Feminism is often seen as having a very narrow focus on only one issue, but in fact it encompasses so much more than just gender equality. It is no longer just the overbearing male figures versus their suppressed female counterparts, but a committed, organized push for a kind of human solidarity. Feminism now looks at bringing down all the barriers that divide humanity into unequal and conflicting groups, and its successes have not been given enough attention. The international feminist movement has proven to be a beneficial, productive means of solving global problems and should be more widely accepted and expanded. It is the goal of feminism to combat all sorts of inequality and injustice in an effort to raise the quality of life for everyone. The movement has had great successes on a number of subject matters in many regions with a wide variety of outcomes. As with any group they have their critics, but those people are usually unaware of the great body of evidence and true ideology that stands behind this movement. Often people find they have a wildly different view of feminism after the have heard the facts.

Many of those living in the western world do not see that the struggle for gender equality is far from won. To fully appreciate this one must first understand the importance of women. Focusing of issues of food supply and overpopulation, it is critical to note that women are responsible for thirty-five to forty-five percent of all the food produced from rural agricultural areas. The importance of these women is clear and yet over a half a billion of them do not have access to vital necessities. In the political realm, despite all the token positions and genuine concessions made, women still have major obstacles in their path when they wish to become politically involved at the higher levels. Even countries that have female leaders find that leader to be the exception rather than the rule throughout the lower levels of their government. This is also true in the business world in which women rarely make up for more than one to two percent of the top executive business positions. There has probably been more progress on the international scene as it is more open to public scrutiny. Some of the more notable organizations established include The International Council of Women, The International Alliance of Women, and The Women's International League for Peace and Freedom. Each of them, and many more, doing what they can to ensure the views of women are represented and the equality of everyone, not just women, is protected. Even though this battle is not yet even close to complete, feminism has broadened its horizons.

The scope of the feminist movement may start at gender equality, but it certainly does not end there. Feminists have taken on a whole slew of causes and beliefs under their wings, which now fly under their banner. In fact, some times it is hard to figure out what it does not cover. The expanded ideas now form a new way of looking at international relations, to the extent that some believe that in order to rid the world of poverty and the threat of nuclear weapons, there must be an end to racism and sexism around the globe. So first one must look at the roots of which this all sprang from, which is obviously gender inequality. This has very important and long lasting effects and as a result is at the core of feminist theory. Women have been on the receiving end of great injustices and have not had appropriate representation. As Petra K. Kelly puts it, "Women have been obliterated from the pages of history". This however has changed a great deal, is changing now, and will continue to change for a good long time. The feminist movement has made the greatest amount of progress in this area, as it is their primary, but not only, focus. As those successes came, with much hardship, the feminist movement saw that it had the ability to affect change and that many other beliefs dovetailed with their own and their goals expanded. Now even the goal of world peace is within their scrutiny. The movement has even gone so far as to define their own form of peace, called positive peace. Positive peace is more than just the absence of war; it is the striving for a better quality of life for everyone, equally. Which means putting an end to the that often produce war, thus promoting disarmament and appeasement. This is one of feminism's greatest goals.

Feminism, to a large extent, is about power; who has it and how to stop anyone from using it over another, be it country or individual. They believe there is nothing wrong with power assets being used as tools, but there are serious concerns over what should be considered acceptable power assets and a watchful eye kept out to make sure it does not become a situation of dominance. The positive peace ideal calls for much more than just the suppression of war and conflict. For example, if a positive peace were to be successful it could not be imposed through military force. Positive peace at its core calls for nonviolence and disarmament. This would put violence and many armaments into the category of unacceptable power assets, which should not be utilized because to do so would almost insure a situation of dominance. Violence, in theory, breeds violence and if there were to be a lasting peace, the use of violence would be hypocritical and dangerous to the goals of that peace. Kelly calls the theory of deterrence "a form of collective hysteria and blackmail". Feminism holds many such views of the concepts of war, such as Mutual Assured Destruction. It also calls for a focus on global issues such as overpopulation and the environment. Human rights are a major issue of contention among feminists, they believe it to be a vital piece of the positive peace puzzle and insist that those rights cannot be comprised. When people are not treated as human beings, with human rights, then they cease to be equal and will most likely begin to act in an inhumane fashion. Feminism sees all these principals of positive peace as essential to have a sustainable civilization.

