Women’s equality is one of  America’s great achievements.

Yet 70% of American women today do not consider themselves “feminists.”  In an American Enterprise Institute video, author and equity feminist Christina Hoff Sommers explains why the term is now reviled.

The video  promotes Sommers’ new book, Freedom Feminism: Its Surprising History and Why It Matters Today. In her writing, Sommers inspires young women to recover the lost history of American feminism by introducing readers to social feminism’s forgotten heroines. She also offers an alternative to toxic “gender feminism”: A modern version of social feminism in which women are free to employ their equal status to pursue happiness in their own distinctive ways.

“The work of feminism is unfinished and too important to be left to the existing [strident] lobby,” notes Sommers. Instead, she believes in a feminist renaissance through “freedom feminism,” which she defines as the moral, social, and legal equality of the sexes — and the freedom for all to pursue happiness in their own distinctive ways.

Freedom feminism is a synthesis of two movements: an “egalitarian school,” which regards women as independent agents and aims to liberate them through universal rights, and a “maternal school,” which is family-centered and argues that educated, responsible women can be a force of good beyond the family through enlightened social policies and charitable work.

To revive freedom feminism, Sommers suggests that Americans:

•    Take back reason: correct more than 40 years of feminist advocacy research;
•    Be pro-women but not male-averse: acknowledge that the health, education, and welfare of males are pressing public issues;
•    Pursue happiness: allow women to follow the paths they want to pursue — and respect their decisions;
•    Support women as they are: respect them regardless of the different paths they choose;
•    Forget about political litmus tests: understand that freedom feminists can be libertarian, liberal, or conservative.

Sommers has written extensively about modern feminism, including Who Stole Feminism? (Touchstone Books, 1995), The War Against Boys (Touchstone Books, 2001), One Nation Under Therapy (St. Martin’s Press, 2005), and The Science on Women and Science (AEI Press, 2009). Her textbook, Vice and Virtue in Everyday Life, a bestseller in college ethics, is currently in its ninth edition.

That is this a refreshing perspective is confirmed in the comments section of the video:

Although I am more liberal, what this woman said makes sense. Contemporary feminism has a with us or against us mentality which doesn’t allow any sort of criticism against their movement. This woman seems to be advocating for a change in that. Furthermore, she seems to care about legitimate issues facing woman in other parts of the world. Hard to determine indefinitely from a two minute video, but it is a nice a change from the mad ravings of lunatics.