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(1) Feminism has came a long way since the early stages of development

Sociology

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(1)

Feminism has came a long way since the early stages of development. There are many more feminists in today's society, and it is definitely a more vocal topic. According to Calkin (2015), "The linkage between gender equality and international development is well recognized today; women and girls are now the preeminent public faces of global development, heavily featured in the policy literature and public-facing documents across a range of institutions" (Calkin, S. 2015:295). Although feminism has made such high strides, there are still some room for improvement. It seems the main focus of feminism is the fight for equal rights, treatment in workplace, and pay. While these are solid arguments, feminism must adapt in a way to also focus on safety, abuse, reproductive rights, and many other ongoing issues women face today. As more woman learn about feminism, it is possible it will accrue more woman to fight for these rights. Therefore, leading to an adapting account for a variety of experiences.    

"Gilman was a key figure in the suffragist movement and saw it as critical to the economic liberation of women. Her unique contribution as an activist was in how she tied women’s economic liberation to socialist struggles" (Bagchi, N. 2013:123). Gilman's work helped current organization's understand the inequality of benefits, pay, and rights of a woman in the workplace. In this era that Gilman's work took place, was a time where the majority of women were either working secretarial jobs or housewives. Many of which wanted to make a career, just as the men had done. Today, we see a significant improvement in the workplace, feminism wise. While, there are still issues to be resolved, it is an improvement from how it once was. As far as race, sexuality, or disability among the workplace, it has made strides, as well. Not sure of Gilman's work first handedly helped the effects of the improvement, or if it was ambience of such a drastic change that encouraged others to speak up. Either way, Gilman's work did help make an empowering difference in society. 

(2)

Feminism has been an ongoing movement since the turn of the century, although we have came a long way with the movement offering better opportunities for women in the workplace, freedom, and have better control over their lives. Feminism continues to develop every day, and continues to adapt through many experiences. If women are involved or affected negatively it starts to take place socially, economically, through the media, etc... For example the COVID-19 pandemic has revealed and worsened inequalities for women, Wood (n.d.) states that it is estimated that women make up almost two-fifths of the global labor force but have suffered more than half of total job losses from the crisis. With that being said women have adapted to the crisis one form being women’s groups or women’s empowerment collectives, women have came together to offer each other support and “be interconnected”(Harnois 2015:1). 

Gilman was a pivotal figure in the late 1800’s, and is still known for the way she argued for societal reform and women’s rights. I feel that current organizations value her work by valuing those rights of equality and there are also current organizations that do not. I myself have worked for companies that state the importance of gender inequality in the workplace, but yet when it comes to honoring that statement the companies have failed in numerous ways. These companies need “new concepts to understand workplace gender inequality”(Williams 2013:1).