Since before the myth of radical feminists shedding their bras and burning them in the symbolic freedom trash can, women have engaged in what seems to be a life long battle all for a common purpose: equality to men. They have worked their way into the right to vote, the right to equal pay and have broken away from traditional roles as housewives and stay-at-home moms. In today’s day and age, there isn’t much a woman can’t do that a man can. But is the struggle for equality really over, and if so why is the feminist movement still very much alive today?

The feminist fight is no longer powered through hungry women hoping to push for same rights as men, but more to push more controversial issues such as abortion, violence, and legalizing same-sex marriage. The National Organization for Women (NOW), a leading association created in the mid-1960s, now heads most of the organized feminist agenda. The organization was founded by a small band of women that gathered seeking ways to enforce a federal law outlawing sexual discrimination in the workplace. The group’s main focus is to get women involved within their communities and get their voices heard. “There’s an increased sense that women need to get involved personally and put themselves on the line to make change,” said Kim Gandy, NOW’s current president.

However, not all girls and women are ready to grab a picket sign and start shouting for women’s rights. Many critics of NOW and modernized feminist movements question the need for such activism. Some critics believe equality has already been reached between the sexes and the NOW is just “a bunch of hypocritical chicks with nothing better to do then fight a battle that already has been won.”

Whether the war is over or not, the NOW isn’t going away anytime soon. “If we really want our voices heard, we have to get the word out,” said Gandy. “We can’t just sit back and ‘Let Jane do it.”