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58% of people in the world identify as a feminist. So that means the other 42% don’t believe in gender equality, right? Well, not necessarily. While there definitely are some people who genuinely believe that men are the superior gender, the reason why the vast majority of so-called “antifeminists” don’t support feminism is because they fail to understand what it really is due to the myths and misconceptions surrounding the topic of feminism.
“Feminism isn’t necessary because gender equality has already been achieved.”
Gender inequality is definitely less prevalent today than it was when the feminist movement first started in 1848, but that doesn’t mean gender equality has already been achieved. In fact, it is expected to take another 99.5 years to fully close the gender gap. Some forms of gender inequality are extremely obvious. It’s pretty well-known that women make just 82.3 cents for every dollar that a man makes, and you may also know that women make up less than one third of all speaking or named characters in films despite the fact that they make up more than half of the population. However, other forms of gender inequality are often overlooked, especially by those living in developed countries since they don’t have to face these issues often. For example, it is estimated that 12 million girls become child brides every year. That’s 33,000 girls a day, or one every two seconds. It is also estimated that 130 million girls globally don’t go to school. Feminism is most definitely still needed because we still have a long way to go before gender equality is truly achieved.
“Men and women can’t be equal because they are biologically different.”
Sure, men and women are different in some aspects, but those differences don’t mean that women are less capable than men are. Research shows that gender has little to no impact on personality, cognitive ability, and leadership potential. After all, the brains of men and women are fundamentally the same with very few differences. The reason why women are viewed as incompetent when compared to men is not because of the biological differences or because they are “natural caregivers”, but rather because they have faced discrimination in different forms for centuries. For instance, a common myth is that women are just not good at STEM, which is why they are underrepresented in such fields. However, this is far from the truth. Psychologists found that women rated themselves lower than men in terms of science despite the fact that men and women both performed similarly when their scientific abilities were tested. Women aren’t naturally worse at STEM than men, but they’re constantly told that they are, which lowers their confidence and makes them actually believe that they are bad at it. Another reason why women are not commonly seen in STEM professions is because of sexual harassment in the workplace. 70% of female field researchers reported that they have received inappropriate remarks at work. So, yes, men and women are biologically different, but those differences are not an excuse to treat women as inferior to men.
“Feminists are a man-hating group, and feminism is about oppressing men.”
Open up your dictionary. Feminism means “the advocacy of women’s rights on the basis of the equality of sexes”. So, no, feminism is not about oppressing men. It’s about empowering women so that they can be treated as equal to men in all aspects. And the truth is that feminism is actually benefiting everyone, not just women. The patriarchy and toxic masculinity is not just harmful to women, it’s harmful to everyone. Men have significantly higher suicide rates because they are much less likely to seek help for mental health problems, and this is because they’re taught from a young age that men can’t express their emotions freely because that’s a “feminine trait”. Despite the negative stigma commonly associated with feminism, it’s really just about equality, not oppressing men.