Feminism as an Act of Advocating the Rights of Women - Essay Example

due: Feminism Feminism is the act of advocating the rights of women on the grounds of economic, political and social equality to men. It seeks to encourage equal opportunities for men and women in getting education and employment. One who supports or advocates the rights of a woman is generally termed as a feminist. The feminists’ movements have continually campaigned for many rights of women (Charvet 4). They include the right to vote, right to enter into contracts, right to own property by them, right to work and get equal pay as men and also right to hold public offices. Feminists have also strived to ensure that they get to promote integrity and bodily autonomy thus protecting girls and women from domestic violence, sexual harassment and rape. The feminists’ campaigns have been generally considered to result in greater historical changes. There has emerged a feminist’s theory that aims to create an understanding of sexuality, power relations and gender inequality. It also focuses on the promotion of interests and the rights of women. There are various themes that are studied when it comes to feminism; these include sexual objectification, discrimination, stereotyping, patriarchy and oppression of women. According to Elaine Showalter, the feminist’s theory has been established from three phases. The first phase is called the feminists critique, the second phase is called the gynocriticism and the third phase is called gender theory. Many movements and ideologies have emerged over the years concerning feminism. Marxists feminism argues that the main cause of oppression of women is capitalism. Capitalism is a system, either economic or political in which trade and industry in a country are controlled by private owners to benefit themselves instead of the country at large. Gender stereotypes are also used in viewing feminism. Women are always considered to be weak. This is because men are the people that always tend to do all the duties that are tiring. Men are the people who head families and that means that women are always under the influence of men. I also believe that jobs done by women cannot be compared to those that are done by men since men always come up with better work than women. I also consider females not smart when it comes to education since in most cases males top especially in the subjects that are hard. Girls are also not good in sports that boys. These are some of the assumptions that make me believe that men are always better than women. This stereotype influences my life at some point since it makes me underestimate the things that can be done by women. It also makes me lack respect for girls and women since they are weak. Televisions portray feminism in a negative way. This is because in most of the television series, women are seen to have more value in the beauty that they have, lies and also sexuality. Women are seen as people who cannot hold positions as leaders since they are seen to spend a lot of their time reading magazines, surfing the internet, and watching movies among other activities that are not considered to be helpful in the society (Fisanick 46). This show them to be weak and some series also show that women are just sex icons and they cannot survive without the help of men. These images contribute to lowering the social status of women in the society, thus they lack the respect that they deserve. In most films, females are assigned to characteristics of weak people that can only survive when there are men around. In most films women are seen to be very seductive implying that women use sex as a tool to get all that they require. Pornography is seen to undermine the woman sexuality. Women are seen to be immoral through pornography. However, the pornography contributes in degrading the dignity of women. This is because it lies about the true identity of women and what most women are after. Women are portrayed to sexually provoke men to meet their sexual fantasies but the men have no interest in satisfying the sexual desires of women. Feminism has created a social impact in various ways. Now women can make their own decisions for instance, regarding a divorce, pregnancy, have become more educated and have acquired the right to own property. Civil rights have contributed in advocating feminism. The state set rules ensuring that all citizens get equal treatment and rights without any form of the discrimination Feminism theology seeks to view scriptures, traditions, practices and religion from a feminist perspective. Its goals are to increase the role of women in religious authorities and the clergy and also other social settings. In an aim to support leadership of women in the society, feminism theology us the Bible to read scriptures that show women that were in positions of authority. Scientists argue that there are a lot of differences in the experiences of women and man. Thus, when it comes to feminism they study the differences in their experiences so as to avoid assumptions that men can easily cope harder experiences compared to women. And from the research it has been seen that women and men have pretty much the same potential to face any circumstances. Different individuals and groups of people have viewed feminism differently and hence different reactions. They have used various arguments to support or criticize feminism. Pro-feminism is the support of feminism but it doesn’t imply that the supporter is a member of the feminist movements. The term is mostly used to refer to men that are actively involved in the support of feminism. There are those who do not support feminism and they are referred to as anti-feminism (Bowden and Mummery 2009). In the education sector anti-feminists argued that women should not be admitted to institutions of higher learning because education is physically a great burden to women. Others have opposed feminism basing their arguments on religious beliefs and traditional values. Some cultures believe that men are the head of families and the responsibility of making decisions is wholly given to men (Hannam 89). This leaves women with very little freedom to make their own decisions. in such cultures leadership positions only belong to men. When men rule in everything in a social organizations cases of oppression of women are common since they are considered too weak to fight for their rights. In some societies, feminism is negatively viewed by the men who feel threatened thus; they believe that it aims to seek privileges for the women. However, in reality, men are the people who have a lot of privileges yet they still want to exploit the women (Bowden and Mummery 2009). Feminism as a movement has had various impacts on the society. In one way or another it has managed to give women a chance to express themselves in various settings. It has given women a voice that they can be able to fight for their rights. Women have benefited in that they can now hold positions of power in the society without people having to undermine their ability to make sound decisions that can be relied on to efficiently rule the people ad get the best out of their leadership. Women have also acquired education. The higher learning institution no longer views women as too weak to study. Many women have pursued good courses some which before were seen too hard for a woman to pursue. We have women who are lawyers, political leaders, engineers, scientists and doctors. Also in the religious sector, feminism has had a good impact (Suthrell 2004). We now have women among the clergy. Despite being on the lookout for women, feminism has negative effects as well. One of the effects is that it has contributed a lot in devaluing men. The rise of feminism has made men look worthless and powerless. The men have been forgotten as a way of protecting the rights of women. Men are harassed, sexually assaulted and insulted by women yet they do nothing. Due to feminism, one can rarely show men as heroes. Some women abuse their newly gained rights by no longer seeing the need to respect men as they are required to. In households where men are viewed as the head they are no longer given that respect since the women feel they too have a say in the house. So, we could say that feminism have brought about family conflicts. Work Cited Bowden, Peta, and Jane Mummery. Understanding Feminism. Stocksfield [U.K.]: Acumen, 2009. Print. Charvet, John. Feminism. London: Dent, 1982. Print. Fisanick, Christina. Feminism. Detroit: Greenhaven, 2008. Print. Hannam, June. Feminism. Harlow, England: Pearson/Longman, 2007. Print. Suthrell, Charlotte A. Unzipping Gender. Oxford: Berg, 2004. Print. Read More