Introduction
With women now holding the highest offices of political power, leading multinational corporations, and outperforming men in higher education across much of the developed world, it may appear that the goals of feminism have been largely achieved. Legal equality has been enshrined in the constitutions and statutes of most nations, and overt discrimination against women is widely condemned. This essay argues that feminism, understood as an organised movement campaigning against systemic gender-based oppression, is no longer relevant in the modern world because the structural barriers it was designed to dismantle have been substantially removed.
Women have achieved legal equality in most developed nations, rendering the core demands of feminism obsolete
Explain
The feminist movement historically campaigned for women's suffrage, property rights, access to education, and legal protection against workplace discrimination. In most developed countries, these demands have been met through comprehensive legislation, meaning that the structural legal barriers feminism was created to dismantle no longer exist. In this context, the continued existence of a movement premised on systemic legal oppression lacks a coherent foundation.
Example
In Singapore, the Women's Charter enacted in 1961 provides comprehensive legal protections for women in marriage, divorce, and property ownership, while the Employment Act prohibits workplace discrimination on the basis of gender. The Constitution of Singapore guarantees equality before the law regardless of sex. Globally, women now constitute the majority of university graduates in the OECD countries, and in 2023, the World Economic Forum reported that 146 countries had closed at least 68% of their overall gender gap, reflecting decades of legislative and institutional progress.
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The achievement of legal equality across most of the developed world demonstrates that the foundational goals of feminism have been substantially met, supporting the view that the movement is no longer relevant in its traditional form.
Modern feminism has shifted towards issues that alienate mainstream support and undermine its own credibility
Explain
As the major legal battles have been won, modern feminism has increasingly focused on contested cultural issues such as microaggressions, gendered language, and intersectional identity politics. These concerns are often perceived as trivial or divisive by the broader public, eroding support for the movement and suggesting that feminism has exhausted its substantive agenda and is now searching for relevance.
Example
The backlash against the #MeToo movement, which began in 2017 as a campaign against sexual harassment, illustrates how modern feminism's expanding scope has generated controversy. Critics, including prominent women such as French actress Catherine Deneuve, argued that the movement had gone too far by conflating serious sexual assault with minor social awkwardness, undermining due process and demonising ordinary male behaviour. Surveys by the Pew Research Center in 2020 found that while most Americans supported gender equality in principle, only 61% of women and 34% of men identified as feminists, suggesting widespread discomfort with the movement's current direction.
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The declining public identification with feminism, even among women, suggests that the movement has moved beyond its core relevance and now risks alienating the very people it claims to represent, lending weight to the view that it is no longer the most effective vehicle for advancing gender equality.
Men face significant gender-based disadvantages that feminism fails to address, revealing its limitations as a framework for equality
Explain
A truly relevant equality movement would address disadvantages faced by all genders, yet feminism by definition centres women's experiences and struggles. In the modern world, men face serious gender-specific issues including higher suicide rates, harsher criminal sentencing, and compulsory military service, which feminism has largely ignored or dismissed. This selective focus undermines the claim that feminism is the appropriate vehicle for achieving gender equality today.
Example
In Singapore, all male citizens are required to serve two years of compulsory National Service, a significant gender-based obligation with no equivalent for women, yet mainstream feminist organisations like AWARE have been criticised for not campaigning meaningfully for the extension of NS to women or the abolition of the gendered requirement. Globally, men account for approximately 75% of all suicides according to the World Health Organisation, and in the United Kingdom, suicide is the leading cause of death for men under 45. In the United States, men receive on average 63% longer prison sentences than women for the same crimes, according to a 2012 University of Michigan study.
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The existence of significant gender-based disadvantages faced by men, which feminism has largely failed to address, suggests that the movement is no longer the most relevant or comprehensive framework for pursuing gender equality in the modern world.
Counter-Argument
Opponents of the view that feminism is irrelevant argue that the gender pay gap persists globally, with the World Economic Forum estimating it would take 131 years to close at current rates, and that gender-based violence remains endemic, with one in three women worldwide having experienced physical or sexual violence. Women hold only 26.5% of parliamentary seats globally and just 8.8% of Fortune 500 CEO positions.
Rebuttal
However, these statistics, while concerning, do not necessarily demonstrate the continued relevance of feminism as a movement. Much of the remaining gender pay gap reflects individual choices about occupation, working hours, and career interruptions rather than systemic discrimination, and existing legal frameworks like Singapore's Employment Act already prohibit workplace discrimination. The decline in public identification with feminism, with only 61% of American women and 34% of men identifying as feminists according to Pew Research in 2020, suggests that the movement's expanding focus on contested cultural issues has undermined its credibility, and that remaining inequalities may be more effectively addressed through existing legal mechanisms and broader human rights advocacy.
Conclusion
On balance, the remarkable legal and social gains women have achieved in recent decades suggest that the most urgent battles of feminism have been won, and the movement risks diminishing returns by overstating the extent of remaining inequality. While isolated instances of gender-based injustice persist, these are better addressed through existing legal frameworks and broader human rights advocacy than through a movement whose foundational premises are increasingly out of step with modern realities.
