Where do you think the future of feminism is:?

Question

a) reducing the gender gap,
b) reconciliation policies,
c) affirmative action
d) political quotas
c) increasing public work
d) reducing sexual harassment
e) trasforming organisations (including private bussiness): leaning down and democratization.

No, it is not over before all the Borats of the world stop being something more than a parody.

Happy Bullet, thank yo for taking your time to answer but you are taking these policies for the feminist movement itself in an specific context that you are probably thinking about. I refer to the policies as making feminism, not to feminism as taking control of them and using them against the rest of the people. You have some resentful point of view, here. I am sorry.

Bierchic...I hope you are right, but precisely, these things intend to accelerate what is inevitable, to introduce it in the political sphere instead of letting it to the social inertia.

Reconciliation lokks a strong area but I will vote for making organizations more femenine inside in the way they work. When I was in Sweden you could breath a nice equality of treatment, lack of authoritarian hierarchies, responsiveness, democracy, capacity to work in teams, etc, in the public administration. I have not seen that in any other place in the world, where you are first judged for your appearence (if you are a woman) which is extremely uncomfortable especiallly if you are just somewaht pretty and the boss keeps false appearences about the power that he probably doesnt have home, sometimes really looking down at the employees, etc. This is the kind of things that should cahnge, and policies are just to help this happen.

I mean: feminism is already embedded in postmodern values such as participative democracy, self construction of identities, control over our own bodies, etc. Women just have to mainstream their perspective along every field in life.

Phil: I disaggree with you and I think that there are a lot of falacies among your statments, but I appreciate the time you took in your response and the fact that you have given me a helpful insight about what people think in general about feminism. It is true that it has become a very unpopular term. almost an anathema for some people, as it is identified with grumpling impertinent women without a drop of feminity wanting to take the men's place in authority positions or take advantage of their attained social and economic achievements (which are not theirs, as women has always worked and participated in the shadow, in the private sphere), but the reality is that:
there are only more female teachers in the lower levels of education, from creches to secundary school, men start to overrate men as soon as the job positions become more valued and better paid.

2. There is a gender wage gap. As you say, women have lower hourly earnings because they work part- time, but they are doing that men do, so the fact that men are paid moreis a question of prejudice, not of economic efficiency.
In Hantrais, L. (2004) "Family policy matters", p. 187, youu can read an Estonian testimony of a non unusual practice: "I have attended an employment interview where a male candidate for the post of chief accountant was offered a hiher salary than a woman. The explanation given was that "men need more for spending"." This kind of underlying thinking is everywhere even though not as explicitely and it is neither good for economy nor for men.
In my opinion, men should be given more opportunities to become more like women, that is, to spend more time with children and to do more childcare. At this point, I agree with you about the divorce law discriminating features. But the problem is that men are expected to: work full time and spend more, at the end of the day

...so, men are also victims of a society and a culture full of prejudices that hinders even their capacity to choose between family and work or different ways of reconciliation. I am not against men, I actually love and need them, I am against taht kind of awful social constraints that make as less free and more miserable in a useless way that could be changed.

Answer 1

Feminism is beginning to implode, judging from the fact that each year there are fewer registered feminists (with such organizations as N.O.W., etc.), fewer people claiming to be feminists and in fact, more women turning against current gender feminism.

Women have attained superiority in hiring through affirmative action, which was hijacked from minorities,which was the original object (women make up 51% of the US population and are not a minority). Not in superior numbers, just attainment for jobs where a man was better qualified, edcated or experienced. This and other methods have widened and intensified the gender gap. Men and women that were originally for equality have come to realize that modern-day feminism is not about equality but superiority and sometimes just beating men down, not necessarily uplifting women;

Sexual harassment is a tool for feminists to change the actions and procedures of work places to suit them without regard to other's wants, including the owner. Democracy and capitalism are incompatable in business except in co-op type organizations where the workers are also the actual owners;

Occasionally women are being elected to political positions simply because they are women, not because they are better. Although there are good women politicans(if ANY politician can be called such), many are elected because of their liberal, pro-woman stance (not pro-equality). The main reason for fewer women in political positions is a lack of women running. Even then, often women will vote against a woman however, I believe feminists will vote for a less-qualified woman before they will vote for any man;

Work output per capita has decreased in many industies since quotas and standards had to be relaxed to include and enable women to compete, i.e. Military standards, police and firefighting positions for women are either much less stringent than that for men or the overall standards have been reduced (personally, if someone is going to rescue me from a burning building, I don't care what their sex is but I darn well want them qualified for the job at hand. I don't care how sexist it appears or how loudly feminists whine);

While feminism has been focused on advancement of women, they are claiming the aim is "equality". Obviously, that is a lie. For instance, teaching is primarily a woman's sphere.There is a severe imbalance of male/female teachers yet feminism takes no notice of this apparent discrimination against men at all;
Femism tends to focus on the executive positions, taking stock of the sex of the higher levels of management while ignoring the mundane and especially mundane, dangerous and dirty jobs;

