When you fight for feminism, do you fight for equality? Or would you rather fight for a tainted vision of equality, ruled with over-dramatized females wanting to make the news?
Feminism was once the notion that men and women are equal and deserve the same rights , but over the past few decades, it has evolved into a more extremist movement that calls for the eradication of anything gender-related. Despite women finally having equal rights, the talk around feminism has not died down the slightest with women coming up with more and more ridiculous reasons on why they are being oppressed by the patriarchy. In this, a conception that grip onto women, subjugating and hindering them from reaching their potentials than the topic itself, is the Wage Gap.
But What is the Wage Gap?
The gender wage gap is the average difference between the incomes of both men and women. This doesn’t account for age, previous experiences, differences in job roles, but it’s still viewed as the most representative calculation.
It is a mirage, where at first glance it seems very genuine, but upon a closer inspection, it is in fact just a twisted and warped version of reality tricking our eyes; deluding it as an eminent issue. Feminists see this mirage from afar and and jump to the conclusion that this is yet another symbol of the growing patriarchy around them, stunting their own growth. We might then assume that as females, we are placed into an incessant society; that these statistics undermine what salaries we get. We then turn to abhorring the society than putting in effort into our succession.
These feminists often go after the wage gap, making sure the wage gap between working women and men are equal. But the many factors that constitute the wage gap are overlooked:-
- Men are more likely to work in stem field which open up to higher paying jobs.
- Some men are more likely to work for longer hours.
- Women may take time off to look after children
The equal pay act of 1963 also states that it is illegal to pay laborers less on the basis of sex, race and religion, therefore if a woman is doing the exact same amount of work for the exact same hours, it would be illegal to pay her less than her male counterparts.
But the wage gap pales in comparison to the ridiculousness of other ‘’issues’’ that have enveloped our society even in the most innocent seeming places: our toy stores.
Children’s toys have toyed around with gender equality for far too long. Feminists are finally speaking out against this barbaric practice: segregating toy sections based on gender.
Boys prefer trucks. Girls prefer dolls.
These “drilled-in” assumptions of what your child might like, in accordance to their gender, angers many parents of how those simple distinguishments will ruin a child’s entire life.
A study conducted by Brenda Todd assessed toy preferences of children aged 9 to 32 month, during a free-play session at their nursery school. There were toys surrounding the child, with toys distinguished as stereotypically male and stereotypically female. BPS Research Digest explains the results of the study: “At every age, there was a clear pattern—boys showed more interest in and played for longer with male-type toys and girls showed a similar bias for female-typed toys.”
But why do gender stereotyped toys hurt many parents? Because it does not give the children the freedom to, even before they understand what gender is, choose what they want. However, as seen in the experiment, girls and boys gravitate naturally to a specific type- but that is generalizing. Children’s preferences are for a certain individual self, but it’s the parents’ duty to allow the child to go find toys in the girls or boys section, regardless of their gender.
Because it is not a stores fault of the Blue and Pink signs affecting children, but of narrow-minded parents.
It need not have to go to the point of a campaign “Let Toys be Toys” or to the White House discussing strategies to help make toys gender neutral or to go to court cases to determine if ‘a boy liking girl toys’ something to be stopped.
It is about kid’s toys.
Ridiculous Movements
Some ideas make women, men and organisms of all types sick of feminism movements. Instead of actually important and serious topics to consider, they deviate to ones that make people laugh instead of being taken seriously. They pick on things that people normally would not have thought of, like hurricanes, or should I say, him-icanes?
Feminist Roxcy Bolton claimed that the term “hurricane” sounds too much like “her-icane.” This makes us associate these destructive storms with women. Roxcy claimed that “Women are not disasters, destroying life and communities and leaving a lasting and devastating effect.”Instead, she wanted to rename hurricanes to “him-icanes.” The National Weather Service rejected her proposal. I wonder why.
From outdoor hurricanes, to your indoor Air Conditioning- there seems to be a lot of air related issues- sexism is still at large. At offices, women have complained about air conditioners being sexist. They complain about how the thermostat’s setting is much cooler for them as most climate control systems are based on the resting metabolic rate of a 40-year-old man, which runs up to 30 per cent faster than a woman’s. So while men are comfortable in the workplace, most women would need conditions to be around four degrees warmer.
These complaints once again remind us that we have the luxury to complain of a luxury, while some people do not even have such privileges. In fact, according to a study by the Center for the Built Environment at the University of California, Berkeley, thermal comfort has much less to do with gender than it does with age, activity level, weight, height and health. Another thing to consider would be the positions. A person right under the AC would be colder than a person further away from it.
After all these absurd ideas and statements, you cannot help but wonder what is coming next.
It’s Equality, not Superiority
Although birthed out of the goodness of heart for the benefit of women, feminism now has morphed into dramatized perspective where women see themselves as victims in everyday situations. God forbid, you deny their privileges- no- “rights” because then, “You are sexist and you should rot in hell”.
Even a man approaching a woman or a casual ‘’flirtatious’’ word is sexual assault. Women have downed themselves in exaggerated issues, latching on to the smallest and amplifying to display that “Oh, I have been violated because a man breathed next to me.”
In addition, false rape accusations are exceedingly recurrant. For example, “According to Linda Fairstein of the New York County District Attorney’s Sex Crimes Unit, “there are about 4,000 reports of rape each year in Manhattan.
“Of these, about half simply did not happen.”
Feminism should focus more on the equality between genders, instead of focusing on raising women’s power, authority and importance to a level higher.
In conclusion, the fight for feminism should have ended years ago in most parts of the world. Only third-world countries truly need feminism to reform and reshape their societies and give women rights they truly deserve, yet the feminism agenda has turned a blind-eye to these countries and would rather focus on nonsensical issues that are no real threat to society. We instead should focus on itself as a whole not only a particular group to ever truly reach equality.
Group 5:
Reva and Zaina: Research and Editing
Rhem: Illustration and Research
Ashlyn, Ramla and Raashidhah: Research and Inclusion of Personal Opinions.
The Fool’s Paradise 
This is an amazing perspective which most of us should consider. A job well done!
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