I would argue that feminism has not been the major cause of improvement in the lives of women, but has been a hindrance. Flourishing is not about power and self determination, but rather virtue and self control and feminism undermines the virtue needed for flourishing.

Think about it for a minute. A person can have equal access to markets, have the opportunity to receive the same pay, and whatever hindrance exists in a society, but these in and of themselves are not a path to flourishing. For flourishing to take place, a person must acquire the self discipline and self mastery necessary to make good decisions and persevere. Even if someone to argue that feminism was necessary, it can only be effective in a larger framework of a virtue system and a system of relations determined by a moral code.

Feminism in and of itself is not a complete system of moral virtue, personal transformation, and societal organization but is a kind of parasite that attacked one specific source of imbalance. One cannot organize their whole life around feminism because it doesn’t have the wisdom needed for a total vision of reality.

Likewise, no one ideology or philosophy has a complete hold on society. To assume that all progress is due to feminism or modernism is impossible to prove because they have always existed in a network of other vying positions, and even within themselves do not have a codified central doctrine.

At the same time as radical feminism, there are some elements that might agree with this position or that, but still hold a traditional view of morality. There are also positions that resist feminism all together and the combination of these different positions leads to the final synthesis which never lines up exactly with any one position. The emerging society is in fact a kind of compromise that doesn’t line up efficiently with any one position.