Women´s History Month & What It Really Means to be a Feminist
It should come as no surprise that the true meaning of the word ‘feminism’ has become somewhat skewed over time. The mere utterance of the word results in the occasional side glance, as it has been overused and under-taught, especially in recent years. With March being Women’s History Month, it is only right that we take the opportunity to reclaim and redefine the word feminism by explaining what it is - and of course - what it definitely isn’t.
Feminism can be simply defined as the advocacy of women’s rights based on equality. And no, this does not mean that you have to be a woman to support feminism. One of the main reasons why feminism has such negative connotations is because many believe that we have already arrived at the equality that feminism advocates for, but recent debates over inequities between men and women, like the wage gap for example, say otherwise.
Fearless Girl, (pictured above), has served as a symbol of attaining gender equality since her iconic debut in 2017. The number 681 that appears behind the Fearless Girl represents the 681 publicly-traded companies worldwide that did not have any women on their boards who have added at least one woman since Fearless Girl made her historic appearance in front of the Wall Street Bull Statue in New York City. The flowers that appear behind her are meant to represent the importance of growing the number of women in senior leadership positions. The campaign was led by the State Street Global Advisors company, the founding company of the Fearless Girl concept.
With things like the gender wage gap and the lack of women in senior positions, it is easy to question what changes, if any, have been made to address the problem. According to PayScale, “In 2019, women earn 79 cents for every dollar earned by men. This figure is representative of the uncontrolled — or “raw” gender pay gap, which looks at the median salary for all men and women regardless of job type or worker seniority”. So where exactly does feminism fit into all of this?
Today’s feminist movement bares many differences in comparison to early pushes for gender equality. Regarded as the founders of the women’s movement, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and abolitionist, Lucretia Mott, brought their fight for women’s suffrage to the forefront of conversation at the Seneca Falls Convention in 1848. It was not until 1920, that the 19th Amendment would be passed, declaring that, “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex”.
The fight for women’s equality went well into the 20th century and continues today. Those typically associated with the modern-day feminist movement are plentiful, but often go overlooked. Of these men and women, congresswoman, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, stands out as an outspoken critic of the Trump administration, and is widely known for her advocacy of women and minority rights. In one of Cortez’s more recent statements, her and feminist activist, Ana Maria Archilla, wore Suffragette white to Trump’s highly-anticipated state of the union address. The pair wore badges bearing the statement: “Well behaved women seldom make history.”
In March of 1987, the National Women's History Project pushed Congress to pass legislation designating the month of March as Women’s History Month. Since then, the feminist movement has grown and changed, but its goal has remained the same: to give women the opportunity that we have been denied throughout history. Feminism does not have a look, nor can it be defined by a single word or phrase. Instead, feminism stems from a larger movement - it comes from the fight to break the barriers put in place by the years of women’s perceived inferiority to men in terms of ability and intelligence. Feminism is a movement meant to topple the gender hierarchy created and maintained throughout history and make way for the equality promised to so many, but seen by so few.
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