only way things are going to change is if we start from within at a cultural level.
So no, feminism is not about tearing men down or attempting to destroy the current gender norms. It is about empowering women to believe in themselves. Women, you can be anything you want to be. Don't doubt what you are capable of.
