Is Feminism Still Alive Today - 3203 Words

Reinhart 1 Brooke Reinhart Alyson Dickerman English 101-17-14 12 December 2014 As much as we may have progressed as a country and as a global culture, sexism is still alive today. It affects men, women, people who don’t fit our gender binary system, how we view ourselves and how we view each other. A powerful force in combating the gender inequalities we face today is feminism. Feminism is a social movement for gender and sex equality, and a personal commitment to understanding and achieving gender equality in everyday life. As children grow up, gender roles try to put girls in their place from the beginning. Right off the bat girls are presented with baby dolls and toy kitchens that teach them that their place is to be the†¦show more content†¦When people see a little girl the number one comment is â€Å"She’s so cute!† or â€Å"You look so pretty†. By Reinhart 2 focusing on how pretty the little girls look, we teach them that that’s what matters most instead of who they are as a person. As feminists we don’t encourage girls to be pretty, we encourage them to be pretty brilliant. (â€Å"Inspire Her Mind† Youtube.) Lack of representation is an enormous issue for girls currently. When young girls look at the list of presidents in the US, they don’t see anybody who looks like them. Women only have  ¼ of stem jobs, own 7% of tv stations, and have 5% of executive positions in the media. (Diana Mitsu Klos â€Å"Status of Women in U.S. Media 2013†), (Heather R. Human â€Å"Stem Fields and the Gender Gap: Where are the women?†). People will argue that this is because women just have different interests and don’t want to pursue those things. That may be part of the problem, but a larger issue is that as a kid boys are pushed harder to get into science and take on leadership roles beca use it’s expected of them. For me it has always been the case in school projects where if a boy took charge and led the group then he was proactive and a leader, but if I did it I was â€Å"bossy†, and that is still true today in college. It’s not expected of young girls to take charge or excel in science or government, and as a result they don’t pursue those things because it’s not