Think About Grandma - Emily Martinez, 1/25 Response

In chapter one of Shaw and Lee’s book we’re treated with an insert at the top of page twelve titled “Thank a Feminist”. It lists off topics that feminist activism has gained for women over the years, and includes things like “...the right to vote...work...refuse sex, even with husband...receive a higher education...play sports...be protected from sexual harassment...hold political offices…” (Shaw, Lee, 12). All of these choices and rights that seem commonplace today, to the point where if someone were to ask ‘Can women vote?’ they would be met with a weird stare and a ‘Well, yeah. Duh’ type response. I grew up hearing women claim they were well off on their own and did not need feminism, oddly enough these were all women my generation as well as the previous one (my parents’). However, the generation prior seems to have a different opinion. When I spoke to my eighty-year-old grandmother (who I call Mimi) about her definition of feminism, instead of a short rant about radicals and bra-burnings, she spoke of it as a woman’s right to BE. To simply exist a person and all that entails. She told me that she did not go to college “because that just wasn’t something women did” back then. She jokingly said she wished she had been born a few decades later, and that she would have had that possibility for an education. She left me with this: “Let me tell you those femmes [feminists] were a rowdy bunch, but, Emily, they got what they needed to be done. I’m happy they did. It gave you all the opportunities I never had.” And at the end of the day, that’s just it. We don’t need certain rights now because they have already been won thanks to our grandmothers and great-grandmothers and so on. This does not mean, however, the fight is over. Mimi taught me not to settle on something just because it seemed like the best option. I find this to be true about the society of today. A huge point against feminism is that the world is not as bad to women as it used to be. Well, no, it is not as bad as it has been before, but that does not mean we cannot make it any better. Though previous generations won destroyed some barriers, they only made a small dent with others. There are still injustices, red tape, and glass ceilings that need wrecking. So I say to those who believe they don’t need feminism--if you won’t do it for yourself, then do it for the generation that fought to get us where we are and for generations that will follow us.