Difference Between Feminism and Gender Equality
In the fight for equal rights between men and women, the two terms that arise most are feminism and gender equality. In the end, many people use either of them as a synonym of the other. Gender equality will be interchanged with feminism, and the vice versa holds too.
However, there is a thin line that brings out the difference between the two, mainly from the inferred meaning, causes, and reasons for the two acts.
Regardless of how the discussion has become heated in recent years, the two can never be used in place of each other. They are greatly the opposite of one another based on what they refer to and what each party associated with each word is lobbying for. The post, therefore, seeks to bring out the line between them.
Meaning of Feminism
Feminism is defined as a range of ideologies, political, and social movements sharing a common goal. The goal is mainly to define, establish, and then achieve economic, social, personal, and political equality among different sexes, whether male or female.
The common application of feminism is seeking equal opportunities for women as it is with men in terms of educational and professional opportunities. For example, there have been feminist movements that have been campaigning for the rights of women to vote, work, get equal salaries with men, and hold public offices. They have also been pushing for equal rights in property ownership, earning fair wages, equal rights within marriages, maternity leaves, right to receive education, and enter contracts among others.
Even though the term has been associated with fighting for equal rights for women, there are feminists who fight for the inclusion of men’s liberation. Such groups believe that men too are harmed by traditional roles associated with gender.
Meaning of Gender Equality
Gender equality refers to a state where certain rights, freedoms, and opportunities are not affected by gender. Also known as sexual equality, it gives an equal access to resources as well as opportunities to all genders. It also allows equal access to decision making, social, political, and economic participation.
The concept of gender equality states that all human beings, regardless of the gender are free to make their choices. It also necessitates that they are free to develop own and personal abilities without being limited by rigid gender roles, stereotypes, and prejudices.
Similarity Between Feminism and Gender Equality
Both gender equality and feminism have been used to lobby for women’s rights in different avenues of the society.
Main Differences Between Feminism and Gender Equality
-
Meaning of Feminism Vs. Gender Equality
Feminism is a set of ideologies, political, and social movements sharing a common goal of defining, creating and achieving equality among different sexes, mostly on the side of women. Gender equality, on the other hand, refers to a state where certain rights, freedoms, and opportunities are not affected by gender.
In other words, feminism is the advocacy that calls for women’s rights to be honored and be on the same level with men’s while gender equality calls for equal access to rights and opportunities by both men and women.
-
Aim
The aim of feminism is to ensure equal rights as well as opportunities for women, just like it is with men while gender equality is about getting equal rights and opportunities for all genders. Gender equality also holds the view that both men and women should receive equal treatment without any gender discrimination.
-
Form
Feminism is a collection of political and social movements while gender equality is the main goal of feminism.
-
Rights of Feminism Vs. Gender Equality
Feminism is concerned with the rights of women while gender equality is concerned with the rights of every individual regardless of their gender.
Feminism Vs. Gender Equality: Comparison Table
Summary of Feminism Vs. Gender Equality
Although different factions of rights’ crusaders use the two words in place of each other, they have distinct identifying characteristics. These are the traits that set out the differences between them. The main point, however, is that feminism is all about bringing out equal rights for women while gender equality is about ensuring equal rights for everyone irrespective of their gender.
- Difference Between Minecraft and Terraria - August 7, 2020
- Difference Between Alliteration and Onomatopoeia Poems - July 25, 2019
- Difference Between Certification and Licensure - July 24, 2019
Search DifferenceBetween.net :
Email This Post
: If you like this article or our site. Please spread the word. Share it with your friends/family.
9 Comments
Leave a Response
References :
[0]Image credit: https://pixabay.com/en/feminism-women-female-gay-pride-295245/
[1]Image credit: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gender_equality_symbol_(clipart).png
[2]"Why Feminism Is NOT ‘The Fight For Equal Rights’". Thought Catalog, 2018, https://thoughtcatalog.com/chris-good/2014/12/why-feminism-is-not-the-fight-for-equal-rights/. Accessed 14 Nov 2018.
[3]"Feminism Is Not About Gender Equality – Radfemfatale – Medium". Medium, 2018, https://medium.com/@radfemfatale/feminism-is-not-about-gender-equality-efc2ccb1e46b. Accessed 14 Nov 2018.
I find it interesting how throughout the article, the author writes that feminism is the advocacy of female AND male rights, however, in the table at the end, the only distinction between feminism and equal rights is that feminism is exclusively for females. Just a bit confusing to me, as a reader.
Emily, what I understood is, most of the so-called feminists only push for the rights of women while the real meaning of the word feminism should be “calling for the equality/rights of both genders.”
Thanks for this article. I understand that feminist theories are more biased towards women’s issues while gender theories fight for both sexes; men and women alike.
Funny feminism is similar to male chavlaion society my owns 20 million inr but my father own only 8 million but every was earned by him
What I get in the article is like when it comes to feminism it’s based on the equal rights of the women and when it comes to gender equality is all about to ensure equal rights to everyone of their genders
This article did not help me to clarify the differences between feminism and gender equality. This is because it offers various descriptions for the two that are contradictory. For example, throughout the article it is said multiple times that feminism equally advocates for both women’s and men’s rights, and in other parts that feminism advocates primarily or only for women’s rights. This article is unreliable information.
I think this is flawed.
You don’t understand about feminism at alll
This article is flawed. Let me simplify it.
You cannot be an egalitarian without being a feminist. If you are an egalitarian, you are automatically a feminist.
Egalitarianism automatically encompasses feminism, but feminism does not necessarily encompass egalitarianism.
That said, you can be a feminist but not an egalitarian.
You could, for example, believe in equality on the bases of the sexes (feminism) but not believe in racial equality. Therefore a racist feminist would be a feminist but not an egalitarian.
Egalitarianism appears to touch on true equality (rather than just gender equality), so if you were to identify as an egalitarian (as it relates to gender issues), there is no difference in simply identifying as a feminist.
I hope this helps.