Feminism: Still a Force for Good?

Women have come a long way since the very first Suffragettes fought for our right to vote and the movement has evolved greatly from its original purpose. Yet the core of it remains the same: it is the fight for equality of the sexes. But as feminism has grown and widened its reach across the globe, has its very essence been diluted and, as a result, is it still a force for good?

Feminism has had to adapt and morph into something entirely benign and inoffensive in a bid to become as mainstream as possible. This is understandable; for any change to occur, a movement needs a sizeable group of whistleblowers to push its agenda into public view and get it recognised, and this group cannot be assembled if the majority find that movement to be hard to stomach. So gone are the days of the uncomfortable shock tactics used by women in Emmeline Pankhurst's time - make way for the era of bubblegum feminism: pop culture's answer to the demand for a feminist voice in modern society.

Frontrunners of this "movement" include, among others, the likes of Beyoncé and Taylor Swift who use their success to push forward the #GirlPower sentiment. While there is absolutely nothing wrong with dancing to a catchy R&B track about how girls run the world, it makes me uncomfortable for us to also be passively watching young women all over the world suffer from FGM and a lack of access to education in 2020. It seems as though we are no longer fighting for the eradication of these pressing problems but rather furthering a superficial 'empowerment' agenda. So where did it all go wrong?

Well, ever since it was known to the capitalist world that feminism sells, we've seen this political movement be exploited time and time again such as Dior's "We Should All Be Feminists" t-shirts (by the way, we never found out what percentage of the $710 that the t-shirt cost even went to the Clara Lionel Foundation). It's a lovely thought - such an influential fashion house wanting to back the movement, but what does a few words on a t-shirt do to help the systematically disciminated women of the world?

This is not the only problematic aspect of feminism. Its encouragement of women to have a career, be successful, and break stereotypes coupled with its reassurance that we can also still be mothers and family women, and just to have it all is, frankly, exhausting. It places an unrealistic expectation on women; whether intentional or not, the movement is starting to have detrimental effects on the very people it is trying to liberate. I could go on listing the flaws: the third wave anti-men sentiment, the class and race divide in the movement, and the overcompensation in hiring ratios. It seems endless.

But it's not all bad news, thanks to modern feminism Hollywood rapists have been brought to justice, women can now drive in Saudi Arabia, and the wage gap is being addressed. We've come a long way but we have an even longer way to go. Let us not forget about the struggling women in the developing world who are still oppressed by cultural and political ideals as we march on.