Feminism! Hooray!

A quick prologue point - I take it as read that we both support the notion of equality. As you noted in the comments 'I understand that the idea of feminism is somewhat relevant to creating a better world' and 'being a good person and fighting purely for the equal treatment of the sexes is one thing'. ~ To begin I would like to posit two major themes to demonstrate why feminism remains necessary and why the positives of the broad feminist movement outweigh any perceived negatives. I will then go into greater depth citing examples to flesh out both of these arguments: 1. While gains have been made by, and on the behalf, of women this process is and remains incomplete. 2. Those gains that have been made require a feminist movement to prevent "reaction" ('resistance or opposition to a force, influence, or movement; especially : tendency toward a former and usually outmoded political or social order or policy'[1]) by those who would seek to undo socio-political and cultural developments which have led to the creation of a more equitable society. ------- 1. The gains made by feminism, as a movement, are historically well established. The suffrage movement of the 19th century after over half a century of campaigning succeeded in ensuring that women had the right to vote in every state in 1920. By the 1960s feminism had taken on wider social objectives beyond merely concern with the franchise. Some of the successes of the Second Wave of feminism include important support for the Civil Rights Movement, but most presciently, equal pay. These can be seen in land mark legislation including the Equal Pay Act of 1963 and the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Of course, these battles have yet to be fully won. In 2009, in the USA, women's pay remained only 77% of male pay. This is a vast improvement on the position in 1980 where it was only around 60%, by 1990 it stood at 71.6% and in 2000 73.7%. This highlights two important points worth observing.[2] First, that feminism was and remains a movement which is actively making society more equitable. Second, despite those gains, a 23% point difference in pay indicates that this process has yet to be fully achieved. This suggests that continued social pressure is necessary to ensure that society will be still more equitable in future. Of course, this is not merely limited to pay. Various employment sectors remain gendered 'spheres'[3]. Academia, for instance, despite being recognised as a generally 'liberal' and 'progressive' profession, remains deeply gendered in its hierarchy. To take academic medicine as an example, despite 47% of graduates and 46% of residents being female only 21% of full professors are women. Still more concerning, only 15% of department chairs are women.[4] Third Wave feminism, with its origins in the 1990s, now orientates feminism to also strive to resolve crucial cultural concerns which are also absolutely relevant in 2015. These include highlighting otherwise 'hidden' social problems such as (but by no means limited to): - Gender violence and domestic abuse, both of which disproportionately negatively affect women's lives. It is estimated that one in four women will experience domestic violence in their lives and that each year 2.3 million women will suffer at the hand of their partner. However, since feminist groups began to highlight this problem in the 1990s, and offered support to women who have suffered abuse, women have felt more able to come forward and report acts of domestic violence. This has had a two-fold effect, first, as a society we have become more aware of the problem and are thus able to tackle it. Second, because these women have been able to call on established support groups the associated costs and pressures on local, regional and national services has been offset. This has been estimated to have saved $14.8bn between the passing of the Violence Against Women Act of 1994 and the year 2000. Thus, not only is a vocal feminist movement highlighting this problem, it is bringing respite to beleaguered victims of violence and also much needed relief to social support services which has significant economic benefit.[5] - Challenges culturally malevolent and socially constructed patriarchal modes of thought which had previous been normative. Not only do these modes of thoughts harm and restrict women but they also harm and restrict men. The notion that it is the male role to be a breadwinner and a woman's to bear, rear and nurture children has no relevance in modern society. Multiple historical and contemporary examples exist to demonstrate this. For instance, in Britain during the Second World War, millions of women directly contributed their labour to the war effort, including over 600,000 employed in the armed forces. The notion that heavy, industrial and intellectual work was the preserve of men, and that women are best suited to domestic and sexualised roles, was conclusively and empirically disproved. Nevertheless, these kinds of socially constructed gender stereotypes continue to inform contemporary thinking and inform how we view the world from a very early age.[6] This, I contend harms both men and women. It holds many women back from making as full a contribution to modern society as they otherwise might, and it also places pressure on men to behave in ways that do not necessarily suit them. Why, for example, should it be deemed 'abnormal', beyond the statistical point, for a man to stay at home and raise children (or perhaps only have a part-time job) while the mother of his children is the primary household breadwinner? [For anybody reading, I realise that this is an unduly cis-gendered and hetronormative familiar relationship I describe] Contemporary feminism has brought, and continues to bring, these kinds of issue to wider social attention. 2. [And I'll keep this short and snappy] The gains made by feminism are by no means guaranteed, and without an active feminist 'voice' within society, they can be easily eroded. And there are concrete examples of this, ranging from the recent gamergate storm-in-a-teacup to reproductive rights. For instance, and not to get into a debate about abortion but this is important, Roe vs Wade has been under sustained attack. In 2006 South Dakota attempted to ban abortion in all cases except where the "mother's" life was in danger. I don't want to go into a lengthy screed on the reasons why I support the right for women to control their own bodies. If you're interested then I broadly agree with Judith Jarvis Thompson's 'Violinist analogy'. [7] Conclusion In very brief, I have cited some examples where feminism has clearly helped take progressive steps to make society more equitable. I have also shown that the work on this front is yet to be completed, and that a viable feminist movement needs to further work towards this goal and keep it centre stage in public discourse. Moreover, those gains that have been made are not, at least without defence from feminists, far from 'safe'. Thanks a lot. I look forward to your counter-thesis. [1] http://www.merriam-webster.com... [2] http://www.iwpr.org... [3] http://en.wikipedia.org... [4] https://www.aamc.org... [5] http://nnedv.org... [6] http://ashatenbroeke.nl... [7] http://spot.colorado.edu...