Feminism

I have so much to say on feminism that I don't think I can contain myself....but watch this space.

Time Magazine declared feminism dead a few years ago. The march of radical, oppressive, man-hating feminism goes forward still claiming to speak for all women. I don't believe it does and we need a new feminism to ensure that real women get their rights and get to live their lives as they feel best.

A feminism that denies motherhood, and foists abortion on women to liberate, is not female-orientated or feminine but false. A feminism that demands no real alternatives to the challenges that women face in the workplace but constant childcare is destructive to women's happiness.

A feminism that expects nothing more than "reproductive health" for women in the third world doesn't help women it oppresses them, depriving them of their right to make decisions about their own family. It deprives poor women of decent healthcare for themselves, basic treatments for their children, food and education for their families.

If we buy into a feminism that denies that women, in fact, like men, and may even like to have children, we buy into a lie. If we think that the amount of women in the workplace reflects a great social good, we deny the fact that many women work in low-paid jobs not to have independent "careers", but to make ends meet.

If we think that quotas and affirmative action are going to solve low female participation in certain areas we demean both women and men. We tell them that we don't want your unique skills and experience as an individual, we don't want the best person for the job, we just want a woman for the sake of it.

The feminist mantra "we don't just want a bigger slice of the pie, we want a different pie" is true now more than ever before. We need a feminism that recognises that the differences between men and women are not social constructs but natural and complimentary. We need a feminism where true equality comes, not from being men in skirts, but from being women in skirts. Women shouldn't have to deny their deepest personal desires to climb the career ladder. Women shouldn't have to ward off violence by chanting the "Vagina Monologues". Women shouldn't have to be sexually liberated by stripping off for male pleasure.

We do need a new feminism. One which guarantees equality for all. One which respects women, respects men, and respects the difference. One which realises that because women are half the population we are not all the same, but individuals.

Documents

From First Things:

Subversive Virginity Sarah E Hinlickey discusses the notion of virginity as a form of girl power.

Feminism Is Not the Story of My Life Review of Elizabeth Fox-Genovese's book by Mary Ann Glendon.

Twice Liberated - Frederica Mathewes-Green

The Female Circumcision Debate: A View from the Perspective of the South

Female circumcision and reproductive rights for women have dominated international debate on women in the Third World. This article not only shows how we foist our values on other cultures without a second glance, it shows how women in the Third World have different priorities and needs than we think. I think female circumcision is disfiguring, unnecessary and dangerous but I believe that we need to stop presuming that women in different cultures want to adopt our Western lifestyles. We need to stop and listen to women before deciding for them that they need contraceptives, abortion, or not to be circumcised.