Feminism is Just Another Half-Baked Ideology

Voicing an opinion on the role of women in society today is almost guaranteed to cause an argument – or at least a sometimes slightly heated discussion.  Pope Francis found this out not too long ago in Belgium.

Many feminists today think feminism is simply about equality between the sexes.  And if feminism’s goals were only about equal dignity and equal opportunity for women, most women, and men as well, would probably support such an ideology.  But some feminists want nothing less than unrestricted access to abortion.  And some feminists (Marxist feminists) espouse nothing less than the complete reordering of society.

So when a woman today says “I’m a feminist,” the word feminist is a trigger word.  It begs a definition of just what kind of feminist is the woman.  Regardless, in the final analysis feminism is just another half-baked human ideology.

Equal But Different

Just as there are differences in what feminism is, there are definite differences between men and women that none of the ‘waves of feminism’ can overcome.

God probably had definite ideas about the roles men and women would play in His creation.  A rather obvious clue here is that physiologically, He created men and women quite differently – men are physically stronger than women. (And despite all the ridiculousness about transgenderism, men cannot become women and vice versa.)

Even neurologically, men and women may be different. Science, however, is still trying to prove this one way or the other.  Some scientists, for instance, say there are cognitive differences between men and women.  Others, however, say there is hardly any difference at all.  But both cannot be right.

So there are physical differences between the sexes, and probably cognitive differences as well.  And one physical difference is undeniable.  Only women can have babies.

This key fact also gives us an important clue as what God may have been thinking when He created us.  It’s a pretty good bet that, for the most part, He intended most men to be fathers and most women to be mothers.  But we have been hearing a different message from society for some time now.

A Career or Motherhood? 

In the 60s, radical feminists like Gloria Steinem, Betty Friedan, and Kate Millett launched the second wave of feminism, declaring women should do whatever they want.  It was a liberating message.  But its goal was to destroy the family. (See “Destroying the Family,” below.)

The message upended society.  Today, many women want a career, but many (most?) also still want to be a mom.  And, as is becoming more and more common, many opt for both.

After all, the women’s libbers say, men can have a career and still be a father so why can’t women have a career and still be a mother?  This is a legitimate question.  But it’s also a question that just might call into question God’s plan for the human race.

Many career-driven women deceive themselves thinking they can be super-career-woman and still be a great mom.  Granted, there are some who are able to pull off such a feat, but they are not all that common.

Just as fathers who get wrapped up in a career usually fail to be good fathers, women who get wrapped up in a career often fail to be good mothers.  And in today’s me-centered world, careers tend to take center stage. Imagine the poor child who has both a father and a mother wrapped up in their own careers!

Edith Stein on Women

Saint Theresa Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein [1891-1942] one of the Catholic Church’s most brilliant philosophers) perhaps said it best. To paraphrase, she said women should have equal access to all the professions simply because not all women will marry.

Her philosophy is summed up in at an article at Catholic World Report.

“Some women, for various reasons, will never marry or raise a family. Others will find that domestic life is too narrow, and impedes the realization of their full potential. There should be no limits to a woman’s professional activities so long as they do not jeopardize domestic life [italics added].

“Thanks to those gifts, such as empathy, a woman can endow her vocational calling with a feminine quality.

“Thus, a woman’s natural vocation to marital companionship and motherhood does not preclude her work in other professions. At the same time, Stein acknowledges the great nobility and excellence of motherhood and marriage that elevates this vocation among all the secular professions. This original and natural vocation offers the most fulfillment and makes optimal use of the feminine charism” [italics added].

And lest we not forget, the primary purpose of marriage is procreation. As the Catechism of the Catholic Church tells us, [1652] “By its very nature the institution of marriage and married love is ordered to the procreation and education of the offspring and it is in them that it finds its crowning glory.”

God made us male and female for a reason.  In His omniscience and wisdom He decided that it would be the female who would have the enormous responsibility of bearing children and bringing each and every new life into the world.  He gave women the responsibility of continuing the human race.

Life-Givers

Without a woman’s marvelous and extraordinary ability to conceive and carry a child in her womb for nine months there would be no human race. This alone sets women apart from, and in a sense, even sets them above men.  But too many women today don’t realize how truly special this makes every one of them.

Women are the life-givers, the nurturers, the caregivers, and the first teachers of every new human being born on this planet.  There really is no job or career that is more important than that.

God’s plan for the vast majority of men and women on this earth is that they would marry and have children.  He tells us so in Genesis 1:28: “Be fertile and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it.”

Thus “the family” is the cornerstone of the human race.  As Pope St. John Paul II reminded us in Familiaris Consortio, 42. “Since the Creator of all things has established the conjugal partnership as the beginning and basis of human society,” the family is “the first and vital cell of society” [Second Vatican Council Apostolicam actuositatem, 11].”

And there really are no jobs more important than being a good wife and mother (and being a good husband and father).  But this is not what today’s secular society wants us to believe.

Me, Myself and I

In today’s culture, life is all about self-fulfillment.  The ‘self’ – what I want, and what I deserve, and what I need – are paramount, says society.  Think about yourself!  Live for yourself!  Do what makes you happy!  And this messaging is more and more being directed at women.

