I HAVE a poster on my wall. It reads, "Women need men like fish need bicycles." Recently a male friend of mine came to my room for the first time and seemed a little taken aback by the poster. He said, only half-jokingly, "Oh, so you're a scary feminist?"
I tend to avoid using the word "feminist" to describe myself because it is associated with so many other words that don't describe me: femi-Nazi and man-hater, among others.
It's a shame that feminism has become such a loaded word, with mostly negative connotations tacked onto it. When people hear the word, a very specific pictures comes to mind: angry women with hairy legs, possibly lighting bras on fire, shouting about the oppression brought upon the female race by wicked males.
|
The meaning of what it is to be a feminist has to be made clear. I tried to explain it to my friend in this way: Most females who are feminist aren't angry and man-hating. We know that we don't need men - we can do just fine without them - but most of us still like men and generally want to have them around because we don't think they're all evil or oppressive.
I say "females who are feminist" because there are plenty of men out there who are feminists too, and that's one of the things that gets lost in the shuffle.
A feminist is anyone who believes that men and women are equal and should be treated equally. Being a feminist does not mean that you say "herstory" instead of "history" or spell the word "woman" as "womyn." It does not mean that you listen to folk music.
If you are a male, being a feminist does not mean that you are wussy or unmanly or that you have been "whipped" by your girlfriend. It simply means that you want your girlfriend - and your mom and your sister and your aunt Judith - to be treated the same way you are treated.
Talking about what it means to be a feminist brings up a related question: Namely, whether or not feminism is even necessary anymore, when women have come such a long way from being nothing but housewives and baby-tenders.
It is tempting to think that men and women are perfectly equal. Things are, for the most part, looking pretty peachy for women, especially in the world of academe: More women are entering college today than ever before. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, 57 percent of this year's freshmen are female. In 1994, women received 46 percent of all doctorates awarded to U.S. citizens. That's a 25-percent increase from the 1970s, according to the American Association of University Professors.
Although we are close to reaching gender equality, we aren't there yet. There are still some things that need to be rectified. The number of women in the faculty at universities is an issue, as well as how much they get paid. In 1998, only 36 percent of all college faculty members were women, according to a study released by the Higher Education Research Institute. The situation has improved since 1989, when only 29 percent of university faculty members were female, but there is still a long way to go.
Equal wages aren't a reality for women professors yet either: The wage gap between female and male professors is on the decline but remains significant. In 1989 the average full-time male professor earned $67,500 per year. The average full-time female professor earned $60,500 - a full $7,000 less than her male colleagues. Ten years later in 1999, the salary gap had dropped to $6,000 - an improvement, but not a spectacular one.
There are other facets of University life where a lack of equality between the sexes cannot be measured and documented quite as easily.
We still have miles to go before we sleep. The point is, we still need feminists. That is why it is heartening to realize that we are, in fact, a campus of feminists - whether we all know it or not. It is probably not a stretch to think that most of the students and administrators at the University, being intelligent individuals, are believers in equality. In fact, you might be hard-pressed to find someone who is against men and women being treated equally.
In the truest, most basic sense of the word "feminist" - a person who believes the sexes should be equal - most of us are feminist.
It is time to come out of the feminist closet. As a means of promoting gender equality, feminism is important and powerful in a lot of ways. However, feminism has the most potential to have an impact when activism for gender equality is seen as something in which all kinds of people can participate and not restricted to a small group of angry, bra-burning women.
(Laura Sahramaa is a Cavalier Daily associate editor. She can be reached at lsahramaa@cavalierdaily.com.)
Read More
PATEL: Personal development courses support students beyond the gradebook
By Heer Patel | 18 hours agoThe University must rethink its approach to education beyond traditional major-specific requirements and mandate personal development courses.
EDITORIAL: Commercialization threatens U.Va.’s educational mission
By Editorial Board | YesterdayAfter all, measuring the University’s worth in terms of accrued capital, operational efficiency and numerical rankings molds this space into just another cookie-cutter institution.
YOUNIS: Why every U.Va. student should say yes to English
By Ayat Younis | 6 days agoEvery student at the University, regardless of their primary field of study, can professionally and academically benefit from engaging with the English department.
