Feminism

A year after holding its first successful feminism-centered event, Students for Choice teamed up with fellow student groups and once again invited professors and administrators to discuss their views on feminism with students on Wednesday night in the Ella Weed Room of Milbank Hall. This year’s discussion focused on how feminism and multiculturalism interact.

This Monday, Spectator Opinion presents four perspectives on feminism and its role in society today. Chanel Ward reminds readers that the heart of feminism is self-empowerment, Jessica Lin looks at women in the workplace, Eliav Bitan learns to be a feminist from the women around him, and Professor Christia Mercer discusses gender as a tool to abandon the “comfort of identity.”

The reason why gender is so powerful as a tool is that it enables us to analyze the roots of our continued prejudices and the power-structures that perpetuate them.

Feminism is important because it strives to transform and equalize hierarchical relationships between men and women, and to ensure rights and opportunities for women that are equal to those of men. To achieve true liberation, we must first self-empower.

American history professor and longtime feminist Alice Kessler-Harris is torn. As much as she eagerly awaits saying the title “Madame President” for the first time, she cannot decide how much she should allow the fact that Senator Hillary Clinton, a Democratic candidate, is a woman to impact her vote.