Because feminism is the radical notion that women are human.
Because, worldwide, more girls have been killed in the last fifty years, precisely because they were girls, than men were killed in all the wars of the twentieth century. (source)
Because nearly 1 in 4 American women between the ages of 18 and 65 has experienced domestic violence. (source)
Because the U.S. State Department estimates that between 600,000 and 800,000 people are trafficked across international borders each year, and eighty percent of them are women and girls trafficked for sexual exploitation. (source)
Because girls like Malala Yousafzai deserve an education and should not be threatened with violence for pursuing one.
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Because women make up 51% of the US population, but comprise only 20% of congress. (source)
Because Hardee’s can’t seem to sell a hamburger without objectifying a woman’s body in the process.
Because eighty percent of 10-year-old American girls say they have been on a diet, and the number one magic wish for young girls age 11-17 is to be thinner (source)
Because pornography is a $57 billion industry worldwide. (source)
Because in the time it took you to take a selfie with a sign declaring that the world doesn’t need feminism (about four minutes) two more American women were sexually assaulted, nearly 100 American women were abused, four women worldwide died giving birth, eight little girls were trafficked for sexual exploitation, and 6,781,920 people looked at naked women online.
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Because women need look no further than the billboards on the highways, the magazine racks in the check-out aisle, or the advertisements on TV to know that our worth in this culture is measured primarily by our appearance.
Because 20-25% of women in college in the U.S. reported experiencing an attempted or a completed rape in college. (source)
Because 70% of women in the U.S. workforce are mothers; yet we have no national paid leave child care or flex time policy. The U.S is the only major industrialized nation without paid family leave.
Because in 2011, only 11 percent of protagonists in films were female. (source)
Because fewer investors are willing to put their money behind a woman entrepreneur than a man, even when they share the very same idea, concept, business and sales pitch. (source)
Because feminism celebrates the freedom of women to choose to enter the workforce or pursue homemaking and to make decisions that best suit the needs of themselves, their communities, and their families. Feminism does not oppose homemaking, marriage, and motherhood, but acknowledges them as among the many vocations of which women are capable.
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Because every year, complications from pregnancy and childbirth claim the lives of nearly 300,000 women worldwide and permanently disable many more. (source)
Because access to contraception would dramatically improve those maternal and infant mortality rates. (source)
Because one third of the world’s girls are married before the age of 18, and 1 in 9 are married before the age of 15. Pregnancy is consistently among the leading causes of death for girls ages 15 to 19 worldwide. (source)
Because over 135 million girls and women have undergone genital mutilation and 2 million more girls are at risk each year. (source)
Because legalistic gender roles, and the objectification and marginalization of women, harm both women and men. Feminism isn’t about hating men. Feminism is about restoring the dignity of women for the betterment of society. And so both men and women, both parents of little boys and parents of little girls, can and should be feminists.
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Because women who were raped are still asked, “What were you wearing?”
Because I can’t count the number of times I’ve been called a whore, bitch, cunt, slut, or feminazi because of my theological or political views.
Because feminism has given women in the U.S. access to higher education, the voting booth, contraception, and property rights, and is still so misunderstood that women themselves say they have no use for it.
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Because the message that women who are not virgins are “damaged goods” persists.
Because the message that women are not capable or called to preach the gospel persists.
Because the message that women must dress to please men persists.
Because the message that women should endure abuse persists.
Because the message that women’s bodies are inherently problematic persists.
Because the message that women are to be "conquered and colonized" during sex persists.
Because the message that men who do housework are failures persists.
Because the message that men must out-earn their wives to be "real men" persists.
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Because patriarchy is not God’s dream for the world.
Because we are no longer bound by the Curse, but are compelled by the resurrection of Jesus Christ to build a kingdom in which the old power structures dividing Jew from Greek, male from female, and slave from free are dismantled and replaced by mutual love, submission, and grace.
Because feminism is the radical notion that women are human - equal in value and dignity to men - and that vision has yet to be fully realized.
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This post is a response to #WomenAgainstFeminism and a contribution to the #FaithFeminisms series, which you can learn more about here.
For more, check out my womanhood tag.
So, what are some other reasons why we need feminism?
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