Are you a feminist?

Murrmurr said:
Does Australia not have a gov't agency that enforces labor laws? In the US, you don't have to be a union member to get fair and equal treatment, you simply report abuses to the Dept of Labor.

In fact, all businesses in the US are required by law to post the labor laws and the labor department's phone number in a "prominent area". They're usually posted in the employee break-room or near the time clock, places like that.
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We have all sorts of agencies that enforce things like unlawful underpayment of wages, or misappropriation of workers superannuation benefits and breach of safety legislation but it is unions for the most part that speak for workers when national awards or enterprise bargains are being negotiated.
 
I have always been a feminist. I have found that most people who are against that don't really understand what it means. It has nothing to do with opening doors or how much weight you can carry or being masculine.

I had to train a new hire one time. He was then placed in a supervisory position over me. When I asked the powers that be about that I was told "he has a famiy to support". I was a single mother of two at the time. I did explain that I also had a family to support but they didn't much care back in those days.
 

I agree with the person posting this. I would add that I never wanted to work. I would have been so happy taking care of a home for my hubby and children and just let hubby provide for us. I was born in the wrong century. Slogging through 50 years of office work with some horrible bosses, good grief....I hated it. I was trained as a teacher, a B.Ed. from McGill University and a B.A. from Concordia University. But I suffered from stage fright and would want to vomit every time I went into a classroom. I taught for 4 years and then office work for 50 years.
 
Macfan said:
Labels not needed. Men should support Women and Women should support Men. Those that are neither should support the other two or, at the least, themselves. :coffee: Don...
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Historically, women have always supported their menfolk. Men, on the other hand, were expected to control their women and girls.

The only row I remember having with my hubby was one evening when a mate of his got in his ear about the new tan suede knee length boots I had bought (from my own wages) saying that he would not allow his wife to wear boots. Hubby did not defend me and the pair of them left for a boys night out.

When he came home my boots were hanging over the front door knob with a note attached. It said,

"If you really object to these boots, just throw them in the garbage bin and come inside. Otherwise I do not want to hear another word about them."

He got the message and it was years before the subject of my boots came up again. His mate's wife was later seen wearing white boots. I grinned inwardly.
 
DebraMae said:
I have always been a feminist. I have found that most people who are against that don't really understand what it means. It has nothing to do with opening doors or how much weight you can carry or being masculine.

I had to train a new hire one time. He was then placed in a supervisory position over me. When I asked the powers that be about that I was told "he has a famiy to support". I was a single mother of two at the time. I did explain that I also had a family to support but they didn't much care back in those days.
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Exactly, DebraMae. This was considered justification for the pay disparity of the time. I don't imagine single men were paid less than married ones, so it was just an excuse for devaluing women's work.
 
@LoveTulips
Feminism isn't about whether you wanted to work or had a job you liked or were good at - it is about equal choices, pay, opportunities for everyone.

If a couple agrees for 1 partner to do paid work and 1 to stay at home, and they can afford to do that - no problem.

The issue is when you extrapolate to that being the template for everyone or things in OP like 'women and men have different skills' rather than 'I have different skills to my own partner.'
 
Yes, if it means bringing about social, political, and economic equality for women and to challenge systems of patriarchy and misogyny.
For instance, equal pay, reproductive rights, and an end to violence against women, as well as broader societal changes such as gender-inclusive language and representation. Working for fundamental equality of all people regardless of gender, and working towards a world where everyone has the same opportunities and rights, regardless of their gender identity.
 
Many don't like labels and it seems the label of a feminist. I am not a person who labels much but the feminist label I wouldn't mind because now it means equality for all races, genders, sexual orientation and animals.

I wonder if those who don't like labels especially the feminist one may more easily put labels on other things like mental issues and people who may be against certain ethnicities. Just an observation I have made. No offense intended.
 
Rose65 said:
...I think it takes teamwork to run a home and a life. ... We are not inferior at all to men ... some of us choose ....
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If you think you are an equal person, a member of the family team, and should get to make choices, then, I think yes you are a feminist.

The English common law concept of coverture, the legal subordination of a married woman to her husband, prevailed in the United States until the middle of the 19th century​
Until the early 19th century, American women lost their legal identity upon getting married and accordingly could not sign a contract, own property, or initiate divorce.​
New York's Married Women's Property Act (1848) granting married women the right to keep their own wages and to own property in their own name.​
 
SeaBreeze said:
I never considered myself a 'feminist', not sure exactly what that means ...
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Many don't seem to know the meaning of the word "feminist". It's one of those charged political words, some think it means "man hater". The definition below is absurd because of course the sexes are not equal in all ways as for example in physical strength. If feminists are merely demanding "same pay for same work" or "equal according to the law" then they should say so.
===============================
Dictionary Definition from Oxford Languages
fem·i·nist
noun
an advocate of women's rights on the basis of the equality of the sexes; a person who supports feminism.
adjective
relating to or supporting feminism; advocating women's rights on the basis of the equality of the sexes.
===============================
 
DebraMae said:
I have always been a feminist. I have found that most people who are against that don't really understand what it means. It has nothing to do with opening doors or how much weight you can carry or being masculine.

