Who is a feminist....and why?

I agree with Ansentgrana that women are equal, not, in all aspects, the same. This was illustrated when I was a raw materials purchasing officer for a large industrial concern. It had been a man's job for ever, but somehow I got the job and approached it all from a different angle, but did much better than the man who preceded me. One simple example: I never pretended knowledge I didn't have, and when a rep wanted to sell me some new plastic moulding compound at a very reasonable price, he started telling me the technical stuff. I stopped him, and sent for someone in R&D. They knew straight away that the stuff was probably suitable, but the previous purchasing officer would never have admitted he didn't understand the technical stuff, even though it was not part of his job. He would have made a purchasing decision 'blind' rather than admit no technical knowledge.

My husband is a feminist - always has been. He reckons life is much easier when everything - the good and the bad - is shared. He was brought up by his grandparents and his Gran ruled the roost, which probably helped. It was the same when I grew up - Mum ruled.

Jumping up and down with you sussexpoet. My ex-husband claimed to be a feminist - until feminism reared its head (or my head) in his own home!

I'm a feminist, have been since my 30s, like many others of our generation. The bra-burners only existed in the pages of the media, this widespread fiction blurred the picture of genuine political and social issues. Unfortunately, although we've come a long way, there is still a long way to go and our present government seems to be actively working against women. Women and children will suffer most from the cuts. The Tories say "we're all in this together," but the (mostly) men who run the country have never had to worry about paying a bill in their lives. They're just not on the same planet. Oh, somebody stop me before I start jumping up and down!
Right on, sisters.

Surely most of our generation of women are feminists – not the man-hating, bra-burning harpies of the media but women who have often been well educated, work hard whether well educated or not, and feel it is only right that they should be treated as men's equals. Sadly, how many times when you write a sentence like that do you have to say that men and women are equal, not, in all aspects, the same.

My husband used to claim to hate feminism but he hasn't said so again since, during a discussion with our daughter (age ten) about the subject in which all three of us took part, I said that in fact he's a feminist himself and his anti-feminist stand is just noise. My reasoning is that I wouldn't marry a man who didn't really believe in equality between the sexes where relevant. I've underlined that so that some Silly doesn't come back with the biological differences which are just thrown into discussions like this to distract from what's important. What DH actually hates is the same stuff I hate where women are deliberately obnoxious about men in general. When it comes down to respecting women's right he's right there with us, in particular recognising that if you want to improve conditions (eradicate poverty, for instance) in any society one of the best ways to go about starting the process is to educate women.