Feminism in Popular Culture

Feminism in Popular Culture

Feminism is defined as social movements, political movements, and ideologies that share a common goal of achieving economic and gender equality. Popular culture refers to a set of practices and beliefs that are recognized by the members of the community in a given time (Storey,2018). Feminists campaigns have changed the perspective on how different cultures view women. In recent, most cultural practices give girl child the same chance of choice as the boy child. However, there are still some cultural practices, which considers women as inferior in the community. For centuries, arguments based on culture has been used to justify discrimination of women in society and measures have to be taken to eliminate cultural practices, which curtail the freedom of women in the society.

 

Harmful Cultural Practices

Some cultural beliefs in different communities are placing young girls at the risk of suffering from harmful diseases such as Sexually Transmitted Infections. Young girls are forced for marriage in some communities out of their will. Young women are given away to uncles or cousins who are much older than them (Raj,2018). The practice is against human rights because the girls in these communities are denied their right to choose on who to marry. The clan members and the parents in these communities decide to whom they will give their daughter for marriage. The practice should be eliminated in society because it makes girl children miss the opportunity to pursue studies. Also, some communities still believe that the role of women in society is to get married and giving birth (Nussbaum,2017). The cultural practice is against the rights of the girl children because the girls are not given a chance for education. In all these cases, young women in the communities, which carry out these practices do not have any say, and they are just traded like objects instead of being treated equally as the other human beings. Some communities have beliefs that women are not supposed to be leaders.

Communities with this belief do not involve women in development and leadership plans. As a result, women are subjected to cruel laws because they are not involved in decision-making programs. The practice denies women in these societies their rights of expression. The fight against violation of women rights have been there for several years, and it has eliminated several cultural practices in the community although the campaign faces several challenges.

Efforts to Eliminate Harmful Cultural Practices

The ideologies against the freedom of the female gender arose in another era but they still harm women up to date, and therefore, there is a need to protect our female gender against harmful cultural practices. The government should undertake comprehensive research on harmful cultural practices, which continue to violet the rights of our young women in society. The government should formulate the laws to ban these harmful cultural practices to ensure that women in society enjoy their dignity and have freedom of their lives just like any other human beings (Alesina,2016). The ministry of education should also formulate policies in all schools, which motivates young girls to pursue their education. Gender equality rules should be adhered in all the organizations of the government to ensure that all the women are involved in nation-building. Religious groups should also educate the members of the society on the importance of gender equality (Michau,2015). Women should be involved in the forums of making laws and decisions in the society to ensure that they express their views. Girl children in school should be inspired to expand their dreams. International Women’s Day event enables women to come together and speak out for their rights. Women should also be trained in any kind of career they are willing to pursue to achieve gender equality at the workplaces. Women with ambitions in politics should be supported and encouraged to ensure that there is gender equality in politics. Women who have achieved their dreams should motivate and encourage young girls in the community to work hard to achieve their dreams. Campaigns against the violation of women rights should continue to ensure that women in society have freedom just like the other people.

In conclusion, some cultural practices violets the rights of women in society. Popular culture is the accumulation of cultural practices such as art, music, fashion, television, and radio that are favored by many members of a specific community. The fight against harmful cultural practices have been there for years, and it has achieved in eliminating some harmful cultural practices. However, the campaign to achieve gender equality should continue to ensure that gender equality is observed in both politics and places of works. The government should continue coming up with laws to eliminate cultural practices that are curtailing the freedom of the female gender in society. Women in society should be assisted to eliminate harmful cultural practices without destroying rich cultural heritage, which identifies communities.