Many countries have come a long way when it comes to gender equality, but still have work to do when it comes to total equality between the sexes. On the other hand, some countries are just now beginning their movement towards equality, or haven't started it at all. It can be easy to live in a first world country and have the freedom of speech and the ability to make your own choices, and forget that many women across the world do not have these basic human rights like we do.
The world still needs feminism because women are still seen as the weaker sex. The thought of hiring a woman carpenter is mind-boggling to many people. As well as in third world countries, women are not allowed to make their own choices, their husbands are the sole decision makers of the family. Additionally, in countries where the ever growing population is a problem, leaders result to killing female babies, but let males live because females are seen as less smart and weaker than males.
The world still needs feminism because there is still a wage gap between the sexes. Women in numerous positions, often times having more experience then a male, are paid less than their male co-worker simply because she is a woman and viewed as the weaker sex. Not because of her lack of experience or work ethic.
The world still needs feminism because child marriage still exists. Females who are still children themselves, are being forced into a marriage with a man almost triple their age, having multiple kids before the age of 15. They are forced to result to child marriage because they are unable to continue their education, so their families set their daughters up in a way that they know they will be taken care of, even if they are not happy.
The world still needs feminism because women's genitals are still being forcibly removed through a process called Female Genital Mutilation (FGM). The process of Female Genital Mutilation is done to force women to stay pure until marriage, but in the process make the women feel insecure, traumatize them, and in some cases lead to disease or even death.
The world still needs feminism because women are taught how to prevent being raped, rather than teaching men that women are not sexual objects. We still live in a world consumed by rape culture, where women are taught not to drink or be alone at night because they appear vulnerable, or not to wear too revealing of clothing, when in reality, we need to be educating our men, teaching not to rape, rather than how not to get raped.
The world still needs feminism because women are denied the opportunity to gain an education for themselves, and forced into undesirable situations to be able to take care of themselves. Furthermore, we still need feminism because these women are denied jobs because of their lack of education, when in reality, allowing women access to an education would cause a domino effect of benefits. Allowing women the opportunity to an education will inspire other women through their line of work of their choosing, which will in turn inspire and educate more women to seek an education and a better life for themselves.
With this being said, feminism is not in any way a man-hating campaign, it is a movement for all women, across the world to be treated as humans, rather than objects, and to have the basic freedoms they deserve. Feminism is a movement to empower women, not to belittle men.
Those who fight against the feminist movement do so because they believe it is no longer needed in their country because they feel equal to the opposing sex, but what about the other countries? What about the thousands of girls around the world who do not have the rights or priveleged lives that we have? Those girls still need feminism. Opposing feminism means that you are either okay with being over-powered rather than equal to men, or live in a first world privleged bubble where you are unable to see the realities of the world arround us.
Why does the world still need the feminism movement? Because that question is still being asked, and the movement will still be relevant until we no longer have to ask that question. Those who have freedom of speech must use their voice until we no longer have to ask about feminism. Gender equality is something that should be worked toward every day, but with March being Women's Month, now is a perfect time to educate more on the purpose and reasoning behind feminism, because feminism is no longer a gender issues when developing countries are involved, it is a humanity issue. Now do not get me wrong, I still respect men as whole, I am just simply asking for women around the world to have the same rights as I do.
