Does the 21st Century need Feminism?

If women have been granted equality, do we still need feminism?

For centuries, women have been struggling and fighting to live and work in a society where equality exists. Feminism has been an ongoing and ever changing movement throughout the western world, and with strong determination women were granted the right to vote, and later on with the composition of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the right to work and earn their own living. Today, feminism fights for goals of a much more personal nature, the right to feel safe as a woman in any environment,the freedom to report sexual abuse and receive support,and to diminish rape culture in the western world.

First wave feminism was almost solely based on suffrage, women rallying for the right to vote. Beginning in the early 19th Century, women became concerned with their legal rights(right to a will etc.) and their involvement in politics. This first wave of feminism was formally put into motion at the Seneca Falls Convention of 1948. 300 men and women rallied and showed support for the cause of equality for women (Rampton 2008.) These rallies continued for decades and eventually jump started the examination between the differences between women and men. Many claimed that women were morally superior to men, so their presence in politics would improve public behaviour and the validity of the political process (Rampton 2008.) Women who were of British descent with family members serving overseas in WWI, were granted the right to vote in 1917 with the introduction of the Wartime Elections Act, and furthermore in 1918 Prime Minister Robert Borden introduced a bill establishing equal suffrage for all women. 

The 1960s and 70s brought the beginning of what would be known as the second wave of the women's movement. The 1960s housed a very bleak and cookie cutter lifestyle for North American women. It was a societal expectation that women were married in their early twenties, started a family and devoted the remainder of their lives to home-making. Although women had been granted the right to vote, they were still imprisoned by their overall lack of personal rights. Women were legally subject to their husbands via "Head-Master Laws"(Civic Education 2014), they had no legal right to any of their husbands earnings, and their husbands were in complete control of their possessions and the money they were granted to spend on supporting their family.

Working women of this era were limited to stereotypical jobs: secretary, nurse, teacher, etc... Professional programs were highly unwelcoming to women in pursuit of the career of their choice, and one medical school dean was quoted saying, "Hell yes we have a quota.. We do keep women out, when we can. We don't want them here-"(Gail 2009.) It was commonplace for working women to be paid substantially lower wages than their male counterparts and they were furthermore denied the opportunity to advance within their workplace. College-educated women of this time period felt unfulfilled by their lifestyle and trapped by societal ideals. 

Second wave feminism was focused on diminishing workplace inequality, the denial of better jobs and unequal wages, through the enforcement of anti-discrimination laws. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission was introduced in the 1960s, but when it more so focused on racial discrimination within the workplace(Conger 2009), feminists rooting for gender equality were left in the dust. With the failure of the EEOC (from a feminist point of view) many feminist based organizations, including NOW (National Organization for Women), began rallying for many individualized causes. 

Although second wave feminism was deemed a failure by many historians, and it was followed by the third wave, it held a few victories under it's belt. 1972 marked the establishment of the first rape crisis line in the United States, and through seemingly endless petition the Supreme Court legalized abortion in the United States. 

The third wave of feminism asserted itself in the mid-1990s, providing a way in which to educate society on the many experiences young women face in everyday life. Being the grown children of the second wave movement, these activists were concerned in changing the way older generations, men and the media viewed their age group. Third wave feminism whole heartedly supported the concept of "Universal Womanhood,"(Jacob 2006), that women were welcome to dress, act, work,and make themselves up in any way they pleased and the way industry portrayed and sexualized women was no longer accepted.The third wave movement promoted women defining beauty for themselves, not for the ideals of the sexist patriarchy that dominates most industries. Promoting choice among all aspects of life, would hopefully destroy the idea of the perfect women, or what it really meant to be feminine.   

Furthermore this wave opened up feminism to women of all identities, it was not discriminant towards race, class, sexuality, or gender identity (Walker 1992). It was widely argued that the first two waves of feminism were only inclusive to white, upper-middle class women. I can believe this to be true as historically, minority rights more often then not come second to those of the Caucasian,English speaking majority. 

This still ongoing movement, has attempted to tackle and change the societal outlook of many serious topics and social issues such as reproductive rights, rape and victim shaming, derogatory terms, and glass ceilings.

In an attempt to raise awareness of the disturbingly high likelihood of sexual abuse and in turn the shaming and neglect in which many victims receive from their peers, their family, and law enforcement and fuelled by an ignorant comment by a Toronto Police officer,"women should avoid dressing like sluts in order not to be victimized,"(Sanguinetti 2011), feminist groups all over North America developed the SlutWalk. The first official SlutWalk was held in Toronto on April 3rd, 2011, with the hopes to prove that sexual abuse can happen to anyone and such acts are non-discriminant.

 

(SlutWalk 2011)

Rape Culture:  a concept that links rape and sexual violence to the culture of a society,and in which prevalent attitudes and practices normalize, excuse, tolerate, and even condone rape.(Flintoft 2001)

Rape Culture towards women has proven to be a serious social issue all over the western world. Women all around the world are constantly blamed, shamed and doubted for their abuses, causing this to become an even larger issue in the feminist community. Many argue that a woman's rights to her own body can be taken away simply because a man bought her dinner, or spent any sum of money on her (Shea 2013). 

