Question
Topic: feminism needed now that women are free?
or
How has ecologism extended conventional moral thinking?
Please pick one of these topics and only add 100 words more or less do not exceed the word limit. (2000 words)
Solution
Political Ideologies
Since the ancient days, women have always had a lower position compared to men. They have experienced a long history of oppression and gross violation of their rights. Traditionally, society denied women the right to own or control property. In some cultures, they could not inherit, and if they did, men in their life managed the property on their behalf. Until the 20th century, women did not have the right to education and were confined at home, taking care of their husbands, and children. They depended fully on their husbands to work so as to provide for their families, and could not engage in political processes such as voting or having positions of power. However, the feminist movement provided them with the opportunity to improve their lives, gain more rights, and defend themselves from oppression (Black 16). For example, by the close of the 20th-century, women in countries such as the United States and many parts of Europe could vote, participate politically, gain quality education, and pursue careers. Regardless of the considerable achievement of feminism, it is still needed even now that women are free.
Feminism
Experts define the concept of feminism to understand what it means for women and society. Gunew defines feminism as the belief in the political, social, and economic quality of the genders (7). Feminism began in the west but spread to the rest of the world as major individuals and groups organized to fight for the rights of women. Feminism emerged from the need to change the traditional view of women as confined to the home, while men enjoyed public life. For example, medieval Europe denied women the right to own property, get an education, or engage in public life. Women in the west, including the United States and countries in Europe, could not vote as late as the early 20th century. During the same time, women could not conduct business without male representatives, such as a husband, father, brother, or legal agent. Husbands had great control over properties that their wives owned. Women lacked access to adequate education and did not perform in professional life (Black 28). With time, women realized the need to fight for equality and to have a better place in society, which led to the birth of feminism.
The defense of women was at the core of the feminism movement around the world. Many individuals and movements emerged as defenders of the status quo in society, which placed men at an advantaged place than women and created room for female oppression. Feminism emerged as a political ideology in the pursuit of women’s rights and protected them from oppression. It was the belief that human beings are created equal and that they should have equality with men, who appeared to be a dominant gender and oppressed women. The concept refers to equality and not sameness between members of the two genders. Women wanted to access education, good jobs, political representation, and the right to own and control property (Gunew 24). Therefore, they engaged in concerted efforts to challenge the status quo and fight for an equal place as men in society. Over the years, women have made strides to defend themselves from political, social, and economic oppression, as well as defend their rights against further violation.
Feminism refers to the various social, political, and ideological movements that aimed at defining, establishing, and achieving personal, economic, political, and social equality of the sexes locally and internationally. The concept challenges the prioritizing of the male point of view and the treatment of women unequally within most patriarchal societies. Thus, feminism involves efforts to change the conventional perspective of gender relationships, such as through challenging gender stereotypes and attempts to create educational, and professional opportunities that reflect equality. The feminist movement has, since the 20th century, campaigned and goes on to fight for women’s rights, and the achievement of freedom. The movement has made considerable strides in ensuring that women have a voice in society. However, they have remained a constant force in societies around the world because women are yet to achieve actual equality in various areas, such as employment. Before addressing the ongoing need for feminism, although women are free, a discussion of some achievements is warranted.
Feminist Gains
Various scholars have suggested that feminist movements have led to considerable historical and societal changes. Roberts suggests that women could not have made such achievements as having the right to vote without the major role of the feminist movement (7). Significant transformations were witnessed in society, especially in the west, due to the working of the numerous feminist movements that arose in the 20th century. For example, their efforts were near-universally accredited with the achievement of women’s suffrage, reproductive rights, gender-neutral language, and the freedom to own and control property (Sudbury and Okazawa-Rey 13). They have also challenged traditional gender roles, which confined the woman to domestic roles. Many women could not get an education or engaged in paid labor because society defined their role as being solely domestic. However, since the 20th century, more women around the world were able to break the limiting gender roles, pursue academic, and professional progress. They started competing for careers and professional positions with their male counterparts. Therefore, the feminist movements created major societal changes relating to the role and rights of women in society.
Many authors and scholars supported the gain in feminism in recent years, such as since the 19th century. Feminist scholars in the 19th century focused on addressing the rights of women, such as the right to vote. Martins is one of the scholars who have explored the role of feminism in research (381). The author suggests how women have continued to cut a niche in various professions that were traditionally held by men, such as design and engineering. Feminism opened up numerous opportunities for women to participate in paid careers and compete for positions with their male counterparts. Feminist campaigns helped to change the way many cultures around the world viewed their women and their roles in society. Since women could compete and take high positions of power, even their place in the communities also changed. For instance, more women started to participate politically, not only in voting but also in seeking electoral posts. Such were the main gains that the feminist movement brought across the world.
It is not controversial to claim that philosophically, feminism was effective in advancing the rights of women across the world. People, their gender notwithstanding, should have the same rights and respect. Since women have been historically oppressed, they needed the changes that were caused by feminism. Feminism was correct in revealing that women have been denied important rights almost throughout the history of human civilization (Barrett 39). The oppression has been common in almost all cultures and societies across the world. Globally, the residue and baggage of oppression is evident even today and occurs in numerous forms, such as domestic violence. Many women still suffer today at home and in the workplace in the continued male dominance in society. Therefore, the idea of feminism remains relevant so that women can continue having a better place in society just like their male counterparts, such as better job positions, and a home safe from gender violence.
