Green Ideology & Feminism

Political Theory Essay

Green Ideology & Feminism, – either ‘Can human life only be understood in the context of the natural world? – Or, ‘Has the feminist movement finally achieved equality for contemporary women?’

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feminist_political_theory

From the iron age Boudicca to Cleopatra in ancient time, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucretia Mott and Eleanor Roosevelt, Molly Dewson, Emmeline Pankhurst and Betty Friedan. Feminism is a relatively new term for a political movement for women’s right. The terms ‘first wave’ in the nineteenth century and ‘second wave’ in the twentieth fought to emancipate women, first for the right to vote and the second to allow women to break out of traditional roles such as motherhood and housewife by opening up education, jobs and being able to make a choice about their own bodies. There are so many more women who fought for women’s rights but I only have a limited amount of time to do their work justice. Justice is a big word, in what began as a small but strong movement and now is a big movement for the finer issues that women still have to fight for, such as equal pay and equal opportunities within the workplace.

In the question, there is a clue to the answer and that is ‘contemporary’ but what is a modern woman? Women’s roles throughout history have changed and continue to do so. During the 1990s the role of both women and men changed beyond recognition. Education became open to all, the department of work and pensions accommodated women wanting to go back to work after having children and childcare plus funding for all this was at the top of the priority list for the Labour government. This gave women a choice, to work have a family or not. This made men’s traditional options turn on its head.

More and more couples were making decisions together, less and fewer people choose to get married and instead, left starting a family until both genders had established their careers. The feminist movement looked to be gaining traction as rights and liberties were being backed by law. This is what became the third wave and is still very prominent today.

The female population was being supported from the top downwards and no longer be expected to take on certain masculine traits to climb the ladder. Today, we have a battle of respect, sexually and behaviourally, in social and work environments.

So in my conclusion, the answer is no.

We haven’t achieved equality. Modern feminism has been rebranded and supports policies for both men and women. The campaigners want everyone to be able to communicate emotions and mental health issues, be mindful not to gender-type our children and more importantly equal pay and opportunity for all.

Women’s pay noticeably differs from men’s for doing the same jobs, much like the race is decimated during pay for doing the same jobs as their white counterparts.

More and more men are seeing the light and also want an equal world. So why isn’t it so?

We have to look at the top of the ladder, such as Politian’s and businesses to make this shift. The more women to climb that ladder, the better the chance of equal pay.

The more men that become enlightened to the plight of a woman, the more of an opportunity for change will become apparent.

Feminism is about working together, more than elevating women above men which is the usual wrong assumption when people are asked about this movement.

Women are still taxed simply for being female. Our sanitary products are classed as luxury items whereas caviar isn’t. Why is this?

And that is the reason we do not yet have equality, to gain equality these questions need to be answered and disappear as human culture becomes one with the distinction of gender, or race and works together.

As long as there are these inequalities, the feminist movement will continue their campaign.

To tie this in with the green ideology, seeing each other as equal and respecting the world on which we live, these movements and ideologies are very important as they ever were.

The planet is becoming overpopulated, species are becoming extinct, the weather and our oceans are polluted and the air we breathe is starting to be toxic. Thousands of people die every year because of air pollution. Traditional tribes that are cut off from modern society are also being lost to a consumer obsessed civilisation. We need both of these movements and they need to grow and evolve to wake people up to the fact that their lives and capitalisation are killing us all and the planet.

The Alternative to fixing both of these problems lies with the Gaia Hypothesis and what the initiative is trying to achieve internationally.

https://www.youtube.com/user/gaiamtv