Of course the original plans of feminism when it first began, in 1848, were never going to remain the same nor, I doubt, were they expected to. Women succeeded in gaining the vote and the surge in rights passed to women has been growing, though slowly, it is not a broken train but one chugging ever slower along a long, long track. It is the view of many that womens goals through feminism have been achieved, but like many things the road to complete success is a long and bumpy one.

At its core feminism consists of the fight for equal rights among men and women. In a world where this seems an impossibility in many aspects of our lives it is difficult to feel optimistic about this journey. Although major strides have been taken to better the working and social lives of women, deep rooted within us all, whether we like it or not, is a seed of misogyny, a seed spreading the virus that is the patriarchy. It has been taught since birth, from the second you blinked your eyes you were separated into a blue or pink swaddle, you were told how gorgeous you would be or how strong you would be, you were an obvious heartbreaker or a clear heart throbber. From the second you enter a classroom phrases are thrown around as if they mean nothing: ‘I need some strong boys to carry these books’, ‘boys will be boys’. We were separated in PE, boys heading off to the fields to learn football and play rugby, whilst the girls remained inside dancing or doing gymnastics.

Though of course I can understand that these notions may not directly mean to project the patriarchy, I'm afraid every time a sentence or action like this is repeated it creates a print, an everlasting tattoo on the impressionable minds of these kids, these teenagers, these people. It sets the idea at the absolute beginning that women are less than men, that even though it is not said openly we are to always think less of a woman. You may think I stretch the truth or that I paint a dark picture over a beautiful scene but in reality I face you with the truth. Just today I was helping out at a cubs group meeting, a hall full of boys aged 8-10 , where there is just one girl, and I discussed with a group of the boys about a doctor's appointment I had had recently with my female doctor. When I said ‘she’ I was immediately cut off by a sweet boy who innocently corrected me and stated that ‘ if they're a girl then that was a nurse, not a doctor’. He had no idea that what he had said was wrong but instead thought he was helping me, does this not prove how the innocent minds of the youth are being quickly seeded with patriarchy, with misogyny, with setbacks placed to women without their desire nor their knowledge. Our world is constantly changing and with that feminism too must evolve and develop with the times. But will it ever be possible to rip this embedded seed out from its roots? Perhaps. But rapid change is needed, and must begin before the seed can be embedded.