She Vies: Reviewing feminism.

In retrospect
Archaeological evidence from Europe and the Middle East has suggested that Stone Age Civilizations practiced goddess worship and were organized as matriarchs---social orders with women in charge. What went between those times and the beginning of eras when men began to dominate societies wasn’t stated. But by the time scrolls and early forms of record materials have been invented, what were scribbled and sculpted in them were already the glories of patriarchs.
For hundreds of years, this was the way in which the world has been operating: men in the upper echelons of society and women assigned under their protection and direction.

Women React
Earlier women must have already felt the pressure of the restrictions imposed upon them by society, but it was only in the 18th century when feminist ideas began to reach public ears and the 19th century when the term ‘feminism’ gained popularity.
Feminism is a collective term for systems of belief and theories that pay special attention to women’s rights and women’s position in culture and society. Feminists are united by the idea that women’s’ position in society is unequal to that of men, and that society is structured in such a way as to benefit men to the political and social detriment of women.
Mary Wollstonecraft of England, Simon de Beauvoir of France, Hildegard of Germany, and Betty Friedan of the United States of America are among the leading feminists of their time.

The Cause
Feminists have identified various aspects in which inequality is most evident and depressing for women based on their individual cultures.
Islamic feminism for example tries to redress issues as polygyny (having multiple wives) and purdah (seclusion from home). In western countries as in the US of A, though home to women proponents of the belief system, feminist movements have not rested and continuously target such as inequality in the workplace. In many Southeast Asian countries especially those with rigid cultures, traditional ideas on the nature and role of women have impacted the way they were treated in society. In the Philippines, women view has been influenced by the three-century-rule of the Spaniards who introduced the traits a woman must possess: religious, self-sacrificing, submissive, conservative and left out of the affairs of the state as in the person of Maria Clara in Jose Rizal’s two famous novels. Because of this, many women before have not received equal education and opportunities as men.

Society Responds
However, Pressing issues that highlight gender are no longer left unchecked by society. People have been made aware of gender-sensitive use of language. Women are given the freedom to air their public opinions. Professions are slowly becoming less gender-biased. The status of a husband and wife in the family as in terms of decision-making are now at par. At last, society has opened its arms to hear “herstory”. But…
Considering now that men have opened their minds and embraced women as their equal, a question remains hanging, waiting to be answered by all women united, if their cause is to succeed: Are they ready to pay the price of genuine equality? Are we?