The Lost Men of True Women’s Equality
Men’s views on women’s rights have never been more immoderate. With far-right commentator Nick Fuentes calling to repeal women’s right to vote and leftist influencer Harry Sisson championing abortion rights for women through paid collaborations with Planned Parenthood, the strong history of men’s support for true women’s equality and the ability to engage in contemporary, moderate discourse is lost among extremes.
The Legacy of the Suffragents
Lesser known “suffragents” stood alongside Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Alice Paul on the front of the women’s suffrage movement. Championing the central goal of equal voting rights for women, the movement declared “all men and women are created equal” in Stanton’s Declaration of Sentiments, signed by many suffragents at the Seneca Falls Convention, including Frederick Douglass.
In what is now known as “first-wave” feminism, the women’s suffrage movement was successful in producing the 19th Amendment, securing the right to vote regardless of sex. Their goal of equality with men, though imperfect, was achieved.
From Equality to Ideology
It was the departure from equality that led the feminist movement astray. Though laudably seeking to correct the imperfect equality of women in the workplace, including U.S. women’s soccer star Megan Rapinoe’s fight for equal pay at the World Cup, their scope was expanded to include rights unequal to men.
Second and third-wave feminism later stemmed from the sexual revolution, focusing on intersectionality and equity. Women were told a right to “reproductive autonomy,” or abortion, would finally make them equal with men—a drastic departure from Alice Paul’s characterization of abortion as “the ultimate exploitation of women.”
This was just a symptom of the greater rejection of the heteronormative framework and the male-female binary in which sex-based rights like suffrage were founded. Instead of female equality, this new age of feminism sought to erase the labels of male and female altogether.
The Political Shift Among Men
Shifts from equality to intersectional equity have not gone unnoticed among men across the political spectrum. Men are increasingly being pushed to political extremes, drowning out the voices of contemporary suffragents and ushering in fringe, yet growing, animosity against even first-wave equality.
Some young men, faced with the growing Gen Z ideological gender gap, have embraced this divergent interpretation of feminism. In the face of a generational dating and marriage recession, where women are increasingly embracing abortion and gender ideology, men who espouse new-age feminism will be more politically aligned with potential partners.
However, this same polling suggests the majority of men are moving to the right.
The Rejection of Feminist Identity
While women continue to see a steady rise generation-over-generation in those identifying as “feminist,” Gen Z men are de-identifying with what is seen more often than not as a label tied to second and third-wave ideologies. Who can blame them?
While it is true that women are more likely to identify with the Democrat platform’s open support for codification of abortion under Roe v. Wade and decaying traditional gender roles, the far-right has the solution wrong. Many right-wing influencers have supported—or at least not shut down—the notion that the 19th Amendment should be repealed, that women should not own property, or should be relegated to the home.
A Call for True Equality
Men should not be so afraid of the vote that they seek to revoke truly equal rights for women. If men are going to shift the culture, they must bring women with them, not silence them. We must champion a suffragent attitude.
Empowering women looks like championing functional rights, like voting and workplace equality, while quelling claims that women must reject heteronormality or imitate men to achieve that equality.
Successful defense of true feminism, rooted in empowering women, depends on it.
Why Equality Still Matters Today
In the face of unplanned pregnancy, especially for single, domestically vulnerable, and low-income mothers, equality matters more than most. Economic instability is one of the most cited reasons for women seeking abortion. Simultaneously cutting off women from access to upward mobility is disempowering and only furthers the narrative that those seeking to end abortion do not care about the mother—or the child after birth.
Rejecting Extremes, Returning to First Principles
Both the far right and far left are calling men to follow them to the same end: ending female equality. One encourages joining the next wave, rejecting the uniqueness of womanhood, while the other wants to undo more than a century of genuine progress.
When in doubt, follow the first wave. In a world of extremes, be a suffragent.
Gavin Oxley is a media and policy strategist, currently serving as media relations
manager for Americans United for Life.
