International Women's Day: a look into its history and why feminism can be difficult to define

Today is International Women’s Day. The earliest observance was “National Woman’s Day” in February 28, 1909 in New York, organized by the Socialist Party of American at the suggestion of Theresa Malkiel. Inspired by the American socialist, other countries established their own woman’s days. The United Nations celebrated International Women’s Year in 1975 and in 1977, the UN General Assembly invited members to proclaim March 8 as the UN Day for Women’s Rights and world peace. The general theme every International Women’s Day is to acknowledge the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women. The specific theme of this year’s day is Balance for Better, a call to action for accelerating gender balance.

Theresa Malkiel (1874-1949) was a Russian-born American labor activist, suffragist and educator. In 1910, she published The Diary of a Shirtwaist Striker, a fictionalized account of the shirtwaist strike and told from the point of view of an American born worker who is initially wary of her immigrant co-workers. From what I was able to read about her, Malkiel seemed to be wary of the term, feminism, as she turned on middle class women and blamed them for distracting women from socialism with the “false consciousness of feminism” (Sorin). I don’t know what Malkiel meant by false consciousness; but according to one explanation I found was a woman being misled by the patriarchy as the source of her experiences as a woman. In a sense, feminism would be a more accurate analysis of a woman’s experience than her own. Examples of accusations of false consciousness would be: 1) insisting that a woman has experienced sexism, even if she asserts she never has, 2) insisting that a woman's choice of clothes is dictated by the patriarchy when she regards them as a personal choice and 3) insisting that a woman's career was chosen because of hindrance of her real skills or potential by the patriarchy. In my case, feminists might see the fact that I am a stay at home mom was chosen for me rather than by my free will. As I read all these terms, I asked myself, what exactly is feminism?

Feminism is defined as “the advocacy of women's rights on the basis of the equality of the sexes.” It seems so simple. The thing is that for some, the definition of feminism is hard because “it’s impossible to have an all-inconclusive definition” (Laurino, 2016). In other words, it can mean different things to different people. It can be simply advocating right and equity for women and that doesn’t mean you have to be anti-man to be pro-woman (Oliver, 2012). Although, many of the feminist leaders certainly has given that impression over the years. In general, contemporary American feminism has come to mean “championing women’s autonomy and challenging the privileging of male over female” (Laurino, 2016). When you hear feminist, what do you picture? An angry woman who burns her bra and is anti-man? It’s what I see. It’s the image I have seen in so many documentaries. It’s a person telling me that in order to be fulfilled I need a career. I need something more than being a wife and mother. But what if that is what I want? Growing up, my dream career choices always changed but what never did was my desire to be a wife and a mother. Some feminists might tell me that is just the patriarchy telling you that you want that. No, it is. I am proud to be a Mrs. I am happy to wake up in the morning, make my husband’s coffee and hand him his lunch as he leaves for work. I am happy to get my daughter off to school and be at home to care for our infant daughter.

So, I asked myself, could I be considered at feminist anyway? I went through the list given in the article 15 Signs You’re Actually a Feminist (Oliver, 2012) and I am 47% feminist. I support rights and equality for women because the United States has made some strides in equality, there are still many changes still to be made. According to the Work Bank study, the US performed poorly in the “having children” category as it lags behind other countries in terms of maternity, paternity and parental leave” (Picheta and Mirchandani, 2019). However, I don’t really pay attention to how gender roles on portrayed in the media and I don’t get highly offended if I am given specific tasks based on gender. I prefer to be inside cleaning or cooking than outside mowing the lawn. The idea of getting married and having children in my 20s wasn’t undesirable. I technically did get married in my 20s but I was closer to 30 than 20. One of the reasons I do not like to call my self a feminist is because I don’t want to be anti-man. It is unfortunate that the image is bra-burning, man-hating, women “running around emasculating men or triumph one gender over the other” (Neustaeter, 2019). Being anti-man isn’t going to get the equality women want and I have a feeling that some feminists want to treat men as women have been treated but attitude is shallow and counterproductive. And feminism shouldn’t be about agreeing with every woman’s opinion but simply acknowledging and voicing our own opinion (Neustaeter, 2019). I acknowledge everyone’s opinion whether I like it or not.

In conclusion, International Women’s Day is a day to acknowledge and celebrate the contributions women have made in our history as well as today. With it’s humble begins during the suffragette movement, the day is a day to bring more awareness to the changes we need to make in our world. While I do not fully consider myself a feminist, I do recognize that many issues remain in our society where women are at a disadvantage to men and we can continue the good work of so many before us. With feminism being so broadly defined, it has led to many misunderstandings and animosity in today’s world. To me, men and women should be able to do any job they wish and live a life according to their beliefs and standards. We need to learn to acknowledge each other’s opinion, whether we agree with them or not, and react with maturity rather than hate and bullying.

References

Laurino, Maria. (February 18, 2016). What does it mean to be a Feminist? www.huffingtonpost.com/maria-laurino/what-does-it-mean-to-be-a_b_9269592.html. Retrieved March 3, 2019.

Neustaeter, Katie (March 3, 2019). There shouldn’t be an International Woman’s Day. www.cfjctoday.com/column/656359/there-shouldnt-be-international-womens-day?fbclid=IwAR39G2MJa2xhOWBv7c4rDijsIfEeLN56luw5kkHtHMHfrkQKLM5MwhN3H5g. Retrieved March 3, 2019.

Oliver, Brittany. (December 11, 2012). 15 Signs You’re Actually a Feminist. www.mic.com/articles/20561/15-signs-you-re-actually-a-feminist#.lgkfsij1N.

Retrieved March 3, 2019.

Picheta, Rob and Mirchandani, Kieron. (March 2, 2019). Only Six Countries have Equal Rights for Men and Women, World Bank Finds. www.edition.cnn.com/2019/03/02/europe/world-bank-gender-equality-report-intl/index.html. Retrieved March 3, 2019.

Sorin, Gerald (Jewish Women’s Archive) Socialism in the United States. https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/socialism-in-united-states. Retrieved March 3, 2019.