Feminism? Here are some basics you need to know about Feminism.

This post was not exactly anticipated but one of my most asked questions from followers and viewers is 'Why Are You A Feminist?', along with occasionally being asked about what feminism is so this post is for all of you whose knowledge about feminism may be cloudy.

Over the years, feminism has grown and in today's very contemporary world, feminism has surfaced to the top but the movement has been here for quite some time. So I want to ask all of you this question, if the world is supposedly 'improving', then how come big words, that are often frowned upon or avoided, somehow surfacing to the top in today's 'better' life arrangements and lifestyles? Perhaps, the idea that we live in a freer and more developed world is very much a big illusion and a huge misunderstanding that establishes massive drawbacks not only to women, but also to men. Technological advances have further developed the world in ways we never could have even imagined but that does not eliminate existing factors or 'social models' that reproduce inequalities which form a part of society and touch our individual lives.

I have been told by many people one too many times stuff like 'but in today's modern lifestyle, why do we have to talk about equality? If women like you want to talk about equality you needn't be too concerned with inequality because women have more rights than they ever did. As far as I am concerned, we already attained equality' and comments like 'women complain about everything, why can't they just be more ladylike the way they once were?'. I would be lying if I said comments like these do not upset me but on the other hand, I see knowledge as literally one of the only ways for such ignorant and false conscious ways of thinking to die out because knowledge will give people enough room to actively think about the reality which they live in and are faced with and how that reality can and does shape pretty much every area of their lives. With coming to an understanding of things, we eventually get to the realization of things leading us to a clear path of actually being able to change things for the better.

So, What Is Feminism?

To understand feminism, you must first view it on a spectrum as feminism is not just an 'ideology', but actually a number of ideologies. These ideologies range from social movements, to radical and also political movements. Feminist schools of thought, or branches of feminism, more or less share the same goal which is to establish and moreover attain or achieve social, personal (individual) and also economic equality between sexes. Feminism does not in any way look to prefer neither over each other, hence why the word 'equality' is so frequently used by many different feminists. It's called FEMinism because it states a clear point that has, since the beginning of primitive capitalism, forever disadvantaged women, placing them beneath the man. I explain it in such a way because once primitive capitalism took off, man made animal his property. Women followed on pursuit and this is because women had the biological constraint of childbearing, thus, the first roots of capitalism and patriarchy formed.

Some feminists (Marxist feminists, for instance) do also argue about capitalism and/or other such societal issues however, all feminist perspectives are mainly concerned with patriarchy; the dominance of men over women. Some examples of feminist major schools of thought are:

What makes feminists so successful in delivering arguments about inequalities in society is that what they challenge are actual existing social 'models' or 'factors' of a society; such as gender, being the prime model, as well as race, ethnicity, nationality, age and all those other things which are linked to a person's identity and master status even more than their biological existence. All the things I mentioned above that can form one's identity is then used in a way that gives some more chances and possibilities than others so there is an imbalance as not everyone shares the same chances. An example of this is, for instance, the clear fact that being of a certain ethnicity or another may limit you from being hired in certain jobs such as the beauty industry which tends to be highly biased of who they give a spot to in the industry and who not to.

When talking about changing socially constructed factors of a society, people tend to not notice that these factors are not biological. I am not saying changing these models isn't hard but it isn't impossible. If one seeks to understand what social systems like patriarchy are all about, one must come to recognize it for what it is, and that is it is a power.

Patriarchy is a power that is bureaucratic and divides nations into categories forming what we call a hierarchy. It is a social system that is based on there being two 'genders' (the sexual division of labor) These genders are to be polar opposites to one another and each individual must operate according to their biological sex which determines which category they fall under. In sociology, we hear too often of Talcott Parsons' influential theory of gender roles. In the 1950s, Parsons’ theory was that a successful family needs people to have complementary skill sets and gender was a way of pairing off these skills. He argued that boys and girls are socialized to take on traits that are complementary to each other to make it easier to maintain stable productive family units. Parsons argued that boys are taught what he referred to as ‘instrumental qualities’ such as confidence and competitiveness that prepares them for the labour they are expected to do. Meanwhile, girls are taught what Parsons called ‘expressive qualities’, such as empathy and sensitivity, which ultimately prepares them to care for their families. This theory was a particularly influential one in the mid 20th Century, however, it has fallen out of favor. One of the reasons leading to it no longer being of interest is because it assumes a heteronormative (relating to a world view that promotes heterosexuality as the normal or preferred sexual orientation) and western perspective on what a family is; not all families are nuclear of one man, one woman and a number of children.