Introduction
Despite the significant progress women have made in education, employment, and political representation over the past century, the claim that feminism is no longer relevant fundamentally mischaracterises the nature and persistence of gender inequality. Women around the world continue to face a gender pay gap, underrepresentation in leadership, disproportionate exposure to gender-based violence, and deeply entrenched cultural expectations that constrain their choices. This essay contends that feminism remains critically relevant because the structural, cultural, and economic inequalities it seeks to address are far from resolved.
The persistent gender pay gap demonstrates that economic equality between men and women has not been achieved
Explain
Despite decades of equal pay legislation, women continue to earn significantly less than men in virtually every country in the world. This pay gap reflects not only direct discrimination but also structural factors such as occupational segregation, the motherhood penalty, and the undervaluation of female-dominated industries, all of which require sustained feminist advocacy to address.
Example
In Singapore, the adjusted gender pay gap stands at approximately 6%, according to a 2020 study by the Ministry of Manpower, meaning that women earn less than men even after accounting for differences in occupation, industry, and hours worked. The unadjusted gap is wider at around 16%. Globally, the World Economic Forum's 2023 Global Gender Gap Report estimated that at the current rate of progress, it would take 131 years to close the global economic gender gap. In South Korea, the gender pay gap remains one of the highest in the OECD at over 31%, with women disproportionately concentrated in low-paying, precarious work.
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The stubborn persistence of the gender pay gap across both developed and developing nations demonstrates that feminism's core concern with women's economic equality remains deeply relevant, as market forces and existing legislation alone have proven insufficient to close the gap.
Gender-based violence remains a pervasive global crisis that demands continued feminist advocacy
Explain
Violence against women, including domestic abuse, sexual assault, and femicide, remains endemic across the world, cutting across lines of class, culture, and national development. Legal reforms alone have proven inadequate to address this crisis, as deeply rooted patriarchal attitudes and power structures continue to enable and normalise violence against women. Feminism is essential for challenging these attitudes and demanding systemic change.
Example
According to the United Nations, one in three women worldwide has experienced physical or sexual violence in her lifetime. In Singapore, the number of family violence cases reported to the police has risen steadily, with over 5,000 personal protection order applications filed in 2021. The high-profile case of a National University of Singapore student who was sentenced to just a short detention order after filming a woman in the shower in 2019 sparked national outrage and prompted feminist-led campaigns for harsher penalties for sexual offences, ultimately contributing to amendments to the Penal Code. In the United Kingdom, the murder of Sarah Everard by a serving police officer in 2021 exposed systemic failures in protecting women and reignited feminist demands for structural reform.
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The sheer scale and persistence of gender-based violence worldwide demonstrates that feminism remains urgently relevant, as the movement is indispensable in challenging the cultural norms and institutional failures that perpetuate violence against women.
Women remain severely underrepresented in positions of political and corporate leadership
Explain
Despite constituting roughly half the global population, women hold a disproportionately small share of leadership positions in government, business, and public institutions. This underrepresentation is not merely a statistical anomaly but reflects persistent structural barriers including gender bias in hiring and promotion, inadequate parental leave policies, and the disproportionate burden of unpaid domestic labour borne by women. Feminist advocacy is essential to identifying and dismantling these barriers.
Example
As of 2023, women held only 26.5% of seats in national parliaments worldwide according to the Inter-Parliamentary Union. In Singapore, women make up only around 29% of Members of Parliament, and the country has never had a female Prime Minister, although Halimah Yacob served as President from 2017 to 2023. In the corporate sphere, women hold just 8.8% of CEO positions among Fortune 500 companies globally. Singapore's Council for Board Diversity reported that women held approximately 21% of board seats on SGX-listed companies in 2023, an improvement from 7.5% in 2013 but still far from parity.
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The persistent and significant underrepresentation of women in leadership across politics and business demonstrates that formal legal equality has not translated into substantive equality of opportunity and outcome, confirming that feminism remains a relevant and necessary force for change.
Counter-Argument
Those who argue feminism is no longer relevant point to the achievement of legal equality in most developed nations, including Singapore's Women's Charter and constitutional protections, and note that women now constitute the majority of university graduates across OECD countries. They contend that modern feminism's shift towards contested cultural issues like microaggressions and gendered language has alienated mainstream support and undermined the movement's credibility.
Rebuttal
Yet formal legal equality has manifestly failed to produce substantive equality in practice. Singapore's adjusted gender pay gap of approximately 6% persists despite decades of anti-discrimination legislation, and the number of family violence cases continues to rise, with over 5,000 personal protection order applications filed in 2021. The underrepresentation of women in leadership, with only 29% of Singapore's Members of Parliament being female and just 21% of SGX board seats held by women, confirms that structural and cultural barriers remain deeply entrenched. These persistent inequalities demonstrate that legal reform alone is insufficient and that sustained feminist advocacy is necessary to challenge the institutional biases and cultural norms that perpetuate gender inequality.
Conclusion
Ultimately, the claim that feminism is no longer relevant reflects a superficial reading of gender equality that confuses formal legal progress with substantive lived reality. As long as women continue to earn less, face higher rates of violence, shoulder disproportionate caregiving burdens, and remain underrepresented in positions of power, feminism remains not only relevant but essential. The movement must evolve, but its core mission of achieving genuine equality between the sexes is far from complete.