Blazing the Female Path for Women's Rights

I don't consider myself a true feminist, and it's not because I don't believe in the movement. I've been trying to analyze this for what it is worth, and maybe I should be embarrassed of myself. I don't really feel subjugated by my gender, although I do think that women should make the same amount of money as men do. I can accept and comprehend the reasons behind why people would want to be part of this cause, because it would further many different facets in politics, marriage, fiscal equality, tolerance, and equal rights. I've never had any reasons to prove myself in a Norma Rae fashion or to protest over my position as a woman, even when I worked in a factory between the ages of eighteen and twenty. I can respect those who need to fight for the results that other people take for granted. I think that those people are the unsung victors, and never get any credit. We, as women, are able to perform certain tasks in life that many feminists fought tooth and nail to be able to do. These women blazed the path for contemporary life as we know it and, though some countries have yet to catch up to this model, American women are able to take advantage of this path.

There are many examples of women who changed the way women were viewed in society. We became vital and worthy of having careers. Though we may not have the same salaries as men, we were able to perform the same occupations. This was a very important step forward to independence and a life without being reliant on men for support. This bucked the trend of having a woman go to college in order to meet an eligible bachelor, marry, have children, and sacrifice their dreams for the dictation of cultural norms. For instance, being a medical doctor was a profession that was only limited to men. Elizabeth Blackwell changed that rule. She was the first female doctor who earned her degree in 1849 at New York's Geneva College. If it wasn't for her perseverance, who knows if there would be any female physicians in this world. Even at that point in history, women were still considered wrong for wanting to have independent careers. Later on second wave feminism took on the subjects such as abortion rights with the most famous being that of the pro-choice model. The Roe v. Wade trial changed the way women were able to deal with planning parenthood. Legalizing the process of abortion gave a woman the right to choose what we were able to do with our own bodies. Though this was very controversial, especially when it came to many right wing Christian conservatives, the judgment was passed on January 22, 1973.

Today, feminism has taken on a very different type of work. Some of this leads the way with fighting against sexual predators, sexual abuse, and sexual harassment. Feminists want equality for race, gender, and LGBT communities (lesbian, gay, bi-sexual, trans-gender). According to many feminists, the third wave began with the Clarence Thomas Supreme Court hearings with Anita Hill. These court hearings in Washington DC championed the voice of equality between race and gender. This movement empowers women seeks to evolve the independence others have already striven for, while fighting against intolerance and injustice. There are very famous third-wave feminists such as comedian Margaret Cho, who has done charity efforts with PFLAG (Parents, Family, and Friends of Lesbians and Gays) and supported President Barack Obama's run for presidency. Other third-wave feminists include Margaret Atwood, who is a well-known Canadian author, social campaigner and winner of the Arthur C. Clarke award, and Kathy Najimy, best known as the Voice of Peggy Hill on King of the Hill who champions the cause of gay and human rights through causes such as the The Feminist Majority Foundation's "Stop Gender Apartheid."

I never realized all of privileges and doors that had been opened by these women, and many of them way before I was born. We have so many chances today that we wouldn't even dream of when our parents were young. I can't help, but reflect and be thankful for that kind opportunity. I may not be so much of an activist, but I am no less grateful for having the freedoms to learn and grow intellectually. It's a shame that some parts of the world still have a backward mentality when it comes to female empowerment. The Vatican in Rome is one instance, and the Nation of Islam is another. Many different patriarchal societies treat women as objects or squelch their importance as intellectual human beings. Instead they are made to be housewives or they aren't allowed to be priests or religious figures. Instead we have priests who do unspeakable things, which will lead to a whole different essay. Hopefully one day, those societies, religious sects, and cultures will see fit to give women the same equal rights as a man. We live in modern times with the evolution of advanced technology, why should we live in the past.