Contemporary feminism and modern gender equality movements

Feminism today is especially being guided by the Feminists of old, prominent leaders of the past who continue to forge the path ahead for the modern women's movement: these are leaders like Ruth Bader Ginsburg of the Supreme Court and Gloria Steinhem of Women's Media Center. Many other prominent figures represent Feminism today and are actively working towards the advocacy of women's rights in social, political, economic, and religious spectrums. This paper will discuss the movement and individuals who make up the movement as it exists in today's day and age.

To understand Feminism today and the way its advocates represent it, it is important to understand how Feminism came into being and how it has evolved.

Betty Friedan had been shaped by much of what went on in early twentieth century America. An avid activist and strong supporter of equal rights for women, Friedan took the opportunity on the fiftieth anniversary of the granting of women's suffrage to organize a strike for equality. Her book The Feminine Mystique essentially sparked the Feminist Movement. She claimed "that she came to political consciousness out of a disillusionment with her life as a suburban housewife" (Horowitz, 1998, p. 2) and wrote the book on feminism, literally, as a means of doing what the Jewish producers in Hollywood had done: reinvention of self. Not only did Friedan reinvent herself, she enabled millions of women to reinvent themselves as well. In this way she followed the mantra of Simone de Beauvoir, who stated that that a woman is not what one is born but rather what one becomes (Beauvoir, 2004, p. 51). Following the philosophical premises of Nietzsche and the post-moderns, who view life as a series of "repetitions" in which one is endlessly striving to "become" what socio-historical trends stipulate the "thing" to be (Kundera, 1984, p. 4-6), Butler senses an unavoidable obstacle in the act of "becoming." It is forever constrained by unforgiving terms and categories that keep the act from total consummation. One may spend all one's life trying to "become" a woman -- but it is an elusive identity (Butler, 1990) because it is still defined with respect to manhood. Today's Feminists strive to actualize womanhood and define themselves apart from men.

To this end there is the work of Gloria Steinhem, who has been a Feminist advocate since the 1960s, thus making her one of the old guard in the movement still active today. Steinhem founded Ms. magazine, a medium that focuses on taking the "male"-based orientation out of the idea of Feminism. Steinhem called for women's liberation in an article in 1969 and just as Friedan's book catapulted her to the front lines of the movement, so too did Steinhem's article do the same for her. Today, Steinhem has joined the likes of Jane Fonda and Robin Morgan in starting the Women's Media Center, which works to put women in the spotlight in media productions. She lectures widely and continues to be a leading voice for Feminists. Considering that she is 80 years old, Steinhem is a true representative of the old guard of Feminists.

Steinhem has also advocated abortion rights for women. An article in a 2006 issue of Ms. was entitle "We Had Abortions" and described the impact of an article that appeared more than thirty years earlier before Roe v. Wade made abortion legal. The article included names of women who had had abortions and were proud to admit it publicly. Steinhem's own name along with other celebrity women was included.

Steinhem, like Friedan and Ruth Bader Ginsburg, is of Jewish descent; however, her political focus is mainly on the advocacy of women's rights and women's empowerment. Her focus today is the result of her realization in 1969 that as a woman who had had an abortion, she was a person who was taking charge of her life (Cooke, 2011). For Steinem, the issue has always been about reproduction rights at bottom: she believes men think they have the right to control a woman's reproductive cycle and what Feminism has taught her is that, no, they do not have that right. It is "Politics 101," she says (Cooke, 2011). Thus, she has been pro-choice since her epiphany in 1969 and leads a chorus of voices in asserting a policy of pro-choice politics.

