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• Feminism


  Driven by promoting equality and emancipation for women, feminists argue that society and politics oppress and discriminate against women in favour of men, and they challenge this suppression and seek to create a society free of it where gender doesn't determine an individual's opportunities, rights or position
• Emergence of feminism


  1. Began to become prominent in the Enlightenment period in the 18th century

  2. First wave feminism in the 19th and early 20th centuries focused on legal equality including women's suffrage and property rights

  3. Second wave feminism from the 1960s to 1980s expanded the debate to wider issues oppressing women including sexuality, family, the workplace and reproductive rights

  4. Third wave feminism in the early 1990s focused on diversity and intersectionality

  5. Potential fourth wave feminism in the 2010s defined by use of social media for advocacy and mobilization
• Liberal feminism


  Based on liberal ideas and principles of freedom, individual rights and equality, advocating for political and legal reforms to achieve gender equality in the public sphere, reformist in approach rather than seeking radical societal overhaul
• Key reforms focused on by liberal feminism

  • Women's suffrage
  • Equal access to education
  • Equal pay
  • Abortion and reproductive rights
  • Increased political representation of women
• Mary Wollstonecraft


  Early liberal feminist who argued women are rational and independent beings capable of reason, and advocated for equal rights and education for women
• Betty Friedan


  Key liberal feminist in the second wave movement, challenged oppressive laws and societal norms limiting women's roles, advocated for the Equal Rights Amendment and the Equal Pay Act, and helped establish the National Organization for Women
• Equal Rights Amendment


  Aimed at guaranteeing equal legal rights for all American citizens regardless of sex, almost passed in the 1970s
• Equal Pay Act


  Legislation that outlawed discrimination in wages based on sex
• National Organization for Women

  Influential group in the women's rights movement that focused on advocating for legal and societal changes to achieve gender equality
• Betty Friedan


  • Key figure in the second wave feminist movement
  • Promoted equal opportunity
  • Argued that societal attitudes confined women to the domestic sphere rather than allowing them to pursue goals and careers
  • Coined the term "Feminine Mystique" to describe how cultural norms and practices denied women true freedom and potential for self-realization
• Liberal feminism


  1. Advocated for reforms in the public sphere to allow women to participate equally in society and the economy

  2. Supported measures like affirmative action to ensure equality of opportunity
• Socialists' view on gender inequality

  Believed it stemmed directly from capitalism<|>Argued that overthrowing capitalism in favor of socialism would result in the abolition of patriarchy and gender inequality
• Socialists' view on women's role

  Responsible for unpaid domestic and childcare labor, crucial for reproducing the labor force under capitalism<|>This confined women to the domestic sphere and limited their opportunities
• Socialists' view on patriarchy

  A key tool for maintaining capitalism, as it made women a reserve army of low-paid, insecure labor
• Early socialist feminists


  • Believed that abolishing capitalism was sufficient to liberate women, as domestic labor would be collectivized and equally valued
• Later socialist feminists


  • Recognized that capitalism and patriarchy were closely linked but intersecting forms of oppression
  • Argued that removing capitalism was necessary but not sufficient to eliminate gender oppression, as societal attitudes and power dynamics in the private sphere also needed to be tackled
• Radical feminism


  Emerged in the 1970s, believed that society is fundamentally patriarchal and that gender oppression affects all aspects of life in both the private and public spheres
• Radical feminists


  • Argued that reforms of the public sphere suggested by liberal feminists are not enough, and that society and the private sphere must undergo fundamental transformation to eliminate patriarchal oppression
  • Challenged the traditional separation of the private and public spheres, seeing issues in the private sphere as political
  • Focused on issues like domestic violence, rape, and women's control over their own bodies as manifestations of patriarchal power and control
• Patriarchy


  The primary system of power that defines all of society, upholding male power and women's oppression
• Radical feminists' view on the family

  • Saw the traditional family structure as a microcosm of broader social inequalities, where male dominance and female subordination perpetuated and reinforced the unpaid and undervalued domestic labor performed by women
• Radical feminists' view on women's portrayal in society

  • Analyzed how societal standards of beauty, cultural narratives, and media depictions are used to control and oppress women by perpetuating traditional gender roles
• Radical feminists' view on women's sexuality


  • Highlighted how patriarchy reduces women to a passive position, stripping them of their sexual autonomy and facilitating male dominance and violence
  • Opposed practices like pornography and prostitution that commodify women's bodies and perpetuate harmful stereotypes
• Radical feminists' vision


  • Believed that achieving true gender equality requires a fundamental restructuring of society, including creating new forms of family and community, rejecting traditional gender roles, developing economic systems that value women's labor equally, and establishing legal and political frameworks that protect women's rights and promote their participation in all aspects of life
• Radical feminists called for revolutionary changes that transform the underlying structures of power
• Radical feminists advocated for creating women's only spaces founded by and run by women only to provide safety and protection to women
• Radical feminists including Andrea Dworkin argued for strong legal measures against pornography and prostitution viewing them as industries that perpetuated patriarchy, control over women's bodies, sexual exploitation and violence against women
• Radical feminists like Millett argued that the traditional family structure needs to be completely dismantled and families need to be redefined including accepting non-normative relationships and family structures and redistributing roles in child-rearing and the household to be more equitable
• Postmodern feminism


  Emerged in the 1990s during the third wave of feminism, critiqued the second wave predominantly white middle class perspective which often overlooked the diverse experiences and perspectives of women of different races, classes, sexual orientations and cultures
• Postmodern feminists


  • Promote a more fluid and less fixed understanding of gender and what it means to be a woman, emphasizing the diversity and multiplicity of identities that exist within womanhood
  • Argue that gender isn't a rigid binary category but a spectrum of identities
• Intersectionality


  Highlights how the oppression of women intersects with other social categorizations and forms of oppression including race, class, gender and sexuality
• Postmodern feminists promoted the inclusion of voices and perspectives from all groups who are marginalized in different ways so that the feminist movement addresses the needs and oppression of all women
• At the heart of all feminist views lies the shared goal of tackling gender inequality which they believe is present across society
• Liberal feminism


  • Reformist in approach, focused on achieving gender inequality through gradual change rather than radical restructuring of society
  • Advocated for equal rights and opportunities for women in the public sphere, the society and the economy
• Socialist feminism


  • Believed a socialist revolution was necessary for gender oppression to be removed
  • Argued that societal attitudes and gender relations in the private sphere needed to be tackled as well as capitalism removed
• Radical feminism


  • Believed that achieving true gender equality requires a fundamental restructuring of society
  • Argued that patriarchal systems are deeply embedded in social, political and economic institutions and incremental reforms are insufficient to dismantle them
  • Wanted complete emancipation for women from male power
• Sex


  Biological differences between men and women
• Gender


  Social construct, learned and reinforced through socialization from a young age
• Feminists argue that from birth, children are socialized into what is considered appropriate behavior for their gender including through their clothes and play
• Feminists believe that the vast majority of gender differences are determined by societal conditioning, not biological differences
• Simone de Beauvoir asserted that one is not born, but rather becomes a woman, emphasizing the importance of societal conditioning rather than biology