Women are awesome. Not only in the colloquial use of the term, but in the real definition: awe-inspiring. Our bodies are capable of creating and nurturing and bringing life forth into the world. That is pretty amazing. And men are awesome too. This post is not going to "man-hate." That is not what feminism is. And I won't shame women with certain beliefs; everyone is entitled to their own.
But as a woman and as a feminist, I have an incredibly difficult time understanding women who reject feminism. I suppose I understand that some women believe the common myth that feminism is all about man-hating and bra-burning -- I understand the desire to not be viewed as "radical." But that is not what feminism stands for at all. When we talk about gender equality, we're talking about both women's rights and men's rights. In fact, I took a Women's Studies class this past semester where we solely studied the oppressions and expectations of masculinity. Yes, you read that correctly: Women's studies is not just about female oppression. It deals with intersectionality.
As Emma Watson stated in her eloquent United Nations speech on feminism: "Feminism, by definition, is the belief that men and women should have equal rights and opportunities." During her speech, among mentioning examples of oppression that she, herself, has faced, Watson cites examples of her male friends being "unable to express their feelings" due to the hyper-masculinized expectations set for men in the world today. Men face certain types of oppression, just as women do, and feminists recognize this. When we talk about gender equality, we are not just talking about raising the status of women, but also about empowering men to break free of gender roles as well. Feminism is not about placing women as the new "dominant" gender -- a claim which I recently read in another Odyssey article. We are not trying to invert the power structure. We are trying to make it equal for men, women, and others who do not fit into the gender binary.
Now that I have hopefully cleared up that common misconception about feminism, I would like to bring up an upsetting statistic: according to the White House website, "on average, full-time working women earn just 78 cents for every dollar a man earns." I cannot think of any good reason as to why we should not work to end inequalities such as this.
In conclusion, I would like to make one final plea to anyone who does not support feminism. Please take the time to read more than just the news you get from Facebook (even this). Research scholarly articles, statistics, and hard facts about feminism before you decide you aren't a feminist. You may be surprised at what you learn.
