Documente Academic
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Documente Cultură
Roxanna Walker
Professor Foster
RHET 1312
31 March 2017
When you look up the word, feminist, the definition would read along the lines of social,
political, and economic equality of the sexes; but for some that definition is too broad and does
not truly represent the movement of feminism. A definition that truly respects and recognizes the
meaning of the word is the personal definition Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie used in her book, We
Should All Be Feminist. She defines feminism as someone, man or woman, who recognizes that
there is a problem with gender and believes it should be fixed for the better for both genders and
not in favor of one. However, the problem with gender is not uncommon and situated in one
country, it is universal and global. Feminism has been around for many years and therefore has
aided women in getting the rights that are unarguably entitled to men. In the United States,
American feminist in the twenty-first century are currently fighting for womens rights that
include equal pay as men, reproduction rights that covers contraception, abortion, and health
care, and many others. However, there are some countries that do not have the right to fight for
even the average modern American woman right. Due to this, some have begun questioning
whether American feminist should shift their movement to fight for womens rights in other
American feminists should not shift their feminist movement to international women's
liberation for three reasons. The first being, that feminists -American or not- cannot fully fight
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for womens rights for other countries when they are not seen as equals in their respective
country. Secondly, any and every upper movement for womens liberation is upper movement for
all women. Lastly, the focused concerns in America by American feminists is not viewed as
oppressions in other countries, because of this, the benefits for aiding those countries would be
none. However, even though American feminist are recognizing an issue within the genders in
their own country and believes it should be fixed, many argue that they are not truly feminists
Feminists, whether theyre Western and Eastern, must realize for anyone to help others
they first must be able to help themselves. According to Paulo Friere in his book Pedagogy of the
Oppressed he believes that, It is only the oppressed who, by freeing themselves, can free their
oppressors. The latter, as an oppressive class, can free neither others nor themselves (Friere 8).
Considering this, if American feminist didnt fight for their rights and dont continue to fight for
their rights, how will they be able to help others who are facing similar issues they are trying to
liberate themselves from? This is also evident for all rights regardless of issues surrounding
gender. For example, African- Americans couldnt vote until 1870, however women werent able
to vote until 1920. As a result, even though African- Americans could vote, this only included
men which meant black women were unable to vote until women could vote which was 50 years
after African-American men could. Considering this, if it wasnt first for African-American men
fighting for their right to be able to vote and then the American feminists fighting for their right
to vote that African-American women could be able to vote. For instance, if women were able to
vote before African-American, African-American wouldnt have been able to vote regardless of
being women, because African-Americans as a whole were unable to vote. As a result, African-
American women wouldnt be able to effectively help other countries or highlight political issues
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surrounding America, since they did not have the right to effect change. Therefore, it must be a
continuous fighting for all rights that are not equivalent to those in your own country, not just a
When women, anywhere around the world, have rights that other countries dont have,
that opens the door to the possibility of those countries to get them as well. Because of this, any
and every upper movement for womens liberation is upper movement for all women, regardless
of country and social classification, this is evident in the suffrage movement that was taken place
throughout the world. The first wave of feminism began during the late nineteenth and early
twentieth century and was focused on women gaining their right to vote in the United Kingdom,
the Netherlands, Canada, and the United States. However, the first country to successfully gain
their right to vote was New Zealand on the 19 of September 1893. When the news came out
th
about the success of the New Zealand movement, other suffrage campaigners wrote to them that
their victory gave a new hope and life to all women struggling for emancipation (Ministry for
Culture and Heritage). However, it wasnt until many years later, 1918, that British women
gained their right to vote, then the United States two years after that, and the French in 1944.
Indian and Pakistani women couldnt vote until 1947 and 1950, nevertheless, the United Nation
called for full womens suffrage in 1952 (CQ Global Researcher). Even though all women were
eventually allowed to vote, it wasnt until the victory of a feminist movement in a certain country
was allowed to vote that women in other countries were eventually able to as well.
Although feminist movements revolve around gender equality, the focus varies from
group to group and from place to place. Considering this, the drive around womens rights in
America is a movement for physical liberation and having the ability to express themselves
without being seen and revered as objects for males to lust after. However, this is not a concern
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for some countries who do not worry about how their physical appearances makes others feel nor
worry about what they might think. Due to this difference, other countries way of thinking and
dressing is significantly different from Americans and other modern countries. Since American
feminist focus is on the representation and liberation of their bodies, however for Muslim
women, their culture and religious traditions do not view their dressing traditions as oppressive
nor submissive to males (Aossey para. 2). Therefore, for a feminist group that focuses on
physical liberation, their movement and opinions on other countries that do not see themselves as
physically oppressed would be invaluable and infringes on that countrys culture and religious
traditions
A true feminist movement isnt and shouldnt be sectional and isolated, it should go
where it needs to and help those in need of helping. However, feminism is so often segregated
and situated around a certain group of people that it becomes categorized and labeled, separating
it from actual feminist movements (Al- Sibai). American feminists are labeled as such because
theyre centered around the American womans strife. Feminist movements that are surrounded
around people of color are often categorized as black feminist movements and therefore, they
only concern themselves with issues that plague their community. However, feminist
movements should focus on all issues that are not equal for all regardless of ethnicity,
stereotypes, nationalities, genders, and etcetera. Feminist movements should be two things global
and intersectional. For feminism to be considered a global movement requires the primary
concern for womens rights movement to be both forward moving and worldwide. When
institutions and avoids examining them separately creating a variety of other feminist movements
(Al-Sibai). When feminist organizations are divided, they do not aim to improve womens rights
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that affect women -and men- on a global scale nor do they correctly represent and demonstrate
Feminism is a movement that requires identifying an issue concerning gender rights and
working towards a solution. The drive to fixing a gender issue is done by a diverse group of
people, not just a group of women. However positive this movement might be, feminism has
many conflicting ideas and groups of people who differ on how to fix the issues they face
concerning gender, human rights, and equality. One of these issues is whether American feminist
should continue to focus on the issues and conflicting ideas that concern their country or become
more international. Some of the reasons American feminists should continue to fight for their
rights is because, they must first be free from oppression themselves before they can help others.
Secondly, all women rights gained -regardless of country- is beneficial for all women. Lastly, the
issues that countries focus on varies from country to country. Due to this, what one country
might consider oppressive might not be oppressive to the country they wish to help. However,
many still believe that the feminist movement should be global and diverse. It should concern
with advocating for human rights, not just American rights, same sex rights, or people of color. It
should focus on all rights that effect the equality for all and not some. Nevertheless, this conflict
concerning the direction Americans should focus their movements is still being debated, they
continue to advocate for human rights -equal womens rights- that take place in America.
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Work Cited
Adichie, Chimamandra Ngozi. We Should All Be Feminists. Anchor Books. New York. 2015.
Book
http://everydayfeminism.com/2015/01/feminism-fails-muslim-women/. Everyday
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/gabby-aossey/muslims-are-the-true-
2017.