On January 20^th, 2018, thousands of women across the nation gathered in our cities for the the second annual Women’s march. Since the election of President Trump in November of 2016, women across the country have raised their voices to protect the rights that should be naturally granted to them. Reproductive rights, worker’s rights, and the freedom to feel safe are all facets of the Women’s March’s mission. In the year since the first Women’s March, women have demonstrated strength and resolve by speaking out for themselves and for one another.

It saddens me when I see women who claim they would “rather be caught dead” than call themselves a feminist. Recently, I have come across a lot of articles circulating through Odyssey and on Facebook that were written by women, who are appalled by the idea of feminism.They express a fear of the “modern-day feminist”.

Some of these women seem to be under the impression that modern day feminists just wish to silence men. They believe that these women don’t stand for equality, but rather, spend their time stomping down on the opposite sex. One female writer wrote, “Sure, I think boys are stupid and that I’m probably better than 90% of the male population, but that doesn’t make me a modern day feminist”

She’s right. Women don’t claim feminism because “boys are stupid”. Modern day feminists march because our president said he grabbed a woman by the pussy, and somehow society considers this okay. When you see women calling out men it is not because they are stupid or we think we’re better than them, it’s because society has allowed certain men to think that they don’t have to be aware of a woman’s boundaries, and the modern-day woman refuses to stand for this.

Others, still, have claimed that they would rather be a housewife than a feminist as if a person can’t be both of these things. Being a feminist doesn’t mean you wreak havoc in your home life. If anything, it only means that you and your spouse will treat each other with mutual respect, and your daughters will look up to you as a woman who stands up for what she believes in. A feminist is a person who believes that everybody has the right to chose their own path, and the freedom to do so without social constraints based on your sex.

Other women claimed that they could not support modern-day feminism because they just didn’t find it necessary.“First of all, this is the 21st century. Women have never been more respected.” While feminism has come a long way, we still live in a country where the president condones sexual harassment. Beyond that, while white middle-class women may enjoy more respect than they did decades ago, the modern-day feminist fights for women who have still not been heard.The goal of the Women’s March is to create a society “in which women - including Black women, Native women, poor women, immigrant women, disabled women, Muslim women, lesbian queer and trans women - are free and able to care for and nurture their families (…) free from structural impediments.”

Some women may have experienced a free and nurturing environment their entire lives, but that does not mean that America has been this place for everybody. To these women, I say this;

Instead of bashing on activism that you may not find relevant or important because of your own personal experiences, why not congratulate your fellow women for exercising their freedom of speech and acting on something that they feel passionate about?

I know that some people don’t think waving signs and wearing pink hats are going to do anything, but this march has brought thousands of women together across the nation. This has opened up communication for women across the country to speak up about their personal experiences, and how they think we can make our country a fair and loving place. Most importantly, our children have seen their mothers stand up for something that they believe in. Even if these marches don’t change policies, they are raising a social consciousness, that an overwhelming amount of women in this country have not experienced the freedoms that our flag promises.

Women claim feminism because they want the world to be safe for their daughters.They want to live in a world where they don’t get harassed in the workplace or in school.They want to live in a world where their daughters feel confident in themselves and know that they can make effective social change.To the women who don’t believe in feminism, I implore you to look at it from another angle. I found that a lot of you believe in equal rights among women and men, and feel compassion for your fellow women.If you believe that feminism stands for hatred or anger, then do your part to change that.Reach out to other women- feminists or not- with compassion. Listen to their story and encourage them to seek a better, brighter world.