She stands on the soap box, Dayquil in her hand

Kinga's post on feminism and the beauty myth has made me do the unusual - I am double posting, something which I am usually against because it makes me appear wordy, and for that matter I am posting something political, again something that I try hard to avoid because there are so many political writers and thinkers out there who have a much more coherent voice than mine.

Feminism is not about denouncing men. It is not about denouncing women for being with men, or being against women. There are many brands of feminism, but the core of feminist beliefs is this: that men and women should be equal, politically, economically and socially. The fundamental point being, of course, that the status quo does not give women that equality.

For those out there who somehow do not seem to believe that this brand of politics is a valid one in the year 2005 (i.e. you consider this about as outdated as the suffragettes), I would suggest you consider yourself fortunate. Perhaps you have never really experienced discrimination. Perhaps you think there are bigger matters to consider. Either way, you are fortunate to be in a part of the world that has codified the need for gender equality and formed the matching social etiquette to acknowledge the need (that is, everyone understands you shouldn't openly discriminate on the basis of gender). There are so many others in different parts of the world who do not have such a luxury. I've been (un)lucky enough to have worked in Asia and in the Westernised world and I can tell you, the difference is literally universes apart. And I'm sure you've heard about the terror of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan inflicted on the Afghan women. Without having to go into such extremes, I will give you one example:

It was reported that a Korean actress K. was filing for divorce from her husband on the grounds that he was violent and adulterous. When this was reported on the website of a newspaper, many Korean men wrote in to complain that the actress was 'humiliating' her husband and his family by making a private matter so public.

Now, if you can extend your imagination to such faraway countries, you can consider the following scene closer to home:

You are employed by a company that has hired a young man fresh from university. He is given all the client lunches to attend while you are told to stay in the office to 'work the details'. When you complain to your boss, he raises his eyebrows and says, "But what's the point of giving you client face time? Aren't you going to get married and quit work once you're pregnant?"

The above is an example of something that happened last year to an acquaintance of mine, a senior, single, female lawyer at a large Manhattan law firm. If it can happen there, it can happen anywhere - and it does. And how are we to deal with this? My belief is this: where there is a problem, the first step to finding a solution is to acknowledge the fact that there is a problem. Discrimination against women does exist. What should be done about it is a matter for everyone to discuss and agree on, not just be ignored. I feel upset when women are not proud to call themselves feminist - if you're not going to acknowledge the problems faced by the majority of those who are your gender, who do you think will? I am also annoyed by men who don't see the point of feminism, as I think both genders lose out from this discrimination: it denies humans the opportunity to be multi-faceted individuals and discourages meritocracy.

OK. I need another dose of Dayquil.