These successes have not come easily, and have majorly been a culmination of decades upon decades of active agitation and legislation.
Across the globe, the movement has found relatively varying levels of success despite the fact that it is deeply steeped in history, and has come under sharp criticism from various quarters; not least "meninists", disgruntled feminists and religious bodies for perceived over-zealousness, hypersensitivity and a reactionary approach, and has also been blamed for being directly responsible for the rise of men's right's groups. There are still those who view it skeptically while others have argued that feminists have a "distorted world view and a questionable understanding of history".
Perhaps the biggest weakness of the feminist ideology is that it is a conglomeration of several pro-women pro-choice ideals that are not only difficult to achieve but that has oftentimes drawn the ire of even the very women whose very rights and well-being it agitates for.
Consequently, there are a lot of women who don't buy the ideology and are never shy to state that they don't identify as feminists and are essentially against feminists. It's is for instance no surprise to come across mushrooming social media groups like Women Against Feminism on Facebook.
While feminists have set gender equality as their main target, they have continually driven a wedge between the genders by depicting the female gender as the weaker -at least implicitly - and exploited gender, or simply the "other gender", instead of championing for the depiction of women as equal members of the human race as their male counterparts, and who deserve better for the simple reason that they are humans too.
In as much as this is a well-beaten noble road that has been instrumental in providing impetus to the movement, it may also serve to reinforce sexist and misogynistic stereotypes of what women are and are not, can and cannot do, and can and cannot achieve; instead of serving to reassert the woman's part in society by magnifying her achievements in life and in society in various fields of practice and profession.
There's also need to espouse the woman's immense contributions as a birther and shaper of life and society, and for her supreme innermost strength to endure the grueling pains of menstrual cycles, nine-month pregnancy terms and child birth and upbringing for years on end.
These alone are reasons enough to vindicate the woman and to mark her out as an individual more worthy of treatment with dignity and respect.
Achieving this objective requires that a lot be done to inculcate a culture that is respectful of women and that judges individuals not by their gender but by the content of their character.
While much effort has been dedicated towards addressing the plight of the girl child, a lot still needs to be done towards the same end. And not just that, the plight of the boy child also needs to be looked at because in essence, we do not need to be talking about the boy child or the girl child; we need to be talking about the child who not only needs our love, care and support to deal with the challenges of the 21st Century, but who also needs to be nurtured into an all-rounded person respectful of both genders, all religions, races, creeds and cultures.
Most importantly, we need to at the end of the day look into our children's eyes and to feel unquestionably content that we did our very best to equip them with all the necessary skills that will enable them to become useful, resourceful and respectful individuals in society; people who have the capacity and capability to engineer personal and community growth. It's only then when everybody shall be on the upward rise that gender based violence and discrimination will steadily creep into the distant past
As has been evidenced by various theoretical studies and research papers economic prosperity and gender equality walk hand in hand because of the causal relationship between the two.
By: Jagero Wallace
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