In Memory of Geraldine Ferraro

In memory of former vice presidential candidate Geraldine Ferraro, I'm going to take a moment to address my thoughts on feminism today.

Unfortunately, at this point in time, feminism still conjures up images of angry, bra-burning women with shaved heads/unshaved armpits who hate men and anything related to the patriarchy.

I myself believe in feminist ideals. I am not anti-men, anti-family, anti-children, anti-organized sports, etc. I am much more realistic than that and I realize being anti-everything will get you nowhere. Believe me, I was a hippie college kid at one time and have thankfully grown out of that stage. I still have streaks at times but it's generally under control.

Regardless, I still believe that there's a ways to go for women to achieve actual equality in this country and around the world. Despite the fact women are graduating from college and graduate schools in record numbers, they still lag behind men in the work world when it comes to pay and positions in management.

Biologically, women and men are different. There's no question about that. We are also socialized differently from day one--sure, there may be exceptions but in general we are socialized differently. Both of these factors contribute to the inequality. Women obviously are the ones who carry offspring for nine months, experience childbirth and generally spend more of their time with young children during the early years. This time takes them away from the work world. Some women leave the work world for a period of time, others never return and there are the brave ones who balance both work and children.

Moreover, girls are often socialized to be passive, agreeable, nice -- characteristics that don't work well in the work world. This isn't really an issue when girls are in school because it's well known now that they can work just as hard as the guys or work even harder and have results to show for it. However, if she's aggressive at work, then she can be seen as a bitchy, go-getter, a threat to the guys and no longer feminine. Or maybe she's single (and that's just so sad versus guys can be bachelors with less of a stigma). The most intense competition for women is really among themselves and it's really when they are vying for men. All bets are off, and it's okay to do whatever it takes to score the dude.

Certainly, I'm not a femi-nazi and I don't belong to any women's organizations where we meet secretly to talk about how much we hate men. There are plenty of successful women who would never label themselves as feminists but they are definitely upholding certain feminist ideals--negotiating business deals, exerting aggressive behavior to get the job done or sticking up for themselves against a bunch of guys. Encouraging the notion that women should continue to strive for equality in this day and age is something I find perfectly reasonable.