The importance of feminist education.

By: Austin Andre

The topic of modern feminism has become a bit of a taboo in the mainstream. Talks of

feminism or women's rights almost always end in streaming no matter whose involved, and very

rarely lead of any progress in the general conversation. But despite my personal views on

modern feminism, I do believe that discussions of women's issues are important to have in order

to move our society forward. The problem of bodily autonomy is still being fought to this day,

and workplace harassment continues to be an issue for many working woman around the world.

(Freedman) The word feminism means a lot of things to a lot of people but I think the major

problem with discussions of feminism it that on both sides, people's ideas of what feminism was

cloud what their perception of what feminism is and should be today.

 You educate a man; you educate a man. You

educate a woman; you educate a generation. I asked a

group of students what this how said this quote, and was

not surprised at all to find zero out of the thirty plus

students in the call could guess that a white man 1800s

said this. In this day a person observing the current

generation would be hard pressed to find a single person

that can even name a feminist that isnt an active figure in

the movement i.e. Beyonc or Hillary Clinton. (Messer-

Davidow) So the best way to fix this problem is to educate people. And no, I do not mean the

current combatants of the gender war, it is unfortunate but this current wave of social activist on

both sides have lost their capacity to be educated and their passions to hear any opinion outsider

their own. (Boyd, Dorothy and Hester) The people that need to be educated are the clueless

children caught in the crossfire of this cultural battle.

I purpose in primary education social studies classes we dedicate 2 weeks time to the

study feminism history. In the current education system the topic of feminism is only briefly

discussed and is not given the appropriate time for children to truly gain an understanding or

appreciation of the struggles women faced thought history. The children be taught to take an

unbiased look at the different aspects of feminism and its factions.

By giving it two weeks and having children learn this early I life we can insure that the

children of the next generation are about to make rational and educated opinions on gender and

the struggle between the genders.

 Works Cited

Boyd, Susan B, Chunn E Dorothy and Lessard Hester. Reaction and resistance : feminism, law,

and social change. Vancouver: UBC Press, 2007. Print.

Freedman, Estelle B. No Turning Back : The History of Feminism and the Future of Women.

New York: Ballantine Books, 2002. Print.

Messer-Davidow, Ellen. Disciplining Feminism: From Social Activism to Academic Discourse.

Durham and London: Duke University Press, 2002. Print.