The apparent "glass ceiling" against fathers in divorce and custody situations has not garnered even a glance at the sexism that is so rampant and obvious in regard to 'family law'. While only 7% of fathers are granted custody, it is usually only attained by the desire of the mother to have paternal custody or the father expends many thousands of dollars and much time. What women are freely given in this case, men must purchase and will still frequently lose in spite of the fact that they are equal to or better as parents.
One would think that anyone interested in "equality" would be sympthetic toward men who are victims of paternity fraud. Many men have raised children that were fathered by another man (sometimes even other men; plural) unknowingly. After years of such assumption, when divorce occurs and even with DNA proof in hand, they are forced to pay child support to the mother for these children. Feminism's view: he's the only father they have known. The actions against the mother for her fraud and deceit: nothing at all.

The fact that women are paid as well and sometimes better than male co-workers doing the same job with the same tenure and qualifications does not hamper the fact that there is no wage gap between men and women except that placed there by the women themselves.
In so far as wages are concerned, the fact that feminists are comparing all male employees to all female employees is an imbalanced position. This includes temps and part-time and those who take minimum-wage jobs for "a little extra". Many minimum wage and part-time jobs are predominately staffed by females to coincide with their child's school hours. Men are more likely to work longer hours per week and remain at the same job without interruptions. Many women take time off for childbirth or until the children are of school age. Demanding they be able to return to the workforce at pay and benefits equal to those who remained on the job is a demonstrative disservice to those (men AND women) who remained on the job. Truthfully, women are paid at least as much as is a man with the same qualifications and experience.

The end result is that feminism is slowly going by the wayside much like probihibition (which was an offshoot of feminism).

Answer 2

Good question. I think we may be at a turning point for feminism. Certainly there are still many countries where women are treated like second class citizens, but I think that is being overshadowed by the special protections and privileges feminists in the western world are seeking. I think this negative reactions to the selfish actions of feminism are frustrating so many that it will cripple the positive things it could do. It wouldn't surprise me if real inequities women face in some places gets taken up more and more by less selfish movements like social justice, making feminism even more of a radical self interest group than it is now. What I do feel is that if feminism wants to be a productive influence in the future, it needs to address the element of it that focuses on seeking privileges for men over return the more traditional role of focusing on those places where women do not have the same rights as men. If they don't do this soon, I think they will quickly become ineffectual. I think they've reached the point where they can no longer claim they are fighting for equal rights and equal treatment while at the same time pushing for special privileges which is completely contradictory. They need to pick a focus. They can't maintain both.

Answer 3

The goal has to be reducing the gender gap through a variety of the other items. While feminism has made great strides, conservatives have been very successful in convincing the public that women are already equal, despite a large gap in salaries, the small number of women in leadership positions, and an increased amount of women leaving the workforce to stay at home at least part time. Hopefully, the movement will regain its steam in an intelligent way that appeals to both women and men. As we found with the right to vote, you have to have broad support if any progress will be made. I've found that women themselves can be the largest obstacle to obtaining true equality by not demanding it at home and at work.

Answer 4

As more and more women become business and political leaders at a higher level, all those things you mention will become amazing facts of the past, just like "white only" and "colored only" drinking fountains from 50 years ago.

Answer 5

a) Feminism will only widen this.
b) Unless this means dropping feminisim, I doubt it will be successful.
c) Unless it is for men, it will serve to make feminism even more unpopular by doing even more of what it is already doing too much.
d) This would sustain feminism in the short term but increase the likelihood of stake burnings.
c) Are you talking about civil servants, or communism? Way to destroy society.
d) Some movement is not taking into account cause and effect again, put more laws in place against this and you increase the 'glass partition' that feminists are now whining about, that they can't make friends at the office. Men would care more about stomping this out if feminists cared more about eliminating false allegations of it.
e) Capitalism basically is democratic and leaning down an organisation would be at odds with policies like affirmative action so I'm all for that, but if feminists get their hands in it, it will surely not lean things down. You're probably talking about women hired by affirmative action voting for senior managers that will let them get away with being the second rate workers that they are.

Pretty much everything you listed is a bad idea. The future of feminism is either the death of the movement, or eventual burnings at the stake imo (death).

Answer 6

Feminism, like Affirmative Action, have been done--they're old. Everybody's equal as far as education and job opportunity go, and the laws have been passed to prosecute people who sexually harrass others. The gender gap is no more--there are stay-at-home dads, and moms who are CEOs. Forget about it, already.

Answer 7

Reconciliation policies.

Answer 8

I feel feminism will backfire and hurt the women's movement in the end. You know the old saying..."you can catch more flies with honey than you can with vinegar".

Answer 9

none of the above

Answer 10

f) In the kitchen,
g) Having children