Do We Still Need Feminism in 2019? (Third-Wave Feminism)

Hi, loves!

I’ve been writing quite a few posts on feminism recently, haven’t I? Maybe the sun has brought my bad bitch feminist side back out! So, this time I wanted to speak about whether we still need feminism in 2019. I’ll be exploring the reasons people don’t think we do, and vise versa. Grab a snack, because this is going to be a long one!

So, it’s a common belief that third-wave feminism is pointless as we don’t need feminism anymore in 2019. Many people believe this due to aspects such as having a female prime minister (Theresa May), women having the right to vote, women having the right to own property and more.

Firstly, I want to speak about why I disagree with these points. I believe that Theresa May becoming prime minister was a great step forward for women’s rights (although, I’m not the biggest fan of the woman herself…), but let’s remember she was ONLY the SECOND female prime minster the UK has ever had! Considering we’re a developed first world country, I’d say that’s pretty despicable. It kinda feels like people think ‘oh, we’ve had 2 female prime ministers, what more do you want?! you’ve had your fill.’ Quite frankly, we want to have just as much chance of becoming a prime minister as our male competitors. We want our gender to stop affecting our chances at succeeding in these situations. We want to be treated as equal to men, but that goal is totally invalidated because we’ve had 2 female prime ministers, right?..

I also have an issue with people thinking we don’t need feminism, as women have a right to vote. This is where I want to make it clear that just because we have come a long way, doesn’t mean there isn’t further to go. The fact I am even writing a post trying to prove that we need to help women and men become more equal is proof feminism needs to exist. Why don’t you believe us when we say we aren’t treated equal to men? Is our word not enough? Sorry, but men don’t know better in this instance. Surprisingly, men don’t ALWAYS know better than women, especially when it comes to women’s experiences with their own gender. Feminism will ALWAYS need to exist, because a patriarchal society will always exist. It’s sad and extremely unfair, but that’s just the way it is, always has been and always will be. Just because we can vote, doesn’t mean women are equal to men in other aspects of society.. And I think we all know that deep down, whether you admit it or not.

My next point is owning property. As we all know, women can own property now, however it’s unfortunately not always that straightforward. The majority of the time in a heterosexual relationship, the male owns the property. One thing from Sociology A level that sticks with me is learning that many female domestic abuse victims don’t get found and rescued easily as often the male perpetrators put only their house down on the house/hotel payment. This leads people to believe only the male lives there/is staying there, leaving people obviously not being able to know if the woman is in danger. Anyway, got a little sidetracked there! But I find it a super interesting fact that more people should be more aware of.

Moreover, just because women have some right in the UK doesn’t mean they do in other, less developed countries. FGM (female genital mutilation) and forced marriage are incredibly common in third world countries. Ignoring this and saying ‘we don’t need feminism in 2019’ is ignorant and completely wrong – the women in other parts of the world need our help and awareness too. Don’t forget about them just because they don’t live in the Western world.

There’s so many more points I could make, but I don’t want to make this post too long. I may make a part 2 in a few weeks, but I’ll leave it at this for now. At the end of the day, just because POC have more rights in modern society does not mean there isn’t still racism everywhere. It’s the exact same with women and sexism.

As long as patriarchy exists, feminism does too.

Lots of love,

Soph. xx