When controversial issues arise, it is common for two major perspectives to emerge alongside it: one advocating and one condemning the matter at hand. However, the trend of doing so often ignores the opportunity to truly understand the validity of the issue. With regards to feminism, most either claim to be feminists or anti-feminists, but with a movement based upon equality rather than equity, should it even be the issue given the most emphasis?

When talking about equality, I am referring to an equality of standards, not of rights. There are certain problems feminism attempts to address that should not be open to disagreement. I truly believe that being against the effort of eliminating the pay-gap disparity — an earned right — speaks more about one’s personal morals than anything else. There should be a congruence between both genders when addressing basic rights, such as payment or anything that can be used to define the value of either gender and their work. However, an equality of standard I believe to be unjust. Rather than celebrating the differences and addressing the challenges of each gender, feminism blurs the lines trying to level two things that are not inherently equal. They may be of equal total worth, but they certainly are not equal in every aspect.

For instance, in Michigan, new mothers can apply for maternity leave, which gives them six week off work for a natural delivery. Paternity leave varies depending on the employer, but most fathers who apply choose to take one to two weeks off. If these laws were based on feminism, both mothers and fathers would be given the same time off. It would be an average of the two, giving each parent around three weeks off. However, it is obviously more rational to give women, who spend nine months facing nausea, fatigue and migraines, only to endure labor repercussions that can last up to six weeks, more time off than men. In a perfect world, the time off would be much longer; distributing it based on the health and needs of both genders provides for the most long-term success.

Equity provides a fairness of treatment according to each gender’s specific needs, while equality attempts to force it all under one category. I certainly do not shun feminism, however there is definitely a need for people to understand the distinction between equity and equality before choosing to give their opinions so decisively on the matter.