Back when I was in my junior year of high school, as soon as my English teacher brought up feminism, no one wanted to label themselves as a feminist. I’ve seen this occur less and less since I’ve been in college, but I am still amazed by the strong negative connotation that attaches itself to the term. It seems to me as though females are especially turned off by it, not wanting to associate with anything that makes them seem like a man-hater/man-basher/misandrinist/whatever you call it.  

Feminism simply calls for equality, not superiority. Trust me, I love men. Ask any of my friends with whom I spend hours thoroughly discussing the mysterious creatures of the opposite sex. But what about income inequality? Workplace inequality? Education inequality? Focusing on the United States in particular, the 2009 female-to-male earnings ratio was 0.77, meaning that females earned 23% less than males. Of course, there are many factors that can explain this gap, but there is also a percentage of it that has remained unexplained, and the “unexplained” percentage is increasing every year.  

Beyond the basic discussion of inequality by the numbers, which has been rehashed over and over again, there are follow-up questions based on this topic: Is it even biologically possible for men and women to every be equal? Is it one of those things where you can get closer and closer, but never touch the wall? Is complete equality a scary thought? What would that mean for masculinity and femininity? Isn’t it interesting how women themselves want to make their men feel like “men” and men want their women to feel like “women”? What does it even mean to be masculine and feminine and can the two ever be equal? Are they equal?

I’m no gender studies expert, but it’s something to think about.