January 6, 2026
My wife and I were each gifted a pair of socks for Christmas. It's a lovely gift. We both love funky socks. Even better, they are from a charitable organization. Amazing!
But there's an odd feeling: my wife received socks stating "Feminism is for everybody." I received a different pair. Why was the feminist message not for me, too?
Perhaps they thought feminist socks weren't appropriate for a man. After all, men aren't feminists, are they?
And honestly, the data supports the decision not to gift me the feminist socks. In Austria, only 10% of men identify as feminists. While that figure is really low, it's part of a broader pattern: in other countries, only 37% of men and 44% of women describe themselves as feminists.
So, why is this number so low? Why do so few identify as feminists?
"Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes."
— Wikipedia
At its core, feminism is about granting women equal opportunities to succeed as men. If that's true, why do 90% of Austrian men not identify as feminists? This suggests that most men are content with unequal opportunity.
That's shocking.
I'm not okay living in a world where my mother, sisters, wife, daughter, family members, friends, and coworkers who are women don't have equal opportunities.
How can anyone look at the gaps between women and men and be okay with that? Still today, we see so much inequality in work, pay, political representation, access to finances, property ownership, inheritance, financial safety, access to education, risk of violence, and so much more.
I'm not okay with that. I want a better world and strive for it both at home and at work. But we have so much work to do!
This is my promise to my mother, my sisters, my wife, and my daughter: I won't stop fighting for a world where you have the same opportunities as I do.
I push for a world where equality between the sexes is a reality.
I'm a feminist.
Because feminism is for everybody.