Steinhem worked for Hillary Clinton in her presidential bid in 2008 and she still believes Clinton would have made a better president than Obama, because unlike Obama she is a fighter when it comes to women's issues (Cooke, 2011). Steinem's focus is expansive in the sense that she sees the whole of society as in need of a radical change, from laws to perspective to social mores. She highlights the arrest of French leader Dominic Strauss-Kahn as indicative of the great strides America has made in terms of letting women know that they have rights: "That made knew" she did not have to accept abuse from Strauss-Kahn (Cooke, 2011). Steinhem's attitude today confirms that Feminism is successful in today's world: its perspective is being understood and embraced in more and more ways, and especially on college campuses where she often goes to speak. Steinhem cites the instances in which her late husband would travel with her on her speaking tours and hundreds of young women would surround him to marvel at the fact that one could be a Feminist and still have a husband (Cooke, 2011). In her eyes, Steinhem views this as a success for the movement, which is about educating the next generation -- which Steinhem does through media (her magazine), politics (her support of Clinton), and through speaking tours. In this way, Steinhem remains one of the most important women in Feminism today.

Steinhem is also famous for questioning the need of transsexuals to alter their gender to satisfy their sexuality. She wrote in 1984 that "if the shoe doesn't fit, must we change the foot?" meaning that transexuality directs the focus of Feminism away from the question of reproductive rights and women's empowerment to something that is akin to bodily mutilation, according to Steinhem (1984, p. 206). In the wake of other Feminists' outcry, Steinhem retraced her steps in her view of transgender individuals, stating that transgenders should not be marginalized but rather embraced, defended and supported.

Part of that support comes from the work of women like Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who is one-year-older than Steinhem, and like Steinhem is a member of the old guard of Feminists. Ginsburg was appointed to the Supreme Court in 1993 during the presidency of Bill Clinton. A long-time advocate for women's rights, Ginsburg worked with the ACLU, sat on its board of directors, and founded the Women's Rights Project.

As a Supreme Court Justice, Ginsburg has stated publicly regarding abortion that the "government has no business making that choice for a woman" (Bazelon, 2009). Ginsburg's defense of the pro-choice position has been prominent and she is well-known for supporting a woman's right to have an abortion. However, as a Supreme Court Justice she has attempted to interpret the law according to the principles applied by the lawmakers in Congress. Therefore, she does not let her own personal preferences dictate judgments from the bench. On the other hand, she does believe that women's right to empowerment should be written into the Constitution.

Ginsburg expressed to Jeffrey Rosen (2014) in The New Republic that what she wants to see for young Feminists is more organization and action. If they want empowerment, laws need to change that respect their rights more clearly and for laws to change, things have to be done on the grass roots level. Whenever she speaks at colleges, she explains this principle: laws are written to protect people and so if women want equal protection under the law, they need to make their voices heard and that can only be accomplished through effective organization and lobbying.

Ginsburg has always been a fan of being vocal and today's Feminists need to be okay with being called a "bitch" as she was called when she was in school. Her answer to that title was, "Better bitch than mouse," and that philosophy says a lot about her Feminism (Rosen, 1993). It also says something about the state of Feminism today when that same philosophy is repeated in popular culture, such as sitcoms like The Bitch in Apartment 23 or the song by Alanis Morissette, "I'm a Bitch, I'm a Lover." The notion of bitchiness used to be a putdown but for today's Feminists it is taken as a badge of honor, a title that they have worked hard to win and are proud of having attained once receiving it. Women call their girlfriends "bitches" in the course of casual conversation, which indicates that the notion of being outspoken has become so normal and so accepted in popular culture that the philosophy of Ginsburg has spread far and wide among women today.

Ginsburg's stance on abortion has also been important for today's Feminists because it speaks to the notion that government should be obliged to pay for abortions for poor women who want them. This idea has been a particularly controversial one in politics as right and left vie for power in the different branches of government and pro-life and pro-choice factions battle it out in the voting booths. But for Ginsburg the idea is all about women's rights and women being able to do for themselves what they want and being given financial support when they cannot do what they want because of monetary issues.

