Feminism is at a crossroads. On the one hand, pop stars such as Beyoncé and Miley Cyrus have proudly declared themselves feminists. On the other, feminist writers and activists are subjected to a terrifying barrage of threats and abuse from online commenters. In November 2014, the gender pay gap for all UK employees (full-time and part-time) was the lowest on record. Meanwhile, according to a 2013 survey by the UK government, approximately 85,000 women are raped on average in England and Wales every year. Is feminism still a radical tool for positive change? Or can it only serve to support the status quo?

Finn Mackay specialises in feminist activism at the University of Bristol’s School for Policy Studies. In 2004 she founded the London Feminist Network, one of the largest grassroots feminist activist organisations in the country.

We spoke to Mackay about feminism’s successes and its future challenges, and why idealism still matters.

A common picture of today is that women’s rights have never been better. Do you think this is a fair representation, or is the fight for gender equality more urgent than ever before?

A lot of progress has been made, but this hasn't been handed to us on a plate or bestowed upon us by successive benevolent governments. The rights we have were hard won and they were won by feminist activists before us, going back generations to the first wave of feminism in the 1900s. In the 1970s during what is known as the “second wave” of feminism, activists secured for us vital services such as refuges and helplines, which provide support today to women, children and men affected by domestic abuse, rape and sexual violence.

The irony is that this great legacy is now in danger of being swept away from under us as ideological cuts in the name of austerity remove funding for women's refuges for example. Women's Aid alone has to turn away around 200 women and children every day, simply due to lack of space, yet cuts to refuge places continue apace. The numbers of women being killed by their violent male partners and ex-partners has not decreased as far as we can tell. The numbers of rapes being reported has also not decreased; in fact it has risen. These are the numbers at the sharp end, the brutal statistics that are an ultimate measure of our so-called equality.

With figures such as Beyoncé claiming today to be feminists, to what extent has the term, and feminism more broadly, lost its radical edge? If it has, how should we respond to that situation if we are to keep feminism alive and kicking?

There is a misconception in the media that any woman who has a job must be a feminist, that any woman who has a lot of money must be a feminist, that any woman in a powerful position must be a feminist. What this shows is that out there in the public consciousness people associate feminism in some way with the power and success of women; that in itself is not a bad thing. But, feminism is a political movement, with decades of complex political theory and examples of successful activism and varying campaigns and achievements.