Feminism or Equalism?

 by Poppy-Rose Banton

Feminism is a range of social movements, political movements, and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes.

Obtaining an equal society is seen as important and something to strive for, one of the first steps in reaching such a goal is gender equality. No country in the world can say they have achieved gender equality as of yet. In 2019 the gender pay gap was 17.3% in the UK, which means that on average, women were paid approximately 83p for every £1 men were paid. 

Many women do not identify with the idea of feminism due to the deeply rooted idea of patriarchy. Though it stands for equality, it is seen by some as anti-men, a movement that intends to assert the superiority of women over men however the feminist movement reflects the fact that women have historically been disenfranchised and silenced, feminism isn't trying to raise women and gender minorities up above men. It’s trying to bring them up to the same level.

Feminism is no longer just about fighting the patriarchy anymore. It's aims now are to combat the entire "kyriarchy" — a hierarchical system that places men above women and non-binary people, white people above those of other races, etc. 

So why not equalism? Equalism is the principle that all humans are equal regardless of gender, race etc. However, for equalism to exist first females and males must have equal rights. Currently this is not the case, for example the gender pay gap. By naming the movement feminism, it’s not saying that females are more important, it is just extenuating the fact that there isn’t yet equality.