Is feminism dead? A common belief is that the feminist movement
is passé, outdated ““ exclusively meant for Victorian
radicals and 1970s bra-burners. But as last week’s events
illustrate, feminism isn’t dead and is not “old
news.” This past Sunday, hundreds of thousands of people,
including Bruins, participated in the March for Women’s Lives
in Washington, D.C.
Participants demanded that the Bush administration support
““ not curtail ““ reproductive rights. This kind of
activism ““ direct, topical and ardent ““ is an important
representation of feminism today.
“I really believe that life has been breathed into the
activist spirit of this campus,” said march participant
Baylee DeCastro, a third-year international development studies
student and founder of the Feminist Majority Leadership
Alliance.
The march left a lasting mark. According to event organizers, it
was the largest women’s rights rally in American history and
drew around one million participants, including political figures
such as Hillary Clinton, and celebrities Charlize Theron and Whoopi
Goldberg.
The rally, organized by seven national groups, including the
American Civil Liberties Union and the National Organization for
Women, was meant to ensure that women are guaranteed continued
access to safe, legal abortions and contraceptives. Rally
organizers are committed to the belief of a woman’s right to
make her own reproductive choices and marchers from across the
globe made this point clear.
But some women’s groups don’t consider such issues
important. They believe feminism has reached its final plateau. In
other words, that feminism has died and the struggle is over. One
of the organizations that follows this notion is the Independent
Women’s Forum, founded by Lynne Cheney, wife of Vice
President Dick Cheney. The group’s Web site features an
article in response to Sunday’s rally titled “Feminists
March Toward Irrelevance,” claiming the rally organizers
failed to connect with today’s women.
“The feminist war is done. (Groups like Feminist Majority
and NOW) want to keep on fighting battles and pretending we
haven’t won,” said Carrie Lukas, the Independent
Women’s Forum director of policy.
The Independent Women’s Forum contends that college
campuses have gone too far and aims to “combat corrosive
feminist ideology on campus.”
Lukas criticizes women’s studies programs at universities
because, as she says, they “use terrible data and misleading
statistics to make women feel like they are victims.”
But women’s studies professors disagree.
“You’ll learn that everybody is a victim but that
women are particularly victims,” said Katherine Callen King,
a classics professor who teaches a women’s studies class.
“(Feminists have) always had to defend our position,”
she said.
Feminism is still important, and women’s rights remain
fundamental issues.
The March For Women’s Lives was organized because the Bush
administration endangers reproductive rights. Immediately after
being sworn into presidency, Bush reinstated the global gag rule,
which reduced funding for international family care programs,
including abortion services. His policies only heightened pressure
on women around the globe.
In November 2003, President Bush signed the Partial-Birth
Abortion Ban into law, a measure that House Minority Leader Nancy
Pelosi (D-Calif.) called “a slap in the face to women across
America,” according to an article in the San Francisco
Chronicle. The Partial-Birth Abortion Ban makes abortion providers
less accessible to the women who need them. Finally, the president
signed the Unborn Victims of Violence Act earlier this month, which
rendered fetuses victims in murder cases and brought the Bush
administration one step further in its anti-abortion agenda.
Today, women’s rights are under attack. Precisely for this
reason, universities must continue women’s and gender studies
programs.
Feminism isn’t dead. But it is different than before. It
is true that feminists have accomplished incredible goals in the
past century ““ which include acquiring voting rights,
receiving higher wages, showing greater attendance numbers in
colleges, and having professional careers. It is also true that
feminism today doesn’t inspire the bra-burning frenzy it
provoked in the 1970s. But the movement isn’t stagnant or
obsolete.
Modern feminist issues still impact every woman, especially now
with the current assault on reproductive rights that were formerly
taken for granted by young women.
Twenty-first century feminism is actively embracing the changing
social and political climate of today ““ and perhaps groups
like UCLA’s Feminist Majority are up to the challenge.
Women made their point clear Sunday: They won’t support
efforts that undermine the rights they’ve already won.
Fried is a first-year history student. E-mail her at
ifried@media.ucla.edu. Send general comments to
viewpoint@media.ucla.edu.