I am a feminist. I've thought about this a lot. I don't think you can say the sorority movement is all one or the other. On the whole, though, I think the sorority movement is more feminist than not. In this case, I'm defining feminism as a movement which seeks equal opportunity for women, control over their lives and bodies equal to the control that men have, and freedom to define themselves outside of gender stereotypes.
The roots of the sorority movement are clearly feminist. The founders were doing something unusual by pursuing advanced education and they banded together to support each other.
Modern sororities are involved in lots of feminist work. They develop female leaders. They develop female friendships and female professional networks. They engage in philanthropy work that helps women. (Girl Scouts, Breast Cancer prevention, camping for girls) along with lots of philanthropies that help families and children. They also demand good grades and push their members on excelling academically, which furthers their professional careers. Programming in my chapter also furthered health awareness and professional development for sisters.
|