Feminism! Hooray!

Thanks for the debate Mister Man, it has been a pleasure. To finish up, I'm just going to write a short closing remark rather than readdress the issues we've been going back and forth over. ---- As I hope I have shown, feminism since its first 'wave' in the late 19th Century through to today is a vibrant and relevant movement. It is not, as my opponent believes, now unnecessary and nor does it constitute a demand to gain more rights than that which currently exists for men. It is a movement that strives for equality and to retain existing gains hard won over the last century. While society has granted women equal rights under the law, it is clear that this does not always manifest itself in social, cultural and industrial spaces. The pay gap remains despite legislation, and claims that the existence of the pay gap can be explained by individual women's choices rings hollow. Women are regularly paid less than their male colleagues for the precise same work and hours. Moreover, the social structures in which we live are gendered. The routes open to women, deemed to be feminine and appropriate for women, are also socially constructed. Feminism, as a movement, is at the front-line in highlighting culturally damaging gendered stereotypes that affect both men and women. The feminist movement also highlight other issues such as the objectification of women and the negative influence of that on the lives of women not only in the United States of America, but world wide. The feminist movement is also on the front lines in combatting forms of violence that predominantly effect women and, as a side effect, cause considerable financial damage to the state as it attempts to pick up the pieces. My opponent quite correctly notes that much headway has been made in these arenas. However, this is not, as he believes, a sign that we, as a society, should drop feminism or that we should move ahead into a post-feminist world: First, the work is yet to be completed as I believe I have demonstrated with ample evidence over the course of this debate. Second, just because progress has been made does not mean that it is time to take our collective feet from the metaphorical gas peddle. If we drop feminism this opens up a window of opportunity for the forces of reaction. Already, as again I have demonstrated, various groups and individuals have striven and continue to strive to set us back as a society when it comes to gender issues - be it in the name of religion or cultural conservatism. A healthy feminist movement identifies and combats these malignant social forces. Third, my opponent argues that feminism is problematic because it ignores issues which affect men. I disagree. While women's issues are indeed at the heart of the feminist cause, it is not the case that feminists do not champion wider causes for general equality. feminists were centre stage in the Civil Rights movement; they were centre stage in the peace campaigns of the 20th Century (I've just been reading a fascinating book called 'Pioneers for Peace' about the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom); and have campaigned more generally on issues of sexual, racial, and social equality, and they continue to do so today. Ultimately, I believe in the continued need for feminism because what Shirley Chisholm, the first African American woman to be elected as a member of the US House of Representatives, believed back in the 1970s was true then and remains true today: "The emotional, sexual, and psychological stereotyping of females begins when the doctor says, 'It's a girl.'" - Shirley Chisholm [1] [1] Walter B. Hoard, Anthology: Quotations and Sayings of People of Color (1973), p. 36. Feminism is just one branch of a wider desire for progressive social change, necessary to bring about an equable society.