Feminism and Masculinism advocate equal rights, but what are they?The right to be paid equally badly in a sweatshop?The right to raise children in a country which does not educate them?The right to pay for healthcare services through insurance premiums to private companies?The right to trust ones salary to an investment fund which is motivated to benefit shareholder and not policy holders?Is this the equality for which many strive?What is equality worth without Social Justice?

they dont mean a thing in the real world.

Social Justice paved the way for equality... MLK, SB Anthony, Unions... This is the benefit of being an American and not Tiawanese.

The lack of social justice for socio-economic classes are pitting minority groups againsts one another. In the U.S. white and black women in particular have been affected because of affirmative action. They often end up competing against one another for partnerships in firms, scholarships, and grants. The lack of oppurtunity for the middle class is what's causing this. Too strict competition caused by bottom line- mean and lean economics is causing tension between males and females. It is just too hard to get a well paying job and hold on to it because these shareholders that you mention want obscene profits even if it means lay -offs.True social justice means the end of privalege for some so that others can benefit. Not only is that the case for gender equality (i.e.- more female c.e.o.s = less male c.e.o's) but it is also the case for global equality. Much of the economic privalege that many industialized nations enjoy is due to someone else's oppression. Examples include our paying $1.34 for a bag of asparagus that the share croppers in Peru will not get equitable compensation for and paying lower prices for sneakers made by oppressed women in Taiwan.The fact is that some will have to lose fringe benefits in order for some to gain the humanity and dignity that they rightfully deserve.

"Social justice" is a keyword for communism. Everything you listed is indicative of an authoritarian centralized government designed to redistribute wealth to the unproductive.

How is social justice to be achieved when even basic rights as we understand them now are not equal between people?I think equality is a step towards larger social justice.

Feminism and masculism focus primarily on gender issues. We can all agree that social justice is, of course, extremely important.

You have a very good point. Extreme libertarian groups, like the Ayn Rand Institute, scare me when they advocate for no oversight of corporate entities. When we see tens of thousands of people's retirement funds vanish overnight (Enron), one group of unscrupulous people threatening the world economy through their greed and stupidity (sub-prime mortgage lenders while the Fed looked away) and companies weaseling their way out of promised pension funds (the airlines), only a complete fool could imagine that corporations can be trusted to act in anything resembling the best interests of anyone but its CXOs and board members. I think Capitalism is a viable method of running one's economy, by and large, but it cannot be allowed to run with no rules and oversight.

"Social justice" is a hard term to define. The KKK, for example, defines it differently than the NAACP. What one person calls social justice another calls communism. Basic human rights are easier to define than 'social justice' and they aren't one and the same. The answer to your question about the worth of equality without Social Justice can be found by looking back in history and seeing that there was a lot of over-lapping in movements like women's rights, worker's rights, voter's rights, children's rights, Civil Rights, etc. Most of the first wave feminisms devoted their energies to more than one cause. Society was and still is too intermingled to separate equality from social justice. It's getting people to agree on how to define 'equality' and 'social justice' that is the hard part at this point on the time line of humanity.

Simply NOTHING.Unless social justice exists equality flounders.

There is no logical connection between Gender Equality and Social Injustice. They are different issues. You make some good points about Social Injustice, and certainly work should be done in that area.

Well ,this is just me. A person should not blame the system or be a victim . She is responsible for her own status if it is down or up. Education and action is a big advantage to get ahead in this life. You are well verse ,I enjoyed reading your opinions> you are highly educated person and I am mediocre, but I see the world as opportunity and challenging to achive a good place in it. I work before as maid/cook, etc,sweat shop,sewing 25 cent a piece a to assemble a pair of pants or shirt,I did not blame anyone for I am too busy kicking my butt to make a living and educating myself.

There is no such thing as equality or social justice unless either term has qualifiers. Social justice is an outcome of applying inequality to the parties involved to bring them to a more equal state of being.Even in the smallest unit of social interaction, the family, social justice will only exist if unequal practices are utilized.

"... Social justice refers to the concept of a society in which justice is achieved in every aspect of society, rather than merely the administration of law. ...""... 'Equality before the law' or 'equality under the law' or 'legal egalitarianism' is the principle under which each individual is subject to the same laws, with no individual or group having special legal privileges. ...""... 'Social equality' is a social state of affairs in which certain different people have the same status in a certain respect, at the very least in voting rights, freedom of speech and assembly, the extent of property rights as well as the access to education, health care and other social securities. ..."