Feminism today is by and large shaped by such women as Steinem and Ginsburg, but there are many others as well who shape it in their own ways, including religious leaders, artists, and writers. Part of what Feminists aspire to do today is to build on the progress that was made in the 1960s and 1970s and to regroup after the 1980s and 1990s saw some regression in terms of women's empowerment due to a Disney-fication of women's empowerment.

Disney films and cartoons in which female heroines are depicted as sexy hour-glass figures in search of a prince charming have helped to cultivate an anti-feminist backlash in modern culture. The Disney heroine is one that is a throwback to the type of 50s sitcom characters whom Friedan despised as being domesticated sex bombs, good for nothing but looking pretty for the husband and keeping husband's belly full.

So while women's roles changed during the '60s and '70s and continued to change well into the present -- movements like that by Disney in popular culture have helped to turn the tide away from Women's Liberation. Nonetheless, other elements in popular culture have conveyed the idea that women should use their sexuality to their advantage and that one can be a sex bomb and a Feminist at the same time. Indeed, more and more women appearing on screen seem to have a sense of how important sexiness is to their careers: Sarah Palin wears the Raquel Welch hair-do of the 60s bombshell and every female TV anchor is physically well-endowed or hour-glass figured to attract thte "male-gaze," which some Feminists say is counter to what they are trying to accomplish. Yet, as Steinhem has shown, women want to be able to be independent, equal under the law, and empowered, as well as to have a man with whom they can have a meaningful relationship. For this reason, Feminism today has various components and elements, to which some ascribe and others do not. It is a large umbrella that covers some but not others. So in one sense the Women's Movement has succeeded: women now have equal opportunity in the workforce, higher education, and the political process. Socially, they are seemingly less restricted -- as seen in the major social issue of the era, abortion rights, which Friedan and others took to heart. Friedan founded the National Association for the Repeal of Abortion Laws -- a repeal that was granted by the Supreme Court in 1973. While all of this was viewed as a victory for those who had marched under the banner of, among other things, a woman's "right to choose," it did not necessarily mean that women were any more independent than they were before. In fact, the backlash against "women's lib," as it was often called, has been noted by Dorian Lynskey; women have, it seems, been targeted more than their male counterparts:

Every risk a male artist takes by speaking out about politics goes double for a woman. During the Vietnam War, it was Joan Baez, not Dylan or Phil Ochs, who was viciously caricatured in a nationally syndicated comic strip (Al Capp's Joanie Phoanie), and no anti-war celebrity was as vilified as Jane Fonda. All the flak caught by John Lennon during his activist phase hit Yoko Ono, one of the very first musicians to write politically feminist songs, even harder.

Just as blacks like Malcolm X were vilified for stepping out of line by WASP elitists (even though many whites supported civil rights), women in the front of the protest ranks received the brunt of the counter-attack against revolutionary doctrine. Unlike the Black Panthers who went on to foster Black Liberation Theology (modeled after Gustavo Gutierrez's Latin American liberation doctrine), the Feminist Movement failed to identify itself according to its own terms. The culture-clash, instead, resulted in any woman of independence being labeled a "dyke," as RadicalLesbian notes.

However, such labeling is changing today, too. A new generation of men and women educated in universities where speakers like Ginsburg and Steinhem have visited now view Feminism as a legitimate discourse and are more accepting of differences, as various media make them more common in entertainment (Orange is the New Black makes lesbianism more mainstream, as does The L Word, and many other shows). The point is not that Feminism is about celebrating homosexuality or sexuality at all, but rather that there should be equality for all -- and that means equality between men and women, without one having the right to dictate policy for the other (such as a woman's reproductive methods).

Feminism has also entered into the economic and religious spheres in today's world, where social outreach is often an element of Christian evangelization. Here, Feminism is also taking root.

