Gender equality means
equal rights and freedoms, equal opportunities for participation, recognition
and appreciation of women and men in all areas of society - political,
economic, personal and family. However, this doesn`t happen.
It´s very important to
talk about gender equality because all around the world, the situation of women
is worse than that of men's, simply because they are women. The reality is even
worse for women who belong to minorities, elderly women, women with disabilities,
migrants, etc.
The cause of this
inequality is chauvinism which is a prejudice, expressed by opinions and
attitudes, which opposes equal rights between genders, privileging the male
gender over the female. In other words, it is an oppression, in its most
diverse forms, of women by men. Unfortunately, this
prejudice is still very present in our society. Having been normalized for a
long time, only a few decades ago this behaviour began to
be problematized, especially by feminist movements, which fight for gender
equality. Not everyone agrees this must be fought, which means that, despite
feminist efforts, it is still present in several environments.
The fight against
chauvinism and gender inequality is called feminism. Feminism is a social
movement for civil rights, led by women, which since its origin has claimed
political, legal and social equality between men and women. This performance
isn`t sexist, that is, it does not seek to impose some type of female
superiority, but the equality between the genders. The history of feminism
begins in the French Revolution with the “Declaration of the Rights of Man and
the Citizen”, written in the year of the Revolution, which was opposed by the
“Declaration of the Rights of Women and Citizens”, written by the French
feminist Olympe de Gouges. For this reason, she was murdered. However, her
death, considered a landmark of feminism in the world, brought some later
feminist movements.
Little by little,
feminist movements around the world began to gain rights claimed by women
(right to education, vote, contract, property, divorce, equal pay, abortion,
etc.). Although we have already won more rights for women, there is still much
to change.
Marta Barbosa -
LC Gondomar B1.1 (teacher Miguel Ferreira)