Featured UCLA Feminist: Dominique Hall-Carr
“I consider myself a feminist because I believe in equal rights for everyone and I think that everyone deserves equal opportunity to be a citizen.”
Dominique Hall-Carr is a feminist.
Her feminist ideals began to form when she saw she was being treated differently:
“When I started working, I saw the differences of how my male co-workers were treated versus how I was treated. Whatever they said was taken more seriously. I started to see how being a woman and especially a woman of color created a lot of barriers to be heard.”
Dominique’s experience of being treated differently in the workforce is not an uncommon one for women.
According to Essence, “Men get the benefit of the doubt. Men generally get hired on their promise and women on their demonstrated experience. Men are usually taken at their word, while women get challenged more, required to deliver data and substantiation for their views. As a woman, you won’t get sufficient feedback. Professional development depends upon rigorous, comprehensive, ongoing feedback on your performance. How else will you grow and improve? According to the research, your male boss may not feel comfortable delivering that information to you, so you’ll need to be direct in asking for it from him and from other colleagues.”
Needless to say, your gender should not determine how much money you make, how much your opinion is valued, or how successful you are in or outside of your job.
Dominique continues to describes how her thoughts on feminism differ from how society views feminists:
“When I think of feminism, I think of people who are fighting for equal rights. And that’s for men and women. There’s a perception its just for females, and its not. “
As Dominique stated, feminism is not just for women, it’s for everyone. Gender equality allows each of us to break free from our constructed gender roles to be the truest versions of ourselves without judgment or scrutiny from others.
