According to Princeton University’s online dictionary, the word ‘feminist’ means:

(noun) feminist: women's rightist, women's liberationist, libber (a supporter of feminism), reformer, reformist, crusader, meliorist (a disputant who advocates reform).

(adjective) feminist: (of or relating to or advocating equal rights for women; "feminist critique") (this use is rare)

In the 1800’s women commenced their path to ‘equality’ by focusing on the right to vote. Despite this not being formally granted for over a century, some major steps forward for women were still achieved, such as the inaugural ‘women's rights convention’ in Seneca Falls in 1848, which formalised the agenda for the ‘women's rights movement’ in the United States.

Yet, in 1916, when New York city’s first birth control centre was opened by Margaret Sander and Ethel Byrne, the centre was forcibly closed by the authorities and the women imprisoned for their (then) illegal acts.

After the 1919 passing by congress of ‘the woman's suffrage amendment’ finally gave women the right to vote, early feminism hit a stumbling block with reports as late as 1955 quoting women as earning 63 cents for every dollar earned by men in equal work.

In 1963, Betty Freidans' book ‘The Feminine Mystique’ coinied the term "The Housewife Blahs” to describe millions of unfulfilled women. Freidan looked at unhappy, unfulfilled women and diagnosed the problem as patriarchy, or a male-dominated society. She alluded that if women are unhappy, the reason is that men are in charge.

In 1968, the ‘Presidential Executive Order 11246’, dated 1965, (which prohibited discrimination by contractors in employment on the basis of race, colour, religion or national origin), was amended by President Johnson to include discrimination based on sex.

In 1969, an abortion referral service opened in Chicago, providing women with safe and affordable abortions for the first time, and spawning the decades long ‘right to life’ debate, along with a divided female opinion on the abortion issue itself which persists to this day.

This was followed by Edith Green drafting legislation prohibiting sex discrimination in education in 1970, which was passed as an amendment known as ‘Title IX’ in 1972. In 1978, for the first time in history, more women than men entered college, and Sandra Day O'Conner became the first woman ever appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The ‘Gender Equity in Education Act’ was adopted by Congress in 1994 to train teachers to prevent sexual harassment in schools and provide counseling to pregnant teens.

And as feminism spawned it’s more sinister cousin, the feminazi, and things began getting a little complicated.

Rather than just a name for the tool chosen by women to fight for the right to vote, work, and own property, the word ‘feminism’ has became a convenient umbrella for any number of complaints and a ‘one size fits all’ blame-vehicle for maligning the male sex.

Feminist thought then leaned towards the assertion that women are not just equal to men, they are actually better than men. With quotes like Gloria Steinem's famous "a woman without a man is like a fish without a bicycle", the 90’s are entrenched as the decade of the male-as-a-joke.

Feminists should share a general concern for women and their advancement in society. They should recognise the real challenges that women and girls face, including denial of education, female genital mutilation, severe gender-based punishment for crimes, and crippling poverty.

Yet the dangerous overuse of the word ‘feminist’ with it’s accompanying ‘modern’ negative connotations merely makes a mockery of the advances women have rightfully gained by turning so-called gender 'equality' into a contest.


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