Feminism. There are many different versions and opinions on what exactly it is. The definition of feminism in books or when searched up on the internet is the advocacy of women’s rights on the basis of the equality of the sexes. Feminism is a movement that started in the 1840s.

At Solon High School (SHS) a survey was conducted to identify students’  definitions of feminism. In the survey, when asked “What does feminism mean to you,” respondents echoed the definition given by saying “equality between men and women.”

“Feminism is an empowering term,” an anonymous survey responder said. “It means not that women should receive special treatment, but rather equal treatment. There are just as many women as men in the world. They’ve both been around for the same amount of time. However, it’s unfortunate that the word feminism has only been in circulation for less than a hundred years. In essence, feminism means change in the direction of equality, and that’s what makes it empowering.”

Others in the survey mentioned that they have a definition of feminism. Though feminism it has been misinterpreted and changed throughout the years.

“[I]deally, I’d like to view [it as advocacy] for equality between men and women, but I feel like now it [has] turned more into a women’s push for power for some feminists,” another anonymous responder said.

Out of the 79 students, 65.8 percent (52 students) of students who answered the survey identified themselves as feminist  and 34.2 percent (27 students) identified themselves as non-feminist.

A misconception about feminism that a lot of people all over the world have is that only females can call themselves feminist when actuality anyone of any gender can call themselves a feminist. Of the 79 students who took the survey 14 of the males said they were feminist while 18 said they were not. The word feminism is what convinces people that only females can be apart of this movement. On the contrary, there are many males activists that participate and call themselves feminist. Including author John Green, 44th president Barack Obama, singer John Legend and many more.

When asked if women and men should have equal pay 96.2 percent (75 students) answered yes and only 3.8 percent (3 students) answered no. When asked if women and men should split housework down the middle, the number decreased slightly with 79.5 percent (62 students) of students saying yes and 20.5 percent (16 students) of students saying no.

At SHS there is a club called Girl Up which supports intersectional feminism, a framework that attempts to identify how interlocking systems of power impact those who are most marginalized in society all throughout the world through different activities through the school.

“Intersectional feminism is where thinking about how equal rights for women and minorities [such as] the poor come together because when you lift up one group then we help lift up all groups,” said English teacher and Girl Up advisor Kelly Fishman. “If you think about how a white woman is going to have different obstacles than an African American woman versus a Hispanic woman versus hispanic immigrant women you start to layer some of the things that become difficulties and so the more we can help all of those groups the more we can lift everyone up.”

To Girl Up, the aspect that has been very misconstrued the most throughout the years is that feminism means to make females more important than males, or have more power than males.

“Students will ask ‘well what about boy up,’ but it‘s not about trying to diss a different gender or not acknowledge other genders, it’s about saying there is this whole group of people that need to be held up,” Fishman said.

Other students feel feminism is a way of expressing yourself and supporting women in a way that women can’t support themselves.

“Feminism is important to me because it is towards women, making us feel stronger because women are discriminated a lot within society,” said SHS sophomore Ariel Sharpley.

Fishman expresses that there is also fighting amongst women when deciding what is considered a good feminist example and what is not. She says Girl Up focuses on the idea that anyone can be a feminist.

“One of the things about feminism is that if you want to be a stay at home mom, that is your right, that doesn’t not make you a feminist or make you someone that doesn’t believe women should have equal rights and [people] think that is another problem you see,” Fishman said. “Fighting within other feminists. Like if you are a working mom you’re not a good mom but if you’re a stay at home mom you aren’t teaching your kid what it means to be a strong woman, but really both of these lifestyle choices are still good.”

There are prime examples of why women all over the world, not just in our in America, have to fight for certain rights they don’t already have.

“You see girls sometimes as young as seven or eight being sold off for child marriage in some countries, and that doesn’t happen to boys,” Fishman said. “Trying to raise up women all over the world because we’re still very fortunate in this country to have a lot of the rights that we do, [while there are] women in some countries who aren’t allowed to drive, and they aren’t allowed to have jobs and girls aren’t allowed to go to school.”

According to Fishman, no matter where you’re coming from, it’s your right to be a feminist. The survey results echoed this sentiment, even revealing a large number of feminists within SHS. Regardless, feminism is a train of thought, which any person can choose to follow. To SHS students feminism is a step towards equality for men and women.

“Feminism is an empowering term,” an anonymous surveyor said. “It means not that women should receive special treatment, but rather equal treatment. There are just as many women as men in the world. They’ve both been around for the same amount of time. However, it’s unfortunate that the word feminism has only been in circulation for less than a hundred years. In essence, feminism means change in the direction of equality, and that’s what makes it empowering.”