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When I was asked what the definition of feminism was, I shrugged. I probably sputtered out something about equality, but the word intimidated me. Before tackling this article, the only knowledge I had of feminism had been shaped by the media; I attributed it to burning bras, screaming matches and long leg hair. I also had adopted the idea that today’s feminism was encouraging the elevation of women above men. I was wrong.

Feminism, in its most basic terms, is defined as the advocacy for equality between men and women. Apart from that fact, feminism takes many different forms and creates an umbrella over every human being who holds this belief. Anyone who insists that men and women deserve equal rights can claim the title of feminist, regardless of their political party, race, religion, nationality, gender or sexual orientation.

The development of the Feminist movement can be summed up into three waves throughout American history. The first wave began in the early 1830s and didn’t end until the year 1920 when the 19th Amendment was added to the United States Constitution. The Women’s Suffrage Movement was primarily led by middle-class white women and focused on gaining women the right to vote. Notable feminists during this time were Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Candy Stanton and Lucy Stone.

The second wave is the one most people see and identify with the term feminism. After being forced out of the workplace after World War II and with the Civil Rights Movement and the Vietnam War causing civil unrest, women joined the front lines of the protests occurring across the United States. At this time, most women were expected to occupy the roles of mother and housewife. Women took a stand and fought toward securing a stronger role in American society. They advocated for constitutional equality, rights to control their bodies and equal workplace treatment. Groups like the National Organization for Women fought for the ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment, which ultimately failed. This second wave opened doors to equality to women in the United States. Notable feminists at this time were Betty Friedan and Simone de Beauvoir, Bell Hooks and Gloria Steinem.

The third wave began in the 1990s with the formation of the Third Wave Foundation. The point of this wave was to redefine ideas of womanhood, question stereotypical gender roles and address barriers presented by sexism, racism and classism. It was notably more inclusive of women of all ages and races than the first two movements and spread through media icons such as Madonna, Queen Latifa, Oprah Winfrey and Hillary Clinton.

Some argue that the third wave never ended, while others believe it led into a fourth wave that began around 2010 when the #MeToo movement picked up steam. The women on the frontlines of equality today are Beyoncé, Michelle Obama, Emma Watson, Malala Yousafzai, Ruth Bader Ginsberg and many others.

Although so much work has been done in regard to women’s rights and the fight for equality, there is still so much to do.

A significant issue that many people are not aware of is the gap in pay between men and women. According to the American Association of University Women, “Despite the Equal Pay Act, the gender pay gap persists; women are typically paid just 80 cents for every dollar paid to men — and that number has barely budged in a decade.”

Equal Pay Day for all women in the U.S. is April 2. This is the symbolic day when women’s earnings “catch up” to men’s earnings from the previous year. Even more shocking are the Equal Pay Days for minorities. Asian women are on March 5, white women on April 19, mothers on June 10, black women on August 22, Native American women on September 23 and Latinas on November 20.

Amy Getty, an English professor and director of the honors program at GV, has extensively studied women’s issues throughout history.

“That’s the main issue for me,” Getty said. “If women are equal in our society, then there shouldn’t be a pay gap. Some people say it’s because, ‘Well, they choose professions that don’t pay as much,’ but even right out of the gate, they’ve done studies for college women. They get out of college, same kind of job, same field, same business sometimes, and within a year they’re usually making 8% less than the men who have the same exact job.”

Getty has been personally trying to make an impact in the way her students view women and gender stereotypes through the materials they read. Growing up, she read predominantly male authors while in school. “Hatchet” by Gary Paulsen, for example, is a book that many children grow up reading in elementary school. Educators assume boys and girls can relate to it even though the character is male. Yet, if “Little Women” by Louisa May Alcott were to be incorporated into school curriculum, many might assume that boys wouldn’t be able to relate to the female characters.

“It’s really discounting men and their ability to empathize, just like women can empathize,” Getty said.

She also pointed out that if someone wanted to specifically study works by women, they’d have to enroll in a women’s studies or women’s literature course, whereas male perspectives can be found anywhere on most everything. Getty tries to remedy this gap by incorporating more female perspectives into her teaching.

Getty also stressed that the statistics are worse for women of color.

