“It’s just funny because you’ve always been such a feminist,” one of my high school friends joked when I told her I had joined a sorority.
Yes, I have always been “such a feminist” and I still am. But what I seem to have trouble explaining to people is that my sorority membership is not in spite of my feminism, but in support of it.
All our lives we grow up in a world that is by men, for men. Men make up 80 percent of U.S. Congress and 86 percent of leading film roles, and under 5 percent of Fortune 500 CEOs are women. Even issues that are mainly about women, such as sexual violence, women’s health and whether or not there should be a tax on tampons, are written by and voted on by men.
For many women, sorority life is the first time we’ve been exposed to an organization run by women, for women. Women voting women into leadership positions. Women making decisions about how to best run their own organization. Women raising hundreds of thousands of dollars a year for causes that matter to them. Women supporting women with mental illness and eating disorders. Women helping women in the fight against sexual assault on campuses. Women leading women. If that’s not feminist, then what is?
My own sorority of Kappa Alpha Theta was founded in 1870 at DePauw University only a few years after the school had opened its doors to women. Women were a major minority in the school and their very presence was disapproved of by much of the school’s staff, faculty, and male students. There was no support for women in this often hostile environment and attempts to join fraternities were rebuffed as it was believed women weren’t suitable for leadership, or even membership in these groups. So Bettie Locke founded Kappa Alpha Theta, the first women’s fraternity: created, led and populated by women.
And today, this spirit of feminism and the fight for equality is as strong as ever. As the New York Times recently investigated, sororities are increasingly becoming spaces for women to discuss women’s issues on the larger scale and support each other on the more intimate levels.
Like any system, Greek life isn’t perfect. At some schools sorority chapters hold on to antiquated criteria such as looks when recruiting new members and the often expensive fees accompanying membership have often been pointed to as evidence of elitism. These issues are very real and need to be addressed. Most sororities now spend time and resources on raising money for scholarships to support members who are unable to pay their dues and the few that haven’t already, are working to evolve their recruitment processes to focus on the key goals of their sorority instead of superficial aspects.
The situation is similar to if a part of your car is no longer working or useful. You need to step back, look at the car and ask yourself: does the cost of replacing the one bad part outweigh the benefits of all the places the car can take you? If the answer is yes, then by all means, get rid of the car.
But if it can still take you to great places, create new opportunities, help you meet wonderful people and let you explore the world in a way you wouldn’t be able to otherwise, then don’t get rid of the car. Fix the car and make it run even better than before, and then keep on moving forward.
For so much of history women have been oppressed and denied power in the decisions of their societies, so women’s issues and stories have been marginalized and seen as trivial. For groups of women now to come together and form organizations in which their leadership, membership and issues are at the forefront, is the definition of a feminist act.
