By Cheryl Mattox Berry
A big thank-you to President Barack Obama for his support of feminism in the August issue of Glamour magazine.
In an article, the president describes himself as a feminist and defines feminism in the 21st Century as “the idea that when everybody is equal we are all more free.” Obama says he’s aware of the challenges women face, and his views on feminism have been shaped by watching his mother, wife and two daughters.
Obama embracing what had become a dirty word should be transformational for this generation of women and men. Back in the 1970s, feminism was given a bad rap. Those who joined the women’s liberation movement were quickly branded lesbians and man-haters.
The negative image caused many women to reject the feminist label, though they strongly believed in issues on the movement’s agenda: reproductive rights, domestic violence, maternity leave, sexual harassment, sexual violence, women’s suffrage and equal pay for equal work.
I’ve been a feminist since I took a women’s literature class in college from a female professor whose husband was a stay-at-home dad, which was unheard of at the time. The ideas we discussed in class validated what I had felt all along about a woman’s role in society.
However, I was naive to think that these ideas would be welcomed in the workplace. It wasn’t easy in the late 1970s and 1980s speaking your mind when white men weren’t used to a woman – especially a black woman – standing up for herself.
If it wasn’t right, I was going to same something about it. If you treated me unfairly, you would get an earful. That was the only way I knew how to be. All the women in my life – mother, grandmother and great-grandmother – were outspoken.
I also took cues from my colleagues in the newsroom, most of whom were men. I knew their salaries and asked that mine be raised when i found out there was a difference.
My boldness earned respect, but sometimes I lost opportunities. When I worked my first job as a TV reporter, the news director offered me a job doing the morning news cut-ins without a salary bump.
He was aware that I wanted to stop working weekends, and I knew that I should have gotten extra money for being on the air. I turned down the job and continued working weekends to prove that I wouldn’t be taken advantage of. I soon got another job in a larger market.
I’ve passed on the lessons I’ve learned throughout my career to my daughter and nieces. In their personal and professional lives, I’ve told them that they deserve to be treated equally and with respect. Demand it!