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Feminism

I would like to start my rebuttal by thanking my opponent for his opening arguments. I would also like to clarify that feminism is not an argument, it is a movement and a collection of ideologies. Now, my opponent makes the claim that feminism has already succeeded in making women equals, thus it no longer has a place in first world countries. I have a few things to say on this: 1) My opponent offers no data or sources that show equality. He claims women can be president now, yet we have not seen a female president yet. He claims women can join the army now, but yet they only represent 14.6% of the US military [1]. 2) Just because a movement has succeeded (which feminism has not yet fully accomplished, as I will show further on in this argument), that does not mean the movement should be shut down. Once goals are reached, it is still important to work to maintain the achievements that the movement fought for. 3) Once feminism does fully succeed in the US and other first world nations, the success of the movement can be used to help the third world countries that are much farther behind, as my opponent admits. Feminists should not (and do not) only aim to help women in their own countries; feminism is a global movement that aims to help equalize rights for all women. So if success is found in some areas, feminists can take that success elsewhere and look to help other women in need [2]. My opponent also makes the claim that he believes men are now subordinate. He again provides no data or sources for his claim; only that men are forced to fight in wars. This is an odd argument, given that earlier my opponent used the example of females finally being allowed to fight in the army as proof that equality exists, but then claims that men are the ones forced to fight in wars. If it is equal as you state and women are allowed in the army, that renders your second argument void because women are now allowed to fight as well. In reality, it is true that more men still fight and die for their country, but is that because they are subordinate or because for a long time, women were not permitted to do so? Now I want to provide some numbers that show why feminism has not yet fully succeeded in the United States. Women in the United States still make $0.77 to every $1.00 a man makes [3]. There can be many reasons for this gap, but it has been this way for some time and does not seem to be changing much. Many high paying professions may shy away from hiring women due to the potential for pregnancy and maternity leave. Many women may choose to work only part time jobs because their spouse already has a high paying job, and someone needs more time to look after the children. Whatever the reasons, the fact of the matter is, pretty much across the board, women don't make as much money as men do. Even childless women still only make 82% of what their male counterparts make, so pregnancy and maternity leave are not the only cause for this gap [4]. The fact is, in most occupations, a woman's salary is less than that of a man's in the same occupation [5]. My opponent's claim that feminism has already succeeded was not backed by any sources and I have just shown how gender equality still does not fully exist, even in the first world countries. I have also shown that even if feminists did succeed in achieving equality in the US and other first world countries, they still would have a role to play in maintaining the equality that they achieved as well as aiding in the feminist movements on a global scale. The feminist movement is necessary now and moving forward, to ensure that women are treated equally and can obtain and maintain equal rights in all countries across the globe. [1] http://www.statisticbrain.com... [2] http://www.umich.edu... [3] http://www.forbes.com... [4] http://www.aauw.org... [5] http://www.bls.gov...