Are You a Feminist?
Earlier this semester in my writing class everyone was asked this same question and at first no one raised his or her hand to admit that they were feminists. When no one raised his or her hand, professor Nielsen-Dube told us that she believed that we in fact were all feminist and that we were simply afraid to admit it because of the negative social stigma that surrounds the word feminist. Yahoo blogger Elizabeth Eckert describes in one of her posts what people picture when they hear the word feminist, “…frumpy, overweight lesbians who don't shower and have hairy legs.” The word feminist is not meant to describe someone’s physical appearance, rather their belief that men and women should be have equal opportunities and rights.
Some may believe that in our present time men and women are equal. They may point out to women like Condoleezza Rice and Hilary Clinton, both very influential figures in current political sector. While Clinton and Rice may be proof that women have progressed the truth is that we are not completely there yet. In 2009 Maria Shriver along many other journalist and researches released the Shriver Report in which they highlight the progress that women have made. As of 2009 women have become primary providers in 4 out of 10 American households. The percentage of women becoming self-employed has increased by 35% and is increasing at a rapid rate. Women also comprise fifty percent of the entire workforce population. Women have clearly made their mark by entering the workforce but the truth is they still have a long way to go.
Although women comprise about fifty percent of the workforce they are still not paid equally as men. Women are currently earning 81 cents to the male dollar. Does that seem fair? As a business student this aspect of the feminist movement interest me the most. Aside form not being paid as well as men the current workforce also lacks equal opportunities for females. Aside form working full time jobs women also have to tend to their families. This includes taking time off when a child is sick or maternity leave when a woman becomes pregnant. Right now, as pointed out by the Shriver Report women must use sick time and vacation days to tend to an ill family member, leaving no room for their own leisure. The report also points out that women are entitled to up to twelve weeks of maternity leave all of which are not paid. A report released by USA Today reveals that in Sweden women are entitled to a full of paid maternity leave. They also have the option of having someone come to their house and helping them take care of their children.
Women have become a large part of the workforce and it is time that changes are made to benefit the new primary caregivers. The thought that I am working hard to some day achieve my dream job but may still make less than my male colleagues honestly enrages me, which is why I am not afraid to call my self a feminist: a person who believes in equal opportunities for both men and women.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2005-07-26-maternity-leave_x.htm
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/308706/the_feminist_stigma.html
http://www.shriverreport.com/awn/index.php
I do believe that men and women have their own strengths and weaknesses, at the same time, I do believe that they could contribute to each other's strengths and weaknesses. My mom works as a pharmacist at cvs for about 40 hours, has a family to raise and has domestic work to do. Sometimes my dad helps contribute to some of the house work, but he has a job to do 5 days per week. My older sister is graduating Georgetown this coming summer and is hoping to be part of the work be going to South America to teach English and do other stuff related to foreign services. I hopefully will be able to go to graduate school after college and become a nutritionist. Women are becoming part of th eworkforce and getting fulltime jobs, I believe that they should continue to go and reach for their dreams. -Tia
ReplyDeleteI am undoubtibaly a feminist. I believe that women should have the same rights as men. We have come very far already, however, we still have a long way to go. Althought we have strong women repesenting us out there, there are still far more successfull men than women. The only solution to this issue would be if a woman and a man shared the workload at home. If that does not happen, there is no way for the woman to be equal to the man, because she has far more responsibilities which differentiates her from her male colleagues. When this does happen, we will see a much greater difference in the powerfull people in the world.
ReplyDeleteThis issue is one that was discussed in my class, as well as my sociology class. Yes, it is very unfair that women are paid less than men, and this is something I di dnot realize was such a big issue until this year. It makes me very upset to think when I am older a man doing the same job as me will probably be earning more money than I am.
ReplyDeleteHowever, a lot of women do not work as much as men do. The fact of the matter is, most women want to raise a family. and be there for their children. As a result, women work part time, or take off much more time than men do. Therefore, it only seems fair that a man whould be paid more because he is actually working more.
The comment on pregnancy leave is one I read about in my sociology book, and reading about it made me very angry. A lot of other countries provide paid maternity leave to mothers, which I think is great. A woman has no choice but to stay at home with her newborn, and it is only fair that her leave is paid. However, the US does not support this. I think changes should be made so thst women do get pay during maternity leave, espoecially if they work full time because the lack of pay could really affect the family. ALso, it causes the new mother do quickly return to work, in order to provide for her family.
