Where are we right now, what are the concepts of modern feminism and what contribution it makes to public opinion today? Can one actually identify this concept on the modern social, political and economic arenas? The fact is that the priorities changed along with the changing picture of the society. It is no longer about women fighting for their rights and freedom of consciousness through persistence, but about women fighting for human beings and their peace. The portrait of modern feminism agent has transformed from the focus on “self” to the concept of “better us”.
There is no point in debating on the importance and transformation that came to us through global feministic movement. The fact is that we take it for granted and at times forget who we actually are and what the clichés are and barriers that we, as women, had to overcome to stand where stand right now. No, I am not talking about us as “our generation”. With all due respect, we are the parasites of the history that got this freedom of choice and equality for granted and at times even try to give it back. This discussion should talk about women of today and of tomorrow as agents of change.
The history is cyclical and the greatest chance to see it coming is to get a punch on our back with some of the historically painful and assaulting facts, such as the World before feminism. Zeilinger (2012) argues that long before Plato in the prehistorical era one could get a glimpse of gender equality. Civilization is responsible for the demarcation of social hierarchy. And then we experienced Babylonian Era with its absolute delusion of male dominance and Aristotle, which his perverted view on the role of a women in the society, and, finally, modern here-and-there flashes of gender inequality, seen in “The only female judge of Israel” (Zeilinger, 2012, p.18). Indeed, at least we can work, drive and leave the house, which gives us space to think about higher matters.
Are we actually nurturing the equality and talking about modern democratic world, with our eyes wide shut on the reality of Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, Iran and other countries? Yes we are. We are so blinded by our own comfort and standards that we cannot think out-of-the-box. Moreover, we actually have no idea where modern society stands in terms of feminism. Ask the opinion of a middle class working woman or a housewife, for this purpose – we are all making our choices freely – about raping in India, or Nigerian woman being stabbed to death for assumed sexual infringement, or abortion law scandals all over the globe. Do they have their opinion about it? Probably, not! Pozner claims that there is a systematic lack of feminist representation and media and politics to be able to move public opinion, these progressives should be able to advocate on a media arena for their interests and rights (Pozner, 2006, pp. 344-345).
What is needed to become an agent of change and what it takes to get there? The history shows that the formation of the major minds in this area is based on a long process of learning self. Baumgardner (2000) claims the significance of time for building on feminist advocacy profile. Realization of how general views on social relations and civil rights relate to your own life is the key to become an agent (Baumgardner and Ritcher, 2000, p.56). Feminism is a philosophy, rebellious five hundred years ago and today. It takes guts to be able to fight for these values and without understanding of what you actually believe in, this battle cannot be won.
What drags modern society back or makes it satisfied with the current state of events in politics and economic gender studies is yet to be analyzed. It seems like there are several stereotypes that are hard to break, such as association of women with pacifism, antimilitarism and oppression, general statistics on lower percentage of women in politics and many others (Freedman, 2002). At the same time nature attributed to women such qualities as persistence and patience, which previously driven maternal instinct and adaptability to the situation. Today, these qualities often create strongest leaders and ambassadors of change.
Modern society has several bright examples of these illuminating leaders, such as Margaret Thatcher or Angela Merkel in politics, Sally Fox or Barbara Askins in science, Katharine Burdekin and Helen Bentwhich in literature. These women managed to bring an image of a strong woman to completely new level. The influence of their ideas and contribution on modern concept of feminism is immense.
But is it necessarily the fame and recognition that one needs to become an agent? Freedman provides a great insight into modern feminism and manages to give a self-explanatory picture of modern feminist change agent by several examples from the history. One of her findings is Juana Gutierrez, political and community activist that outline the entire modern concept of feminism, when explaining her political involvement by consciousness in taking care of the community rather than political views (Freeman, 2002, p.328).
I take the above example here as, in my view this consciousness, as a driver of action, builds on the entire logic behind feminist movement of the last quarter of nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Agency in feminism has transformed itself from survival instinct and fight for the rights to a much larger goal, putting forward the needs of the bigger communities and groups. It is no longer a freedom of women and her rights that are at stake, but the human rights and human freedom in the focus of modern feminism movement.
Each of us is looking for the personal unique purpose, and mine is the peace. Not female, or maternal peace that women were looking for centuries, - we have it already and we forgot the price that was paid for it by our predecessors. Today we need to look for greater peace of the human beings that is an “endanger specie” in modern interpretation of democracy and freedom. We as human beings now stand in front of a new frontier, which is our own opposition to peace. This opposition is expressed through stronger oppression, through social discrimination and ignorance to the needs of minorities. It is my responsibility as an agent to bring this to your knowledge and make a difference in building public opinion. Alone we will not be able to change the reality, but rising and fighting for this Peace together we will see the difference, just like we did for the past centuries.
References
Zeilinger Jessica. A Little F´d Up: Why Feminism Is not a Dirty Word. Barnes and Nobles, 2012. Print.
Baumgardner Jennifer, Amy Richards, and LaDuke Winona. Grassroots: A Field Guide for Feminist Activism. New York: Farrar, Strauss andGiroux, 2000. Print
Freedman, Estelle. No Turning Back: The History of Feminism and the Future of Women. New York: Random House, 2002. Print.
Pozner, Jennifer. How to Reclaim, Refraim and Reform the Media. A feminist Advocacy Guide. Bitchfest, 2006.Print.
