Absolute gender equity remained as a vision as there remained the promise and hope for the fair recognition of women in our society. Feminists emerged as women stop accepting their inferior position in society. This inferiority was mostly part of the culture of patriarchy in which they may be oppressed for being part of the subject class. Liberation from this situation can only begin when they started to liberate their views on patriarchy and to see it as a way to male domination.
Revolutionary feminists stressed the role of raising consciousness on realities about the actual dynamics of the situations involving patriarchy. They thought that this is the crucial first stage of changing the scenarios from being victim of exploitation and oppression to gender equity. The spark of the movements for this endeavor rarely began with an individual but mostly with a small group who shared their ideas with people they know then later shared it thru a medium such as thru writings to have a wider audience reached.
(Hooks 7-9) It remains a challenge in contemporary situation to have it initiated but thru all their collective efforts, advocates will have momentum gained and consequently be able to share it with larger audience. Consciousness will make feminism survive and critical dissemination of views will have it replicated and evolved. Given that consciousness is a prime necessity to establish the post of feminism as a theory and advocacy, its sustainability relies on critical approach thru it on media and education.
The Essay on Consciousness As Determined Through The Times
Consciousness is understood in a variety of ways. In one belief, a person is conscious when awake, but unconscious when sleeping or comatose. Yet people also do things requiring perception and thought unconsciously even when they are awake. A person can be conscious of their physical surroundings, pain and even a wish or fantasy. In short a creature is conscious if it is aware of itself and that ...
People are bound to be conditioned by standards of society and how interactions are designed. Unconsciously, they would have the picture of the environment developed by any authority figure such as the parents and in such way, they tend to accept sexism. Here rise contemporary feminists who took the advantage of literature and print media wherein documentations of women’s works are preserved and used in education. This made it able to emphasize and give credit on women’s work although there can be a misconception that this is intended to be biased against men’s work (Hooks 19-23).
Women’s demand for recognition doesn’t just directed towards the fact that they can be part of the workforce but more precisely to the fact that they can be as good and as productive as male workers. As told by Bell Hooks (49), liberation from male domination is never about letting women do what the men are doing given that in some cases, women tend to work as dictated by economic situation such as when middle class family were economically depressed and could only survive if one more member will not stay at home and get a job.
On the other hand, if we consider working at home but lose the comfort and relaxation, as women serve others, thus, we can think of working outside home is more liberating unless if men will do most the work at home. Ability to recognize what can give the experience of fulfillment to a woman regardless of economy as criteria seems to be the fairest metrics in order to weigh the liberation of women. That also makes them more dynamic social group when they are doing what they want to do as they are doing an obligation to the society.
Feminists struggle for social justice and as Bell Hooks (7) stressed, feminists are made not born. Theories about feminism solely acquainted to the lives of women and had emerged by learning from women’s experiences as we listen to their views and opinions, thus, as we pay more attention on its progress as a movement and transcending the difference among women such as ethnicity and race, these theories could be more specific and would benefit further women’s advocacies and endeavors. Reference Hooks, Bell. “Feminism is for everyone”. London: Pluto Press, 2000.
