I want to raise my boys to be feminists or should I re-name that equalists? And really, I mean "we" want to raise them as such, and not just "I" who wants to do this, as husband and I are on the same page with this one.
I suggest a possible re-name as for some reason, the word feminism has come to have negative associations. It's perceived to be something that it never set out to be. It's a dirty word which people don't want to admit to being. Well stuff that...
"I am a feminist!"
"And so am I" shouts the husband.
Let me set the record straight; not all feminists hate men! Not all feminists believe that a woman should get a job over a man just to satisfy some 50/50 quota. Not all feminists will bark at a man for holding a door open for her, or for offering to pay for a meal on a date. Being a feminist doesn't mean these things. For me, feminism means equality and respect. And do you know what, men are entitled to these things too.
I am a feminist and I don't hate men, in fact I bloody love them. I think that on the whole they're a very useful and necessary species, just as a woman is.
And generally, I don't believe that a woman should be given a job over a man just to satisfy some quota. Personally, I would be insulted if I discovered I'd been given a role because I'm woman and not because I was the best candidate. A woman should only be given a job over a man if she's more suited to that role than the other candidates. Although, I do think there are some professions which would benefit from more women, politics for instance where there seems to be an unnecessary imbalance. But do you know what, there are also professions which could benefit from more men, e.g. primary school teaching and nursing.
Sadly, even here in the UK, there still isn't equality everywhere and on the whole, it's women more than men who face inequality. There are still instances of women being paid less for the same roles as men. Some employers still think that a mother will not work as hard as man because she'll be thinking about her children. A Father thinks about his children too for goodness sake! Disgustingly, there's still widespread perception that a women who is scantily dressed deserves to be treated with disrespect.
We will teach our boys to respect women. We will teach our boys to strive to be whatever they want to be - whether that be a builder, a nurse, a dancer or a fireman. We will teach our boys that a woman's place is the same as where a man's place is - that it can be in the home, or at work, or a mixture of both. We will teach our boys that being a stay at home father is just as worthy as going out to work. We will teach our boys that when a woman says no, she means it, end of... there is no grey area in that regard.
We will teach our boys that love, kindness and equality trump power, desire and ambition.
We will teach our boys to never accept anything less than equality.
Amanda blogs at Our Wild Things and can be followed on Twitter: @ourwildthings