Hi,

I'm Leslie and I'm doing a research paper on feminism and I need some information on feminism. I was wondering if you could help?

My questions involve the topics of jobs, pay, environment, lives, causes (what is it caused by), solutions. What effects does feminism have on jobs, pay, environment, and lives? Is feminism caused by unfairness, people's ideas, and sexism? What is the whole idea around sexism? Is the only solution to feminism or sexism (however you want to look at it), equality between men and women?

Thanks ,

Leslie

Leslie -- all of your questions are quite big ones. In general, here is my response -- feminism is a reaction to/response to injustices/unfairness. Equality is feminism's goal -- but how equality is defined varies. Some people think it's about the numbers of men and women and equalizing this. Others define it more about values. I support a combination -- you need to have a political and a cultural shift. You can't just change the laws without changing attitudes.

Feminism effects pay -- by making it more equal for individual men and women and also by entire professions. As is, women's professions (i.e. nursing, day care, etc..) pay consistently less than men's professions. The feminist tag line is -- "equal pay for work of equal value."

And in terms of the environment, feminism advocates for responsibility and also some acknowledgment that women have been the stewards of the environment and thus should be empowered in this role.

I hope that helps

-- Amy