Feminism Interview

Every woman has her own unique experiences and perspectives concerning life. They can also present different views based on their race, position in the family, age, profession, sexual preference and even religion. Most of times, the people least suspect will be most interesting, may present ideas a lot of ideas that one can learn from and think about. Christine is such kind of a person. She is my aunt who is 25 years old and has a two-year-old daughter. I will be interviewing her because she has been a female activist and worked in the media industry for about 5 years now. I believe she understands feminism from a broader perspective.

Interview.

• What do you think is the meaning of feminism?

Christine: Feminism is not believing that one gender should have power over another.

My reaction: I was totally supportive to her answer since feminism means the belief in economic, political and social equality of both sexes. She also gave provided supporting statements and examples to explain her definition which made it easier for to take the main points.

• Are there any stereotypes about feminisms or feminists, you have heard of?

Christine: Yes

My response: Christine gave an example of her boss who is a woman. She is a very strict woman who doesn’t take any joke from anyone even her family members. Most of the workers dislike her and stereotyped her to be a feminist because of her behavior towards people.

• Have you ever thought that anyone can be a feminist?

Christine: Yes

My response: Christine believes that anyone could be a feminist. She argued that being a feminist basically meant to believe in equal rights for both men and women and I was not about hating the men or women being better than men. So she though everyone at some point in their lives has been a feminist if they supported equal rights. I also agreed with her statements since feminists believe in equality and it is not about eschewing femininity.

• Have you ever been a feminist? Why or Why not?

Christine: Yes

My response: I am not a feminist but agreed with her points on equal rights and opportunities for all genders. She admitted to be a feminist since she believed that feminism is about understanding and learning that equality affects everyone and that we were all in that together. She added that true equality leaves no one behind and that both boys and girls have should have equal opportunities available in life. Her other supporting argument was that feminism didn’t mean that one individual’s experiences were more important than that of another person or creation of a sliding scale of who was better off, but it is all about reaping equal benefits and rights.

• Do you think that women and men are treated equal? If not, why not?

Christine: No, I think we are still underestimated in many ways including being underrepresented in the government, being minority in executive sites and also they are still stereotypically portrayed to be responsible of all house chores and taking care of children at home.

My Response: From my own research and statistics I also believe that women are not treated as equal as their men counterparts even at work places including others. In United States for example, women make up about fifty-one percent of the country’s population but only 20% are represented in the congress (Cowden & Varma, 2019). Also women need fourth more extra days to work in a year in order to make as much as men earn. This shows that inequality still exists even after several amendments of the constitution.

• Are many people educated on feminism?

Christine: No, unless through their own research and awareness from the media and other places.

My response: I greed with her that majority of people are not educated on feminism since feminism has been misunderstood and demonized over the years. The society is also too toxic to individuals advocating for feminism or those who challenge gender binary. The school curriculum has not incorporated feminism as part of studies which could have helped a lot especially to students who face harassments and violence. Many people learn about feminism through the internet, campaigns and other media channels.

• Did you find it useful to take part in the interview?

Christine: Yes, the interview has been good and informative, it is evident that feminism needs to be looked into in a broader perspective to enable people understand what it really means. I hope my answers will be useful in your research and for furthers analysis and also thank you for creating your time to interview me.

My response: I found the interview with Christine to be very interesting and informative since she was able to provide all the answers in details. She also provided personal reflections on every question showing that she understood what was asked very well. Most of our beliefs were alike and I think the information that she has provided is enough for further analysis. However, much research is need, to look deeper into the concept of feminism and how people understand it.

Reference

Cowden, S., & Varma, R. (2019). Report from the Third International Marxist Feminist Conference. Feminist Dissent, (4), 283-286.