Modern Feminism
What is it like to be a girl growing up in 21st-century America? A quick search on redbubble.com provides some good insight – search “women” and you’ll find the most relevant stickers are the ones with catchy phrases like “smash the patriarchy”, “pro-women, pro-choice”, “women don’t owe you s***” and a picture of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez with the words “But hey, b****** get s*** done”. There are a few that are just generally supportive of women, such as “empowered women empower women” and “women supporting women” but in general, most of the stickers paint a negative, sometimes angry, depiction of women overall.
Most of these stickers don’t feature conservative messages, such as including conservative female role models, pro-life messages, or embracing femininity and how great it is to be a woman. Not to mention that being a conservative woman, especially an outspoken one, is not a popular position to take on a college campus and thus wouldn’t be advertised via laptop stickers. From the launch of the Women’s March in 2017, to the dozens of protests around the country after the Dobbs decision was released, to something as small as laptop stickers, why is the women’s movement and its messaging so angry?
Feminism, defined as the belief in social, economic, and political equality of the sexes, seems like something everyone would agree with. After all, the United States was founded on principles of equality and individual freedom. But ask a group of conservative women if they identify as feminists, and a majority, if not all, will say no.
A 2022 survey conducted by the Pew Research Center found that only 7% of Republican women say “feminist” describes them very well, compared to 28% of Democrat women. Most Americans find feminism empowering, about 64%, but about 45% also find it polarizing and 30% find it outdated. Broken down by party, 56% of Republican women find feminism empowering, compared to 77% of Democrat women, and 36% of Republican women say feminism is inclusive compared to 53% of Democrat women. Why the gap between the two groups?
The answer lies in both conservatism and feminism. Conservatives believe in the power an individual holds over their own life, limited government, and respecting the rule of law. Feminism today doesn’t just mean believing in equality between men and women – it also means pushing for abortion on demand, destroying the patriarchy and disrespecting men, and trading marriage and motherhood for corporate career climbing, all things that many conservatives disagree with.
Conservative women are also happier with the status quo than liberals and won’t be so quick to change it. According to the 2022 American Family Survey, conservative women are happier than liberal women. 31% of women ages 18-35 are “completely satisfied” with their lives compared to 16% of liberal women. Conservative women are also 26 percentage points more likely to be married and 24 points more likely to be happy with their family life. Single, childless women are also 60% more likely to report feelings of loneliness compared to married women, which spells trouble for a feminist movement that encourages focusing on yourself and running from marriage and motherhood.
Understandably, women want to build upon the successes of Second Wave feminists and focus on their careers and earning potentials. But this focus is making women less happy, lonelier, and angry with their life in the United States, even though women have it better than they ever have in American history. Feminists might also say that they support all women, but if a woman is pro-life, wants to dress modestly, become a stay-at-home mom and raise her children, or loves and supports the men in her life, they’d say she might as well be living in the Handmaid’s Tale.
If feminists claim to support all women, they should support the women who choose this path in life just as much as the women who choose to remain single, childless, and devoted to their careers. The latter group may find happiness in different ways, but they can still support all women. . And when it comes to messaging, feminists need to work harder at having a more appealing one – 45% of all adults find it polarizing and only 42% find it inclusive, which means if feminism wants to have any future success among all Americans and adhere to the current working definition, it needs to grow and change.