Women, what has been the best benefit to you from the Feminist Movement?

Question

Mine has been the abilty to express myself freely without fear of retribution. I saw my Mom, Grandmother, and other female relatives suffer in bad relationships and have to take it because they were either:
afraid of physical harm or
there were no opportunities to decently support themselves and their children.
What do you think?

Peter W--Fool, I have 6 kids. You can't tell ME about satisfaction!
Hero-Nyah, nyah

Answer 1

The best benefit to me has been the right to vote & the ability to pursue an education/career of my choice rather than what was dictated due to race or gender...

Feminism allowed me to enter a profession that is reflective of my skills and talents. I can leave an abusive relationship rather than feeling trapped due to lack of options. I can be a mother & afford to care for my child rather than selling myself to a man in the hopes that he will continue to support me after my breeding years are over.

My right to vote allows me a voice in the government, as little as it may seem to mean in today's climate. I never forget that people of my race died to be able to do this... I also remember that it took centuries after the end of slavery for those who share my race & gender to be able to do so.

Answer 2

I have to agree with Baba Yaga. Femicide and Domestic Violence is finally being viewed for what it is a scourge on society. Since a diologue has started and it has been brought out in the open women have began to understand how rampant this was for many years in North America. Statistics with the Department of Justice in Canada and the United States support this with the statistics that I really don't have the time to post, but will when I return from work.
Even with the current laws in place women are still dying, at the hands of their husbands. Tara Grant of Michigan two weeks ago was dismembered by her husband. This is just one small example and we currently have legislation that supposebly prevents this from happening??????????????
Robinson you are a sixteen year old who has accumulated some knowlege through secondary sources. I have lived and seen the women in the Emergency Room with the blood streaming from their faces, the blank looks on their faces the resignation in the way they hold their bodies, often holding an child or an infant. You know NOTHING!! Stop spreading your lies and half truths, better yet ask your mother about what life was like preRobinson and I am sure she can fill you in on what women faced and still do day after day. You are such a wannabe that you will never learn anything with the stance of knowitall that you have currently adopted. I pray that your arrogance is one of youth and that you outgrow it with time and maturity. Remember that karma is the force within the universe that renders us all one day with knowledge whether we wish it or not. Hubris, retribution, whatever it is called will someday show you that your opinions not only are wrong but may detrimentally harm others.

Answer 3

Lots!

-I'm 23 and I'm not married because I can financially support myself
-I have the freedom to choose a man based on whatever I want, because I don't need to have one
-I have choices when it comes to my reproductive health and contraception
-I can choose a career I enjoy
-I have the possibility to become successful from my own achievements
-If I was in an abusive relationship, I could leave and report the abuser to the police
-If I was raped, the rapist would be charged
-If I became pregnant and chose to have the baby, I would not be an outcast or sent away to have the baby and then be forced to give it up
-I can speak my mind freely. I may still be looked at as a ***** on occasion though, merely by speaking what's on my mind
-Though there are few female politicians, I know that there are some, and they are working on issues important to me and all women

Peter W: How the f*ck do you know what women really want? I certainly don't want to be dependent on anyone. Speak for yourself. Also, since when have women stopped giving birth? And how would you know how satisfactory it is? Seriously, STFU and get a clue.

Answer 4

each and every individual is distinctive. each and every individual has distinctive priorities. some women human beings spend all their time and potential attempting to sidestep youthful women from commiting suicide. i'm not asserting the feminist circulate is unimportant. this is merely that some women human beings have faith different themes are far extra considerable i understand of a mom who buried her six year previous son. He became killed by using a under the impact of alcohol driving force. She works, finished time, for mothers against under the impact of alcohol driving. I comprehend her motives, completely.

Answer 5

Most young people don't realize that until the early 1970's it was LEGAL for companies to deny you an opportunity even to apply for a job simply because you were female. In fact, if you looked at the want ads in every newspaper the listings were all under "Male Help Wanted" (which would be hundredds of jobs) or "Female Help Wanted" (which was usually just nursing, secretary or waitress.) I started working in 1967 and the situation was awful -- can you imagine not even being able to apply for jobs you were qualified to do? Also, it was legal to pay men much more to do the same jobs even in high-skilled jobs like law and medicine!!

So, until these barriers were removed so that women were able to earn a decent living and have worthwhile careers, many women were trapped in unhappy and unhealthy relationships out of financial necessity.

So, equal employment laws were the most major advance for women in my lifetime. And, of course, with economic power came the political power ehat enabled us to change other institutional and legal injustices.

Recognition of the rights and inherent individual worth of women has benefited everyone in society, INCLUDING men and children. Any intelligent man understands this (and we women appreciate all of the men who stood with us in our struggle for equality.)

Answer 6

I actually have to agree with what you wrote. I too have female relatives who've stuck in bad relationships. I'm thankful that a woman leaving a bad relationship is widely accepted and that we now have the opportunity to take care of ourselves and our children without the help of a male partner.

Answer 7

The best benefit to me was the freedom to choose whatever profession I wanted. And now, I can pass on that freedom to my daughters. There was a time when a woman's future depended on what husband she could find. Now, men and women are free to follow their own desires and marriage can be about the relationship, not the economics.

Answer 8

I'd say that it's the ability to be myself, without needing to confine to rigid gender roles. To me, that's what feminism is all about. I can be a nurturer, but it doesn't define me. I am a mother, but it doesn't define me, and it was my choice. I'm much more comfortable hiking than I am cooking dinner - but that doesn't make me any less of a woman. I don't have to try to be "feminine," and I don't have to reject all traces of femininity and "become like a man" (which some men are CONVINCED is the goal of feminism - I don't get it).

I'm just free to be ME, and being female is only one part of my identity.

Answer 9

While there are still huge obstacles facing women today, the fact that I can enjoy full person-hood without fear of being ostracized or killed is very important and I cherish my freedom to make whatever choices I want to.

I find it irritating (but not surprising) that there are those who choose to post answers that don't actually answer the question asked, but rather spew right wing ideas that actually weren't asked of them. Is there no where else for you boys to go and spread your hatred?

Answer 10

Feminism played a large part in my decision to place a heavy emphasis on my career goals. It also helped me decide never to marry or have children.