Columns

Debatable is written by the Otago University Debating Society, which meets for social debating every Tuesday at 7pm in the Commerce Building. This week’s motion is “That Feminism is Dead”. Jesse Wall argues the affirmative, while Olivia Norling argues the negative.

Affirmative
 
Back in the days where the ‘rule of thumb’ literally described the thickness of the cane that the husband could beat his wife with, we needed feminism. When women were stuck with home and hearth, it made sense that the ladies needed an independent voice.
 
But the days of bra-burning in the name of equality are over. Now, women have achieved all the goals that feminism set for them. Today it’s time to twist the words of the popular chauvinistic slogan into something more like ‘feminism, know your limits.’ The only vestiges of sexism are the odd ‘women have small feet so can get closer to the sink to wash the dishes’ joke, or an occasional bizarre Alasdair Thompson ‘menstruation affects productivity’ snafu; he was, by the way, ridiculed and fired for holding such beliefs.
 
In fact, today it’s masculism that needs a revival. Women can do whatever they want – everything from being a loving parent to a corporate fat cat, to a dreamer who pursues artistic follies. Men, on the other hand, are laughed at for being stay-at-home dads, or breastfeeding their children with artificial apparatuses, or being nurses, or dreaming of being secretaries.
 
Finally, feminism is breathing its last breaths, poisoning modern women with its deathly stench. Now, because women have become so diverse (thanks to feminism back in the day, sure), the ideals that feminism stands for are but mere myths. Now feminism continues to label women as the under-represented mother who dreams of being a working woman, when in reality they simply don’t fit this unfortunate mould.
 
Feminism should be buried now, our respects should be paid, but to keep it artificially alive just doesn't cut the mustard.
- Jesse Wall
 
Negative

If one believes that a wage gap based on whether or not one has breasts is unfair, feminism cannot be dead. If one believes that rape is never invited or that bodily autonomy is the highest right for both males and females, feminism cannot be dead. The idea of equality upheld today retains an implicit feminism and as long as this equality is not universal throughout society, feminism must remain alive and well in people’s hearts, whether they know it or not.

When people claim that they are not feminists (a distressingly common assertion today, especially by females) or that feminism is dead, they are suffering from definitional problems with the word. Feminism covers an exceptionally broad range of views, and rejection of it wholesale is often merely an attempt to distance oneself from the extremes that any progressive movement will accrue, that is bra-burners, men haters, and social anarchists.

As with any ideology, the views of the extreme minority should not define the whole in the eyes of reasonable people. The case in point here is attitudes towards Islam in the Western world. We must be very careful not to let the media-hyped focus on terrorist groups or militant man-haters define our attitude towards the whole.

With this in mind, what do I define feminism as?

Feminism, at its simplest, shares a common belief that women deserve equal political, economic, social rights and opportunities. As a premise, I believe this is one every New Zealander, every Western male and female, should strive to achieve. The other reason the affirmative might call feminism dead is because one believes the above ideals have already been achieved. Yes, women can vote and work and travel and be educated. But to call feminism dead and redundant because of these more obvious achievements risks complacency in our society and the stagnation of the progress that still needs to be made.

Despite successes so far, there remains a wage discrepancy of up to 13% between males and the female worker counterparts in NZ. We still have people like Alastair Thompson demonstrating that vestigial chauvinism remains in many of the countries top positions. Less than 20% of judges are women.

Total equality of the sexes has not been achieved. When that final glass ceiling has been broken, maybe then can New Zealanders relax but this day has not yet arrived. Feminism is now taken for granted – we have internalised the idea of equality of the sexes but this does not mean it is dead. Today we face new challenges for both women and men and in dealing with them we can proudly assert that feminism, in whatever form, is not dead.
- Olivia Norling