The dictionary definition of feminism is "the advocacy of women's rights on the grounds of political, social, and economic equality to men." You may be thinking, “well, don’t women already have rights?” and you would be correct in assuming this, but it is all a matter of perspective. Say you’re a woman in the United States and you’re working full time at an all year round job. You’ll still only be making 78% of what that of a man will make. Even worse is if you are a Hispanic woman, you only make 54% of what a man makes. If you have never felt oppressed, it is hard to imagine that other people have. And that’s what the feminist movement is about, to bring the oppression of women to peoples’ attention. In fact, feminism’s goal is for women - all women - to be seen as people, to be seen as equals to that of men, and to not be looked down upon by society just because of your gender.

The patriarchy is the main obstacle that feminism seeks out to destroy because stemming from that system comes many problems that contradict the feminist movement. Under the patriarchy, women make less money than men and occupy less upper management positions (only 15%), even less are the CEO positions at only 4%. Not only does the patriarchy hinder women’s true potential in the work force, it limits the success of everything she might do. For example, under traditional patriarchal rules, each monogamous relationship must require a person who assumes the “masculine” role while the other person assumes the “feminine” role. Frankly, not every relationship works that way because not every person can identify with those labels. And it isn’t just women who suffer under the patriarchy, men have high demands, too. The higher they climb on the corporate ladder the more they are forced to become a company robot. The patriarchy in general is a major roadblock that feminists care much about.

The basic misconception of feminists and their ideology is that they hate men, which is simply not the case. Feminists recognize that 1 in 71 men get raped in their lifetime and believe them when they come out about it and try to help as much as possible. Feminists know that men are affected by the patriarchy and are made fun of everyday if they don’t conform to gender roles and are taught from birth to aspire to be “manly” and to have a family and be able to support them.And feminists are aware that that’s a lot of pressure, so they encourage everyone - even men - to join their movement if they believe in equality because every person is affected positively by feminism if represented correctly.

Legitimate feminists strive for intersectional feminism. In fact, I believe one cannot call themselves a feminist if they only advocate equality for one specific group of people, for example - white, straight, cisgender women. Intersectional feminism includes support for, but is not limited to, colored, queer, fat, and disabled people; if someone excludes any one of those groups, they are not practicing true feminism. Genuine feminists also don’t shame or police women on what they wear or what they choose for their occupation or on how sexually active they think they are. People need to get in the habit of having the mindset that every person, every woman, has their own struggles, their own journey, and when you are but a spectator, you are merely looking on from the outside and, therefor, cannot make proper judgement of the person and their life. True feminism is the idea that every person, every woman, has a right to equality and proper judgement regardless of gender, skin color, weight, sexual orientation, abilities or profession.

Feminism has been around since the 19th century; it has been changed, added to, misrepresented, and continued for generations. It was brought back by popular demand because people around the world have realized that it is necessary for recognition of equality. It is often seen as a radical movement, but, truly, it is not. It is simple when you look at the overall goal of the movement - to give people, especially women, equality in all aspects of life and to not deny them basic human rights because of their gender. It’s the 21st century, feminism is not a new concept and it isn’t difficult to grasp, either. Shouldn’t it already be obvious that the people of the world should be seen as equals considering every person is a human? Feminists say “yes.”