Feminism has won a countless number of victories for its cause and as the causes grow, so do the victories. Suffrage has been accepted in many countries, some would argue in the important countries, those being the powerful industrialized nations like the United States, France, the United Kingdom, and Canada. One of the best successes and most telling of all is how access for women to increased education, employment, contraceptives, and equality have lowered birth rates in areas with food shortage problems where overpopulation had become a matter of survival. In this one example feminism has struck a blow against an enormous problem with consequences for the entire world. Previous attempts at bringing in food had failed in many regions. Logistics experts have been sent around the globe and technology shared in an effort to help pull overpopulated areas out of the starvation cycle and into a healthy life, but many had failed. Often the birth rate would just increase accordingly as the new sources of food lowered infant mortality and miscarriage rates. Logistics would fail, food would run out, and technology would break down. Nothing appeared to be working as a long-term solution, but equality did it. Basic gender equality solved that which entire teams of experts and whole organizations could not. Feminism has already begun to make the world a better place for everyone. The evidence cannot be argued; feminism is having positive effects the world over and if people could see that, then they would be convinced. People would see the logic and decency of what the movement is trying to do and no doubt many would wish to help. Instead of throwing the price of a cup of coffee away to keep one child alive for a day, they could be making their money work for them in taking steps to cure the problem, not just stifle the symptoms. The current efforts of many relief agencies around the world are but a drop in the bucket of help these people need. It is true that they do need vital supplies and things, but feminism, through the World Health Organization and other such groups, are working on the causes of the problems, at least of overpopulation and food shortage, not just the patchwork solutions that only exist to soften peoples consciences. Those who slander feminism show their ignorance to its admirable goals and triumphs and many of those who support it do not even know the positive results it has had.

The critiques of feminism itself often come from groups and people with an inaccurate view of what feminism is supposed to be. First, that it is just for western women of middle to upper class is baseless. Many men consider themselves to be feminists and feminism is spreading around the world. In fact, an argument could be made that the so-called 'third world' is the new battleground of feminism. The harsh treatment of women and inequalities often found there have become a prime concern. These countries also have their own growing feminist movements, however the challenge to them is great as they have long held traditions going against them. Third World feminism does have assets and not just that of its western counterparts, but there seems to be a trend in the third world elite towards a belief that change is necessary. In western culture the greatest enemy of feminism is misunderstanding. A very vocal and feared minority of radical feminists, sometimes called lesbian feminists, has distorted people's views of the movement. These small groups believe in some, if not all, of some rather extreme ideas. The main three ideas are: an end to the biological family with a separation from men and a sexual bonding with other women, the development of a female dominated civilization that would not necessarily act with any more equality then a patriarchal one, and confrontations with patriarchal institutions. These ideas have caused a lot of fear among those who do not subscribe to them. However, when one sees that these are not components of the general feminist theory, the strength of the movement's message begins to sink in. Feminism could just as easily be called The Movement towards Unilateral Equal Rights, but that would first deny its background and second not be nearly as easy to say or remember.

Now that Feminism is understood that still leaves many with some serious concerns. Many fear that if a nation were to adopt a policy of positive peace that it would suffer serious consequences. Realists would see disarmament as a sign of weakness and an invitation to attack. So if positive peace is to work, it must be accepted by more than just a single nation, but by at least the major powers in the world. Realists do not see how that could possibly work with each country looking out for its own national interests, but feminists believe that one day most nations will see that collective cooperation and survival is very much in their self interests. Feminism is indeed an important component to having a working democracy. One of the requirements for a nation to be considered ready for democracy is a general sense of equality. There are some schools of thought which claim women are less prone to go to war, as leaders, and other such things. This can hardly be taken as fact considering most of the female leaders have seemed so far to be capable of the same style of leadership their male counterparts. Besides, it would be its own form of discrimination to act under such precepts. Even if such a thing were true there would be plenty of peaceful male leaders and many aggressive females leaders, so that argument does not really go anywhere particularly useful. The opposite is also true, so to say that any gender is better qualified to lead is unfounded and each gender should have an equal chance, which is what feminism is about. It is a policy of leading by example and taking small steps. When people begin to see and treat each other as equals and then that in turn begins to show more visible results, the logic of the movement's argument should begin to become clear.

This all began with a fight for women's rights and as the struggle grew and ground was gained, the realization set in that equality can have very positive effects on seemingly unrelated issues and now has spread so far as to encapsulate the world. The battle is far from over and even when current goals are realized there will no doubt be new ones on the horizon, but one thing is certain: The positive results are undeniable. We cannot afford to lose sight of feminist goals, not just for women but for all of humanity, or, as history has shown, there would be serious consequences. Feminism and its universal equality across all borders has been able to begin solving and curing problems of social, economic, and environmental natures that had previously appeared impossible to even comprehend. Feminism offers hope and possibilities that humanity so desperately needs, especially today as it rushes to destroy itself. Feminism could be our last, best chance for survival.