What is Feminism?

Feminism is concerned with the achievement of equal political and social rights for
women as well as the elimination of sexism. Different philosophies of feminism
include ecofeminism, Marxist feminism, radical feminism, and more.

The term feminism can be used to describe a political, cultural or economic

movement aimed at establishing equal rights and legal protection for women.
Feminism involves political and sociological theories and philosophies concerned
with issues of gender difference, as well as a movement that advocates gender
equality for women and campaigns for women's rights and interests. Although the
terms "feminism" and "feminist" did not gain widespread use until the 1970s, they
were already being used in the public parlance much earlier; for instance,
Katherine Hepburn speaks of the "feminist movement" in the 1942 film Woman of
the Year.

Feminism has many definitions depending on who you ask,

but Britannica provides a simple framework: it’s the belief in the social, economic,
and political equality of the sexes. No one should be refused certain rights – such
as the right to vote, to hold political office, and to work outside the home – because
of their sex or gender. Feminism goes beyond basic rights, however, and seeks
deeper cultural shifts like an end to sexism and intersectional oppression based on
gender, race, sexuality, and class. In this article, we’ll cover a brief history of
feminism, different types of feminism, and whether we still need feminism today.
At its core, feminism is the belief that women deserve equal social, economic,
and political rights and freedoms. Over the years, feminism has focused on
issues like the right to vote, reproductive and sexual freedom, and equal pay.
Feminism has also explored racism, gender norms, self-expression, and much
more.

Different Waves in Feminism

First Wave (early 19th Century)

Second Wave (late 1960s and early 1970s)

Third Wave (After 1990's)

Fourth Wave (After 2010-Present)

First Wave

 9th and early 20th century

 Fight for women's Basic Political Right (Voting)

 Property Right

 Dignity of women

Mary Wollstonecraft
-A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792)

John Stuart Mill

-The Subjection of Women (1869)

-New Zealand (1893)

-USA (1920)

-UK (1917)

-France (1944)

There have always been cultures where women held power, like ancient
Sparta where women could own and inherit property, make business transactions,
and receive a good education. There have also always been women who fought
back against patriarchal cultures. However, “feminism” as we know it is a fairly
new concept. Mary Wollstonecraft published “A Vindication of the Rights of
Women” in 1792, and while she’s considered a feminist icon today, that term
wasn’t applied in her time. The term became more well-known in the 1890s in
Great Britain and America.
This is when “the first wave” of feminism began to surge. The movement was
closely tied with abolitionist movements and focused on suffrage. In 1848, at
the Seneca Falls Convention, three hundred attendants agreed on the movement’s
goals and strategies. Around the world, women’s rights slowly began to improve.
In 1893, New Zealand allowed women to vote in the national elections. The US
gave women the right to vote in 1920 while Great Britain followed in 1928.
Second Wave

o United States in the early 1960s

o Sexuality (Rape), family (Domestic Violence),

o Reproductive rights (Abortion right), inequalities

o Right to Education

o Equal Position with equal pay

o Critiquing the patriarchal, or male-dominated, institutions, and cultural

practices throughout society

o Demand for changes in custody laws and divorce law Min

Simone de Beauvoir

-The Second Sex (1949)

The second wave began in the 1960s. It was aligned with the anti-war and Civil
Rights movements. Reproductive rights and issues related to sexuality also became
more prominent. Feminism became more intellectually diverse and complex during
these years, as well. Capitalism, the role of women, sexuality, and gender were all
discussed as feminist movements around the world became less elitist and more
inclusive than during the first wave.

Third Wave

 After 1990's

 Identity & Celebrate Diversity (race, ethnicity, class)

 Black/white, Poor/Rich, and transgender right

 Gender struggle
  Sexual liberation (sexual diversity, queer right)

 Ecofeminism, post-modern-feminism

Naomi Wolf

-The Beauty Myth (1990)

Third-wave feminism is trickier to define, but it both built on and challenged what
second-wave feminism started. Third-wave feminism embraced individuality,
irony, and the right to self-expression, which included attire and cosmetics their
second-wave mothers might have considered oppressive and sexist. The internet
played a big role during this era, as well, as it helped spread creative, multicultural
feminist content. With its diversity of ideas, third-wave feminism represents a less
cohesive movement than the first and second waves.

Fourth Wave

 Began around 2010

 Harness digital media to connect, share perspectives, create a broader view

of experienced oppression

 "Defined by technology"

 Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, You Tube, and blogs such as Feminising to

challenge misogyny.

#MeToo #Yesallwomen #Bringoutgirl

Are we in the fourth wave of feminism? The wave metaphors are not perfect, but
given massive shifts in societies around the world, it’s safe to say that feminism is
in a different era compared to the 1990s-2010s. There have been renewed attacks
against women’s rights, especially reproductive rights, while the rise of social
media gave feminist activists more tools. The fourth wave also represents the most
diverse and inclusive version of feminism so far.
Feminism: three main types
Liberal feminism
Liberal feminism is what most people think of when they hear the word “feminist.”
It can also be described as “mainstream feminism.” As defined by philosopher
Alison Jagger, liberal feminism focuses on political rights and equality in
education and the workplace. That includes issues like equal access to education,
equal pay, safer working conditions, and an end to job segregation based on sex.
Liberal feminism is also concerned with private life as the distribution of unpaid
work at home impacts a woman’s ability to participate in public life. In the United
States, liberal feminists focused on the Equal Rights Amendment, which would
have amended the constitution to ensure legal gender equality. Feminists worked
on the ERA in the 1960s and 1970s, but it was never ratified/supported by enough
states .
Over the years, liberal feminism has faced criticism on how it measures success
and equality by patriarchal standards and fails to analyze gender, race, and class.
Liberal feminism can also fail to challenge institutional power and end up
reinforcing destructive capitalist cycles. With its focus on what individual women
can do to “get ahead,” liberal feminism often fails some of society’s most
vulnerable.

