Feminism is an interesting topic to cover. Feminism is often associated with or assumed to be radical feminism, despite the fact that they are two different mindsets. Feminism, in its purest sense, is the seeking of gender equality in society. It seeks to go against the idea of male supremacy and gender stereotypes, saying that both of the two are oppressive and uncalled for. Radical feminism tends to have more to do with the concept of patriarchy, saying that female dominance has been “historically proven” to be beneficial. While the concepts within radical feminism became popular in the 1960s, during the arisal of second-wave feminism, feminism itself has been around for quite some time. This essay will be looking at the origins of and development of first-wave feminism in the late 1800s. Feminism exists as a concept and a moral. You can not put dates to a concept. Of course, there were figures that represented this concept, The Greek philosopher Plato is one such example. It is disputed whether or not Plato is truly a feminist, but he could still be considered to be someone who supported (at least somewhat) the concept of gender equality. The more equally-statused women portrayed in Plato’s works tended to be a bit masculine in their qualities. This is not a surprise, though. Plato did not live in a time in which equality was normal. Women were thought to be “lower” beings, lacking intelligence and use (other than bearing children, of course.) The fact
In this essay I will explore the different schools of feminism such as Marxist, liberal and radical feminism, who share the view that women are oppressed in a patriarchal society but differ in opinion on who benefits from the inequalities. Each school of feminism has their own understanding of family roles and relationships which I will assess through this essay.
How old is feminism, and who was the first feminist? Although no one can say for sure the exact date on which the feminist movement started, most of it is attributed to the past two centuries. However, women who are feminists have been around much longer. In Sophocles’s Antigone, the main character (Antigone) acts as a protofeminist by defying the authority of a patriarchal society and taking action according to what she believes is right in her heart. She even shows some characteristics of a modern feminist.
In the late 19th and early 20th century, the early feminists’ focal concern was women’s suffrage. During this time, most women in the United States did not have many economic and political rights. Back then priorities of women were to take care of their homes, families, and husbands. These earlier feminists, also known as the first wave feminists, simply wanted a voice and this led to the women’s suffrage movement. By 1920, the Nineteenth Amendment finally passed and gave women the right to vote (Kotef). This successful movement influenced women everywhere in the world and continued to powerfully inspire women throughout the 20th century (Kotef). By the latter half of the century, the second wave of feminism arose. It included the voice of African-American women because this wave occurred during the civil rights movement. Second wave feminism also included important issues such as sexual and reproductive rights, legal abortions, birth control pills, and the passing of the Equal Pay Act (1963). All feminists live to create ideologies and movements that support the equality of women, but it is clear that second wave feminists were substantially different in their aims than earlier feminists (Gizberg). The goal of this paper is to analyze the main elements of second wave feminism and compare it to the works of earlier feminists. This will show the multifaceted development of second wave feminism.
Because women come from all races, social classes, and age, they have been an important instrument in shaping western ideology and the world. Feminism is a broad term encompassing the entirety of the historical movement in the nineteenth century and the philosophical thought leading into the twentieth century (Zophy and Kavenik 206). Although the term wasn’t popularized until the 1950’s and 60’s, it represents the ideology into the modern era. With Woman’s History being a major thread of United States history, it is important we understand the progression of women’s rights, freedoms, and feminism throughout the Colonial Era, the Woman’s Suffrage Movement, and the rise of second and third wave
As to the history of feminism, the beginning will be with what is called the “Feminist Revolution” (Rappaport 28). This revolution began in 1837 in New York. Women banded together for the first time at an anti-slavery convention. These women were considered “abolitionists” after being
Feminism is often used as an umbrella term describing many different strains of similar ideologies and movements. It classifies the Suffragette movement in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, to Betty Friedan’s Feminine Mystique, to today’s initiatives for equal pay. Considering what “feminism” has represented throughout many different moments in history, it is easy to understand why feminists often disagree about what the ideology actually represents. What is the nature of sexism? What qualifies as injustice against women? What is the most effective method of bringing about social change? To better understand these questions, some scholars classify feminism into several “waves”, representing the main goals of feminists relative to the time period.
Before Civil War a new wave of feminism is raised in America and soon spread out all over the world because in that time women of America was self-employed and they did jobs, face different problems. Therefore, we say the next wave of feminism is the feminism’s second wave.In this wave, they raised topics according to situation of that time but we see it is co incident that these are the same issues that world faced in todays too. These issues are sexuality regarding family and workplace environment, rights of reproduction, inequalities whether it belongs to de facto sideor from official or from legal side (Jacobs, 1861).
This paper will not be able to cover the complexity of feminism as a whole since it has become a very broad subject. In addition, feminism has also been a heavily debated issue that has been around for numerous years. The argument of feminism is that women are, and always have been throughout history, treated differently than men by society. Therefore, women are being stripped down of opportunities to their benefit economically, socially, politically, culturally, and several more ways. This essay will highlight and analyze the cultural aspects of feminism from the texts of Kate Chopin’s novel The Awakening, Donald Hall’s “Feminist Analysis” from Literary and Cultural Theory, Charlotte Gilman’s short story ”The Yellow Wallpaper”, Kate Chopin’s short story “The Story of an Hour”, and Tillie Olsen’s short story “Tell Me A Riddle.” Cultural feminism, the ideology of the roles and stereotypical characteristics of women. Therefore, women are unable to express themselves due to being oppressed by patriarchal society. Thus, preserving and nurturing “female culture” will benefit society. As a final point, this paper will point out and identify women being isolated from their culture and personal values.
