Feminism: What is it?

The Philosopher
Jul 27, 2016
4 min read

We live in a world where we hear many arguments on gender equality. Many people unite under the banner of feminism. But what is it, really? The issue comes from conflicting views all being promoted under the guise of feminism. I may be the only one, but I don't like the idea of subscribing to something I don't truly understand. In other words, when someone says, "I'm a feminist," what do they mean? There is actually a wide spectrum of views that could be associated with the term. Which is one reason I choose not to identify myself as a feminist. I would like to present some thoughts on feminism over the next few posts for the sake of analysis and character development. Because in our culture books, movies, and TV show characters are all picked apart and searched for potentially offensive material. And feminism is a particularly hot-button issue at the moment.

So, let's start with the term "gender equality". What do people mean when they say this? Well, the claim is that men and women should be treated the same, that there should be no discrimination between them. That sounds fair, right? Well, yes and no; because "fair" and "equal" mean different things to different people. "How does that work?", you may ask, "How can there be different forms of equality? Equal means equal, right?" Yes, but equal does not mean "the same". Let's look at this example: a one-dollar bill is equal to another one-dollar bill; right? They are the same. Sure, they have different serial numbers and possibly different years, but that does not change that they are of equal value and essentially the same. Now let's take a one-dollar bill and four quarters. Are those equal? Well, it depends on what you mean by equal. Obviously they are of equal value, but they also not the same at all. Four quarters are separate pieces that come together to make a whole. They are small metal coins instead of a thin piece of paper. Does this make them less? Of course not, they still have the same worth and value, they just look and function differently.

Now, applying that to men and women, we would say that men and women are different and may have unique functions, but are of the equal value to society. Again, equal value does not look the same. A mayor and police officer are also of equal value to society, but obviously they serve entirely different functions. Now, it is of course possible to have a truly terrible mayor and a particularly excellent police officer, which would mean that in that situation they are not of equal value because one is doing their job well and the other poorly. But, the roles of mayor and police officer, if performed well, are both of value. So, by the same logic, men and women have the potential to be of equal value to society, but ultimately it depends on which man and which woman we are talking about. Obviously a man who spends his time mugging people is of far less value to society than a women who owns a greeting card business and participates in local politics. But on the flip side, a woman who spends her time yelling at waiters and abusing customer service lines is of less value to society than a man who works as a high school teacher and volunteers at a homeless shelter.

But now we have new question: How does one define value? Haven't we just implied that people get their value from how well they contribute to society? Couldn't we say then that the aforementioned mugger is of no worth or value? The answer is no. Why? Humans do not get to dictate what gives a human life value. God created all people, and so all human life has an inherent worth because God made each one in His image and has said that it was so. God values men and women equally, but He has given them different roles. That doesn't always look the same from woman to woman. Some women are single, some are married; some have children, and some do not; some women work, and some stay home. The fact is, God has a plan for each person and it does not always look the same. What is right for one woman may wrong for another because it is in direct defiance to what God has called her to. Either way, women are different from men but that does not make them any less as people. Different is not bad and different does not always translate to good and better.

So, men and women are of equal value in God's eyes. But Feminism claims that women are discriminated against and fights for society to treat females equally. But what does that mean? And what does it look like? How should a Christian handle Feminism? I will address these topics in my next post on Feminism.

#thoughtsfromme #Worldview #Theology #Feminism