Feminism. What really is it? We all have our own perceptions and misconceptions about what this word truly means. Some think it is the idea that women are more powerful than men, that it's the collective hatred of males. Well, in fact, the dictionary definition of Feminism, is “the advocacy of women's rights on the grounds of political, social, and economic equality to men.” Simply meaning, the public support of women and men being treated equally in all aspects.
    

Imagine from the minute you are born, you father, throws his head down in shame, your mother cries because she realizes she didn’t fulfil her husband's wishes to have a boy. Then you grow up to wait on your brothers, wash their clothes, cook for them, clean after them, because of course, they’re boys, they’re not meant to do these things. You grow up but does the misery end here? Oh no! you will be sold to the richest suiter there is, no matter how old, and you have zero say. You live this dark life of sadness until the time comes for you to give birth, you look down at your newborn, and a look of horror comes over your face. It’s a girl. You realize that this child will grow up living a life of misery, just as you had, just as your mother had and there's nothing you can do about it.
    

As you’re reading this now, you’re probably thinking, “This must be what life was like hundreds of years ago, this kind of thing doesn’t happen in the twenty-first century” Right now, this is in fact happening in many third world countries. In most middle eastern countries.
    

Let us rewind all the way back to medieval times, a time when it was not known for a women to stand up for herself, a time when a woman was always considered second best next to men. A female's role in society was simple. Sit at home, have children and raise them, cook and clean for your family, and of course, tend to your husbands each and every need. Women did not have the right to vote, they were not to choose who to marry, in fact most women were sold from man to man, until someone decided to keep them.
   

Fortunately, most countries in the world have evolved from this time, and women are continuing to become stronger and stronger. However we must not forget how inequality still remains a highly debatable issue, even in such an advanced country like America. It is a proven fact that for every dollar a working man earns, a working woman will earn eighty-four cents. On a larger scale, this means a man will earn $100,000 per year, in comparison to a woman, doing exactly the same job, yet only earning $84,000 per year. Let’s not forget a woman will most likely have to pay for childcare, to even enable herself to leave the house and go to work.

To conclude, Feminism has come a very long way from the beginning of time, however despite coming so far, there are still many steps forward we as a world need to take until we can achieve full equality.

Bibliography:
http://feministmagazine.org/resources/gender-equity-facts/

http://www.medievalgender.org.uk/about/

http://www.irfi.org/articles/articles_401_450/women_in_the_middle_east.htm