Missy Farni, a graduate of GV and marketing coordinator at Iowa Realty, highlighted the struggles her mother faced in society as a woman of color and how they relate to the fight for equality.

“I was a daughter of a single mother who worked a low-paying job and she got diminished a lot by a lot of people because her husband passed away,” Farni said. “So, everybody felt bad for her, but they didn’t want to help her and didn’t see why she couldn’t help herself.”

Farni’s mother was working at a job where she didn’t receive the same pay as her male counterpart and dealing with diminishing mental health while trying to raise a child. The judgments of society pressed on her.

“Where are the parents? Why aren’t you trying to find a man? Why aren’t you trying to have a two-parent nuclear household? Why can’t you find a higher paying job while dealing with diminishing mental health?” Farni said.

After coming to college and looking back at the challenges her mother faced, Farni decided to learn more about feminism and how to help women who are struggling to fight barriers in society. One of her goals now is to help and empower others in whatever ways she can.

The list of issues feminists are fighting against includes: equal healthcare, representation and rights. Feminism is such an incredibly broad term that is respectful of an individual’s beliefs and values, no matter where they stand. Some subsects of feminism include black, Christian, cultural, eco-feminism, French, liberal, radical, separatist and socialist.

“I really think that if you’re doing feminism right, you’re respecting women’s choices in all regards,” Farni said.

Equality between men and women is a belief that most people would agree with and hold, but many people don’t identify with the term feminist for fear of being stereotyped. On top of the commendable work feminists have done in the past, there are misconceptions that often come along with the term.

“Something that I hear a lot is that feminists hate men,” Farni said. “There are feminists that probably hate men, but I think the majority of women who are feminists do love men, and they want to showcase not only women’s strengths, but men’s strengths together and what they can do if they’re seen as equals.”

She noted that it’s a balance of figuring out how to uplift women without diminishing men and uplift men without diminishing women; both deserve to shine.

This misconception has been shaped by the development of radical feminism during the second wave in the ‘60s. Society has taken the image of a few feminists (particularly ones that burned bras and protested beauty pageants) and made them the face of the movement. Hence why people are skeptical of adopting the title; they believe that if they don’t fit this constructed image of a fiery, outspoken feminist, they cannot adopt the label.

Another common misconception is that men can’t be feminists. On the contrary, men joining the fight for gender equality is a huge part of accomplishing that goal. Engage GV is a club on campus that works hard to address these issues. According to their mission statement, Engage GV is a group of Grand View students, men and women, who are invested in promoting healthy masculinity, sexual responsibility and respectful relationships on and off campus. They adhere to the core values of sexual responsibility, humility, integrity and protection.

Blake Beaune, a sophomore and double-major in sports management and marketing at GV, has taken over a leadership role within Engage GV this past year.

“We just want to get ideas out there and spread a positive message about the awareness of sexual assault and toxic masculinity, and all these kinds of problems that we see with athletic culture and just, in general, college culture,” Beaune said. “We want to change these ideas and perceptions that people have.”

Recently Engage GV has been discussing the difficulty of finding the balance that comes with respecting women and making opportunities available to them but also making sure they’re held to the same standards as men.

“I think that what we’re trying to do at Engage GV is just spread a message of common human decency and respect for everybody,” Beaune said.

Meetings for Engage GV are meant to encourage meaningful conversation and positively impact the GV community.

Feminism is an incredibly broad and often messy topic on the surface. The best ways for someone to learn about feminism and figure out where they stand is to have an open mind and do their research.

“If you just see it as women’s empowerment and that’s it, dry and done, it just doesn’t give it justice,” Farni said. “You need to know all of the things that (feminism) runs on. I would say to do your homework, understand exactly what you believe in or what you don’t believe in, stand for those beliefs but also see where other people are coming from.”

With the sway media can have on people’s opinions, it’s important that they dig into reliable sources from trusted feminist organizations like the AAUW, LeanIn, Equality Now and the YWCA and find the facts.

If there’s one thing that I learned while delving into the topic of feminsim, it’s that if a foundation of respect and understanding is lacking, the social and political goals of feminists will not be achieved. I also was able to discern where my beliefs lie under the umbrella of feminism and how I can help my fellow women in the fight for equality.