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Awakening to Feminism

I had not believed that feminism had any real relevance to my own life until I decided to attend college. I am old enough to have an appreciation of the changes that the women's movement has made possible, but I did not think of myself as a feminist. I did not believe I needed to. However, I have come to realize the importance for every woman of accepting and embracing the label. Feminism may not be the popular cause it was when I was still too young to embrace the movement, but I believe that women of all ages and all situations must stop thinking of it as a meaningless or distasteful term. Feminism is as relevant and important to women's lives as when it was first coined.

According to a recent Time telephone poll, more than two-thirds of American women do not consider themselves feminists (58). While they acknowledge that feminism is important in a broad, abstract way, they do not think of it as personally important. Even among those willing to accept the label, only 58 percent consider it to be relevant to their own lives. Feminism seems to be viewed by most women as a historical artifact: the war is over, women have won equal rights, and they now have more immediate concerns.

Yet women still earn an average of 75 percent of the wages earned by men performing equal work. They occupy few real positions of power in government or business. Top performers in show business, professional sports, and other entertainment fields are almost exclusively male. Divorce still typically leaves women struggling financially while enriching their husbands, especially when the couple has children.

Part of the problem is with the term itself. The stereotypical "feminist" is a strident, man-hating political activist. This figure is too concerned with opposition to share any of the more mundane concerns of most women. In this view, a feminist is so busy picketing all-male clubs that she has no time to worry about whether she c...

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Awakening to Feminism. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 11:45, March 29, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1689790.html