I shall be presenting two positive line of arguments. ......
Feminism
I thank my opponent for instigating this debate. Definition(s): 1. Feminism: "Feminism is a collection of movements and ideologies aimed at defining, establishing, and defending equal political, economic, cultural, and social rights for women."[1][2] Premise: There has been, and still is, a prejudice against certain people. These prejudices have resulted in much abuse, but the female sex has been abused, and mistreated more than many others. It was not until 1919 until women were allowed to vote, and were considered equal in the eyes of the law[3], it was only in 1993 that the United Nations first passed a resolution for the protection of women rights[4], and despite this even today women are abused, beaten, and have to face glass ceilings.[5] Stance: I will be advocating for Feminism as a positive philosophy where feminism is the belief that women, and men should be treated equally in all formal respects such as law, merit of job, education, et cetera. I will attempt to show that my opponent has a misguided understanding of feminism, and has no basis nor proof of the statistics he cites. I shall be presenting two positive line of arguments. 1. All Are Born Equal 2. Women Are Yet Mistreated LOA1: All Are Born Equal "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." -Declaration of Independence Even here the word "man" is used. This may seem to be a "free doctrine" when in fact here "man" is not gender neutral, and does not apply to dark skinned men, or women. In fact this only applied to white men. Even in one of the greatest documents of history, one finds prejudice. Though the document does get one thing right: that each person is born with inalienable rights, and all are equal. Including women, girls, or members of the femine gender. Women are also sentient creatures, and possess the same cognitive abilities, reasoning capacities, as men. Thus we asert that women are in fact equal to men, and it would be much perverted of our opponent to disagree and state that women are in any view "inferior" At this point we have won this debate. For so long as the belief that women and men are equal is prevalent the philosophy that they should be treated equally is naturally acceptable. That is truly what feminism is, not a doctrine which states that women are superior to men, or exactly the same (after all there are biological differences), but rather that women have the right to be treated equally in formal matters. They should be entitled to the same court benefits, the right to vote, the same education, the same salary, and the same treatment as men of equal caliber. I shall be giving my second line of argument, and my refutations in the following second round for lack of time. My internet connection was having issues, I apologize. [1]http://tinyurl.com... [2]http://tinyurl.com... [3]http://tinyurl.com... [4]http://tinyurl.com... [5]Ibidem -Theo