The Feminist Movement

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The Necessity of the Feminist Movement “A feminist is anyone who recognizes the equality and full humanity of women and men.” ― Gloria Steinem. Feminism is the belief that the sexes should be equal socially, politically, and economically, particularly in the case of liberating women. Throughout history, women have had to live, in a primarily male dominated world, with few rights and many fights for equality. The greatest challenge that feminists face is dealing with sexism, stereotypes, misogyny, and discrimination. Some people believe that modern day feminists are becoming increasingly radical and that feminists are unneeded in today’s society. Others believe that there are still significant inequalities in the sexes, while also accepting …show more content…

The example that the article uses to express their point is the freedom of women to or to not bare children. According to the same article, “Counterpoint: The Feminist Movement is No Longer Needed”, “A women can bear a child and nurse him/her, and a man cannot. This fundamental physiological difference between the sexes lies at the root of many other differences in the social roles men and women have played for many centuries. If, and so long as, the second function--nursing a baby--is regarded as relevant, this physiological difference can, and does, lead to different social roles inside the family and, from there, in the society.” They use this as an example of how men and women’s biology support different social roles, such as taking care of children. In my opinion, this statement about women being the “mother figure” is untrue and somewhat offensive to women and men. The fact that people still believe that women need to be the main caretaker of children, let alone even have children in the first place is absurd. Men and women are equally as capable of caring for a child. The percent of single fathers has raised from 1% to 8% since the 1960’s, likely due to the feminist movement (Quindlen 1). That fact that women are able to have children and men are not, has nothing to do with social roles in society, and thoughts like these are exactly what the feminist movement is continually working

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