By Sadaf Kazmi
Feminism is an ideology based on the social, economic, and political equality of both genders. Feminists have been fighting for women’s rights almost around the globe ever since the term Feminism was coined. There are three waves of feminism that revolved around the basic rights of women. All these waves focus on the provision of women’s rights fairly. While somehow, most organizations play a crucial part in this regard. But, still, there’s a large number of women across the world who are deprived of their basic rights and are constantly battling to achieve their rights.
Feminism history can be categorized into three waves. The first wave of feminism arose in the late 19th century and early 20th century. It revolved around women’s right to vote.
The second wave of feminism owes its existence to the 1960s and 1970s and it brought to light the women’s right to equal pay and their authority towards domestic violence and the right to go for abortion and contraception.
The third wave of feminism which started around the 1990s and is still in progress is almost an extension of the second wave, keeping in view the fact that every woman has her own differences.
The term Feminism has been manipulated by many schools of thought, although its basic purpose has always been to give women their rightful rights so that they can live their lives purposefully. It is mandatory for men and women to run the system of this universe. In the past, women had been deprived of basic human rights and feminism tends to diminish this unjust deprivation. All three waves of feminism have somehow succeeded and women have started to enjoy many privileges around the globe but still, in many countries, women are still fighting for their basic rights.
The Misconception About The Term
Many men and even women have been against the term feminism as they believe that it ultimately leads toward the empowerment of women, thereby attempting to deprive the male community of their rights. In most countries, there are many professional fields where men and women work equally putting their mental and physical capabilities to the best of their efforts. But the outcome is unjust and women are paid less than men. It apparently shows that women are not paid handsomely only because they will rise to power and will make inappropriate use of the given rights.
Many people do not even care to find out what feminism is actually about. In families that have only one woman who earns, this unequal distribution of salary is unfair, and what if she faces sexual harassment at her workplace as well? Moreover, if due to certain reasons a male member of some family is unable to earn and her woman is the sole earner of the house and she is forced to have frequent childbirths, she cannot do justice with her job in such kind of situations. Due to the hardships faced by such women with somewhat similar problems feminism plays its role. The feminist movements play their rightful part in such cases and enlighten the importance of women’s individuality.
The Impact of Religion on Feminism
Feminists have generated a good number of troopers more in Western culture rather than in Asian countries. Although Islam is the first-ever religion that impressed the entire world to realize the individuality of women. Before Islam, women had no share in the family’s property and male members acted as their superiors, not as their companions and a daughter’s birth was considered as a stigma. Although Islam demolished such brutal concepts and women are given proper rights since then, there are still certain trivial limitations because women are not exactly equal to men. So, the term feminism needs to be dealt with fairly. As it actually deals with the appropriate number of rights that should be given to the woman instead of either making women the extremely dominant beings or unjust subordinates of men.