Feminism: 'Living legacy' or 'Dead Relic'

Is feminism a 'living legacy' or a 'dead relic'?

According to Jane Roland Martin, in her article What Should We Do with a Feminist Educational Theory When We Have One?: A Response to Audrey Thompson, she discusses rather than looking at how you learn - what if we looked at learning like a stock being preserved for the next generation? (Martin, 67) The wealth of a culture is held in the stock with both 'assets' and 'liabilities'. As a result, there is cultural wealth. As educators or educational agencies we to assess how knowledge is seen when it falls outside their own definitions. (Martin, 67) However, if we see our 'assets' and 'liabilities' on a continuum, many times we think of positive and negative connotations. (Martin, 68) 

As educators are we using the educational agents around us to inform our knowledge? Martin suggests that those educational agents can be places of worship, neighbourhoods, museums, libraries, zoos, symphony orchestras, banks, businesses, the stock market, newspapers, magazines,  book clubs, record companies, publishing houses, sports organisations, government agencies, TV,  the internet, etc. (Martin, 68) However, as educators inform their knowledge, I feel that we can bring our own biases to whether a concept has negative or positive connotations. As Martin suggests, what if we saw knowledge on a continuum as either a 'living legacy' or a 'dead relic'? With both forms having value in the contributions it has to what we know.

So I now pose the question again...Is feminism a 'living legacy' or a 'dead relic'? Many would hasten to say that it is definitely a 'living legacy'. Concepts within feminism have definitely evolved with the reflection of the needs of women today. However, we hasten to shun how the feminism of the 60s or 70s is not what it is today. Perhaps that is true, but what if we saw the concept of feminism like an archeological dig? 

If you have seen an archeological dig, you would see different layers of sedimentary deposits in the ground. The deeper you dig to explore, the story of the land is exposed. You learn about the environment, surrounding vegetation and human activities of the time. It's from this data that gives us clues or reasons to inform our conclusions to present day scenarios. Similarly, feminism has changed but the past, which may seem like 'dead relics', inform the needs of women today such as the importance of intersectionality to the concept.

For the small few out there that think the feminism is a concept not relevant today...here's a thought. 'Just as humankind is trying to eradicate the smallpox virus, so it should seek to transform rape, torture, poverty, and other cultural evils from 'living legacy' into 'dead relics'.' (Martin, 69) The question is...as educators how will we foster an environment in our classrooms, which will dig deep into concepts to foster critical thinking to better inform student and our own understandings?