Just 9% of women in the UK identify as feminist. (Picture: Deirdre Spain/metro.co.uk)

Feminism has always been a divisive concept.

During the suffragette movement, plenty of women turned their backs on their fighting comrades. In fact, there was even a Women’s National Anti-Suffrage League, set up by women who opposed women being granted a vote in British parliamentary elections.

And since then, plenty have moved away from the ‘burning bras’ feminist stereotype dished out during the ’70s.

But according to a recent report by the Fawcett Society, only 9% of British women actively describe themselves as a feminist.


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Why – when we’ve got it better than we’ve ever had it – are women turning their backs on a cause that’s fought so hard for their suffrage, freedom and opportunities?



We asked six 20-something women why they refuse to identify as feminists – and what today’s feminist movement should be doing to bring them back on board.

Mary, a music teacher from Boston Spa

‘I don’t really identify myself with a label – if anything, I’d rather call myself an ‘equalist’ – but that sounds ridiculously pretentious,’ says Mary.

‘Even though it’s all about gaining true equality between the sexes, I find the word feminism unhelpful as it can be misconstrued – that women should be ‘more equal’ than men, or in control.

‘I like men and probably have more male friends than female ones. Some feminists can come across as hating men and when I disagree with some of their points, I get shouted down for not being a true feminist.’

(Picture: Deirdre Spain/metro.co.uk)

She says that she’s been trolled online for talking about her decision to change her surname when she got married, which she says is indicative of today’s social media-driven feminism.

‘There’s so much shaming and hating in modern feminism. Until everyone can just be nice to each other, I won’t be identifying as a feminist.’

Anya, a technology sales manager from Bradford

Because Anya works in a largely male dominated industry where ‘few females make it to managerial levels’, she says she’s keen to tackle gender inequality.

Feminism for her, however, isn’t the way to do that.

‘What about all the misguided discrimination against men that is ignored everyday?’ she says.

‘I will always fight for women’s right s but I don’t in any way think women are better or deserve more. We should be working with men rather than against them.

‘Feminism was always a fight for equal rights but more often than not, I see it being used as an excuse to degrade the male race. Today’s extreme feminists have missed the point and given the whole thing a bad name.’

Iva, a musician from Brighton

Iva told us that she’s finding it ‘increasingly difficult’ to identify with feminism, as it’s a movement that ‘hypes itself up to represent something moralistic in a capitalist society’. Essentially, Iva believes feminism isn’t the pure drive for equality it used to be – it’s been commercialised.

‘I know I identify myself as a woman,’ says Iva. ‘I feel connected to what the divine feminine means to me, which is mostly to do with ancient nature.

‘I don’t feel good about the negative treatment of women all over the world, but I think feminism in our generation has surpassed its original idea by allowing itself to be vastly commercialised in ways which more often than not come off as inauthentic.



Iva explains that films like Ghostbusters, and the general pop culture industry, uses feminism as a ‘hashtag to make totally manufactured female artists seem cool and current’.

‘I feel quite distant from hashtag feminism in my generation,’ says Iva. ‘I think it is incredibly problematic, and the issue of female power, where it comes from, what it means, how it should be used remains largely neglected for me.

‘That isn’t necessarily the fault of feminists. Women all over the world have every right to be angry.

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‘It all goes back to who runs the world, and as long as the world is controlled almost entirely by the white male, any political equality we achieve will still be within the system of white power patriarchy, and therefore not be real political equality. We’re in the Matrix.’

Iva goes on to say that she has nothing against radical feminism – she just doesn’t feel like she fits in to the movement.

‘I am much more interested in finding ways in which matriarchy can be brought to the mainstream without having to tear down patriarchy completely.

‘It doesn’t help me in the passion of my personal and professional work at this point in my life to identify myself as a feminist.

(Picture: Deirdre Spain/metro.co.uk)

‘I’d more likely say a womanist. I believe in the power of the feminine, and not just what womanhood means in today’s world. It’s beyond gender.

‘It’s the ancient connection of women with the natural world. Man has raped the earth as much as he has raped woman. We need to talk about that.


‘There’s plenty of emotionally intelligent men who can talk about it, but the issue ought to be brought to the surface of our every day living, not to blame each other, but to understand each other and work together to start making things better.’

Ria, an overseas event coordinator from London

Ria says she can’t call herself a feminist because she doesn’t follow a prescribed perspective of feminism.

Although she believes in many feminist ideals, she doesn’t follow the current ‘hard feminism’ wave that we’re experiencing today.

‘It almost turns into men hating and I don’t hate men,’ she says.

‘I feel like women as a whole need to support certain feminist aims like stopping fat shaming and appearance judgement… and I feel like Lena Dunham and Emma Watson say lots of great things about feminism and gender equality, but I wonder if it’s always put across in the most helpful way.’

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Rebecca, from Kent

Rebecca is another woman who would rather call herself an ‘equalist’ than a ‘feminist’.

‘I am 100% for the advocacy of women’s rights and the equality of the sexes,’ she says.

‘I think the word ‘feminist’ has fallen victim to semantic satiation and is all too frequently linked with a variety of misconceptions.

‘Whether it be misandry, or the abandonment or hate for all things feminine, these preconceptions are detrimental to what SHOULD BE a universally sought goal.

‘Identifying myself as an ‘equalist’ isn’t to separate myself from feminism, but is my method of overly simplifying my beliefs to others.

(Picture: Archive Photos/Getty Images)

‘When introducing myself as an ‘equalist’, I haven’t been met with an aggressive or dismissive rebuttal and I have ended debates without being seen as the woman with a superiority complex or an axe to grind.


‘This was seldom the case when I called myself the ‘F-word.”

Rebecca doesn’t at all disagree with the mission of feminism to seek the social, political, and economic rights of women to be equal to men.

But, she explains, her ‘overruling belief’ is that we all ‘need to be more all-encompassing and less categorical when it comes to humans being treated equally.’

Hannah, an editor from Leeds

‘I consider myself a gender equalist,’ says Hannah. ‘I believe in gender equality as achievable through the questioning of patriarchal power structures that affect both relationships between genders and within genders.

As a gender theorist working in critical men’s studies, Hannah discusses issues of gender and feminism a lot – and that’s partly why she’d prefer to be called an equalist, not a feminist.

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‘I actually acknowledge and I’m so grateful for the work of feminism in raising issues surrounding women’s rights and actually shedding light on patriarchy,’ Hannah told us.

‘But I find issue with the conceptual confusion that is rife within feminism itself.

(Picture: Adam Berry/Getty Images)

‘I personally believe feminism to be ONE branch that could (and ideally, would) feed into an overarching gender equal framework.

‘For me, gay liberations, critical men’s studies, transgender studies and all other areas relating to gender studies and theory are also contributing branches to what could become an nuanced, inclusive gender equality theory. I don’t believe feminism is sufficient in and of itself.

‘In short, I don’t think [feminism] sufficient to be calling itself gender equality when it is, in my opinion, but one piece of the puzzle that could create gender equality.

‘For me to identify as wholly feminist would be a bit counter logical because it reinforces the idea that feminism has all the answers and I simply do not believe that it does.

‘It has history, it has made great developments, and it has done so so much to drive forward academics and create understandings of power and gender relations but It. Is. Not. Gender. Equality. In. Itself.’

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