FEMINISM

Watson Mbiriri, PhD

 What is Feminism?
Technically, feminism is the simple belief
that men and women are equal. They
should have:
• The same rights
• The same opportunities in society
• Equal pay for equal work.
Dimensions of Feminism

Social

Economic

Political
Historical Development
Three Waves of Feminism

1848 1960s 2000s

First Wave
• Seneca Falls Convention, What were their issues?
NY– 19-20 July, 1848
• About 300 people attended • Basic control of their lives
the convention • Abolish slavery
• Elizabeth Candy Stanton;
Mary M’Clintok; Lucretia • Right to retain property
Mott; Martha Coffin Wight,
and Jane Hunt • Right to vote (granted in
• A few men attended the 1920 with the 19th
convention amendment)
• Do away with alcohol
Opening Statement
“We are assembled to protest against a form of
government, existing without the consent of the
governed—to declare our right to be free as man is
free, to be represented in the government which we are
taxed to support, to have such disgraceful laws as give
man the power to chastise and imprison his wife, to
take the wages which she earns, the property which she
inherits, and, in case of separation, the children of her
love.” – Elizabeth Candy Stanton
Second Wave
This came in the 1960s and
1970s with basic issues
centred on:
• Birth control
• Anti-sex discrimination laws
• Roe v. Wade (abortion)
• “Women make policy, not
coffee!”
Third Wave
This is in some ways a continuation of the second wave
and yet in other ways it is completely different. It is the
same in so far as it fights against:
• “Gender wage gap”
• “Reproductive rights”
• “Sexual discrimination”
• “White Patriarchy”
 “Completely Different Beast!”
• Emasculation of men
• Fluidity of gender
• Uninhibited Abortion
• “The Resistance”
• The embodiment of liberal ideology
 Radical Feminism
The very embodiment of all aspects
of the liberal ideology with:
• Pro-choice
• Anti-patriarchy
• Embrace the LGBTQ Agenda
• Fully support Planned Parenthood
 Feminist Hermeneutics
• One of the views of radical
feminism is that the Bible should
be done away with since it has
been used for generations to
subjugate women
• Gender neutral language
• If God is male, then male is God,
so away with God, so that male
may not be God!
• They speak of texts of terror in
the Bible
 Women in the Bible
• Equality at creation - (Gen. 1
• Daughters of Zelophehad
(Num. 27:1)
• Job’s daughters – (Job 42:12-
15)
• Description and prescription
• Mrs. Manoah –
• Deborah -
 Conclusions
• Feminism as originally defined is a movements that seeks to advocate for
women’s rights and dignity, at parity with those of men.
• When the movement began in the 1840s, women were looked down upon
and there were laws that kept them in perpetual servitude
• Feminism, now in its third wave, has come a long way since then. The
movement now represents ideals that are not compatible with the biblical
Christianity, among them:
a. Pro-abortion views
b. The LGBTQ agenda
c. Emasculation of men
d. The blurring of role distinctions
e. The quest to reinterpret the Bible