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Feminism: Equality of the Sexes

feminism [1] noun 1. the doctrine advocating social, political, and all other rights of women equal to those of men. 2. (sometimes initial capital letter) an organized movement for the attainment of such rights for women. 3. feminine character. The definition alone separates men and women into two binary categories, with men assumed to be in a position superior to women, because if this was not true, the advocacy of women's rights would be pointless. However, this is too simple a generalization. If we are sticking to definition-specific feminism, then it does not take into account racism or classism both women and men face in addition to sexism. Race and economic class complicate the matter of equality, so simply advocating gender equality is not actually advocating true equality of the sexes. Allow me to explain what I am trying to say, using the wage gap as an example. The racial group with the lowest average annual salary are African-Americans, as it has been for the entirety of American history [2]. Second lowest are Latino people, then white people, and finally, the highest-earning racial group are Asians. The average white salary is nearly double that of the average black salary, at $57,009 and $33,321, respectively. Women's salaries as a percentage of white men's salaries also varies as well [3]. Latina women earn a meager 53% of a white man's average annual income, then black women at 64%, then white women at 78%, and finally, Asian women at 87%. The gender wage gap, if all races are taken into account, is that women earn 85 cents for every man's dollar. While this information is presented, please keep in mind that the average white and Asian person, regardless of their gender, *always* earns more than the average Latino or black person. Feminism applied in this instance is confusing. Equal pay is a hot issue among feminists, but even if you were to equalize all the gender earnings--Latina women were earning the same as Latino men, white women the same as white men--you would still have the issue that Asians are making twice as much as African-Americans, so there's no possible way that the sexes are equal then, because you still a whole heap of racial differences holding minorities back. You might argue that feminism *would* work to equalize races as well, but it does not seem to be paying any attention to it currently, and the definition is to vague to say that the "definition-perfect" feminists would pay attention to it either. You have probably heard the common myth that women make a mere 77 cents to every man's dollar. Not only is this not true--for any of the races, though whites and Asians come close--but it is also, once again, taking the racial component of the wage gap away from it. Black and Latina women both earn approximately 90 cents for every dollar earned by men of their race, but earn around 80 cents for every white woman's dollar. Advocating women's rights in this situation leaves the question: which group's rights are we actually trying to get? What I am trying to say is, saying ALL women are economically worse-off than ALL men is leaving out important class and racial nuances that skew the data into all kinds of different directions, making feminism ("the doctrine advocating social, political, and all other rights of women equal to those of men") not actually equalizing women to men. In summation, though feminism is, by definition, equality of the sexes, the reality of the movement and how this equality is being attained is not going to achieve what it advocates. As you can see, dealing with only one issue provides a lot of variables and idiosyncrasies in the data, all caused by class and consequently, race. Simply separating the population into two groups, male and female, and then trying to equalize one to the other is not going to garner the intended results. Sources: [1] http://dictionary.reference.com... [2] http://www.businessinsider.com... [3] http://www.aauw.org... (If I had a nickel for every time I said "race" or "advocate" or any of its derivatives...)