Of all the social movements throughout history, feminism is amongst the most popular. The movement’s first spark of fame was during the 1960s when women wanted to be more than just housewives.
Senior Taylor Hendriksma describes what being a feminist means to her.
“[The feminist movement] is a group of people who care about equality,” Hendriksma said. “They’re working to fight for equality in the workplace and everywhere else.”
Since the 60s, the feminist movement has raised awareness of the social, political and economical inequality between sexes. It has become much more popular than it started out to be.
“I agree with the idea of having equal rights,” junior Joseph Vanolinda said. “I think everything should be fair.”
While the idea was amongst only a small group of protesters in the 60s, Northwood students today know much about the topic. Many even consider themselves feminists.
“I guess I am a feminist,” junior Isaac Webb said. “I think everyone should have equal rights.”
Originally, protesting was the catalyst for the feminist movement’s fame. Nowadays, people don’t rally but rather just take action when issues come about.
Hendriksma has had to do this before and continues to anytime an issue comes up.
“I take action when certain situations come up,” Hendriksma said. “I’ll tell people if they’re wrong about something, and then I’ll tell them what is right and how they should be so that situation doesn’t happen again.”
Unlike Hendriksma, some people are feminists but not activists; they believe in equal rights for everyone, but they do not take action on rising issues.
Junior Jamie Gingerich believes that everything should be equal but does not take much action on the issue.
“Yeah, I guess I am [a feminist], but not to an extreme level, because I don’t necessarily act or speak out on issues regarding feminism,” Gingerich said.
Health and physical education teacher Cameron Vernon is also a non-activist.
“I believe in feminism, but I wouldn’t consider myself an activist for it,” Vernon said. “I believe that everyone should have equal rights. I think there’s an issue with women not getting paid for the same types of work as men. I think there are a lot of issues concerning that topic that need to be resolved.”
But there are still some people who take larger steps of action. Due to being a minor, senior Piper Puckett has not been able to attend any major rallies or protests that she would’ve wished, but she does try and make a difference where she can.
“I’ve done little projects by myself,” Puckett said. “I would love to go to rallies and protests, but I have done small things by myself. Last year on Valentine’s Day, here at Northwood, I made a bunch of cards. Valentine’s Day, for me, is triggering in that it can bring up the whole ‘The most important thing in a girl’s life is having a boyfriend.’ So I made little cards to fight against all those little misogynistic things that could be said.”
Puckett wants everyone to know that the goal of feminists, as well as all social justice advocates, is to help people learn about social injustices.
“All of you are welcome to join,” Puckett said. “You shouldn’t be scared. One of the scariest parts is accepting that things aren’t the way you thought they were. We can all learn to say and do things that aren’t prejudice. I hope that at some point in their lifetime, each individual will realize that.”
– By Eva Willauer