Ada Maria Isasi-Diaz's (1999) concept of "evangelical poverty" grows out of her combination of feminist theory with Liberation Theology, which she unites to form mujerista theology. It is not just a theology for women, but rather one by women. A mujerista is a liberator, a helper of Latina women, and mujerista theology is a designed to give voice to women and the Latino communities in which they live. Ada Maria Isasi-Diaz took up this struggle more than a quarter of a century ago, when she first enrolled in the feminist movement: "I was born a feminist on Thanksgiving weekend, 1975, when over one thousand Roman Catholic women met to insist on the right of women to be ordained to a renewed priestly ministry in our church" (Isasi-Diaz, 1999, p. 16). This movement was a communal experience for Isasi-Diaz: It made her feel that she was finally part of something truly revolutionary, something actually making a stand. If the Catholic Church introduced her to the idea of salvation, the feminist movement introduced her to the idea that salvation could be achieved through solidarity with the oppressed and the lifting up of the voice.

Thus, Isasi-Diaz (1999) can write such things as, "I cannot conceptualize liberation apart from salvation; I cannot think of justice apart from grace; I cannot think of being kin to God, of being part of God's kin without being in solidarity with the poor and the oppressed" (p. 203). For Isasi-Diaz, the Kingdom of God is no longer a spiritual place, where one unites oneself to Christ but instead it is a "kin-dom of God," where one unites oneself to a particular social group and participates in that group's "struggle for justice" (p. 203). What is most important for Isasi-Diaz is not exactly the shedding of the Old Man and the putting on of Christ, as St. Paul teaches. For Isasi-Diaz, the most important part of being a Christian and striving toward "evangelical poverty" is, rather, almost the opposite: She emphasizes the importance of getting in touch with one's body, of undergoing "a process of self-identification and self-definition." Her theology, it may be said, is not based so much on the Person of Christ as it is on the person of one's self. It is, in other words, self-directed rather than God-directed. It is inward looking rather than outward looking. It is meant to achieve a kind of social revolution among men rather than a spiritual union with God. As she herself states, the modern world has "failed the poor and the oppressed" (p. 4). "Evangelical poverty" is one way of addressing that failure: it calls for simple people to unite themselves to the poor and dedicate themselves to giving support, voice, and most importantly an example of how life should be lived. Here, Feminism intertwines with religion to produce a new effect in today's world.

But Feminism is also seen in today's academic world, where questions of sexuality and gender have grown out of the Feminist movement, which began with women's rights and women's empowerment. Today, there are gender theorists who have developed new perspectives on the question of identity.

In the past, gender theorists found it difficult to construct a female identity wholly indifferent to the meaning of sexuality and the phallus. They argued that the problem resided in cultural imperatives foisted upon women throughout all ages. They advocated a "radical repudiation of a culturally constructed sexuality" -- as Buter (1990) states: "If there is no radical repudiation of a culturally constructed sexuality, what is left is the question of how to acknowledge and 'do' the construction one is invariably in" (p. 31). Power dynamics played an underlying role in the "cultural construction" -- but the insurmountable obstacle loomed large, even for Butler. This obstacle was wrapped up in the mystery of womanhood, of the female self. What was woman? One had to know what one wanted to "become" before one could actually become it. In this sense, the overall philosophy of Simone de Beauvoir and Betty Friedan is still alive in Feminist academic circles because they are attempting to define what it means to be a woman. This is, of course, much more of a theoretical approach to Feminism than some see necessary. Leaders like Steinhem suggest that the issue is not something that needs much theory but is rather self-evident -- it is at bottom about a woman's right to choose for herself what she wants.

As academics and scholars attempt to forge new pathways in Feminist and Gender studies, others attempt to forge paths for Feminism in their own ways. Whether they are actors on television or musicians performing on stage or stand-up comedians or talk-show hosts like Chelsea Handler, Feminists are gaining ground in popular culture and shaping the way the next generation thinks because their views are spreading in so many different ways. Their views may not be as out-and-out Feminist as someone like Ginsburg or Steinhem, but the ideas of these Feminist leaders are most likely to have been ingrained in the artists conception and permeate the perspective of the comedian or the talk-show host or the singer.