Tuesday, April 1, 2008

Is there really any need for feminism or a woman's movement?

At a business networking meeting recently I sat around the table with a group of professionals - lawyers, doctors, non-profit directors, etc. As we went around the table to introduce ourselves, not just our businesses but also a little about ourselves personally, I was shocked by what I heard from one of the women lawyers. After talking about her specialty in her legal practice she talked about several things in her personal life and then looked across at the table at me - I had introduced myself earlier - and talked about the damage that feminism has caused and continues to cause. She said some more but at this point my mind was doing cartwheels.

If the setting had been appropriate, I would have reminded her of a couple of things that she seems to have lost track of:

That she has the freedom to go to school
She has the freedom to practice law
She can vote
She gets to come and go as she pleases
She can own land
She can have credit in her own name
...I could go on, but I think you get the picture. The women of the '70's women's movement, the Suffragists, the feminists (including the male feminists) who are writing, teaching, lobbying, speaking and standing up for our rights have paved the way for us - and continue to do so.

So is there really a need for Fifty-Fifty Leadership, Beauty Bites Beast, etc. etc. etc. Unfortunately the answer is still a resounding YES! So I proudly wave the feminist flag so mothers who want to stay home and raise children can; leaders who want to run major corporations, states and countries can; and so that men and women alike are dealt with as people and on our individual merits.

Your thoughts?
Pauline