MARCH 8 is International Women’s Day. This time last year we were able to squeeze in some women’s marches before the whole quarantine mishap. Now, we have to content ourselves to sharing posts, articles, and hashtags.
I remember when my American companion in school made a presentation about the history of Women’s Month for the students. It was great seeing kids as young as nine years old being passionate about women’s rights and beating down on sexism and misogyny.
The feminist movement gets stronger the more time passes. People realize that women can do everything men can. Some would add, “even better”.
Even better? Really? This is when feminism starts to receive backlash. When women start to compensate for the years of abuse by putting men down, they create a double-standard and a culture of misandry. It seems to be quite hypocritical because these types of feminists are trying to overpower men.
Then, if you do not agree with their opinion you are branded as an enemy. An “enabler” of the disgusting creatures men are. Women are being pitted against other women just because of some radical beliefs.
Then, some think feminism is all about burning bras, shaming men, and wearing revealing clothes in any public place. However, there are bigger problems we can solve. These problems are girls not being exposed to proper education, child marriages, and physical abuse and rape that are overlooked by society.
But yeah, sadly, burning bras while invoking the wrath of the goddesses to wipe out the male sex is the image that pops into our head when we talk about feminism.
On a smaller scale, there is still a lot of civil unrest in the female community. Even though we are in a supposedly “more accepting” era, women still body-shame, slut-shame, and gossip all kinds of things about each other. You would think it doesn’t make an impact on the overall feminist movement, but it does. The biggest enemy of women are other women and that’s a sad reality.
There are a noble few though that do live up to the supportive and accepting goal of feminism. I am proud to say that a few of my friends are like this. They support other women whether they are fashionistas, sporty, or tomboys.
That is the real goal of feminism. Make the housewife feel just as empowered as the manager. The wallflower just as beautiful as the model. Make us feel EQUAL to men and not over them.
This women’s month, I hope we can all work together, men and women, to make society a more accepting place./PN
