It would seem that in an age of flying machines and robots, the issue of women’s rights should no longer exist, since we have already reached such a high level of intellectual development. Yet unfortunately, it remains a pressing problem. The ban on receiving education, impunity for committing terrible crimes against women, and the forced marriage of five-year-old girls are what you can hear in the news from different corners of the world every day. So today, let’s talk about why we still need feminism in a world that only seems progressive.
At first glance, it seems that misogyny no longer exists in Europe and America; everyone lives happily and joyfully, but if you look a little closer, you start to notice unequal salaries between men and women in the same positions, so to speak, a “pink tax,” which in 2024 is an average of 13%. So why should women overpay for the same goods more than the opposite gender, if their salaries, according to the UN, are about 20% lower? The answer to this question has remained open for more than a dozen centuries. Although many changes have already taken place, the world is still far from equal. In 2025, women in Afghanistan do not even have the right to go out into the street without a man. And sexism has simply changed form: from crude to veiled, through jokes, stereotypes, or “good advice.” All of this is part of a larger systemic problem: women are often perceived not as equals, but as a “special category.”
Last semester, the rector of our university asked us to make presentations on topics chosen by the students from a list. That time, a few of my classmates and I chose the topic of feminism. And after our speech, the professor asked us such a question: “What can be done to change this situation in the world?”. I started thinking about it and soon came to the conclusion that it was nothing more than talking, or even shouting. Talking in schools about equal rights and that gender is not a label for anything. Shouting to the world about terrible cases of violence and murder so that the guilty are punished for their actions. Shouting that an eight-year-old child cannot be married to a forty-year-old man and that such “traditions” should be banned. And if it seems to someone that this will not solve anything anyway, then let’s remember the case of Kuandyk Bishimbayev in Kazakhstan, where, only because of worldwide publicity, a former deputy was sentenced to 24 years in prison for abusing and murdering his wife. Therefore, it is worth just starting.
At the same time, modern feminism is not at war with men – it talks about partnership. About the fact that equal opportunities do not threaten anyone, but make society stronger. After all, when women have access to education, medicine, politics, and the labour market, everyone wins. This is not a competition for better opportunities or a desire to bypass the other gender in their career; these are just basic needs that everyone should have the right to.
So, the fight for women’s rights today is not only about feminism, but about basic justice and equality for all. We have come a long way, but true equality will come when no girl, no matter where she was born, is forced to fight for her right to be heard, protected, and valued.
Bohdana Frantsishkevych
Photo: Pexels – Markus Spiske