What is Feminism and Why is it Trending?

What is feminism?

The world is now adopting a “feminist” ideology, a concept where all people irrespective of their gender, demand social and professional equality for all genders. The people all over the world are coming together as feminists to promote equality between the genders. The feminists could be liberal, with a calmer and more strategic plan to demand equality, or radical, with sheer aggression and passion to gain equality. Any which way, feminism has proved to be an adhesive in bringing like-minded people together and helping them make this world a more harmonious and just place to live.

Why only feminism? Why not maleism?

Many years ago, the orthodox society expected a woman to be a silent presence, bow before dominating men, get married at a young age without even receiving proper education, cook, clean and give birth to children- but preferably only male children. However, as shocking as it may seem, the situation has not reversed completely even today.

To justify this statement in terms of India, places like Haryana, Delhi, Daman and Diu, etc. are still eclipsed by their extremely low sex ratio, i.e., 879, 868 and 618 respectively. Even today, the average sex ratio of India stands at 944.

But the problem does not end at female foeticide alone, it increases ten-fold as the girl grows up. The main atrocities a girl has to face irrespective of her nationality are- prohibition to study, early marriage, forced entry in the sex racket or prostitution, domestic violence, rape, torture for dowry, exemption from family’s property, unequal job opportunities and receiving unequal salary even after being on the same rank as their male counterparts.

But as much as we blame each other for the poor standards of women’s safety, we cannot deny that somewhere, all of us, or the people we know, possess that patriarchal and misogynistic mindset subtly or expressively which constantly pulls women down or objectifies them.

Even in this modern age where almost everybody lives a life with basic luxuries, women still have to fight for equality, justice, respect and security.

Why is feminism trending?

Stating the fact that we live in the modern age of 2020 once again, women no longer expect other people to take a stand for them and help them gain equality, but believe in self-hep and standing-up for oneself. The same has been done by women all over the world. Women are realising the importance of equality above any right which is pushing them to adopt the feminist ideology. Apart from this, scores of men are also coming forward and claiming to be feminists because after all, equality is never a one way ride, it goes both ways.

If feminism is so advantageous, why do people mock feminists?

Well, this question is one that I have been asked to answer or have heard been answered numerous times. In my opinion, there are three major reasons for this mockery:

1. Mere sake of mocking- now there are some people out there who have a problem with anything and everything you do and no matter how noble your actions are, they will always have a bee in their bonnet and will try to put one in yours too. So what will the solution for this be? Well, to put it in simple words, just dab on them haters and do what you want to without paying heed to their pessimism.
2. Lack of understanding- next, we encounter some people in our lives who mock us for being feminists because they do not have the kind of maturity or understanding regarding the status of women and the need for equality.
3. People who unsee problems- there are many people around us who have the tendency of running away from problems rather than facing them. These people are of the view that being a feminist is just trying to be cool and overstating this issue which, in fact, is not the case.

Conclusion

Although there are a lot of things to be done to represent women on an equal pedestal, yet the women have achieved success in this sphere to some extent.

Change needs to be brought, and it has to be brought soon. Helping women stand shoulder-to-shoulder with men is a tough feat that can be achieved only if all of us work as a team for women and against evil forces.

One such medium to bring about change on a global platform is feminism with celebrities like Emma Watson, Ariana Grande, Beyoncé, Jennifer Lawrence, Cate Blanchett and many others stepping forward as vocal feminists committed to bring about a change.

Photo by Sinitta Leunen on Pexels.com

Are you a feminist or have anything to express regarding feminism? Let us know in the comments section!