Oftentimes, people view sororities as outdated, uptight and close-minded. The last thing to come to most people's minds when describing a sorority would be "feminist". However, to me, that's exactly what we are.
Sororities were founded on the basis of women's rights and equality in a time where men were king. In my own experience, Sigma Kappa was founded at Colby College in 1874 as our founders were not only the sole 5 women at the university, but the only women enrolled in a university in all of New England. These women, like many sorority's founders, bound together to encourage academic, social and spiritual growth in a time where it was not encouraged for women to attend school, much less to do anything outside of the home. They created our organizations as a way to encourage and impact women, and how cool is that?
Ida Mabel Fuller Pierce, Sigma Kappa founder, once said she refused to “accept her sex as irrefutable condemnation to a subordinate position in life.” The very women who founded sororities were passionate, intelligent and ready to change the way the world viewed women.
As a sorority woman, I oftentimes find myself conflicted - can I call myself both that and a feminist? I've found that I definitely can. As a member of a single-sex organization, we are working to build our members into strong women, ready to take on the world. Our organizations, in fact, are built in such a way that we don't need men to be successful, we are fully capable of doing it on our own. We mold women into 21st century leaders, capable of impacting the world and creating the change that is needed.
Though sorority women are often seen as ditzy and far more interested in their social life than their academic one, that viewpoint can only be seen from the outside, because on the inside, it is quite the opposite.
For over a century now, sorority women have been impacting the world, whether or not it has been realized. Margaret Chase Smith was the first female U.S. Senator, as well as the first woman to sit in both houses of the United States Congress. Among many things, she is also a Sigma Kappa. Condoleezza Rice, the first female African-American Secretary of State, is also an Alpha Chi Omega, and Sarah Tilghhman Hughes, a Delta Gamma, is the only woman - to this day - to ever have sworn in a U.S. President. These women, all sorority women, have made great strides in female equality.
Sorority women are passionate and intelligent leaders, looking to change the world. We encourage female empowerment and equality, and if that isn't feminism at it's core, then I'm not sure what else is.