(Shea 2013)

For the last 200 years, Feminism has fought for women to be granted the same or equivalent rights as men in every aspect of western society, and to this day feminism fights for women's rights through the abolishment of rape culture. All people have the right to feel safe walking down the street, and all people have the right to wear what they please without having to worry about being violated because someone "couldn't control themselves." So why are women commonly reduced to cat-calling on the streets beginning as young as ten years old? Why are young girls taught not to dress a certain way and to watch their drinks at social events? The real issue is the people reducing them to their clothing and slipping drugs into their drinks... The issue lies in the blind excuses like "Boys will be Boys". 

Social Media has opened many gateways for feminist movements to take a stand without a physical gathering in a public place. The #YesAllWomen movement on Twitter has allowed for many feminist voices, all over the world, to share their opinion on Women's rights or lack thereof and raise a little bit of awareness to the many struggles women of all ages face in western society. It has allowed for women to show the struggles and fears they encounter on a daily bases, that many men would never even consider to be a concern. Furthermore, the subjection women still face to this day based on products made for both adults and children; the expectation that little girls like flowers and pink, and science-based activities aren't in their set of interests(Nguyen 2014).

 

(Nguyen 2014)

 Third Wave Feminism attempts to educate western society on what it feels like to be a woman in the 21st century, and in turn hopes to one day change what it feels like. With every issue that the west has ever faced one of the greatest steps to words diminishing the problem is education of the masses. With the global understanding that women want to be treated as men's equal and not as sexual objects, as is their right, soon the sexualization of women in society could  eventually be abolished. Stereotypes, discrimination, and abuse towards women are a direct correlation of how patriarchal western society perceives women. 

The 21st Century needs feminism because in 2014 women are still scared to walk to their car alone, and girls are still being taught to protect their drinks and themselves when socializing with men. The 21st century needs feminism because for every $1.00 a male CEO makes, his female counterpart makes $0.74 (Government of Canada 2012).

Many would argue that feminism isn't necessary because women have already reached equality with men in most aspects of society, I think that it's safe to say that these people are wrong. Until equality truly exists in Western Society, it is my belief that feminism and third wave feminist movements will have great impact in making the changes necessary to reach legitimate equality; and furthermore, feminism will continue to educate all people of western society on the struggles that women living in the 21st century face. As long as there is a difference between how society perceives, treats, and values men and women, feminism in the west will exist. 

Until women live with the same security within their society that men experience already, and until women are fully appreciated an seen as equals by the men of western society, feminism will thrive to empower women and educate men. 

So, do we still need feminism?

Absolutely. 

Works Cited

Allen, Kim, Alana Wingfoot, and Krista Jacob. “Analyzing Third Wave Feminism.” The Feminist Ezine. Lillith Gallery, 1998. Web. 18 June 2014. <http://www.feministezine.com/feminist/historical/Third-Wave-Feminism.html>.

Conger, Cristen. “How Feminism Works.” How Stuff Works. HowStuffWorks, 17 Feb. 2009. Web. 18 June 2014. <http://people.howstuffworks.com/feminism4.htm>.

Nguyen, Julie. “#YesAllWomen: Misogyny is not just an issue of women.” The Daily Cougar. University of Houston, 18 June 2014. Web. 18 June 2014. <http://thedailycougar.com/2014/06/18/yesallwomen-misogyny-just-issue-women/>.

“THE 1960S-70S AMERICAN FEMINIST MOVEMENT: BREAKING DOWN BARRIERS FOR WOMEN.” Taavanna. E-Collaborative for Civic Education, 2014. Web. 18 June 2014. <https://tavaana.org/en/content/1960s-70s-american-feminist-movement-breaking-down-barriers-women>.

Rampton, Martha. “The Three Waves of Feminism.” Magazine of Pacific University. Pacific University, 2008. Web. 18 June 2014. <http://www.pacificu.edu/magazine_archives/2008/fall/echoes/feminism.cfm>.

Shea, Lisa. “When is Rape OK?” Lisa Shea. Minerva Web Works, 2013. Web. 18 June 2014. <http://www.lisashea.com/lisabase/womensissues/whenisrapeok/>.

“SlutWalk : WHY.” SlutWalk Toronto. WordPress, 2011. Web. 18 June 2014. <http://www.slutwalktoronto.com/>.

“Third Wave Feminism.” Encyclopaedia Britannica Profiles. Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2014. Web. 18 June 2014. <http://www.britannica.com/women/article-216008>.

Walker, Rebecca. “Third Wave Feminism.” Rebecca Walker. Rebecca Walker, 1992. Web. 18 June 2014. <http://www.rebeccawalker.com/third-wave-continued>. E-Publication of her 1992 Essay, Third Wave Feminism

West, Thomas. “The History of Second Wave Feminism.” The History of Second Wave Feminism. N.p., 2011. Web. 18 June 2014. <https://suite.io/thomas-west/3mg72cs>.