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<title> Spice Up Your Vocabulary: Why Feminism Is Still An Important Word </title>
When The Spice Girls entered the public eye in 1997, they seemed to consider themselves as a new kind of definition of feminism, with their Girl Power slogans, high-kicks and pushy attitude. But despite the Spice Girls' increasing popularity, it seemed like their slogans didn't quite work. In the debate around the book "Fittstim" in 1999, it became clear that feminism was something that a surprising number of young people didn't want to be associated with. My aim with this essay is to explain why the term feminism still is so important, and why we should hold on to it. 

I have realised that feminism doesn't mean the same thing to everyone, and in order to avoid confusion, I'm going to give my own definition of the word: To me feminism has always meant equality, and nothing else. Equality and justice, and not "Girl Power" or matriarchy or any other form of female domination. In other words, basic humanitarian values that most people can relate to. But in that case, why not simply call it humanism? If equality and justice are the key-words, then why use a term that excludes half of the population, ie. men? 

The most obvious reason for this is that no other group in the world, be it blacks, homosexuals or different religious groups, have suffered from so much oppression and violence as women have. Fifty percent of the world population are women, and in almost all societies and cultures, since the beginning of time, women are or have been seen as weaker, less important and inferior to men. It is vital that we actually see things in this light, with the focus on women, to actually be able to change this reality. When it comes down to equality, it has always been a case of women wanting the same rights as men, and then by nature it becomes a women's movement, even though it concerenes men just as much. However, this doesn't mean that feminism is an excluding term. It is in everybody's interest that we get rid of the patriarchy, which is almost as opressing for men as it is for women, with its fixed roles of masculinity and strength. 

It can be argued that opression and unequality might exist, but not in the Western society of today, where the feminist movement in the 1960s made sure that women and men were given equal rights. But this is not entirely true, for many reasons. First of all, even if we were equal in Western society, that doesn't mean we should forget about the less fortunate women who are still living in opression in traditionally patriarchal societies. It is our responsibility to show that we care.

 But we also have to ask ourselves what we have actually achieved in our society in the terms of equality? Looking at statistics over domestic violence and rape, you start to realise that we've got a long way to go before we can talk about true equality, even in our society. Women still earn less than men in the same positions, and a glass-ceiling prevents women from getting top jobs in companies. The covered-up discriminiation is present in every level of society, and even though it might not be as obvious as in other cultures, we still live in a patriarchy. Now, more than ever, it is neccessary for feminism to become a part of society, and a part of peoples vocabulary. 

And even though the goals of the early feminist movement haven't yet been achieved by far, we have to be able to see what actually has happened, and to acknowledge the struggle that has lead us to where we are now. By bringing feminism into our speech and into our daily lives, we also pay tribute to the women and men who paved the way for our generations. We have to remember why the suffragettes chained themselves to the Houses of Parliament in the early 20th century; that less than one hundred years ago, the right to vote was reserved for men only.

Feminism is not a dead movement, and we mustn't let it die. There's still lots of work to be done, all over the world, and a way to start would be making feminism an accepted term. To convince people that it has nothing to do with the Spice Girls and Girl Power, or turning the world into a matricarcal dictatorship. Feminism means giving people the same opportunities and equal rights, and until these goals have been achieved, we can't afford to get rid of the word, let alone the movement.
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