Ever been called out as a feminist—as if it were some kind of negative term? Here’s why I think we should dispense with it altogether.
I recently gave a talk alongside four other speakers at a new event series called Common Ground, at the Bahrain Society of Engineers. I decided to focus upon my experience with women in the workplace, and why I choose to hire and empower women through my business.
Toward the end of the talk, someone from the audience aggressively asked me if I was a feminist, and if my policy of hiring women represented discrimination against men. I subsequently began to question what feminism meant to me, and if I should even call myself a feminist. Feminism means different things to different people, but to me, it means celebrating the differences between the sexes.
Dictionary.com defines the word feminist as “an advocate of social, political, legal, and economic rights for women, equal to those of men.” It seems simple enough, but people shy away from the term because of perceived negative connotations.
“Feminism means different things to different people, but to me, it means celebrating the differences between the sexes.
I realized, after my talk, that many of the audience members had not viewed this label as a positive one. The term had sounded irrelevant to our generation, and quite old-fashioned.
It may also be a term that women are too proud to use; it can seem aggressive and divisive. I personally find that there is no need for the battle of the sexes, and I emphasize that in my talks. It is, most importantly, about making sure that men and women can work together. Throwing the term around in an argument usually ends up creating a barrier to the very idea it represents.
Overgeneralizations of any kind are a serious issue, because assumptions leave plenty of room for inaccuracies, and often lead to false representation.
So why are people still so determined to use this label? There seems to be so much hostility toward the term feminism, and often, I feel like I sound like a PR rep when I speak about empowering women. All I really want to do is promote equality between men and women.
Perhaps we should be spending more of our energy forging partnerships toward equality, and ditch the word feminist completely. It comes with a lot of baggage, and if women and men choose to embrace this label, they will need to realize that it comes with a burden. They’ll need to maneuver around it simply to get their points across.
A group discussion about this issue with my colleagues at the office resulted in the conclusion that feminist is an outdated word, and that it’s better to think of oneself as a humanist. In this way, you’ll be less likely to alienate yourself from the concepts of equal rights, equal pay, and equal health care.
I am all for gender equality, but I think the word feminism can be used to dismiss other people’s ideas. Not only do women have to be careful about using this term (and then being stereotyped and negatively cast aside), but we need to remain aware that it tends to hold us to an impossible standard.
“I am all for gender equality, but I think the word feminism can be used to dismiss other people’s ideas.
As women, we have to live by a required set of rules and guidelines, and if you call yourself a feminist (or are called a feminist), it is perceived that you must, by definition, hold the same beliefs as all other feminists.
A uniform definition of feminism does not exist. It means something different to everyone, and it is important to know that feminists don’t have to live up to perfect consistency in terms of their beliefs. It is more of a discussion, a conversation, and a process of equality.
