According to Cavanagh, feminism is the belief that “all humans, male and female, should have equal political, economic and social rights.” Women are not asking for special rights, but the rights of equality for all, without gender being a factor of determination between who gets more, or who has no say, or who needs to be governed by others. What feminists want for all women is the freedom to be themselves.
Freedom means the right to decide what to wear, how to look after their own bodies and how to interact with others. Enochs lists ways in which equality does not exist for women in our world today; these are: pay inequality, sex-shaming, slut-shaming, mansplaining, victim blaming, and the erosion of our reproductive rights. Examples of these include:
In the United States, 20% of all Congress seats are allotted to women, meaning men can at any time override women’s voices, even if quorum is just reached (Cavanagh).
In the United States, there is a 23% pay gap between men and women; this is not restricted to the U.S., but other western countries are as guilty, and other more strict patriarchal systems of politics have few, if no, women in positions of power representing them (Cavanagh).
The question continues to be raised of whether feminism has run its course, and “do we REALLY” still need the fight. The answer is yes more than ever. With the numbers of FGM and rape victims in high numbers yearly, as well as women’s bodies being legislated by men (think Trump’s new abortion bill), then women, and male supporters of feminism, must more than ever have to not only continue the fight but in doing so them must yell louder than they did last year.
Works Cited
Cavanagh, Casey. “Why We Still Need Feminism,” 18 November 2014. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/casey-cavanagh/why-we-still-need-feminism_b_5837366.html. [Accessed January 31, 2017].
Enochs, Elizabeth. “5 Reasons We Still Need Feminism,” 24 September 2015. https://www.bustle.com/articles/112596-5-reasons-we-still-need-feminism. [Accessed January 31, 2017].
