Seriously, why is feminism needed today?

Question

50 years ago feminism might have been useful because women had less rights than men. They couldn't vote, couldn't join the millitary, go to college, pursue a carrer, be in sports, couldn't even work, etc.

But now in present day society, women CAN do all those things now. They now have the same political and legal rights as men. So why do I keep hearing them b*tch moan and complain?

Feminists please tell me, how and where are women still being "opressed"?

If you ask me, feminism today is more about special treatment and double standards for women.

Answer 1

Because McDonalds still have toys for boys in their Happy Meals, the feminist will not rest until all boys are treated like little girls.

Answer 2

^---------Everyone is still beat, raped and abused, not just women.



I really don't think is needed in the west anymore.

Really, they always act as if they where oppressed here, but when you ask, that say that is more about the women in muslim countries.

Maybe JUST MAYBE, they are trying to now protect what they have done, some believe that, the rights will be gone if they don't keep it up, but the government needs them to work so it will not.

And yeah double standards are starting to appear, but this is not work of them all.

I know, that people(not just women) in the middle east are suffering more than we do, but for the government to listen to you, and treat women better is hard.

If not impossible, because i guess that most Muslim women follow their religion and traditions.

Answer 3

You are way off on your history. Please don't feed the machine of ignorance known as feminism with your lack of insight.

They still have to acquire one last thing to have a collectivized society that they want. The last remaining thing is government funded daycare.

Answer 4

You're wrong on all of those points; beginning with July 3 1848 was the date of the very first Women's Convention held in Seneca NY; concluding with the right to vote in 1919; thus the 19th Amendment.  Now let's see all what happened before that.** 1707 Henrietta Johnston begins to work as a portrait artist in Charles Town (now Charleston), South Carolina, making her the first known professional woman artist in America.**1766 Mary Katherine Goddard and her widowed mother become publishers of the Providence Gazette newspaper and the annual West's Almanack, making her the first woman publisher in America. In 1775, Goddard became the first woman postmaster in the country (in Baltimore), and in 1777 she became the first printer to offer copies of the Declaration of Independence that included the signers' names. In 1789 Goddard opened a Baltimore bookstore, probably the first woman in America to do so. **1830s Mills in industrial towns such as Lowell, Massachusetts, are staffed almost entirely by young women. These “mill girls” have a kind of independence their mothers could not have imagined. They earn their own money and live together in boardinghouses. They also take part in strikes and other actions by organized labor.

Now a bit about a lack of education. **1824 The first public high school for girls opens in Worcester, Massachusetts.  **1837 Oberlin College, in Ohio, becomes the first college to admit female students. In addition to studying, the women have to do laundry and cook meals for the male students.

**1837 The Mount Holyoke Female Seminary, in Massachusetts, is created to provide higher education to women. Most of its early graduates became teachers.**Not to mention that John often asked Abigail for advice and held her in very high regard and she for a woman in her time had a splendid education.  Read up on her and see.

Looks like those colonial women were doing all right for themselves; I understand the no need for Feminists.  Especially, when they want us to believe how hard put those women were.  Women are still beat, raped and abused right and left even today.  I'm quite certain a colonial father wouldn't have taken kindly to it; like they want us to.  That thing they have going about women being afraid of their shadows back then I'd like them to say that to Margaret Brent.  By the way they call her a Feminist; now get this the term was coined in the States circa 1906. http://www.feminist.com/askamy/feminism/...

Answer 5

i actually think you're somewhat right. Most women are equal to men, some still aren't but that's usually for some other reason, racism is still about in the west too, don't forget that, i hate it when some black people (not all) say, '...it's cuz im black...' it's soo retarded.

Answer 6

women are being oppressed in the majority of the world. Just because there isn't as much of it in Europe or the US doesn't mean it's not there. In India and China, many girls still have next to no rights, some are sold or killed when they are born. In some middle eastern and african countries, they still circumcise girls (which is much more painful than if a guy got circumcised after puberty). There is honor kill which is killing girls who have been raped and stoning girls to death for being "promiscuous." Even in the US women are not completely equal. Can a woman become the president? she's either too manly so she doesn't have emotions or too emotional like a typical woman to go into politics. Oh and if you look up statistics, there are A LOT fewer rich successful women than men. The median wage for women in the US is a lot less than men too. Of course we can't forget domestic violence which is mostly committed by the husband against the wife. There is rarely a case of a wife beating the husband. Some people in this country still think it's ok to "discipline" their wife. And despite what you see on Law and Order, the police and society is not doing much to stop these crimes in the US. Also, the majority of the women in western world have to take care of their kids and family when they work while the majority of men do not because that's still how society view women. So, I'd say women are not being treated completely equal.

Answer 7

We still aren't treated equally. In the UK the Anglican church has only just voted in favor of ordaining female bishops in the last month.

Answer 8

I'm all for feminism in the Middle East, let's send all the feminists over there posthaste. Then everyone wins.

Answer 9

to make playing field biased towards, unattractive and non talented women. basicly the genetic defects

Answer 10

Well, yeah, we can study, we can vote, we can be voted, however there's a wage gap, a minority on political representation and women still be judged if they pursue their projects because is expected women put first family over their life, so we can do so much things, but we still dreaming with have same opportunities.

Plus, I want the right of not being called a b*tch if I complain.

Answer 11

it's just an excuse. so we feel sorry for women and give in to their every need and want.

Answer 12

Go Google Ledbetter v. Goodyear. That's why.

Answer 13

How: By not being allowed to vote, drive, or show any amount of skin.

Where: Saudi Arabia and elsewhere.

You're only thinking of women in the West.

EDIT: This isn't about spreading an ideology. This is about condemning the policies of a country that is widely known to violate human rights.

Answer 14

That's a good question. I have no idea. Here in the U.S. we have every right that a man does. I don't see anything to complain about.

Now, on the other hand, there are still places where women are not treated as equals. The middleeast and Africa are probably the greatest examples of this. There's a huge need for some sort of help for the women of those countries.

Answer 15

To spread more lies and propaganda.

Answer 16

There are women being unjustly treated and undervalued in their homes, on the streets, in their workplaces and in the courts every day and their gender pays a major part in many of these specific incidents. There are many, many women who are underpaid, given limited chances in life and/or subject to abuse, globally and in this country. Men suffer such things too and women suffer them for a variety of other reasons as well. But it is a fact of life that a woman is widely considered less capable than a man, less deserving of fair judgment, less worthy of opportunity and less worthy of authority, because she is a woman. If she was a man, doing the exact same thing, she would be judged/treated quite differently. This is totally obvious to a vast majority of women for the simple reason that they experience their own treatment as a blatant injustice.

The fact that so many men act without considering all this is probably the biggest part of the problem. People generally are asked to put their priorities elsewhere. Well, some people don't feel able to do that or they refuse to do it. They refuse to ignore the injustices they see and experience.

The injustices and harm women experience cannot be prevented adequately unless the role of their social identity as women (that's 'gender') is recognised. That is why this issue (gender) needs special investigation and action. Whether the people who do this are called 'feminists' or not is really not so important as the overall contributions they make to justice. People do this because they care instinctively about it.

I hope you feel that this answers your questions.

I'll leave it at that because as a reader I personally find it difficult to follow a long series of answers in which multiple questions on multiple issues have been addressed and this makes it difficult to give appropriate feedback or make a more considered response.