Feminism is the movement for women’s rights in order to have gender equality. There is a long history behind the act of feminism, plus today, feminism still exists and more that we can do to help.
History of Feminism
Before, womens didn’t have the same rights as mens did, they couldn’t vote, couldn’t get education, weren’t seen as independent etc. The movement all started on about July 19 or 20, 1848, in New York, Seneca Falls, led by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott. Both men and women came in order to discuss social, civil, religious conditions and women's rights. Stanton and Mott vowed to work towards a society where women's voices can be heard and where they can be as equal as men were. At the time, there was also the movement against slavery, so the feminism movement was overheard, but Stanton and Mott still continued to fight for women’s right.
Introduced at the Senate convention, the Declaration of Sentiments and Grievances drafted by Stanton, which was closely modeled to the Declaration of Independence with the addition to add women, proclaiming with a whole speech about how, “We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal..” and the injustice, inequalities and invisibility that women in American have to face. The speech ended with a call to action, hoping that other womens would organize and fight for equality. Luckily, on the second day, the declaration was approved by the assembly, as well as passed 12 resolutions that focused on equal rights for women, including one that allowed women to vote, which was the beginning of when they were allowed to.
These conventions were later held annually, focusing on women’s voices. After 70 years of fighting for suffrage for women, in 1920, Congress finally passed the 19th amendments, which finally allowed women to vote.
But that didn’t end feminism, during the great depression, many males lost their jobs, so womens decided to enter the workplace, getting jobs such as housewives, teaching, and secretarial careers. Unfortunately, women were paid a lot less than men were. When World War II came, women joined the military and other positions that were previously known as the “mans job.” This helped them as they sought for greater participation when working, allowing them to get the same amount men received for working. Fortunately in 1963, there was the Equal Pay Act, which confronted this issue. Unfortunately, we still have such issues today with the lack of pay women’s get.
Things didn’t quite change here, in 1963 a publication by Betty Friedan called “The Feminine Mystique” claimed that women were still seen in positions, such as house worker and child care. From this time, people started calling feminism “Women’s liberation” People then started to fight for the Equal Rights Amendments, which was meant for womens to have equality and ban discrimination on the basis of sex. This lasted for nearly a century, as it was passed by congress in 1972 but was never and till this day isn’t fully law in the constitution.
Feminism Today
Whether you expected it or not, feminism still exists till this day. Sure, women are allowed to vote, we get quite a few women representative shows now, and women are now seen as quite independent ,but that doesn’t mean feminism has ended. There are still things such as internalized misogyny meaning minimal value in women, and that nearly 1 in 5 women experience either attempted or completed rape in their lives, these are things we still need to work on and improve. To do so, we shouldn’t look down on other women thinking we’re more or less feminine than others and doing things or saying things that can be sensitive to a girl, such as making fun of things/shaming people because of body size, makeup, puberty etc, we atleast have to try and stop ourselves before saying things like this as it can be hurtful to them. We should also listen to them if they say someone has done something bad to them and take it seriously, not judging them.
Take into account that the definition of feminism has kind of “lost its meanings” over the years, of course, it’s still about equality for females but some people who claim to be a feminist, think that they’re better than men, and while being a feminist is fighting for women’s right, but the initial idea is for there to be gender equality, “...where women's voices can be heard and where they can be as equal as men were.” As I stated earlier, keypoint being “as equal as men [are]”. Sure, men might not have to deal with the problems women face, but women shouldn’t feel like they are dominant to men, just because of the history there is, toxic masculinity is also a concept that exists (Feel free to check out our article about that). Additionally, we should also work on being more inclusive, women of color, Trans Women, etc. As cis white women are a lot more privileged than women of color and trans women get.
Final Thoughts
So, while we have definitely come a long way from the “women are just housemaid” phase, there’s still a lot more that can be done. It’s nice that now there’s things like social media, where feminist at least have some kind of platform to speak up and a voice to express themselves. We should still be mindful of what we say or do, as you could be saying something and make them feel bad about themselves for something they couldn’t control such as their looks, body, skin color etc. Sure, there will always be those people who judge others for these things, but as long as we try our best to not say such things, it can make a huge impact on feminism and gender equality. Remember, the future is up to us.