I’m sure many people know about feminism. But what they don’t know is what it means to each different individual.

My parents are immigrants, who came here about twenty years ago from South Korea. They had to deal with certain inequalities throughout their time here, and at a young age, I was forced to watch them struggle. These experiences, along with my strong bond with my parents, forced me to see the harsh realities of inequality. I grew up as an advocate of equality.

I stand for equality in every form. I believe that love should be equal, no matter what gender it is between. I believe that all races should be equal, and most of all, I believe that both men and women should be viewed equally.

I am a feminist because I agree with the idea that females should be viewed on a level podium with men, not only politically, but also in everyday life. Why is it that because we have different body parts and more hair on our heads, we should be viewed as lesser than men? This does not make sense to me.

Even at a younger age, I was afraid to speak out during group activities because I would be called “bossy” and “annoying”. However, I noticed that if any other boy gave suggestions, even in the harshest and stupidest way possible, he would be seen as a “leader”. Even now, as a highschooler, people haven’t been able to wake up and see that all girls have the capability of being as strong and outspoken as boys.

For example, I am not the best at gym. We’ve been playing volleyball for the past few weeks, and I improved a lot from the beginning. One period, I accidentally hit the ball out of bounds, and a boy on my team immediately turned to reprimand me. This boy wasn’t the best at the sport either, but he felt as if he had the right to scold me, a girl, for messing up. I immediately shut him down by recognizing my mistake and saying that he had no right to scold me for this. No less than ten minutes later, my other female friend on my team hit the ball into the net, and this boy had the audacity to turn around and start to scold again. My friend refused to speak up against him, being a fairly quiet girl, and so I told him that he needed to stop criticizing girls when he had many things to fix about himself. This made me see that if women and girls alike stand up to condemning phrases and looks that people give us, those people will slowly learn to not immediately reproach us. Feminism is not about individual rights, it is about the rights of an entire gender.

I am so thankful to be growing up in a time where females have rights to vote and get the same jobs as men. But like many other things, there are still things we can improve. So many women are raised to stay quiet when a man scolds them, and let things happen. This makes them vulnerable and unable to stand up for themselves in any situation. We must work on raising the next generation to be an empowered one, who stands up for themselves and others instead of letting people trample all over them. In the end, feminism is not about the female gender being better than the male gender. It is about equality.