Many people mistaken feminism as a belief that women should have more rights than men do. Feminism actually means a belief that men and women should have equal rights and opportunities. Being equal seems peaceful but to make it happen seems rather difficult. We have to face a lot of different hurdles such as people with lack of education and of course the patriarchist culture.
Feminism is not only for women, believe me, it is also for the men. I often see that men are getting mocked for crying in public or wearing the colour pink. Society would degrade them or saying that they are not “man enough” for doing so. Of course there is nothing wrong with expressing your feeling in public or being sensitive and pink is just a colour. A man is a man because he has a penis, what he does doesn’t define his gender. Those are just simple examples of why feminism is also for men.
I have been told that men and women are different. This is true, we have different genitals and we have different needs, but we do have the same rights. We all have the rights to get paid according to our job and not according to our gender. According to the International Labor Organization (ILO)’s Global Wage Report 2014/2015, women’s average wages are between 4-36% less than men’s. In Indonesia, in 2012, the pay gap was still approximately 19%.
We also have the rights to vote—which we have acomplished, to express our opinion, to choose our own lover be it the same or different gender from us. We do also have the same rights to decide our own future.
I’ve seen some women are forced to be a stay home mom. There is nothing wrong being a stay home mom actually, but forcing someone to be one is wrong. Let the woman decide. If she wants to be a stay home mom, let her, but if she wants to get a degree and work, then let her. She knows what she’s doing. I want people to remember this: women were not created to be a stay home mom, we were created to be ourselves. You can’t expect that every woman will get married, have a kid, always please the husband, cook for the family every day, clean up the house, or obey the husband all the time; we have our own choices.
We have the rights to decide whether we want to get married or not, same thing goes with having a kid. Those are choices, not obligations. If a woman decides not to get married and/or not to have a kid, then appreciate her choice. In the end, she’s the one who has the womb and she has the right on what to do with it. A woman is not a baby machine.
Another right that we also have is the right to be respected. It’s not that we want to be hailed or praised, we just want to be respected. Respect our opinion, respect our decision, respect our body, and respect ourselves. We wear mini skirt not because we ask to get raped but simply because we like it. We have our voices that should be heard. We have our plans ahead us and nothing should stop it. We matter too.
Through this speech, I want to tell other people especially the women that we have to stand up for ourselves. Stand up if your rights are taken away. Speak up if you need to state something. Don’t be afraid telling the police that you are abused. Make a change if you want a change, because everything has to begin from ourselves.
