Feminism Strives for Equality

FEMINISM STRIVES FOR EQUALITY

A survey taken shows and contrasts the different opinions pertaining to the question "does feminism strive for equality?"

Pro: "Feminism has a very clear meaning - the promotion of opportunity of women equal to men. If you promote female supremacy, you're not talking about a feminist, even if they try to hijack the title"

• It is believed, in terms of feminism, that gender inequality mainly exists due to a lack of rights and opportunities of women compared to men. Therefore this statement suggests feminism is the movement that strives to match the level of rights of women with men. 
• It is not the act to "promote female supremacy". This means that feminism isn't a cause to bring up women's rights to then surpass that of a man. 
• It exists to empower women and educate them about what they deserve and create an aware society where both men and women are equal.

Con: "This claim completely ignores the Merriam-Webster has also an alternative definition, "organized activity on behalf of women's rights and interests".

• This statement completely contradicts the previous one. Suggested is the opinion that feminism strives only for the betterment only of the interest pertaining to women.

Another statement claims that "if feminism were only about equality, feminists would call their movement 'equalism' or something similar".
This is a completely logical and relevant question. Personally, however, I feel that before feminism was a common term, men's rights greatly surpassed that of a woman. Therefore, the term 'feminism' makes sense as it merely was advocacy to promote and spread awareness of women's rights in particular which wasn't so common during that era. It's purpose never was to undermine men's rights and has been wrongfully perceived that way. However, I personally believe it may be time for 'feminism' to be changed to 'equalism' as stepping foot into this new decade, light has been shone on men's struggle with inequality too.

Feminism As A Whole

Feminism has many movements. It stands for women's interests, legal equality, physical autonomy for women and against domestic and sexual violence. At the end of the nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth century, women protested against exclusion in education, work, and politics. The highlight of the first feminist wave was the struggle for women's suffrage. From the 1960s feminism focused for the most part on issues such as abortion, (un)paid labor and sexual violence. As said by Astria, Institute on gender equality and women's history

Can anyone be a Feminist?

For those who aren't particularly familiar with the works of feminism, I would like to clear a misconception. Although the name may suggest it is a female-only movement, a feminist can be anyone who respects diverse women’s experiences, identities, knowledge, and strengths and strives to empower all women to realize their full rights and potential. It’s about leveling the playing field between genders, and ensuring that women and girls have the same opportunities in life available to boys and men. It’s not about hating men. It’s not about women being better than men. 

Through the results of my survey, I have better understood that not everyone is a supporter of feminism. And, when the question of its motives comes up, opinions tend to differ. 16.67% of the statistics show that people think feminism does not, in fact, strive for the equality of the sexes. 

Take my survey at GENDER EQUALITY to help gather more insights on the topic.

Statistics also show that 88.89% of the voters suggest making gender equality part of education and training is one of the best ways to prevent gender inequality. A majority of voters also said that women, to this day, are treated unfairly in terms of health and education.