NOT A FEMINIST? Time for the World’s Smallest Women’s Rights Quiz
I am a proponent of equal pay for equal work regardless of
who is doing it. I believe in equal
rights for women; I believe it is long past the time that the Equal Rights
Amendment should have been the law of the land.
So why did I buy into not being a feminist?
I think part of it was the casting of the feminist as one
who did not support women who wanted to stay at home. As a Libertarian I believe people should have
choices; however, as time has gone by and I have seen that things have not gone
the better way for women’s rights in the ways they have for others, then I have
to wonder if I went wrong by not calling myself a feminist. I believe Feminism
is like Libertarianism in that if you could take the World’s Smallest Feminist Test
then most of us would be accurately described as Feminist on the Women’s Rights
map.
One aspect of the conflict was the casting of the image of
the feminist as anti-male and anti-family.
Some wanted to keep a special privilege for Moms, forgetting that to
dignify the role of mom (parent) is to also dignify Dad’s (parent) role. It is clear that one of the reasons this has
happened in the last twenty years is that the freedom to divorce has relieved
moms of some of the parenting responsibilities by forcing Dads to do more of
it.
Blaming women for not
being men (and vice versa?)
Women have been to an extent patronized for actively
deciding not to commit to the drudgery (extra long work hours, very long
commutes, separation from family) required to ‘pay their dues’ to become
eligible for many, higher paying jobs.
Women can speak up for the fact that there is a big picture. In our roles as workers, parents, spouses
(whichever ones we choose or may have been thrust upon us), women have had to
be more realistic about the cost-benefit of paying short term dues for long term
gains which don’t pencil out because they have had to keep many of the same
domestic responsibilities at the same time.
To realize that the job isn’t everything, that a balance is
required for the health of the individuals and the family, is an improvement
for every participant. Many men are happy now to stay home and let women be the
principal wage-earners. Of course, the
family leave act helped tremendously to bring these realizations to many men
who had the privilege of being insulated from domestic roles beyond the benefit
of being its secondary recipients (children being the first).
Also, the movement is partially anti-male in the perceived
goal of wresting rights, privileges either away from or requested to be
bestowed by men, or male-controlled institutions (are there any other kind?) While concrete goals will be won in the
specific arenas of labor, employment rights, healthcare, schools, etc., there
is perhaps a psychological element to the fight that we need to win by engaging
hearts and minds as well. I am not trying to discourage those who actively work
for feminist goals in the legal, workplace, domestic violence and other arenas because
that is arguably the most necessary component (and perhaps the only accurate
measure of success).
However, I think we could affect faster and more meaningful
results if we offer significant assistance to the movement by steering the
dialogue toward challenging people to correct the corrosive conflict between jobs
and families as opposed to concentrating on outdated male vs female and
individual vs family false dichotomies.
By being more egalitarian, by offering choices that are equal to either
sex (or gender), people are free to choose the roles that best fit their own
family and job goals.
I don’t need a test to tell me that I take it back, I am a Feminist.