I never saw myself as a feminist, but after learning so much about it this year, I feel as if I am one. Women deserve more rights than the US is giving to them.
I agree that sometimes when we hear the word feminist, we think of something completely different than what is actually meant by the word. However, after reading this entry, I definitely think I would consider myself a feminist because I absolutely believe that men and women should be given equal opportunities. Women have made some progress in gaining equality to men, and we are starting to see more prominent female political figures, but there is still great progress to be made. For instance, one of the things that I think needs major revision is women’s maternity leave. I think that American women, like the women in other countries, should get a paid maternity leave as well as help in their home. When a woman has a baby, she should not have to worry about financial problems she may incur because she is not getting paid, on top of everything else she now has to worry about.
ReplyDeleteThis entry mentions how in 2009, 4 out of 10 households have a woman as the head of the home. One of the major problems that female-headed households are facing is that they are more likely to be living in poverty than male-headed households or household with two people contributing income. In 2009, under six percent of households headed by a married couple were living in poverty. For male headed households, there was about seventeen percents living in poverty. However, in female-headed households, just under thirty percent of these families were living in poverty. This is largely correlated to the fact that women make only eighty-one cents to the dollar that men make. This is not fair at all, and hopefully this will change in the near future, which will then hopefully help many female-headed households rise out of poverty.
I got my information from http://www.npc.umich.edu/poverty/.
Taking this course has taught me the true meaning of being a feminist. I would definetly consider myself a feminist. I believe that men and women should have equal opportunites and equal chances in the workforce. I agree that women have been making progress gaining equality to men, but there is still a long way for us to go. Women's maternity is particularly disturbing to me. I definetly think women should get paid maternity leave. Many women are the sole supporters of their family, and this could lead to financial problems.
ReplyDeleteAnother area where women are still behind compared to men is in holding government positions. We have never had a female president, and women comprise less than one third of the seats in the Senate. This shows just how far women have to go, although women like Hillary clinton and Sarah Palin have done a great deal to shorten the gap. Overall, I think most people are feminists whether they know it or not. They believe in equality between men and women, but there is a misconception that feminist describes a physical appearance. Although we are not completely equal to men, we are on the right path to getting there.
I am happy to say that I am a feminist. When Professor Nielsen-Dube asked that question on the first day of class, I was one of the students who did not raise their hand. I am now not afraid to say that I feel that men and women should be created equal. I went to a private all girls school for the past four years and I have been drilled with information that women can do it all on their own, that women can make a difference in the world. I was constantly told that we do not need men to succeed. It is very disturbing to hear that women do not make the same amount of money that men make. I want to see change so that women can have equal opportunities. I feel that with women succeeding in the political world, it will open new doors for working women. I believe we are working hard to get our equal rights and that some day soon we will receive them.
ReplyDeleteI cannot remember which class I got this idea from, but the phrase “81 cents to the male dollar” proves women have a long way to go for reaching equality; people rarely, if ever, say something like “men make $1.19 to the woman's dollar.” I strongly believe in equality for everyone and I also agree that much progress has been made for women over the years, but there are obvious places for improvement like the maternity leave situation many people have commented on as well as other problems across the globe. (For example, women in Saudi Arabia are still banned from driving.) I believe that all women and men, regardless of things like race and class, should have equal opportunities in the workplace and in all other aspects of life. Unfortunately, I do not feel that complete equality will happen in my lifetime. Although I am proud to live in a country where women have made great strides, we must not forget the women in other countries. Also, in saying that women should have paid maternity leave we must remember that men raise children too so strives need to be made for paid paternity leave. Thanks to the knowledge I have gained from a couple of my first semester classes, I now consider myself a feminist.
ReplyDeleteI am definitely starting to consider myself a feminist. In my household, my mother has a a full time job and she works extremely hard. My father on the other hand has a part time job in the night which leaves most of the domestic responsibilities to him. He does the majority of the house works and cares for all my siblings and myself, ages ranging from 11 to 20 years while my mom is at work. I never realized that my mom being the bread winner of te family was abnormal in this society until I was in middle school and learned of the inequality faced in the workplace by women. It hurts me to see how hard my mother works and for her to only make 81 cents for every dollar her male counterparts earn. She works just as hard as they do and therefore should recieve equal pay.
ReplyDeleteYou mention in your post, "Aside form working full time jobs women also have to tend to their families". To say that, in my mind, begins to make your argument weaker. If we are saying that women need to accepted in the workplace and can do the same work as men, then we must also say that men can do the same work as women in the home without facing judgement. After all, the equal opportunities feminists are striving for should not only exist in the workplace.
