Understanding Feminism

It is quite ironic how feminism is one of the most thoroughly broached topics of discussion around the globe and yet; those that actually, truly understand its essence are so miserably low in numbers. Today, save for a few people, the idea of feminism has become an opportunity to spread hate. Feminists are termed as obnoxious people striving for unrealistic goals. The truth? Rarely anybody bothers to search.

So first, let’s get this out of the way- Feminism is NOT female supremacy. The whole foundation of feminism was established on the efforts of a marginalised group consisting of almost 50% of world population who wanted EQUALITY. Feminism is not a hidden propaganda to spread misandry. Feminism was, is, and always will stand for an equality driven world where no one receives different treatment based on what’s between their legs.

Some people deny the whole reality of discrimination against women. Some believe women were made to be the weaker and lesser of the two sexes (even though there’s more than two…. But oh well, that’s a discussion for another day)

So here I present these facts that are quite obvious and you shouldn’t even need these to know why a fellow human deserves to be treated equally in hopes to make people understand the need and core of feminism.

The Stone Age

Yes I’m going start with the earliest traces of human intelligence so that the claims of “god created them like that” and “that’s how it’s always been” quieten down.

The stone age, which dates back to around 2.3 million years ago, was the period when pre historic people first started developing intelligence and experimented with stones to create hunting and gathering tools. Keyword being People. Since, as much as it might pain some people to admit, you cannot exactly procreate a human child from an egg. You need a womb. And who has a womb? Surprise, surprise! Women.

Putting aside the fact that archaeology has a long way to go in overcoming the biased ideas and gender specific terms like ‘man- hunters’; there is a lot of evidence to suggest that women had a pro-active and partnered role in hunting and gathering. They were highly skilled in grinding stones to process food and sharpening tools to slice off meat. And not just hunting, Women have been involved in cave painting and stone carving as well. The cave of El Castillo in Spain dates back to 41,000 years ago and is the most evident proof of this.

There are studies that even dare suggest that women during the early Stone Age and Bronze Age travelled from home villages to start families, spread culture, ideas and knowledge around Europe while men stayed at home.

According to The Tribune, “The majority of women came from outside the area, probably from Bohemia or Central Germany, while men usually remained in the region of their birth. This so-called patrilocal pattern combined with individual female mobility was not a temporary phenomenon, but persisted over a period of 800 years during the transition from the Neolithic to the Early Bronze Age, they said.”

In addition to this, several nomadic tribes have been found to have matriarchal structure along with very flexible sexual roles. They had women acting as the primary military force when the men were away scavenging. Especially Mongolian women are assumed to have been very good archers and riders while the Scythian women where both chiefs and shamans of great political power. So, the classical role for women really only held true for citified folk.

Funny how they didn’t mention that in history textbooks.

The Middle Ages

This era (5th – 15th century) is the evidence of humans finally developing agriculturally and technologically, creating social structures and developing complex intangible concepts like Religion, Spirituality and Morality to maintain that structure. And this era is also symbolic of when men first started dominating the society and women started losing hold of their rightful places as their equal.

Well ‘losing hold’ might be a bit of an understatement. Female bashing slowly became glorified to the point where women were outright demonised. The misinterpretation of religious and sacred texts contaminated the minds of the people and the statute of equality was shoved behind the greed to claim supremacy. Women were viewed as a mere child rearing facility (more like, liability) and men, the epitome of humanity.

“Accordingly, women were at once denied the same social status as men while legally being recognized as a man’s partner, helpmate and, under certain conditions, even his equal. The view of women as either evil temptresses or virginal goddesses left no middle ground for a reasoned perception of woman-as-individual.”, a report from ancient.eu suggests.

The society’s paradigm of an ‘ideal woman’ stripped off the most basic of legal, economic and social rights that they deserved. The worst example of this can be seen in Denmark- where until 12 BCE, rape and assault were considered a crime against the father and/or husband of the actual victim. Communities went so far as to burn them on stake or publically humiliate them for “seducing” other men. On economic grounds women were once again, totally dependent on men. Even though they participated in farming, handcrafting and other activities, their efforts were merged with their husbands’.

Sadly, this did not stop here. More and more restrictions were placed on women as the society entered the more enlightened era of the Renaissance. However, during the period of Enlightenment, the growth of ideas like individualism and rationality started to challenge women’s relegated role in society. This resulted in a little shift of the structure from the Renaissance through the Enlightenment, where women did experience some improvement in their social position, particularly through the medium of literature; but, for the most part they continued to be denied access to the public sphere.

The Age of Industrialisation

The late 17th century saw the emergence of a plethora of new ideas, innovations and possibilities. Throughout this time period, the most affected sections of the society were the middle and lower classes. With the setting up of various industries came the swarm of opportunities for the working class.

