Feminism is still relevant today because the gender inequality between men and women persists. The focus of this paper is to bring an awareness to problems that women are still facing and the equal rights that they deserve. Feminisms goal does not only focus on equality for women but equality in humanity. To argue about this statement, I will use three points, including: women’s underrepresentation in politics, continues violence against women and the mainstream medias representation of women. However, feminism has been the reason many women can vote, get education etc. To support my argument, I will use various articles, sources, graphs and photos to show the ongoing gender inequality.
The feminist movement goes way back in the history starting
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Women’s underrepresentation in politics has been an ongoing issue in the todays world. Feminism is one the main reasons women can get an education. However, with more women likely to be enrolled in college than men, there is still a continued underrepresentation of women in leadership roles throughout the society (McKenna 2007, 7). The inequality has lead women into stepping back and not considering much for themselves. There are many reasons behind the underrepresentation that women hold in politics. Since the early times, women have been told to be stay at home moms, do the cooking, the cleaning, care for the elders and the children. Women are expected to be caring wives and moms, delicate and quiet. They are not seen to be powerful, independent and strong. Women will feel less inclined to consider the idea of running for office until someone suggests it to them; even at that point the thought of not being qualified enough will cross their minds (Why Aren’t There …show more content…
2014). The gender gap in representation is morally unacceptable and can affect the society (Mckenna 2007, 7). Women have earned 57 percent of undergraduate degrees and 60 percent of the master’s degrees in the US (Preece and Stoddard 2015, 296). Yet, 24 percent of the state legislative seats, 20 percent of elected congressional offices and 10 percent of the governorship are women in the US (Preece and Stoddard 2015, 296). Political gender differences in leadership ambition show that women are more likely to step aside from competitive work setting (Preece and Stoddard 2015, 297). Women tend to not have the drive to compete against men or pursue a career that requires a competitive personality. One of the reasons they shy away from political careers is the competitive nature of it “Priming women to consider the competitive nature of politics significantly decreases their interest in learning about running for office” (Preece and Stoddard 2015, 307). However, some studies show that even when there are many women participating in politics, the parties will decide who get elected. For example: consider Canada,
Most men and women today believe that we do not need feminism, that the world is fine. Sorrowfully they are far from being accurate. We don’t need feminism because it is about genders, we need it because it is about our society’s humanity. Women all around the world are denied basic human rights simply by the fact they are women which is absurd. For instance,
However, the female participation in politics is a staggeringly low number, thus in the Global Gender Gap report of 2016, it ranked Canada 35 out of 144 countries (Forum,2016). Having Canadian women more involved in politics ensures that different perspectives and opinions are represented where it matters the most, in the government that organizes and creates all the legislations. Policies such as abortion rights should not be determined by men, but by women who can relate to or understand the grounds of the rights. The barriers that women face can easily be diminished with effort. The media can do its part and treat female politicians like they treat their male counterparts, based on their proposed policies and not by what they may be wearing at the time. Families and society itself need to drop the “traditional family” model and realize that modern families share responsibilities so that both parents can strive in their respected careers. Lastly women themselves need to be reminded that if they have the right qualifications, they could go as far as they want, specifically in politics. By becoming a politician, they could still be a good wife and/or mother, but their self-perception needs to be improved by those around them who need to encourage them. Female politicians would be beneficial for everyone in a community, as the standard of who can lead a country changes and people realize that women are capable and qualified as
All across the world there are major political parties fighting in each country in order to take control of their government. The United States of America is not an exception, as the Democratic and Republican parties compete against each other in every election in order to gain control of the US Government. These two political parties are the most popular and powerful in the US, there are very popular that other political parties have no chance on competing against these two in an election race. In order to win elections the parties need the vote of the people, the parties need for every gender to vote for them in order to have a chance in winning the election. Both parties need the vote of the men and woman, but these genders tend to vote differently. There has been different studies in which they state, that in some aspects of politics woman tend to vote differently than men. The two parties are different in many aspects but they are also similar in fact that they both need to vote of the woman and the men in order to win the election. In the next paper I will show the history of this two major political parties, and how women tend to vote differently than men.
The most related terms when women’s right is brought up are feminism and feminist. A feminist, by definition, is someone the fights for feminism. The definition of feminism, one the other hand, is very complex. Throughout history, the word has continuously had bad images and connotations thrown its wa...
Feminism is a perspective that views gender as one of the most important bases of the structure and organization of the social world. Feminists argue that in most known societies this structure has granted women lower status and value, more limited access to valuable resources, and less autonomy and opportunity to make choices over their lives than it has granted men. (Sapiro 441)
One major factor in why women did not reach equality in America in the past century was their underrepresentation in local, state, and federal politics. Between 1917, when Jeanette Rankin became the first woman to serve in the United States Congress, and 2000, only 219 women have been elected as US representatives or senators. Of these, only 28 have been women of color. In contrast, in the 20th century over a thousand men served in Congress, and 132 men of color. In the 106th United States Congress (which met from 1999-2001) only 58 of the 535 legislators were women, and only 18 were women of color. As a result, laws that benefitted women faced heavy opposition before they could be passed. In addition, women made up the minority of Supreme Court justices and presidential cabinet members at every point in the 20th century, and of the 15 presidents...