I also didn't raise my hand in the beginning of the year when the class was asked if we considered ourselves feminists. Unfortunately, I had the same kind of stereotype about feminists that Jen describes- I often pictured butch, man-hating women picketing on the streets. However, after learning about the existing inequalities between the sexes, I would definitely consider myself a feminist. In the beginning of the year, I honestly didn't even know that women were not paid as much as men. After learning that women only earn 81 cents to the man's dollar, I couldn't believe that there was still such inequality in 2010. I think we as teenagers don't often consider ourselves feminists because we haven't seen the inequalities between women and men firsthand. We haven't had to work in salary-based jobs yet where the pay difference is something that matters to us. However, I think we should all start caring about this; soon enough, we will be directly affected by the pay gap.
ReplyDeleteWe should also push for paid maternity leave, and as was said above, paternity leave if the father is the primary caregiver. Women should be able to comfortably leave their jobs to take care of newborns without worrying about losing their jobs, or having to return to work before the family is ready.
I agree with Amanda when she says that often time when we hear the word "feminist" a negative tone is set upon the conversation, flooding our minds with thoughts of crazy women running around without bras to represent freedom. This negative viewpoint is very unfortunate, however, because being a feminist is nothing to be ashamed of. In fact, being a feminist makes you one in a few who are willing to stand up against the sacred order of society and demand a change. It is not right that women only earn 81 cents to every dollar a male earns, because who is to say that women don't work as hard as males do? Women carry themselves highly in the workforce just as much males do, but still, males hold a majority of the high positions in business and women conintue to earn less then males! It is the 21st century, when is this ever going to stop?
ReplyDeleteI agree, that there has been significant progress with women's rights since the 1920's, but there is still a significant amount of ground left to cover, and the only way significant change is going to be made is through the audacity of feminists and those who are willing to seek change. I would not say that I am a "feminists" particularily simply because I do not dedicate my free time to battling feminist rights and equalities, but I certainly agree with feminists who say that the current social, economic, and political status of women in our society is unconstitutional.
Growing up with a stay at home dad and a working mom I started life with a different perspective than most people. Entering into school was my first introduction with the idea of a stay at home mom. However, I still saw it as something that was out of the norm.
ReplyDeleteToday, I still see women and men as both being capable of staying at home and taking care of the family and/or working. I don't think that women making 81 cents to the male dollar is fair or right. If this is the definition of a feminist, then I would consider myself to be one.
However, I don't see my general belief set involving the equality of women and men as feminist, I merely see it as the way that life is. Women have made many strides and I think that they are continuously moving forward. Although they have not completely caught up with men, they are still working towards breaking the glass ceiling.
Women need equal opportunities compared to men, especially when it comes to salary. A woman should be paid just as much money as a man for doing the same amount of work. However, sometimes it is understood that the man should traditionally be the main source of income in the household.
ReplyDeleteI feel as if feminism is a time constraint issue. As it has been addressed, women have made great advances in reaching the ultimate goal of being considered as "equal" to men. However, this has happened over a great period of time. With changes in our society and constant changes in our world, feminism is something that will improve with time.
ReplyDeleteLast year, my English teacher brought up the same problem. She asked us to describe feminists. None of the adjectives were positive. My teacher then told us that she was a feminist and explained that the word just refers to someone who believes men and women should have equal rights. After that, I realized that I had always been a feminist and just did not know it. I have always felt that men and women were equals.
ReplyDeleteThere is one problem: certain feminists push too hard and to many it seems they are trying to have more rights than men. Also, some feminist activists make some women feel as if by being just a "housewife," they are doing a disservice to women's rights. These feminists that pressure others are just extremists and do not represent the group as a whole. Unfortunately, this is the only view of a feminist that the media portrays.
My idea of the goal all feminists should work towards is showing society that feminism is about choice. That choice being for a woman do do with her life as she chooses. If a woman wants to go out into the work place and rise to the top of the corporate ladder, then there should be no restriction on her to do so. However, if that woman chooses to stay at home to raise and nurture her children, then she should no be made to feel guilty for her decision. Either choice is thew right choice when it makes the person happy. Similarly, feminism is also about making it more acceptable for a man to stay at home and nurture the children. Whatever choice is better for the man is the right choice for him. We feminists need to show that it is okay both men and women to make the decision they want. Only then will men and women have true equality.