Jane Austen: Early Feminist?

I find 'feminist' to be a tricky label. It seems that, especially in today's society, feminism is an ever morphing term that's actual goal seems to get lost among the insanity of what the media machine is. What I've learned is that a feminist is an individual who advocates for the rights of all women, so that they may have the same rights as men- we are equal. However that message seems to get mixed up with the idea that feminists believe that women are actually superior to men, that we somehow dwarf them. For those who deem Beyonce a feminist, that certainly seems to be her message with songs like "Girls Run the World" and is also a far cry from the commentary Jane Austen makes in Pride and Prejudice. She is certainly observant of the realities of her world during her time, however in Pride and Prejudice it seems that Austen's goal is to criticize the system she and the women of her time have been forced to live in, but not necessarily advocate change from it. The character of main focus, Elizabeth, is certainly a progressive woman of her time. She questions the rules that have been written, and refuses to comply simply because it's what is expected of her. This is demonstrated when she refuses Mr. Collins' proposal. Refusing a proposal when one’s family is in a dire situation was unheard of then, and Elizabeth sets herself far apart from the rest in doing so. However as different as that may have been Elizabeth still becomes Mrs. Darcy, Jane is Mrs. Bingley, Lydia is Mrs. Wickham, and Charlotte is Mrs. Collins.  If Elizabeth had chosen to be her own woman, rather than spending her life with a man just as other people desired (let’s set love aside for a moment) then I would advocate this is a novel with feminist intentions. But Austen did not write that novel. She had Lizzy marry Darcy, and we’re to suppose they lived happily ever after. Austen’s novel was a progressive work for her time, however I do not see the work of an early feminist.