'Family' as a social unit is considered to be highly patriarchal by feminists and much research focused on this unit has been done over the years, one of them being the 'darker side of family life' in which evidence of clear violence and abuse have peaked high and dominated most statistics.

For patriarchy to exist, moreover, for capitalism to continue to exist, women have to be at a disadvantage and there is an existing fear among capitalists that women will one day reach that goal of eliminating gender inequality which would forever erode the flow of accumulation of money they make. Why is this so? Because women are encouraged through gender roles and also traditional gender roles to play the expressive role which expands to a number of activities, one of them being the 'safety valve' for their husbands or men since it is clear to see that people cannot actually exchange work as a commodity but on the contrary, have not much choice but to spend most of their lives working in order to ultimately survive (regardless of the fact that they are cheated of what they actually earn, sorry I had to, it's the truth). There is a huge problem with inequality between people and large gaps between social classes that makes it hard for not only women but men too, only women have another problem along with that; gender pay gap. In addition to this, other labels that may form part of your identity (your race, your age, whether or not you are disabled etc) may further disadvantage you as a woman and this is where the perspectives begin to be more clearly visible to us.

Waves of Feminism

Over the years, feminist ideologies helped form and create these 'waves' focused respectively on politics, culture and academia. There are three traditionally recognized waves of feminism, however, up to recent times, we are seeing a fourth wave emerging that is focused on technology. Notably, not every wave has a distinct time frame, rather each wave is better defined by its goals and mechanisms than a period in time.

The first wave of feminism began in the mid-19th century, primarily in Britain and the United States, and was centered around women’s suffrage — the right to vote. The first wave focused mainly on suffrage along with other legal rights and this movement was mostly active in the in the UK, USA and Canada. This movement has earned women the right to vote and other human and legal liberties. The Second wave of feminism actually began in the US and from thereon took to Europe and also Asia. This movement focused on sexuality, reproductive rights, and what I mentioned earlier, the wage gap. Although it did not yet succeed to earn women equal pay yet, it succeeded in securing various career options for women, and many reproductive rights. The third wave of feminism is probably where feminism really started to take a more contemporary approach. Third wave feminists embraced individualism and diversity and sought to redefine the meaning of being a feminist. The third wave saw the emergence of new feminist theories and currents. Some examples are inter-sectional feminism, eco feminism, trans feminism and postmodern feminism. The most recent wave of feminism, the fourth wave, began some time around 2013 and is characterized by a focus on the empowerment and use of technological means and the internet.

In the past few decades leading up to the current present state, mainstream feminism has been involving women's rights in television and the internet and, with continuous growth in technology and consumption, other newer forms of feminism are emerging and of course, they all fall under the fourth wave of feminism.

I hope that the information I have provided you in this post will help you understand what feminism is. In short, we can explain feminism to be a movement which has its branches and ideologies. Believe it or not guys, feminists bash other feminists on little details that they feel other perspectives avoid or not include but of course, on the whole, we agree and support each other and form a part of something big and extraordinary. We are so terribly silenced by those who hold power in their hands that we shun movements that encourage the salvation of human rights and the environment. Do not be afraid to speak up, even if you are one voice because just you breaking the silence is already remarkable. If you are someone who supports equality, and wants personal, social, political and also economic harmony, you are already a part of something that will forever be marked down in history. Our dream to one day live in equality and full acceptance in society, and eroding inequalities and poverty forever is a beautiful dream but if we want to make these changes happen, we have to stop dreaming and accept the reality we live in. People need to move away from biased assumptions and ignorance. Only then will big shifts and changes happen because a huge part of what generates inequalities is ignorance like labeling people and disadvantaging them upon a set of models that form a part of who they are.

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