Does The Failure to Take Advantage of a Freedom Devalue It?

Question

Women have won the right to vote.

Women have won equal opportunities in the workplace.

Women with appropriate grades can enter higher education or the same basis that men do.

Yet many women choose not to vote, many also prefer to stay at home and raise children.

Such women come in for harsh criticism from time to time for not taking advantage of these freedoms which have been very hard won, and very recently won.

Is it important to take advantage of these freedoms, simply because they are there?

Are they devalued when they are not taken advantage of?

If you were part of the early feminist movement that won these rights, what are your views towards those that have on interest in exercising them?

Answer 1

You see a woman staying at home as a failure to take advantage of the freedom to work

I see it as a woman taking advantage of her freedom to run a household if she wants to

Thats the point of freedom, to have choices, if every woman worked it wouldn't be a freedom, it would be a neccessity

Answer 2

Well, I certainly wasn't around in 1920 when women got the right to vote, but I was very glad that they definitely paved the way for me to have that right.  

I don't understand those who will not vote.  Why? Because voting isn't about winning or losing, it's about making your voice heard in a sanctioned way to make a difference.  It's also about taking responsibility and showing accountability. Perhaps the reasons why some women and men don't vote is because they don't want the latter two? Well, way I see it, if you don't vote you have no right to complain....

I was only 12 in 1973 when Roe V Wade was passed, and while I could never have an abortion myself, I definitely do support the right for a woman to choose to do so if she needed to. I'm not "pro abortion" but "pro choice."  it's too bad people can't appreciate the difference.

and BTW NONE of things has anything to do with women prefering to stay home and raise children.  SAHMS of all people have the time to be advocates and activists and can help make a difference...more so than women with full time careers...and that is EXACTLY what I did when I was a SAHM!  I was involved in a number of community efforts, and I even marched in protests back then...with my daughter in tow.  :)

If one isn't careful, then it is possible that if too many people don't utilize their freedoms, they could be lost due to the underhandedness of those people and entities who want to take those freedoms away.  Our Constitutional rights are being chipped away all the time...and it's done through smoky backroom politics in addition to initiatives and ballot measures with doublespeak and tricky reading.

Answer 3

"Is it important to take advantage of these freedoms, simply because they are there? Are they devalued when they are not taken advantage of?"

I think so. Granted, no one can force another person to vote or become educated, but if I heard about a group of African-Americans taking out a classified ad and expressing their wish to be "owned" by white farmers again, I think I would react in disgust, as well.

Answer 4

Many people don't vote - why I don't understand frankly I figure if you didn't vote you aren't entitled to complain about who is in office. I am  a stay at home mama, why?? I choose to have the kids its my job to raise them. I vote and encourage all who can to do so, its what keeps this country free.

I believe people should make very educated choices not just letting the media influence their minds, votes ect. One very famous News paper man said he could put which president he wanted in office every time.

I choose not to go to college not because I did not want to or would love to however I wanted to stay home with my kids and felt adding a huge school debt would hurt my family more than me having a piece of paper the wall.

However we have a high insurance policy on my husband so if something were to happen I could go back to school and take care of my family.

I believe we all make choices some for ourselves, some for the other people in our lives.

While I have been talked down to, belittled and verbally abused for being a stay at home I would not trade one moment I have with my kids, I love my life.

Answer 5

I believe that the basis of feminism is the right to choose. There are some freedoms that benefit all women, like laws against domestic violence, but there are also some that only apply to a few women. Diversity has to be respected; all women are different, and there's never going to be one path in life that works for everyone.

I'm in a D/s relationship, as the submissive, and I've often been told to remember the women in previous centuries who had no choice over their role. But the big difference here is that I feel happy and fulfilled, and I'm being true to myself. I'm grateful that I had the opportunity to choose my lifestyle.

If you have choice, then you have freedom. Forcing someone to take advantage of their rights kind of devalues the very nature of freedom.

Answer 6

How do you think the Founding Fathers feel about all those white guys out there who don't vote? There's just as many men who don't vote as women.

Seriously, it's about the biggest freedom of all: the choice to do what you want to do, rather than what someone else expects you to do. What you're talking about is another kind of oppression, wearing a different hat.

Answer 7

Feminists fought for the right to choose what to do with their lives; choosing to be a stay-at-home mom is a choice now, and not an obligation.  If a woman knows that she has choices and chooses to stay home and raise a family, it's because she wants to now, not because her father or boyfriend or husband will force her to.  

I should point out- there are more female college students than male students in the US, and voter turnout is abysmal among both genders.

Answer 8

This is one of the issues I've had with some feminists who impose their idea of freedom for ALL women.

I think that the sense of freedom is personal to each individual. Freedom can be so many things... choosing to be a SAHM and caring for one's family/household, or striving towards succeeding in a career, or a marriage of both...it can be simply living day by day and enjoying the present, or doing volunteer work in one's own or other countries, and so on...

I am very grateful for the women who struggled so that I would have rights and decide the kind of life that I want to live. Their efforts were not futile, otherwise, we wouldn't even be having this discussion.  :-P

On a personal note, I don't look down upon women (nor men) who don't vote, however, it annoys me when people are not actively involved nor concerned with the political processes of their country, then sit around complaining about their government. Yet, that is their choice, isn't it?

Whether or not I agree with others, I will defend their rights to choose.

"Taking advantage" of available freedoms includes (among other things) - being able to choose and not be subjected to others and their idea of freedom... in my opinion.

Answer 9

No, feminism is supposed to be about choice. It gave women the right to CHOOSE what they want to do.

Answer 10

well, i wasn't a part of the early feminist movement, but it seems to me they fought for the right to choose.  to choose not to work or vote or anything else is still choosing...

that said, i do wish more would vote... it is the only way to equal representation in my humble opinion.

Answer 11

When I didn't vote for a few years I felt incredible guilty. I think people should vote and women who don't exercize this right are fools.

Staying at home is a different story. That is a choice a woman makes. Raising kids and taking care of a home is just like having any job and women have the right to choose their job.

My problem is woman who choose to be uninformed, powerless and submissive because they are afraid to be strong and independent. That is really a slap in the face to the early feminists who fought so hard for freedom.

Answer 12

The greatest freedom of all is the freedom of choice. To say that just because something is possible to do means that it must be done is limiting freedom in much the same way that it would to say that it can't be done.

Voting, for example, is not something that anyone should feel pressured to do. If there isn't a candidate that you feel comfortable with/agree with, then you shouldn't vote. Choosing the lesser of two evils just ensures that things will get more and more evil.

Answer 13

I think the original idea was that there would be choice...and I am all for choice...