Feminist theory looks beyond the common male based perspectives and focuses on women’s perspectives and their roles within society. The feminist theory is still relevant in today’s society. In fact, feminism and the feminist theory will be relevant for as long as there is inequality in this world. For example, according to the United States Department of Labor, women still make 78 cents for every dollar men make, on average, in every career field. Additionally, violence against women is still a prevalent problem today. For instance, one in three women are victims of physical and sexual violence often committed by intimate partners. These statistics are higher in countries where women are treated and seen as property of their husbands. Lastly, reproductive rights are an important step to creating equality. Laws need to protect the rights of women to have freedom over their bodies in the way that men have control over
This phenomenon can be explained with feminist theories which focuses on inequality of power between men and women in terms of unequal distribution of political power. The best example of this inequality are numbers that speak for themselves. The US has never had a women president in the history, and even though women comprise majority of U.S population, their number in political offices are significantly lower than men. The reason behind underrepresentation of women in politics lies in the notion that women are not strong enough to hold a powerful position. Because of women 's underrepresentation a lot of men’s issues and policies are over-emphasized, while women’s concerns remain unattended. However, women’s concerns and policies often don’t just affect women, but the entire families. For instance, the issue of child care or maternal leave. In many families, one parent (in most cases women) is forced to leave the job and take care of a child due to the lack of childcare, or very short maternal leave. Strengthening women’s right and addressing barriers to political participation are critical to achieving gender equality and women empowerment. I believe that the issue of low number of women in politics is just a fragment of a much larger issue of inequality relating to political, economic, and social status. Some of the solutions to the problem include increasing women participation and leadership in civil society by providing skill building and leadership training for women. Women should join activists groups advocating for women’s right and equality on many different platforms. Equal pay, equal access to certain job positions would also facilitate equality that would increase the number of women in political positions. Most importantly, more women should vote since we create the majority of US population, and if women unite and vote they will have a
To many, it may come as no surprise that men have historically, and to this date, held the majority of positions in the United States government. As of July, 2014 women comprise 18.8% of the 113th congress (Congressional Research Service, 2014), an all-time record high. Although we have come a great distance since the first congressional session, women should by no means be content with this statistic. However, it appears that the presence of a few successful women, such as Hillary Clinton, in high profile jobs, has become a tool used by corporations to conceal the discrimination nearly every woman faces when maneuvering up the hierarchy in a job that falls outside of gender appropriate occupations (Jackson,
Throughout history, women have remained subordinate to men. Subjected to the patriarchal system that favored male perspectives, women struggled against having considerably less freedom, rights, and having the burdens society placed on them that had so ingrained the culture. This is the standpoint the feminists took, and for almost 160 years they have been challenging the “unjust distribution of power in all human relations” starting with the struggle for equality between men and women, and linking that to “struggles for social, racial, political, environmental, and economic justice”(Besel 530 and 531). Feminism, as a complex movement with many different branches, has and will continue to be incredibly influential in changing lives. Feminist political ideology focuses on understanding and changing political philosophies for the betterment of women.
Feminism is defined as the theory of the political, economic, and social equality of the sexes. It began as an organized activity on behalf of women?s rights and interests. This concept was developed to help women earn a place in a predominantly male society. Unfortunately over the years, the intentions of feminism have become distorted, not only by anti-feminists, but also by the feminists themselves. The principle of equality for women and men has turned into a fight in which feminists wish to be better than men. Feminism has been twisted and misunderstood so much that it has become a harmful idea.
A major way in which women have a lower status in society than men can be seen through women in politics. There are three major key areas of women in politics which focus of these points these consist of the attitudes towards women in politics, how women are represented thought the eyes of the law and through their occupational activity. It is not unknown that women are drastically misrepresented in Irish politics today. According to the Central Statistics Office (CSO, 2013) the amount of women TDs stand at 25 compared to 141 male TDs. That roughly estimates out that just 15 per cent of Dáil member are women. This major misrepresenta...
Secondly, gender quotas imply that several women together are in a committee or assembly, thus minimizing the stress experienced by the token women. Thirdly, quotas create an even ground for women's participation in politics as equal citizens. Fourth, women's experience is also needed in politics, therefore, men cannot represent all women's interests, and only women can represent the diversity of women, therefore election should not be about qualifications but about representation. Dahlerup argues that women are just as qualified as men, but in many cases women's qualifications are downgraded and minimized in a male-dominated political system, therefore quotas do not discriminate against men but rather limit the tendency of political parties to nominate men only. Previous literature reveals that it is easier to use quotas in proportional systems than in majoritarian systems which force the party to only supply one candidate for a constituency. In post-conflict countries, pressure has been put on actors of reconstruction to take effective measures to include women (Dahlerup 2005, 148). It has also been concluded that quotas are not easy to implement in a case where they are not legal. It is also important to remember that quotas do not remove all barriers for women in politics as stigmatization of women politicians may increase in quota systems( Dahlerup 2005,
As we know, gender is a classification acquire at birth. Then gender comes with a role in society, but some stereotypes are attributed to each gender. As for women, they still have to fight for themselves to occupy those “so called men positions”. One of these areas of struggle is politics. In the US, they had to fight for equal treatment in politics by winning the right to vote and seat and talk politics with men, but genders stereotypes about women running for politics still exist around the world.
ranks 50th in the world for women’s participation in politics with women holding just 23