The Emergence of Feminism and the Benefits it Brought to Womanhood
...t and submissive role to men. Biases in gender had become clearly apparent that this had to change. Change did occur little by little. Women began to deviate from their expected roles in life and eventually became pioneers of feminism. Feminism emerged over a period of centuries through the efforts of women everywhere. In the words of women’s rights activists Jeanne Deroin of France and Anne Knight of England, the feminist movement sought no less than “the complete, radical abolition of all the privileges of sex.” The Feminist Movement ignited improvements in the life of women. The first improvements were made in the areas of education and women’s rights. As early as the 1670’s, women in Europe became proponents of education, demanding that literacy would benefit their performance of child care. Even in Asia, a small group of elite women were given schooling, but it was only until centuries after that education was brought to the women of the middle class. In time, women were able to perform the act of suffrage, an indication that they finally played an active role in politics. From the initial improvements in the lives of women came even bigger and more significant changes. Until today, improvements are constantly being made through the efforts of the feminist movement in the belief that as Gender Studies Professor Estelle B. Freedman put it in her book No Turning Back, “women and men are inherently of equal worth.” Because of the efforts made in the past, the role of women today has greatly improved in many aspects. In the family, mothers are no longer limited to the four walls of the home for there are other opportunities made available for them. There are also many cases of single mothers who independently raise their children and exercise both maternal and paternal responsibilities. Men need not be the sole family breadwinners any longer. There are now women in all types of professions, even in the male dominated areas of work. There are women who serve in the military, who are astronauts, carpenters, and truck drivers even. Many women control enormous billion-dollar business empires like talk show host and company CEO Oprah Winfrey, Hong Kong real estate developer Nina Wang, and many more (Forbes Magazine 2002). In the political setting, women commonly hold positions of power. In the 1990’s women were elected into government positions in 90 % of the world’s nations. From those women elected, more than twenty served as heads of state (Freedman 2002). In the Philippines, two women have served as president and there are a significant number of female representatives in the senate and the house of congress. Even in the male dominated area of sports, women have now made an impact. In the recent years, there have been manifestations of an improving state of impartiality of gender in sports. There is now more television coverage being given for women’s sporting events and competitions. In the 2000 Olympic Games, 44% of the participating athletes were female. The Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) has also achieved a bigger following in two years than what their men’s counterpart, the National Basketball Association (NBA), accomplished in seven (Betancourt 2001). Despite much advancement in the life of women, there are still several forms of discrimination in gender that is prevalent in society. Many women suffer from eating disorders like anorexia nervosa and bulimia. Anorexia nervosa is indicated by the severe limiting of food intake and the forcibly inflicting of starvation on oneself, whereas bulimia involves eating binges followed by food purging. Because of the exposure of women to media forms that indicate a prescribed and ideal body type (which is in reality highly unachievable for most women), there is a rampant feeling of discontent with body image, even in women who are of normal weight. In the United States, 90% of those diagnosed with eating disorders are female showing that this is indeed an issue regarding gender (Freedman 2002). Sexual harassment is another form of gender discrimination. Women may sometimes be treated as mere objects of affection rather than colleagues in the work place. ...