Can you be for gender equality but not a feminist?

Reproductive rights? What reproductive rights don't men have? Women have far less reproductive rights than men. Especially in the US. What child 'custody' right don't men have? (It isn't called custody any more. Children aren't possessions).

No idea about federal and state programs (whatever they are).

Feel free to fight for banning circumcision. Won't get any argument here. But it isn't the same as FGM.

For child custody: in most (51%) of cases, both parents decided on their own (out of court) that the mother was to receive full custody
in 29% of custody cases, the decision was made without any third party involvement
in 91% of cases, the decision for the mother to have custody was made without court involvement
of those who go to court, 70% of men who seek custody of their child receive it
of those 70%, 1/3 of the cases cited domestic abuse as part of the reason for divorce
women who mention having been victims of domestic abuse in court are less likely to receive custody of their children than women who didn’t

OP, just considering a few of your points...

Child custody: I think there has been quite a lot of progress towards equality on this aspect of separation, but agree there is some way to go, however, surely any inequalities were a hangover from the expectation of women to be domestic servants in the first place? And if there is still that expectation (which I think there is) then it would follow that child custody goes in their favour?

Reproductive rights (To choose parenthood) - I don't think women have equality here at all. Many women are denied access to contraception and have absolutely no choice in pregnancy/parenthood, which is a far greater biological and sometimes social burden to them.
Genital mutilation protection: Are you saying women are protected against this?
woman can access federal and state programs: not sure what you mean?
and vote in elections without agreeing to die: ?
More leniency in courts, especially when it comes to sexual assault: Do you mean as perpetrators? Assuming it gets to court are women as victims of sexual assault more or less likely than men to see their assailant convicted?

I was pretty horrified recently to see some comments from fb "friends" - male and female - on an article about women's retirement age/pensions being postponed until they are 65, but only having been given warning of this around 2 years ago (i.e. very close to when they thought they would retire).

It was all this vitriol about wanting equality when it suits "us" and that its our own fault for "banging on about equality" but not liking it when we finally get it. And then claiming to support equal rights.

The thing is, the article was simply critical about the fact that a decision had been made in 1995 yet women were not informed of these changes until sometimes just months before they'd expected to retire. Women who had worked most of their lives being paid less than, having fewer opportunities than and far more domestic responsibilities than their male counterparts.

I'm not sure how the inequalities in retirement age could have been addressed fairly but it did feel like a double blow to these women who would have been sorted into needlework and housewifery school as 12 year olds.

Feminist ally or feminist supporter work fine, bear, chap and Dervel!

Feminists tend not to tell other women to die, OP!

The reality is that it is women who are unequal to men. If you are against that and working to address th balance, I don't think it matters massively what you call yourself.

Honestly, looking at the world today women still require quite a bit more advocacy than men.

It would be exhausting if every time you advocated for women you had to say "oh and men deserve the same rights too", and often a bit redundant.

I find it hard to grasp that any adult woman would not call herself a feminist tbh.

I was once very firmly told on here that being an 'equalist' is not the same as being a 'feminist' and that men can't be feminist but they can be equalist.

That said, most women believe they are and should be equal to a man but fewer describe themselves as feminists.

I'm a man, and certainly not a feminist however on such a large number of issues I find myself in agreement with feminists it's ultimately a moot point.

There are different camps about whether men (or any dominant group) can be part of the struggle, rather than an ally. I think what matters massively more is whether they actually are an ally (rather than mansplaining it or doing it to be 'cool').

IME people who talk about equality, over feminism, tend to fight for neither.

It's like all the hateful men who magically turn into feminists whenever Islam is mentioned. They don't actually care about women, they just really don't like Muslims.

AgeingArtemis

That's what I try and do, be supportive of Feminist ideals but not be so presumptuous as to call myself one.

That IS feminism. You don't want to be defined as such because of the stereotypes that exist with regards to feminism so it sounds as if you have misjudged what it means and disassociated yourself from it. There is no reason to because feminism is basically what you believe in.

It's not possible for a man to be a feminist because all of their experience will be limited to secondary experience, theoretical, observed / read about. A man will have no lived experience of opression against women.

A man may have his own experience of opression, but this is not a feminists battle.

It is not possible to truly analyse and break down the opressive concept of gender, with the goal of equality for the sexes, without being a feminist.

dancingbear and HelpfulChap, personally I don't see anything wrong with men calling themselves feminists, as long as they REALLY are feminists!

I see way to many men claiming to be feminists, but who have some decidedly un-feminist views and it drives me nuts!

Maybe to be on the safe side you could say you "support feminism"

*number of

Feminists don't focus on "gender"
A huge number if feminists recognise "gender" to be part of an oppressive social structure to opress women.
Many feminists argue that indeed both sexes should be equal, but we have different needs based in biology.

The differences and inequalities come from sex not gender.

As a man I am totally for gender equality but I'm not sure I would have the right to call myself a feminist.

This is exactly the boat I find myself in; from what I can work out there are opposing camps on whether men can use the 'feminist' tag. I'm not sure that this matters though - after all, it's not about me