Radical feminism
As the name suggests, radical feminism is more aggressive. It focuses on
dismantling the patriarchy and traditional gender roles by ensuring reproductive
rights, critiquing the nuclear family and motherhood, and challenging institutional
power. Rather than trying to change things through established systems, radical
feminists are more inclined to change the systems themselves. The movement rose
during the 1960s when women in the anti-war and Civil Rights movements found
themselves sidelined. Many activists founded feminist groups and embraced more
radical ideas.
Today, radical feminism is often linked to trans-exclusionary radical feminism,
which denies that trans women are real women. The term “TERF” originated in the
1970s when radical feminists began to split over support of trans women. Trans-
exclusionary radical feminists also call themselves “gender critical.” Because of
the negative connotations, feminists who support trans women tend to not identify
as radical feminists.

Intersectional feminism
Intersectional feminism examines how sexism, racism, classism, and xenophobia
intersect and form systems of oppression. It counters “white feminism,” which by
ignoring racial oppression, can support white supremacy. White feminism was
born during feminism’s earliest days as the most famous figureheads – like
Elizabeth Cady Stanton- only cared about suffrage for white women. The
suffragettes also excluded poor, working women and dismissed issues involving
wages, working hours, and unions.
There have always been feminists embracing and advocating for intersectional
thinking, but the term “intersectionality” was coined in a 1989 paper. In the paper,
critical legal and race scholar Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw showed how the
intersection of race and gender impacted the experiences of Black men and women
in the legal system. Sociologist Patricia Hill Collins’ 1990 book Black Feminist
Thought is another essential text on intersectionality and how oppression based on
race, gender, class, sexuality, and nation forms what Collins calls “a matrix of
domination.” Today, intersectional feminism continues to broaden society’s ideas
about feminism, power, and oppression.

More:

Types of Feminism & Feminist Theories

Lesbian Feminism
From Encyclopedia of Gender and Society
Lesbian feminism is a term introduced in the United States in the 1960s. It
refers to a theory, an identity, and a political struggle. As a social movement,
lesbian feminism emerged out of movements for women’s liberation, gay
liberation, and the sexual revolution.

Ecofeminism***
From Encyclopedia of Environment and Society
Ecofeminism posits that the same masculinist habits of thinking and
behavior that devalue, oppress, and exploit women also do so to nature; and
are mutually reinforcing hegemonic processes pivoting around artificial
Western binary oppositions interpreted by religion, science, government, and
other androcentric agencies. Example: Sultana’s Dream by Begum Rokeya
Shakhawat Hossain.
 Marxist Feminism
Friedrich Engels’ The Origin of the Family (1884/1972), a fundamental text
in Marxist feminism, argued that the move to private property included a
shift from matriarchy to patriarchy and was the initiating point for women’s
subordination and oppression.

Does the world still need feminism?

Is feminism still necessary in today’s world? When we look at women’s rights
globally, it’s obvious we do. According to the World Economic Forum’s 2022
Global Gender Gap Report, it will take 132 years to reach full gender parity.
The COVID-19 pandemic did not help improve women’s rights as women and
girls felt the economic impacts harder, had their unpaid work increase, endured
more gender-based violence, and experienced more stress. Women are also more
affected by climate change, especially in rural areas. In certain places – like some
African countries – men have to travel further to find work while women stay
behind to run the household, take care of kids, and protect their land. However,
their authority may not be protected by law. When women are given more power,
however, they make more sustainable decisions, improve food security, and reduce
energy demands.
In some areas, feminist movements are met with brutal violence. On September 16,
2022, 22-year-old Mahsa Amini was detained by Iran’s morality police. She died
in custody. Her death sparked one of the largest protest movements since the 1979
Islamic Revolution. Led primarily by women, the protests demanded equality and
an end to Iran’s oppressive government. Protestors in the Kurdish provinces (Mash
Amini was Kurdish) have been especially brave as women remove their hijabs in
the streets and cut off their hair. The government response has been violent.
According to Human Rights Activists, at least 328 people have been killed –
including children – while almost 15,000 have been arrested. The protests in Iran
are just one example of a feminist movement facing significant backlash.

Has feminism “won” anywhere?

In certain places, the need for feminism and support for feminist movements is
clear. However, what about countries where feminists have supposedly “won,” like
the United States? The reality is not as victorious as some might hope. In 2017,
writer and editor Amy Alexander wrote a piece for NPR critiquing feminism’s
enduring focus on white women and marketing over substance. Alexander writes
that feminism seems “more concerned with promoting superficial trappings of
genuine equality than with doing the tough work required to address the hard, cold
facts of gender and racial inequality.”
Writer Moira Donegan also delves into this shallow, shiny feminism in her
newsletter “Not the Fun Kind” and piece “Potemkin Feminism,” which argues that
feminism’s trendiness hides the fact it doesn’t have real institutional power. Long-
fought-for issues, like the gender pay gap, persist. According to Payscale’s
2022 gender pay gap report, American women earn about 82 cents for every dollar
a man earns. When the report controls for job title, education, experience, hours
worked, and so on, women earn 99 cents for every dollar a man earns. Race
impacts the pay gap, as well; Black women are most likely to be paid less even
when they have the same level of experience and the same job as a white man. In
2022, feminism’s lack of real power was perhaps made most clear when the U.S.
Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. No society has truly reached equality.
Even in places where significant gains have been made, feminism is far from
irrelevant,