We asked people in the ASS what feminism means

‘A balance of men and women’


What is feminism?

In the words of Caitlin Moran, “there are 3 billion women in the world, so there are 3 billion ways to be a feminist”. Thus, I give way to the opinions of those UoB students that braved my camera.

Florangel, Educational Psychology, Masters and Francis, Neuroscience and Education, Masters

“A balance of men and women”

Linus, second year, German and Spanish

“Empowering”

Cat, first year, Biology and Olivia, first year English and Philosophy

Olivia- “True equality and independence, ability to have equal rights in all areas of life, equal opportunities, equal pay and no prejudice or discrimination against females, in the workplace or in life.”

Cat- “Female empowerment, and less stereotypical gender roles”

Nabila, first year, Accounting and Finance and Eduardo, first year, Economics and Finance

Eduardo- “Well I think feminism is a good movement since it’s started to defend a great cause, which is inequality among gender, but over the years I think that some radical feminists have lost focus on the main issues that they stood for. Nowadays I don’t know what they are trying to attain, if they want to radicalise men in front of women, I don’t really agree with this idea, although I agree with the cause and what it stands for.”

Charlie, second year, Economics and Arthur, second year, Ancient History

“In principle I agree with it and there is still inequality in some areas, but it can get quite a bad press because it can be quite aggressive”

Charlie, first year, Economics and Maths

“It’s got a stigma, the word itself which is a problem because of what it’s fighting for. I think people dismiss it because of the stigma around the word. But I think it’s about crawling towards equality, which definitely isn’t something that exists yet, but I think we’re getting closer”

Aya, first year, Cellular and Molecular Medicine

“I think that men and women are different, but that doesn’t mean that they shouldn’t be equal or that women shouldn’t have the same rights as men”

Bissy, second year, English and Philosophy

“Equality, I think is the main thing, but equality in the sense that for women it seems that it’s not equal so it’s about trying to get them up to the same standard as men. But I think it’s ultimately misconstrued that it’s just women with the problem when it’s actually about gender equality”

Nina, Psychology of Education, Masters

“It’s great!”

Natalie, International Development, Msc

“I don’t know how to answer it to be honest because it’s such a huge question. I guess in theory as a modern woman I should believe in feminist ideas, however as I am currently studying for this gender and development section and I have already covered gender and feminism in some of my other units already this semester I guess as you know more about critically engaging with the text you realise that it’s not as straightforward as saying feminism is good or bad.

“So what do I think now? I think that feminist thought and critique offers a lot to the study of different sectors, but I also think that there’s a lot of rhetoric in the feminist ideas and discourse and perhaps it should be looked at how now it is just seen as women having choices about whether they marry and have children, access to having the same pay, there not being a glass ceiling, access to the same opportunities, and I just think it’s not that simple”