Feminism Thoughts

I thought I'd try posting this topic, as First E includes feminism as one of its founding principles, yet there are different understandings of what feminism is. To me, feminism is the belief that all human beings, regardless of sex or gender, are equal and should be treated as equals; and it is also the movement on behalf of that belief. It is an international movement that, over time and across generations and nations, has expanded past sex and gender to encompass race, sexuality, ethnicity, age, class and more.

One might ask, why have a movement if there's nothing to move against? Don't we have equality now, at least here in the U.S.? My response is that the society we live in is entrenched with traditions and practices that are founded on sexism. It is a system founded on patriarchy, where the father or eldest male is head of the household, and has authority over women and children. However, it is not just the family - our entire society has been based on this system - the government, the education system, religion, etc.

I recently heard a morning radio show where two individuals called in with opposing views on whether a woman should take a man's name upon marriage. The person in favor of this practice did not provide any supporting reasons other than "tradition". He was vehement in his support, but he was not able to articulate the reason for it. For me, tradition is not enough of a reason to do anything. I do not agree with the practice of a woman turning over her identity upon marriage. I can, however see other possible reasons (cohesiveness for the family, less confusion for kids, other parents, teachers, pride in one's connection to a new partner, etc.), but I think these reasons are just more examples of how intrinsically patriarchy is tied into our culture. It is difficult for partners not to have the same name because that is how our system expects a family to work and has allowed a family to function.

We have many such "traditions" in our society, most of which are not visible to us because we are too close to them. We can look at another culture's practices, like the hijab, the head covering traditionally worn by Muslim women in Islamic cultures, and deem them sexist. With an outsider's viewpoint, we do not see the

It is my belief that the words of the Declaration of Independence, "all men (sic) are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights," along with the many movements leading up to their writing, have enabled future generations to expand upon these words and attain the rights that we now enjoy today. But they had to be fought for, over centuries, and they continue to be fought for, over and over again, as we work towards that IDEAL. It is an ideal that all people are created equally, one that we've yet to fully recognize.