Recently I’ve encountered the argument that the world, especially the Western/American world, no longer needs Feminism.  Or worse yet that Feminism is actually working AGAINST the interests of women.  I’m ashamed to say that these are thoughts that actually crossed my mind many years ago as a misguided teen.  I thought that since women can now vote, own property, run for public office, own a business, & get divorced without ruining their entire lives/reputations, then Feminism had accomplished its goals & was no longer needed.  Ah, how short-sighted & naive I was.  Growing up I got the idea that Feminism had its place decades ago but had outlived any real purpose, so that modern day Feminists were just crazy man-haters whose only goals were tearing down men & families, relishing in abortion, & generally promoting evil.

Somewhere along the line I realized this was a grossly exaggerated stereotype of what is actually a small minority of Feminists.  As I’ve grown up I’ve also realized there are numerous reasons why the world still needs Feminism.  For the purposes of this blog post (as well as my blog in general), Feminism means the promotion of equal RIGHTS for both genders with a particular focus on achieving equal RESPECT between the genders.  I’m in no way arguing that men & women are identical or that all “gender roles” are wrong.  And I’m not here to throw a pity party because I was born female.  (There are days when that is tempting but it would be an unproductive activity anyway & thus a waste of time.)

Here are, in my mind, the greatest reasons why the world still needs Feminism.  Notice I said the WORLD, which includes both genders, not just women.  I say this because I believe Feminism seeks to empower & promote the betterment of all people of all genders not BECAUSE of their gender but because of their shared HUMANITY.

The world still needs Feminism . . .

• Because there are places in the world where women still cannot vote, drive cars, own property, run a business, or get divorced, even from abusive husbands
• Because there are places in the world where women are stoned for having sex outside of marriage, even if they were victims of rape or abuse
• Because even in the “enlightened West” there are still way too many men who think it’s ok to make sexist remarks in the work place
• And because many women still don’t have the courage to stand up to these jerks
• Because rape apologists still exist; because even in the most blatant  horrific cases, there are still idiots who seek to blame the victim
• Because there are places in the world where female babies are preferentially aborted simply for their gender
• And because the people who do this have serious REASONS for doing it . . . because those societies have structures that make it such that having a female baby really is putting the family at a disadvantage
• Because even in America many people treat daughters as more work or more difficult (See:https://athicketofmusingsblog.com/2014/02/27/the-burden-of-a-daughter/)
•  Because maternity leave in America is quite possibly the worst in the industrialized world
• Because the majority of workplaces do almost nothing to cater to women (& men) with young children
• Because women still spend entirely too much time tearing each other apart & judging each other for every little thing, not realizing that we are all sisters on this Earth
• Because abstinence-only education still exists despite the research that shows how ineffective it is & how it contributes to a high rate of teen pregnancy
• Because way too many girls are still growing up with the idea that their bodies are something to be ashamed of &/or something to be hidden for fear of tempting men

• Because way too many women expect men to pay for everything on dates
• Because it’s still acceptable for boys/men to insult each other by calling each other “pussy,” “sissy,” “little girl,” etc as if being female were the worst possible scenario in life
• Because women still have to “be careful” at night & never walk alone in a dark place
• Because if you do any of these things & God forbid something happens, people will say “What was she thinking?  She should have been more careful” as if that excuses bad behavior on the part of the offending male
• Because there are women in the world who still have no access to birth control, sexual education, or even school
• Because a Google image search of Feminism still produces memes that say Feminism encourages women to leave their husbands, kill their children, become lesbians, & practice witchcraft
• And because there are still people who believe such nonsense
•  And because there is a need for posts like this