Feminism

Feminism refers to political, cultural, and economic movements aimed at establishing greater rights, legal protection for women, and or women's liberation. It includes some of the sociological theories and philosophies concerned with issues of gender difference. Maggie Humm and Rebecca Walker divide the history of feminism into three waves. The first wave transpired in the nineteenth and early twentieth centurys, the second occurred in the 1960s and 1970s, and the third extends from the 1990s to the present. In each wave of the movement, though men have taken part in significant responses to feminism, the relationship between men and feminism has been complex. Historically, a number of men have engaged with feminism. Feminism is a word that often finds a place in the newspapers and the magazines. Feminism is the subject of talk in the radio and the television. Though the feminist movement is very active in countries like the USA and Britain even there women are still given a back seat. It is generally said that women belong to the weaker sex. They are by nature gentle, soft-spoken and shy. But there are women who can outdo men in assertiveness, dominance and aggressiveness. Nowadays the national scene has changed. There are hundreds of women graduates and postgraduates who are well-employed. They have come out into the social scene with a bang and the day is not far off when they will dominate the national scene. It is true that women are not fit for all kinds of jobs. Their presence in the military and the police is limited. But it is very heartening to know that there are all-women police stations. They are as courageous as men. Some of the highest officers in the police department are women. It is a long-standing demand that women should have equal opportunities in society as men. It is a fact that women criminals are ill-treated in the police lock-up and are sexually abused. They have to submit to the wishes of the police officers. In some offices they are harassed by their colleagues. When they become meek they fall prey to the sexual instincts of the officers. In some homes the husband is very dominant and puts his wife to much embarrassment by his rude behaviour. Feminism has earned itself a bad reputation, but it never undermined gender differences that exist between males and females. A man can never be as good a mother as a female can. Similarly, a woman can never be as good a father as a male can. While accepting these anatomical and physiological differences between the two genders, feminism seeks for both genders to be equally respected. They are both human and as a species, humans cannot progress without either one of them. Today, feminist theory has manifested in a variety of disciplines such as feminist geography, feminist history, feminist theology, and feminist literary criticism and has changed traditional perspectives on a wide range of areas in human life, from culture to law. Feminist activists have campaigned for women's legal rights such as rights of contract, property rights, and voting rights while also promoting women's rights to bodily integrity and autonomy, abortion rights, and reproductive rights. They have struggled to protect women and girls from domestic violence, sexual harassment, and rape. On economic matters, feminists have advocated for workplace rights, including maternity leave and equal pay, and against other forms of genderspecific discrimination against women.

A number of feminist writers maintain that identifying as a feminist is the strongest stand men can take in the struggle against sexism. They have argued that men should be allowed, or even be encouraged, to participate in the feminist movement. Other female feminists counter- argue that men cannot be feminists simply because they are not women. They maintain that men are granted inherent privileges that prevent them from identifying with feminist struggles, thus making it impossible for them to identify with feminists. Irrespective of what the feminist writers maintain, the feminist movement has effected change in Western society, including women's suffrage, greater access to education, more nearly equitable pay with men, the right to initiate divorce proceedings and 'no fault' divorce, and the right of women to make individual decisions regarding pregnancy (including access to contraceptives and abortion), as well as the right to own property. Women as a group should raise their voices of protest against the injustices done to them. They should fight for their rights and should make men realize that they are in no way inferior to them. They should fight till they are treated equal with men in every department of life.