The 21st century has seen some impressive improvements in the progress of feminism. Feminism, by its dictionary definition, is the advocacy of women’s rights on the grounds of political, social, and economic equality to men. In July 2015 Elizabeth Garret will become the president of Cornell University (Anderson, Washington Post). This news means that half of the presidents of the Ivy League will be women. Brown University, University of Pennsylvania, and Harvard University all currently have female Presidents in office. It’s astonishing to reflect on where women in American stood in society only mere decades ago and to compare that to the present when women are running some of the top education institutions in the world. Some critics of feminism have stated that in their beliefs feminism is a front to conquer and defeat the world of men. In its core value feminism has only ever been about equality not overthrow or conquering, I mean what are we talking about a medieval village overthrow? Clearly not. Women are progressing more and more quickly to taking their places as equals to the males in their designated fields.
Feminism has never been and never will be a matter of women running the entire world vs. men running the entire world, or women conquering vs. men conquering. Feminism will always be a quest for equality, for the right to be treated, paid as, seen as, thought of as an equal. Now that women run half of the Ivy League it shows that balance and equality is continuing to grow in our society. These Ivy League universities are revered and known to attract some of the world’s greatest minds, the fact that women have progressed from at first not being able to attend all universities to running universities is fantastic news. An argument often made by anti-feminist women regarding why they don’t support feminism is stating that they have never felt oppressed or witnessed inequality. Sometimes it seems shocking there are women who don’t support women being equal to men politically, socially or economically, but I still have hope. I have hope that it is not because these women hate feminism in itself per se but because the world has progressed so far that it is getting more and more difficult to spot inequalities as the world becomes more equal for the sexes. I have hope that as time goes on more equality shall be shared and girls will grow up learning about women’s inequalities as something of past, not present or future.
Works Cited
Anderson, Nick. “With Garrett’s Ascension to Cornell Presidency, Women Will Lead Half of the Ivy League.” Washington Post. The Washington Post, 13 Jan. 2015. Web. 14 Jan. 2015.
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