This paper will not be able to cover the complexity of feminism as a whole since it has become a very broad subject. In addition, feminism has also been a heavily debated issue that has been around for numerous years. The argument of feminism is that women are, and always have been throughout history, treated differently than men by society. Therefore, women are being stripped down of opportunities to their benefit economically, socially, politically, culturally, and several more ways. This essay will highlight and analyze the cultural aspects of feminism from the texts of Kate Chopin’s novel The Awakening, Donald Hall’s “Feminist Analysis” from Literary and Cultural Theory, Charlotte Gilman’s short story ”The Yellow Wallpaper”, Kate Chopin’s short story “The Story of an Hour”, and Tillie Olsen’s short story “Tell Me A Riddle.” Cultural feminism, the ideology of the roles and stereotypical characteristics of women. Therefore, women are unable to express themselves due to being oppressed by patriarchal society. Thus, preserving and nurturing “female culture” will benefit society. As a final point, this paper will point out and identify women being isolated from their culture and personal values.
Feminists and the idea of feminism have both been around since the 18th century and the Age of Enlightenment, a movement that emphasized reason, analysis, and individualism, rather than tradition. Since then, the world has seen three unique waves of feminism. The first wave occurred in the 19th and early 20th centuries; these were the females who fought for women’s suffrage, educational rights, better working conditions, and eliminating gender double standards. This first wave took care of basic rights that women were not granted until they stood up and fought for them. The second wave of feminism occurred between the 1960s and 1980s.
Feminism is a sociological theory that analyzes the roles that women and men play in society. Feminism can be defined as the belief of unequal rights between men and women. Women are not always treated equally and this sparks many concerns in our society. There are 2 different theories that will be focused on in this paper, gender-inequality theory and gender oppression. The differences between these two still lead up to the way women are treated in a community or the way men have acted towards them throughout history. Gender-inequality focuses mainly on how social situations are unequal between men and women, thus that men are treated at a higher level than women in several different situations. There are many different reasons why men and women are treated differently. Traditionally, the women are expected to be the stay at home moms, who clean and cook for the family. While the men on the other hand work on a daily basis and bring income into the household. Thus saying that women are inferior to the man by not being able to make their own job decision. Men are looked to as smarter, masculine, better decision makers than women. For example, there has never been a female president of the United States. That is proof that women are unequal to men and to this day it is still a concern in our society. Women do not receive the same work opportunities as men, and are recognized by only needed to have children, stay at home, and simply clean and cook for the
Based on the texts that we have covered so far, feminist theory is defined as the construction of feminist theoretical discourse which aims to understand and support the nature of gender equality. Unfortunately, “in its early analyses, the focus of much feminist theory was on the characterization of the feminine as less than fully human” (Price and Shildrick 1999, 2). During the Colonial Era, especially, the cult of domesticity was a way for men to control women. Women would stay home and participate in housekeeping responsibilities, while men would go out in the world to work and provide for his household. Feminist theory also includes the formation of the “classic move that identifies the male with the mind and the female with body” (Price and Shildrick 1999, 79). Due to the fact that we live in a male dominant society, women have always felt subordinate to men. As a result, the goal of feminist theory, is to invite individuals who are interested in becoming feminist advocates and are willing to help with the “breaking out of the boundaries of the proper body, of overflowing the sexual categories assigned to women” in today’s world (Price and Shildrick 1999, 80). In today’s society, people tend to visualize and in some case, even alter their bodies in ways that comply with their sexual orientation and accepted notions of femininity and masculinity. Therefore, they use their body images to conform to their cultures or racial ethnic group expectations of how a male or female
The goal of this paper is to describe and analyze gender inequality, focusing on the history of feminist ideas. I will start with a basic overview of the entire feminist movement, and will then analyze feminism more specifically. In this analysis I will focus on the different types of feminism. Most notably of these types will be the main groups that consist of socialist feminists, liberal feminists, and radical feminists. I will describe the goals and ideals of these groups along with describing how a functionalist and conflict theorist looks at gender.
When one hears the term “Feminism”, she/he may have the idea that it is the urge and
Although Western feminism started in the 1900s, yet, it didn’t reach the Islamic world until most recently, a couple of hundred years later than the West. Despite the fact that both of the feminism movements come from totally different back grounds, and they are affected by different history and culture, still, both of them aimed for women’s best interests. Muslim women were profoundly feeling aggrieved by the discrimination they have against them. They stereotypical reputation about them in the West, and their presentation in the Western media didn’t help either. They started and supported a new fight to regain themselves the equal status they were granted by Islam centuries ago. Muslim women didn’t like to be looked at as being backward and oppressed by men in a male-dominant world. According to the feminist historian Margot Badran, “Islamic feminism is a feminist discourse and practice articulated within an Islamic paradigm. Islamic feminism, which derives its understanding and mandate from the Qur 'an, seeks rights and justice for women, and for men, in the totality of their existence.” (Badran, 2001)