FEMINISM

 

To discuss some of the topics that came up during Jasmine, Shay and Tyanna's presentation, i've included a short review of the different waves of feminism. As well, I included the Charlatan article written by the engineer student for those who have not seen it yet. Feel free to comment below:

A Short History of Feminism

Women have been fighting for equality for well over 100 years now.

The history of this struggle is often described as in the context of

‘waves’. The following is a very brief sense of the key elements in

these waves of activism:

First Wave Feminists focused their struggles primarily on gaining

legal rights such as the right to vote (women’s suffrage) and property

rights. The first known publications by women that referred to a

demand for equality between men and women were published in the

15th century but what is referred to as first wave feminism really
began in earnest in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. This wave of

feminism ended when women made some legal gains in North America

(rights to have a say with regards to their children, the right to own

property and inherit property) and when some women won the right to

vote between 1917 and 1920. In Canada, Aboriginal women living on

reserves would not win the right to vote until 1960.

Second Wave Feminists focused on a broad range of issues in the

1960’s, 70’s and early 80’s including discrimination in workplaces and

in broader society. Some of the key struggles were around affirmative

action, pay equity, rape, domestic violence, pornography and sexism

in the media, and reproductive choice. The fight for reproductive

choice included a fight to have information about, and access to, birth

control (selling or promoting birth control was illegal in Canada until

1969) as well as the struggle to decriminalize abortion. In 1988 the

Supreme Court of Canada struck down Canada’s abortion law noting

that it fundamentally violated a women’s right to ‘liberty and personal

autonomy’ as guaranteed in Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

A subsequent attempt one year later to introduce a new abortion law

failed in the Senate due to a tie vote. During this time frame both the

United States (in 1963) and Canada (in 1967) launched investigations

into the status of women and through the subsequent reports made

public the depth and breadth of the inequalities experienced by

women. The National Action Committee on the Status of Women was

set up following the Canadian Royal Commission on the Status of

Women to advocate for women’s equality and became an important

focal point for feminist action in Canada during the 1970’s and 80’s.

Third Wave Feminism emerged in the 1990’s in part as a response

to the backlash from the gains 2nd wave feminists had made in the

1970’s and 80’s. While women made significant gains during the

second wave of feminism, equality was still a distant dream. Race and

Class became important issues for reflection and action within the

movement – a movement that had been dominated by white, mostly

middle-class, women. This wave of feminism is not galvanized around

one or two key struggles, such as the right to vote or reproductive

choice, as was the case in both the 1st and 2nd wave even the term

feminist is not universally adopted but often rejected by new activists.

While the movement seems less galvanized in this current wave there

is no doubt that the fight for women’s equality is far from over.

Mobilizing and organizing across age, race, class and our differences

as women remains our challenge in continuing the fight for equality for

women.


Next is the article as promised ....

Opinion: Feminism has put men on eggshells

By Marc Yegani

March 06 2013.

Feminism has men playing it safe rather than sorry when it comes to their interactions with women.

The lead up to International Women’s Day has begun, with planned ceremonies and the V-Day Movement (a global activist movement to end violence against women) in full swing. The student group Vaginas Against Violence just wrapped up their rendition of the popular play The Vagina Monologues in support of the V-Day Movement and Carleton University has decided to support the new Ontario Coalition of Rape Crisis Centres (OCRCC) campaign against sexual harassment.

The OCRCC’s new campaign is asking the question of where do you "draw the line" on harassment. One of their posters at Carleton provides the scenario where you overhear your boss compliment a lady coworker on her legs. Then it asks, do you do something about that or not? While, this poster is addressing the serious issue of people abusing their power, I couldn’t help but also wonder: "What if the lady coworker liked the compliment?"

The women’s movement has made immense strides towards promoting equality, solving sexism and preventing sexual assault. However, the continual social emphasis on respecting women has also left many men with the mindset of playing it safe rather than sorry when it comes to their interactions with women.

Many men agree with and support the women’s rights movement. However, since many of the issues are so sensitive. The "Draw the Line" campaign, for example, suggests even a joke or comment can be promoting sexual violence— men are unsure at times of what would be considered offensive behavior or what would be considered "normal" behavior when interacting with women.

For example, before it was quite normal for a man when he found a woman attractive, to approach her, offer a compliment and perhaps try to engage in a flirtatious conversation with her in the hopes of getting her phone number for a future date. Today that man would be considered a creep who was stalking a woman and then verbally sexual harassed her. Or at least that is how a lot a men today believe women would perceive such an advance.

So instead many men today will avoid the situation entirely. They may miss out meeting the woman of their interest, but at least they will not offend her. Or men may engage with the woman but with a safe form of communication like Facebook. Either way, this safe rather than sorry approach is an unfortunate consequence for men since it further discourages meaningful relationships between them and women.

Women too are left wondering where all the good men have gone, or why they have trouble meeting them. Well, that may be because many of the good guys are either avoiding or concealing their true feelings from the women of their interest since they fear offending them. Therefore, while society keeps emphatically waving the women’s movement flag, many men will support it but from a distance.


Marc Yegani,

third-year civil engineering