I had to train a new hire one time. He was then placed in a supervisory position over me. When I asked the powers that be about that I was told "he has a famiy to support". I was a single mother of two at the time. I did explain that I also had a family to support but they didn't much care back in those day
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When I was single and taking college courses at night I became aware that the guys were having their classes paid for by the company. When I asked how come I was told that you are just going to get married some day.
 
The definition below is absurd because of course the sexes are not equal in all ways as for example in physical strength. If feminists are merely demanding "same pay for same work" or "equal according to the law" then they should say so.
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that seems nit picky to me - I think everybody knows equal pay means that and nobody is denying that men, on average, have more physical strength than women.

If a job relies on a high level of physical strength, then, sure, more men would be able to do it than women - but the issue or criteria is still physical strength not gender.

I don't think anybody objects to job descriptions - like "must be physically fit and able to lift x kg" where that is relevant to the job
 
I remember having dinner for the first time at my ex #1's home. She picked up her dishes, said to me, "Well, your dishes aren't going to get to the dishwasher by themselves". Later that year, I was home for Thanksgiving, after eating the guys all went to watch the game, the women folk cleaned up. I was amazed. By this time, I was a well trained mate.
 
gruntlabor said:
:) Or pregnant. We were not considered long-term prospects.
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I'm afraid some are sadly not. I know of women who worked a short time then got pregnant deliberately in order to get the benefits and time off with pay. One I know of is constantly absent using her child's illnesses as excuses - she lies and the bosses dare not do anything. I don't know how prevalent this is.
 
gruntlabor said:
Man is known for his brute strength, his big brain, his thumbs. Woman is defined by her womb.
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Hey, I have thumbs too! lol

This type of talk always reminds me of an old magazine article about how if men had periods they would brag about how much and for how long, they would claim losing blood each month purified them and because women didn't have periods women were impure and not qualified to be leaders in the religion, etc. :D
 
HoneyNut said:
Hey, I have thumbs too! lol

This type of talk always reminds me of an old magazine article about how if men had periods they would brag about how much and for how long, they would claim losing blood each month purified them and because women didn't have periods women were impure and not qualified to be leaders in the religion, etc. :D
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Is it that all fishermen lie, or that all the liars fish?
 
fuzzybuddy said:
Later that year, I was home for Thanksgiving, after eating the guys all went to watch the game, the women folk cleaned up.
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It is also a cultural thing. My relatives from Southern France regularly spend their holidays in a vacation rental. There are two or three families together. After breakfast, lunch and dinner always the women are doing the dishes while the men are sitting together for smoking, drinking beer, watching TV or something else.
 
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Alizerine said:
When I was single and taking college courses at night I became aware that the guys were having their classes paid for by the company. When I asked how come I was told that you are just going to get married some day.
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gruntlabor said:
:) Or pregnant. We were not considered long-term prospects.
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It's true young women were not and still aren't considered a good investment for companies that pay for their employee's training. Absenteeism due to pregnancy and parental responsibilities is much higher for female employees than males.

I was 27 when my first wife ran off with the neighbor and left me and our 3 kids. Our daughter was only 9 months old. Being male, I was expected to make my job a higher priority than my kids. Being a single father, I had to settle for lower-paying jobs that offered flexible shifts so I could get my kids up and off to school in the morning, be home in the evening to cook and feed them dinner, and give them their baths and put them to bed at night.

No employer wants to hear "I couldn't find a sitter" from a male employee. A male employee could get fired for that, on the spot. I was lucky my mom and my sister-in-law were ok with it if I had to drop my kids off with them on very short notice.

Sometimes they babysat when one or two of the kids were sick, because they couldn't go to school and daycare wouldn't take them. And there were days when my kids missed school when they weren't sick because I had to cover somebody else's shift, or had to pull double-shifts because of an unexpected huge order, or new contract, or new foreman, crew-chief, or boss.

So, I couldn't earn as much as some of my male friends and relatives. That's because I was single with kids, and my kids took priority over my job, my bosses, and college. And time with my kids determined my career choices. Wages were secondary.
 
Murrmurr said:
It's true young women were not and still aren't considered a good investment for companies that pay for their employee's training. Absenteeism due to pregnancy and parental responsibilities is much higher for female employees than males.

I was 27 when my first wife ran off with the neighbor and left me and our 3 kids. Our daughter was only 9 months old. Being male, I was expected to make my job a higher priority than my kids. Being a single father, I had to settle for lower-paying jobs that offered flexible shifts so I could get my kids up and off to school in the morning, be home in the evening to cook and feed them dinner, and give them their baths and put them to bed at night.

No employer wants to hear "I couldn't find a sitter" from a male employee. A male employee could get fired for that, on the spot. I was lucky my mom and my sister-in-law were ok with it if I had to drop my kids off with them on very short notice.

Sometimes they babysat when one or two of the kids were sick, because they couldn't go to school and daycare wouldn't take them. And there were days when my kids missed school when they weren't sick because I had to cover somebody else's shift, or had to pull double-shifts because of an unexpected huge order, or new contract, or new foreman, crew-chief, or boss.

So, I couldn't earn as much as some of my male friends and relatives. That's because I was single with kids, and my kids took priority over my job, my bosses, and college. And time with my kids determined my career choices. Wages were secondary.
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A lot of people could learn from you.
 

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