As such, the headline on a recent article at The Federalist is was quite a surprise – “To Be Happy, Women Must Do The Opposite Of Everything Secular Western Culture Tells Them.“

The article is about a new book by author and life coach Susan Venker who counsels women to do what the headline says.  But the article also quotes some statistics from an article at First Things:

“As of 2022, women held 52 percent of professional-managerial roles in the U.S. Women earn more than 57 percent of bachelor degrees, 61 percent of master’s degrees, and 54 percent of doctoral degrees. And because they are overrepresented in professions, such as human resource management (73 percent) and compliance officers (57 percent), that determine workplace behavioral norms, they have an outsized influence on professional culture, which itself has an outsized influence on American culture more generally.”

So women in developed nations, have come a very long way since the days of the suffragettes.  The only area that women cannot claim full equality with men today is in equal pay for equal work.  Even the Equal Pay Act of 1963, which has been in effect for over 60 years, has not changed this.

The intellectual elites are still struggling to figure out why the pay gap has not closed.  But the answer is really not such a secret.  If a business owner or manager puts profit over people, the individual will try to pay employee B less than employee A for doing the same job.  Mystery solved!

Gen Z Women Leaving Religion

So, other than the equal pay issue, women have actually overtaken men in some significant areas. And now they are overtaking men when it comes to leaving religion.

As an article at Catholic News Agency points out, today women are disassociating themselves from religion faster than men.

“For the past three generations — baby boomers, Generation X, and millennials — men when surveyed were more likely to have left religion than women.

“Now, the opposite is true — Generation Z women are more likely to disaffiliate than men, at 54% to 46%, respectively, according to an April survey by the Survey Center on American Life and American Enterprise Institute (AEI).”

This is one of the many rotten fruits of the feminism ideology.

Feminism

CS writer Masha Goepel posted a wonderful essay entitled “Thoughts on the Decline of Catholic Marriage” a year ago.  In her essay she explored some of the reasons for the decline in marriages.  She wrote, “feminism is one of the most contentious ideologies in Catholic relationships.”  Commenters seemed to agree with her analysis.

Contentious is a good word, but it does not sum up the situation.  The feminist ideology is wide ranging but the core beliefs of the feminists of the 60s and 70s are still damaging the culture.  And this was their intent from the start.

Destroying the Family

An article at The Stream includes some commentary on feminism by Mallory Millett, sister of Kate Millet, “a spokesperson for the feminist movement following the success of the book Sexual Politics (1970).”  Mallory Millet states:

“Much of my work has been in response to the writings of my older sister, Kate Millett, who was a Marxist Feminist activist.

“Sexual Politics became not only the cornerstone of the ensuing Second Wave of Feminism, but also a trigger for the founding of National Organization for Women (NOW) and its successful demand for legalized abortion. Kate also traveled America founding gender and women’s studies departments in virtually every college and university.

“Kate wrote the exact right book at the exact right moment. It was as if it was chosen by Satan,” Mallory says. “This is all about a war on God. Kate stated categorically that the complete destruction of traditional marriage and the nuclear family is the revolutionary or utopian goal of feminism.

“She was trying to indoctrinate me into all this. There was a moment when my eyes were really opened.” Mallory explains that Kate took her to a NOW meeting where Betty Friedan and Gloria Steinem were also present as founding members. She also recalled attending smaller meetings of committed feminists, some of whom came from privileged backgrounds.

“They would start the meetings with a call/response sequence about being there to “make revolution… a sexual revolution… by destroying the family… by destroying marriage… by destroying monogamy… by promoting homosexuality, prostitution, promiscuity, and abortion.

”We will promote those four things and that will destroy society,” Mallory recalls them saying.”

Conclusion

Many young women espousing the feminist ideology today may not even realize for what they are actually campaigning.  They think they are fighting for an equality that they already possess.  What they are really doing, however, is keeping the 60’s goal of feminism alive – the destruction of society and the family.  And the devil is probably enjoying every minute of the battle!

Carrie Gress, a fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, recently put the feminist ideology into perspective.  She writes:

“Feminism is a slippery thing, with most people thinking it is generally good, providing women with jobs, education, opportunity, and empowerment. But a closer look at the philosophical roots, the true underbelly, shows a much more sinister reality.

“The central goal of feminism, from the beginning, has been to liberate women from the family, fertility, and faith. Women have been led to believe that this goal can be achieved through work, while fostering contempt for men, promoting promiscuity, and engagement in the occult. Not all women in the culture engage in all these things, but a visit to any secular university or a look at the celebrity and influencer class shows that these have become commonplace.”

Gress is also the author of the recently released book, “The End of Woman: How Smashing the Patriarchy Has Destroyed Us.”

Susan Skinner posted a salient essay entitled “Men and Women and the Authority of God” in 2018.  In it she remarked, “It is only through the cooperation of both male and female, living out their unique Divine purpose that will restore the dignity of mankind.”

Today’s feminists might bear that in mind.

Humility over Vainglory

As St. Paul tells us:

“Do nothing out of selfishness or out of vainglory; rather, humbly regard others as more important than yourselves, each looking out not for his own interests, but everyone for those of others”  [Philippians 2:3-8].