Chris Jepson: Why I am a feminist

I’ve long thought about quality-of-life issues. If one considered the state of the world today, disgust and dismay might become overwhelming. I confess to disillusionment at times. If you are a thinking, reflective individual, where do you invest your time, energy and capital with any hope of meaningfully influencing the course of human events?

The list of problems confronting humanity is staggering. From oligarchic despotism to environmental collapse to overpopulation to the erosion of our democracy, well, such a list is sadly long.

I’ve worked and volunteered for organizations such as Habitat for Humanity and Planned Parenthood. I’ve advocated for legal services for the poor and of the unequivocal importance of art in our lives. I believe that one individual can change the course of events and that many, willingly harnessed together, can achieve absolute good. Volunteerism in America is unquestionably one of our nation’s great strengths.

If I were to identify one cause that would make America and the world a better place it would be to make life better for women. The healthier a society is for women, the better it is for us all.

“Every time we liberate a woman, we liberate a man.” – Margaret Mead

A watershed event in my life was the birth of my daughter in 1970. I did not have another child for a decade. It is no exaggeration to say that my daughter and I, that we grew up together. I learned as much from her as did she from me, perhaps more. The question any man has when having a daughter is expectations. I wanted her tough, smart and resilient. No whiners need apply. I knew that life for women is no bouquet of roses. That Cinderella, well, isn’t that sort of nonsense appropriately described as a fairy tale?

Daughters change the way men think. Unequivocally so. I clipped an article out of the New York Times a year or so ago on factors swaying a judge’s decision for women’s rights. It featured Supreme Court Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist who in a 2003 opinion suddenly turned into a feminist denouncing “stereotypes about women’s domestic roles.” Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg attributed Rehnquist’s “life experience” as a factor. His daughter, a recently divorced mother, had a challenging job. Two researchers, Maya Sen (University of Rochester) and Adam Glynn (Harvard) confirmed that “having daughters can actually fundamentally change how people view the world,” and, “this, in turn, affects how they [judges] decide cases,” said Ms. Sen.

“When women thrive, all of society benefits, and succeeding generations are given a better start in life” – Kofi Annan.

In a Feb. 3, 2015 New York Times op-ed, Pamela Shifman and Salamishah Tillet wrote that men “who are eventually arrested for violent acts often began with attacks against their girlfriends and wives.” They observed that, “men who commit violence rehearse and perfect it against their families first.”

The way to reduce violence against women according to Shifman and Tillet is, “the mobilization of strong, independent feminist movements . . . Strong and thriving feminist movements help to shape public and government agendas and to create the political will to address violence against women.”

It has been observed that, “Reciprocity is the lubricant of life.” The British suffragette Emmeline Pankhurst wisely advocated that. “We have to free half of the human race, the women, so that they can help to free the other half.”

Feminism is about all of humanity — by making life better for women.