Feminism is not an identity, and it's time to stop forcing people to claim it — and to stop telling others they don't deserve it.

Anna Leventhal, a Montreal writer, says recent conversations about who can and cannot be a feminist are irrelevant. Those conversations include the debate over whether Jian Ghomeshi's lawyer, Marie Henein, could call herself a feminist, and assertions in the United States by figures like Madeleine Albright that in order to be a legitimate feminist, you must vote for a woman.

"Feminism is not a set of principles," says Leventhal. "It's not a collection of behaviours that you can aspire to in order to collect woman-power points. While it may be a strong and empowering aspect of many people's identity, it's not an identity in and of itself. It's certainly not a way of voting, any more than it's a way of looking. It's a tool."

Leventhal says the fact that anyone can declare themselves a feminist is the exact reason why it cannot be simply an identity. She says the important thing is for women, and men, to use the tool of feminism to make change.

Click on the button to hear Anna's radio essay.