Clearing up feminism
Brett Nielsen
We should all promote feministic ideals
The notion of “feminism” carries around a certain sense of stigma. In the last volume of the Carillon, an op-ed was run commenting on how people divert around the term “feminism” like it’s taboo, due flashes of extremists that linger at the “dark corners of man-hating corners of Tumblr” (brilliant article, go check it out).
As a guy, I was somewhat reluctant to write this article – and this sheer reluctance is only a representation of how misconstrued this term is, which defines advocates for equal opportunities socially, politically and economically between men and women have gotten. Feminism does not promote a tilted scale, but rather, fixing the scales that are already so heavily tilted. Nor it is not a term to spearhead discussions on measuring superiority, strength or ability, but rather, a term that promotes equality.
Evidence for gender inequality is not hard to find. Lack of power, resources and influence for women relative to men are engraved within North America’s public and private sectors. Statistics show that females only earn 74 cents to a male’s dollar in salaries, which stems from less unionization of female workers and discrimination in hiring and promotions. The current Canadian Parliament hosts 76 female MP’s, which is only a quarter of the seats and in the United States, only 76 women are members of congress out of 351. Finally, since infancy of the United States and Canada, those countries have only hosted one head of state between them.
Interestingly, however, political and social disparities between women and men is showing progress. The notion that boys are smarter than girls is ancient rhetoric, as 57 per cent of college students are women, women earn ⅓ more bachelor’s degrees than men and boys make up 60 per cent of all underachievers in standardized tests within the OECD. As well, although the parliamentary figures mentioned still show male superiority, the figures have been steadily increasing and progressing to include more women. Finally, female CEOs within the Fortune 500 reached a historic high (albeit at 4.8 per cent) in 2014, a list of women, which features employees of prominent companies such as General Motors, HP, Pepsi and Lockheed Martin.
Gender equality is at an interesting and crucial time period. Within a species that has held gender inequality, social change spurred by blood, sweat and tears of advocates coupled with advancements in technology that empower all people, miniscule but tangible progress has been visible as decades pass. I believe this is where the term “feminism” plays such a vital role. In order to exacerbate and further advance these progresses, more people including men, need to interpret feminism differently to conclude that we should all promote feministic ideals. Other than a few that inherently believe that women are inferior and are entitled to less opportunities, feminism pertains all of us that believe that people, regardless of gender, deserve equal chances free from discrimination.
Feminism has become so misconstrued that people don’t even realize what it is anymore. With this, progress for gender equality only becomes stuck in the mud and slows down the evident but timid progress and shift occurring within the gender spectrum. If we fix this notion, we may become more streamlined in our beliefs in gender equality, which will inevitably improve the rooted disparities. From there, I believe that humanity’s opportunities are infinite, as a larger amount of people will become empowered to express their gifts and talent to the world.
While I agree that there is progress to be made in some parts of the world through feminism I think it is important to do proper fact checking if you want people to become a part of your movement. Here is a TIME article that refutes five feminism myths.
http://time.com/3222543/5-feminist-myths-that-will-not-die/
I only want to draw your attention to number 5 because you quoted the wage gap as your argument for why the western world still needs feminism when it is plain and simply, not true.