Feminism for the 21st century
♀️


Do we still need it?

Clarifying the Concept

I get it. Feminism can sound a bit wierd today in days in some circles. Specially where women from previous generations have already conquered important rights. But the concept itself is simple (and challenging): equality in political, economical and social aspects between genders.

Feminist Approaches

Because we are talking about society and culture, diferent places will have different levels of (in)equality between genders. Therefore, we will need different feminisms for different places. The demands from a women in the countryside of Brazil might not be the same as a metropolitan italian women living in Paris with a graduation degree. But both of them have the same human need for safety, freedom and equality. Although in Europe in daily life we might not 'feel' the gaps between genders, they exist in a larger scale as most people think. The topics can go from ending the wage gaps, to ending violence against women. In Portugal, today in days, the gap of genders quitting work to engage in unpaid Care Labor inside the family is very big. Around 30% of women are not at active paid jobs taking care of the family. This rates for men are around 3.2% In Europe, the highest rate of violence against women is in Italy. UK and France also have some of the worst cenarios regarding physical violence.
Font: Eurostat

The structural function of sexism

According to most feminsit authors, sexism and violence against women are a deep psychological and social tool to keep women performing roles in society that are necessary but undervalued. Like giving birth and raising children, taking care of the elderly, the house, and the marriage. Without this unpaid care labor, the system can not survive, because it won't be able to 'produce more humans', therefore 'workers'. Silvia Frederici, a italian-american phD, calls it "reproductive labor", and mentions that the first strategy to keep women in line is romanticing it as something natural, an act of love or a God-given purpose.

"What you call love, we call 'unpaid labor'." Silvia Fredericci

It is important to remember that these analysis are not supposed to be done in an individual level or taken personally. But always looking at it collectively, as a society and culture. Therefore, to change it, it's necessary to bring awareness, and most important, listen to ourselves, and to each other.

What are the demands that you have today in days for equality?
What are the demands other women have today in days?
How much freedom and power do you dare to wish for yourself and for next generations around the world?

Therefore, considering that Feminism is the ideal of equality between gengers, there won't be a time when we will not need to persue it. It is easy to get caught up on personal perceptions about society. But what the actual data shows is that we still have a long way to go towards equality, as a society. Specially when we consider the geographic divergences from women world-wide.

Would you like to know how to make a difference?