Modern Feminism In Australia

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Modern Feminism is a term that bears the burden of the negative stigmas instilled by extremist feminists in contemporary society. As with any group, many tend to focus their arguments based on the actions of radical members of particular organisations rather than the core intentions of the whole group, a prime example being the 'Islamaphobia' present today as a result of a minority group of fear mongers. Feminism has lost its power and its integrity in contemporary Australia but author Andrea Mayes believes that we should fight for it back; fight the connotations of misandry and 'privilege over men' associated with the ‘f-word’ and relight the flame of equality that our grandmothers fought so desperately to achieve. She constructs this article…show more content…
To begin with, the text is structured around a visual image. This visual image compresses the ideas of the main article and provokes a sense of unimportance as a female in a male world. It constructs such an idea through the composition of multiple images on top of one other; the Facebook logo symbolizing the portrayal of women in the media positioned beside a silhouette of a faceless and timid woman all of which are placed in front of a background of Australian money, the face of a man dominates the background symbolic of a male-dominated society. The lack of identity from the female but not from the male conveys an idea of irrelevance as a woman as highlighted by Mayes when she writes about how sexual abuse scandals by football ‘stars’ “are more focused on the career implications for the abusers than the anonymous women.” Furthermore, the structure of the paragraphs are used to emotionally rock the reader; positive then negative then positive then negative only to end on a positive note. Amidst the negative statistics showing the inequality of women in Australia there is a message of hope, particularly in the way the Mayes ends the article on a positive note rather than a negative one. She writes, with one single sentence to provide impact, “The fight is not over.” By ending the article positively and so abruptly it encourages the…show more content…
She includes important statistics to persuade her Australian audience to believe that they do not live in a world of equality even though it is commonly thought to be otherwise. She uses statistical evidence based on the ‘pay gap’ between men and women in Australia, “The gender pay gap in Australia is 18 per cent”, “in WA the gap is the highest in the nation, with women earning just 76c for every dollar a man earns.” Money rules the lives of every individual, we live to make a living and in doing so, we forget how to live. Mayes is well aware of society’s obsession with money hence her inclusion of statistics that will cause a female to feel disadvantaged. She then adds that “women later in life…. are more likely than men to be living in poverty.” Considering that money is such an important aspect of everybody’s lives, some value it higher than life itself, the factual evidence therefore provokes a sense of anger from females, and perhaps even feminist males. This anger generates passion, once again promoting a newfound need for a feminist movement and causing the reader to respond in favour of Mayes’ claims. “The fight is not over.” That single sentence rings in the ears of every reader moved by the empowering words of Andrea Mayes. Every element, the structure, rhetorical questioning,

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