Feminism: The Women's Liberation Movement

When someone says they are a feminist, people often think they hate men when in reality they do not. Many people who identify as a feminist do have anger and some hate towards men, however, that is not what true feminism stands for. Feminism is not about empowering women and putting men down, or turning a patriarchal society into a matriarchal one; it is about advocating for women’s rights to be equal to men. Even though it seems that a woman’s role in society has changed, it has not. In the 1960s when the women’s liberation movement began, the expectation was that a woman was a mother and took care of the home. Not many women were in the labour force, and the women who were had limited career options and were making less money than a man who …show more content…
The pressures on women in this new modern age create a situation where women are expected to want, and be able, to be a career woman, a mother and a successful homemaker. In our society it is not ideal for a woman to work full time and choose not to have children, or to have children and choose to stay at home. Many people would say that more women being able to work and have more options in where they want to work is a very positive and progressive thing. While this is true, women have not been liberated; they just have another expectation on top of caring for children and the home. The main difference between the 1960s and now is that women then were expected to care for the home and the children, and women now are expected to care for the home, the children and work a full time job. Even though men have started to take on more responsibilities at home in present times, it still falls mainly on the mother’s shoulders to do these things. In all actuality, women and men should have the right to decide what they want to do rather than be expected to fit a certain role that society thinks they should …show more content…
Feminism is “the advocacy of women's rights on the grounds of political, social, and economic equality to men.” In other words, any male or female who believes that men and women are equal and should be treated as equals is a feminist. By using the definition of feminism a logical conclusion can be made that being pro-woman does not mean you are anti-man. Being a feminist means you advocate for the rights of women and men to reach the goal of equality regardless of your gender. People get the wrong idea about feminists because among people who identify as feminists there are misandrists. A misandrist is someone who dislikes and is prejudiced against men. A misandrist may identify as a feminist, however, by definition a misandrist is not a feminist. Over the years people have become misinformed about what feminism really is. One of the arguments people make against feminism is that they only advocate for the rights of women and not the rights of