A New Trend of Feminism

So, Hillary finally had to quit the race. Even I myself have not been really following this whole big issue of US election since the very beginning, yet I have been curious on how Mrs. Hilldog would do. And eventually my curiosity is now answered.

I had projected though, that eventhough she did well as a female candidate eventually Barack will be the one who rises to shine. He had won over major number of voters by showcasing the projections of which direction he will lead the country in near future. And which direction would most people desire? Obviously, anywhere that would lead them to a new era and offer the thrilling excitement of change.

These days, people are very into anything "modern" and out of the box. Anything that are beyond traditional form and ground-breaking are believed as better than old, same stuff. It is also reflected in business and commercial world, where any kind of industries are expected by their customers to continuously develop newer, more innovated products. The same expectation could also be applied in the political world. A politician's ability to transcend traditional politics speaks more than their promises in their election speech. This is what Obama has that Hilldog does not - a political mission that is far beyond traditional form. A far vision for the future.

Anyways, moving closer towards the theme of my post. I just read an interesting article in Times online, which takes the insight on Hillary's result on the ground of feminism. We could cleary see that the issue of sexism had played major role for Hillary's image. All around there had been much talk about the rise of feminine figure. Having Hillary elected as a president means that skepticism towards female role in any sectors is no longer existed. Therefore, Hillary had won over fairly high number of women votes. Yet, why did she fail to conquer the rest of her "kind"?

All the Clinton team had overlooked was the fact that feminism has been going through an evolution. It is not the time anymore to question whether female could exceed their own expectations, in other word being pessimistic towards women is no longer a valid argument. Of course many women support feminism value, but that does not mean that they still keep the persistent belief that female still face many obstacles in their attempt to showcase their existences in the world.

From what I could outline in the article, is the fact that Clinton's run has shown that merely "feminists" do not exist anymore, but instead it had been transformed into a bipolar concept called "optimist feminists" and "pessimist feminists".

Pessimist feminists are those who still live the 70's world where restrictions for women in workplace was still high, and where it was clear to see a huge difference between women and men in workplace. They are those who urges for Clinton's presidency in the ground of questioning "if not her, then who?" or "if not now, then when?" and believe that the opportunity of having a female president only happens once in an era.

Eventhough pessimist feminists still do exist, the rise of optimist feminists is becoming bigger trend than ever. Optimist feminists are those who lives in nowadays world, where women and men have equally the same opportunities in career. Those who no longer feel the need to prove that they belong in the work competition, because they surely know that women all around the world have proved that they DO belong in any competitions in any sectors. And moreover, those who don't want to rally behind a female candidate simply because she is a woman. Those who no longer question women's optimism and motivation to compete, because it was long proved that the optimism and motivation are already there. Rather, they focus more on building power ability and capability as the next important factor after motivation, since of course, motivation itself is never enough.

The next intriguing question tangling in my head is how far the concept of this "new trend of feminism" exists in the world of Muslim women, especially those who wears hijab and thus carrying clear symbols that they practice Islam.

I'll get more to this in my next post :)