Feminism When Deciding to Take a Stand

Feminism When deciding to take a stand regarding feminism, it is important to define what feminism is in today's society. A feminist is any person, of both genders and any age, who advocates feminism. Feminism is an international movement that is dedicated to equality of sexes and seeks to eliminate discrimination. In my opinion, feminists do not just oppose discrimination of women but also of race, age, sexual orientation, religion, and many other things. Feminists work toward non-violence and the elimination of social and economic injustice.

I consider myself to be a feminist because I believe that I am, and that everybody in this world is, deserving of equal treatment regardless of how they look or what body parts they were born with. I have seen some women who call themselves feminists because they strive to dominate and overpower men. I am not like these women. My feminist beliefs have no origin in the hatred of men but rather are rooted in the hatred of double standards.

I have seen women who are pregnant, scared and alone being hassled because they have chosen to abort. Meanwhile, the fathers of these unborn children are safe and comfortable playing video games or drinking with the boys. I am feminist because I find this to be unfair. According to the psychology self-help book, "Be Your Own Therapist," feminists strive to eliminate social and economic barriers between men and women.

The following excerpt shows a genuinely feminist perspective on men and women: Feminine? Masculine? We might all be happier if the words feminine and masculine were banned. Few, if any of us, fit all the traits evidenced by the majority of our own sex. (Many women are aggressive and active. Many men hang out in the "non-masculine" side of the brain. Most of us have non-traditional activities / times in our lives.) We all have abilities for intuition, logic, vulnerability, feeling, assertiveness, softness, harshness, competition and nurturing.

To label any of these traits as masculine or feminine just causes unhappiness in our society." Like everything else in the world, feminism has evolved over the past few years. May people conjure up images of angry, protesting women like Bella Abzug or Gloria Steinem when they think of feminists. However, today extremists are not the norm in feminism, nor are some of the past ideas and values that feminists held. For example, writer Davis Reardon wrote and article called "The Seduction of Feminism," in which he discussed early feminists.

According to his article, early feminists condemned artificial contraceptive methods as "unnatural, injurious, and offensive" to women. They also believed that contraceptives would reduce women to a role of being sexual objects for their mates, and that contraceptives would turn wives into little more than prostitutes, always "safe" for husbands to exploit to satisfy their passions.

They particularly feared that the availability of contraceptives would lure even more husbands and sons who were presently chaste into illicit sexual exploits, exposing even more young women to seduction, abuse, and abandonment," he wrote. Feminism's founding members also condemned abortion, insisting that it was immoral to kill an unborn child. These two issues are still at the forefront of feminist beliefs today but most feminists have changed their stance on the issues. Contraceptives and abortion are seen as a woman's choice and feminists aim to give women more options.

One of the main reasons that I support feminism is because it bothers me that, even in modern society, women still earn less money than men for performing the exact same job duties. Contrary to popular myth, this is not because women get pregnant and have to leave the workforce, or because women leave the workforce to spend time at home with the kids, or because women work less hours than men.

When I say that women earn less than men, I am stating this in comparison of men and women in the same occupation with the same education and experiences, and the same amount of time put into their work. I have seen it first-hand. When my friend Heather worked at a local jewelry store, she used her three years of retail experience to turn the store around, doing extra work like starting promotions and increasing sales significantly.

She knew that the store needed a manager and consistently asked for the position. She was never promoted and eventually moved on. Heather recommended Michael for the job, although he had no retail experience. He performed the same tasks as Heather but without the "extras." Within one month, he was promoted to general manager. Everyone knew that it was because he was a man and the owner even made a joke about it.

According to Esther Wachs Book, author of" Why the Best Man for the Job is a Woman: The Unique Female Qualities of Leadership," "a new breed of leader is emerging, and that breed is female." Book writes that the increased number of women CEOs is a sign of a revolution taking place in a corporate culture traditionally dominated by men. The world of business is changing, she writes, and it is women who are best suited to meet the challenges of the modern marketplace.

Women can, according to Book, succeed because they embody seven uniquely female abilities: they can sell their visions; they are not afraid to reinvent the rules; they are closely focused on achievement; they show courage under fire; they turn challenges.