Feminist

The transformative process of valuing the devalued has been, and continues to be, a vital part of the feminist movement.  At the core of this struggle is challenging society’s perception of women, and especially women’s work outside of the home and their voice in politics.

Historically, men’s actions have held a higher value than women’s in society.  In most traditional societies, a male first-born child was always much more preferred over a girl.  A son could take care of the family, carry the family name, and would not need a dowry like the daughter would.  A daughter was seen as a burden to the family, undesirable, and her talents and traits most often ignored.

In today’s American society we see women grossly undervalued in the workplace compared to men.  Women make, on average, 76% of the salaries paid to men for equal work. One way the feminist movement has looked to value a woman’s professional work that is currently being devalued is to fight for “equal pay for equal work.”  This will bring justice to women throughout the country and set a lasting precedent in our society that women’s work is just as valuable as men’s.   

Women are not only devalued in the work place.  More likely than not, and no matter what other work they may do, mothers hold a fulltime job as homemaker and caretaker of the domestic sphere.  This work is hard, selfless, and nonetheless unpaid. It has been termed “the second shift”. The feminist movement looks to value a woman’s unpaid housework/ childcare.  One suggestion has been incorporating this work into the national GDP in the form of a monetary value.  Of course there are admirers and critics of this proposal, but it is something very important to the feminist movement in regards to valuing a large part of women’s lives. 

Historically, the feminist movement has exercised valuing the devalued in the social and political arena by fighting for the right to vote.  It is easy to see how devalued a woman’s voice was in society before gaining suffrage.  Without the right to vote, women are not real citizens. The 19th amendment in 1920 was a very important accomplishment for women, which eventually paved the way for second and third wave feminism.

As you can see from the above examples, there is a lot that has been done throughout the feminist movement in regards to valuing women’s work, traits, and activities that have previously been devalued.  Of course there is still much more to be done.  The fight for equal pay is an on going struggle, as well as valuing women’s household work.  There is hope for the future when the feminist movement looks to value the devalued.