By: Virago
July 2012 Archives
The woman who follows the crowd will usually go no further than the crowd.
The woman who walks alone is likely to find herself in places no one has ever before.
Albert Einstein
By: Irene Armitt
When we learned about feminist art in my Fine Arts class, the lecturer asked the audition to speak about what feminism meant to them, a room that was normally so talkative, went relatively quiet. Only two people responded, one a young woman who responded, "Isn't that in the past already? Who even cares about feminism anymore?" And a young man who said, "I think the world was a better place when woman used to stay at home and make the beautiful tea cossies and embroidery that my grandma used to do." Although many would like for us to believe that feminism no longer has a place in our modern society and may even be a bad word, the simple truth is that Canadian women are far from equal in wage or job opportunity, making feminism just as relevant and important as ever.
I know many women of my generation get uncomfortable at the mention of the word "feminism." There's this picture that comes to mind of a crazed, hairy arm-pitted, bra burning, man hating feminist who just won't quit harping about women's issues. I think back on a time when even myself, a proud feminist, thought women needed to move past talking about equality issues and just start being equal, enough with the feminist rhetoric. Unfortunately, there is a large portion of our society that believes the feminist movement is reponsible for the destruction of the sanctity of marriage and the breakdown of the nuclear family. Many more feel that the feminist movement is irrelevant now that women have "equal' opportunity. Women of all generations need to take back the word feminism and embrace it for all its glory; because without it, we revert back 100s years when we were listed beside the cattle as a possession on our husband's tax returns. My generation, born after the 1970s, have little knowledge of what feminism means and are, therefore, prone to take an indifferent stance on the subject.

Recent Comments