Children began earning money from as early as 10 years old irrespective of their gender. Women, being paid a third or half of men’s salary were in especially high demand, especially in European countries- where the Industrial Revolution began. This did not mean that they had been able to forgo their household duties. They had to work around 10 hours a day as labourers all the while managing their household, raising children and keeping up with their family’s expectations.

The working conditions only added to the plight of women. The working hours were ungodly and they went unguarded against exposure to toxic substances. There were little to no breaks in between shifts. Unsatisfactory performance led to severe beatings and other punishments. But this was still better than being confined at home and having little to independence.

Even so, women’s little successes could not overturn the status quo that was supported by the patriarchy of the society. The condition of women in southeast Asian societies (namely, India and China) were no better. Malpractices like burning widows and witch hunting in India, and child marriages in China were as prevalent as ever. Asia in general, remained untouched by the revolution until late 19th century. This meant the women in these places remained barred from indulging in economic activities independent of their husbands and fathers. In African continent, people irrespective of gender were suffering from racism and slavery. But women still managed to have the shorter end of the stick. They were forced into sex trafficking at young ages. However inside the confines of the house, African women were treated slightly better than their European and Asian counterparts.

The Birth of Feminism

As disappointing as it is, there were little to no efforts made to alleviate women’s status even as the mankind developed further. However, the decades and centuries worth of blatant misogyny finally forced people to raise their voices. The late 19th century. This was when women empowerment and feminism actually became a full-fledged movement. It is also widely referred to as the First Wave of Feminism. That is to say, it’s not like this was the first time anything of this sort happened. No. Efforts have always been made, rights have always been demanded. But this was when women became more confident about the fact that they can be on par with men even outside the household.

The mass employment of women during Industrial Revolution contributed greatly to that. They began questioning the orthodox traditions and demanded reasoning behind unequal treatment. They explored their interests and collected information about what’s going on around them.  Women from higher classes partook in business activities and made efforts to educate themselves in law, economy and even athletics. In United States and United Kingdom, women took a more active approach and openly promoted equal contract and property rights for women. They strongly opposed to chattel marriage and ownership of married women by their husbands. Later female activism also focused heavily on gaining political power, particularly the right of women’s suffrage. Meanwhile, feminists such as Voltairine de Cleyre and Margaret Sanger actively campaigned for women’s sexual and economic rights.

By 1960s, the movement’s focus shifted from political equality to social and cultural equality. Feminists saw the need to breakdown sexist power structures within women’s personal lives as important as gaining political hold. This period between 1960s to 1980s was the Second Wave of Feminism. On the political and legal grounds, women started gaining a stronger foothold. In many countries like Switzerland, women were now allowed to vote for federal elections. Countries like India which had recently broke free from colonialism were more liberal with women rights as they freshly established their new constitution. Women were allowed to have equal say in marriage, right to freedom of speech and expression, job opportunities in government and some non- government organisations, and most of all; ill practices against them were legally criminalised.

Women have frequently forged new paths for themselves when challenges proved too great. The late 20th century saw the onset of Third Wave of Feminism. Analysing the shortcomings of the previous waves and coming up with better plans, the women in this period were ready to once again fight for their goals. The third wave feminism sought to attack the stereotypes and notions that were ingrained too deeply in people’s minds. They wanted to shatter the ideology of a “feminine” woman. This did not mean they boycotted femininity, no, they simply believed that an unfeminine woman was just as valid. Feminists in this era succeeded in bringing women out of their houses and experimenting in many fields that were previously restricted to them. Now no longer was a woman earning degrees considered bizarre and no longer was a widow helpless without her man.

All of this however, did not come be so smoothly. Questions were raised and feminists were mocked. In fact, they are still mocked. Many forces did not take it kindly to people destroying their corrupt structure. The feminists received a lot of backlash and criticism after the 2nd wave. And it was not just men that antagonised the movement. Women were also sceptical. They were afraid of having to depend on themselves since they were always taught that “men know the best”. They were afraid of their own families turning on them  and discarding them. They had grown up with the vicious tales of society being cruel to women who outdid men. Still, they persisted. See, this is what happens when you’ve seen the worst. There was nothing that could deter these young and old minds from achieving their goals, not even their own fears.

Now that the history is out of the way, the question stands- where are we now in terms of our ideal world we sought to create?

Far. Far enough to still be afraid of walking down the streets at night alone. To still receive comparatively lesser compensation than your male colleague. To see the horrifying newsflashes of crimes against women everyday. To still be rejected for looking the way you look. And to still find yourself lost in a world where even if it’s your own, it’s never your own.

So, no. Feminism is not sabotaging men. It is a cause to make society mend its ways and create a world where no one feels lesser than they are. Perhaps one day, in a world where women are treated equal to men, we will get to see how much humanity can actually develop. We shall get to see the wonders these ladies comes up with and how wrong we were to deprive them of this beautiful world full of opportunities.