The Need Feminism Today
Regardless of the gains that feminism has achieved over the years and the success in making women free, the movement is as relevant today as it was in the 20th century. Women have been historically silenced in male-dominated society across the world. As noted earlier, their place has not changed much in recent years. Therefore, Martins suggests that more changes are required to improve the place of the woman in society, such as addressing their needs as consumers/users (985). Martins suggests that the need to improve the lives of women has increased in recent years because they appear to have been forgotten. The political and cultural focus of equality has moved from women to the needs of minorities, such as individuals with disabilities. Although the quality of all groups is necessary, it should not be at the expense of other groups, such as women. Even activists have changed their focus in their fight for equality, where they now concentrate on the rights of racial minorities, people with disabilities, and children. As a result, the male-dominated society remains oppressive towards women, creating the need to refocus on feminism.
Many people, including men, have always played a central role in advancing the principles of feminism and improving the place of women in society. However, regardless of the work of women and male feminists, such as John Stuart Mill and Fredrick Douglass, women have not achieved real gender equality (Speaks 2). They helped women to gain considerable rights and a place in the social and political life, but their input remains relevant. Rowbotham suggests that the feminist movement has a long way to go in achieving real equality for women in society (83). Regardless of their achievements so far, men are still dominant in positions of power around the world. For example, male managers are more than women in many companies internationally. Women also take lower positions in most workplaces and cannot compete at the same level as men because of their work-life demands. Therefore, society remains patriarchal, oppressive, and demanding for the woman. As a result, the feminist movement remains relevant to continue fighting for equality.
Women are yet to become free in the society that demands more from them than from men. Females have greater responsibilities in society compared to men. For example, women spend more time than men in obligations outside the workplace, such as giving birth and taking care of children. The arrangement of the society that overburdens the woman has a profound impact on their education, careers, professional advancement, success, and their lives. They have remained on the shadow of men when they try to advance and probably break the glass ceiling completely. However, they lack the opportunity or motivation to achieve the objective and compete at the same level with men professionally (Jaffe 25). Therefore, regardless of the arguments that women have made significant strides in society, including in professional life, they still have a long way to support women. The feminist movement is still necessary to support real and lasting freedom for women in the workplace. After all, the challenges facing women in the modern world have changed, such as familial demands, and require additional changes within the feminist movement to make a real difference.
Regardless of the attempts to pain the feminist movement as having won the fight against gender inequality, the reality is completely different. It could be true that the movement has created evident change since the 20th century, but it has a long future to achieve its objectives of creating real equality. Thus, ending the movement at this point will be detrimental to the future of women in society. The movement is necessary to ensure that government policies are supportive of women. For example, to support women to gain professional development, governments could consider giving men longer paternal leave. Such decisions could prevent disadvantaging women while they stall their careers to take care of their children. They could also have practical work and childcare policies to create a proper work-life balance for women. The society also needs to empower women to gain real financial freedom and advance themselves economically, and socially, such as through business. While such changes have already occurred in various societies, the international feminist movement is still critical to continue fighting for women’s rights and real freedom.
Conclusion
Feminism could be the best thing that ever happened to women around the world because it achieved major cultural, political, and social changes in advancing women’s rights. However, regardless of the argument that women are now free, the feminist movement remains critical to address the ongoing oppression and dominance of men in the society. Women achieved positive steps in various areas, such as the right to vote and vie for political positions. Nonetheless, they are yet to achieve actual equality in the workplace. Men remain in positions of power, and women have fewer opportunities to compete at an equal level with their male counterparts. For example, while men are advancing their careers, women are busy with their family responsibilities. They lose a lot of time that they could use to develop themselves and compete equally with men at the workplace and in political positions, which is the reason they are fewer than men in political and managerial positions. Without a doubt, the feminism movement remains as important today as it was in the 20th century because women are yet to gain actual freedom. The feminism movement will continue to bridge the gap between men and women in various areas of life, including the workplace and leadership. It remains a crucial movement for women around the world, with the support of men to gain real freedom and equality. Therefore, the world needs to decide to keep the feminist movement alive to support women to become free and have an equal position as men in society.
Works Cited
Barrett, Michele. Women’s Oppression Today: The Marxist/Feminist Encounter. Verso Trade, 2014.
Black, Naomi. Social Feminism. Cornell University Press, 2019.Sudbury, Julia, and Margo Okazawa-Rey. Activist Scholarship: Antiracism, Feminism, and Social Change. Routledge, 2015.
Gunew, Sneja, ed. Feminism and the Politics of Difference. Routledge, 2019
Jaffe, Sarah. “Trickle-Down Feminism.” Dissent vol. 60, no.1, 2013, pp. 24-30.
Martins, Luiza Prado de O. “Privilege and Oppression: Towards a Feminist Speculative Design.” Proceedings of DRS (2014): 980-990.
Martins, Luiza Prado de O. “Privilege and Oppression: Towards Speculative Design.” The Social Design Reader (2019), pp. 381-385.
Roberts, Jacob. “Women’s work.” Distillations. Vol. 3 no. 1. 2017, pp. 6–11.
Rowbotham, Sheila. Women in Movement (Routledge Revivals): Feminism and Social Action. Routledge, 2013.
Speaks, Spectra. “Straight Allies, White Anti-racists, Male Feminists (and Other Labels That Mean Nothing To Me).” Spectra Speaks: Our Voices, Our Stories, Our Revolution (2013).
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