Feminism

 

Feminism

Feminism isn’t about making women stronger. Women are already strong, it’s about changing the way the world perceives that strength. - G. D. Anderson

Charles Fourier, a utopian socialist and French philosopher, is credited with having coined the word feminisme in 1837.

Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that societies prioritize the male point of view and that women are treated unjustly in these societies. Efforts to change this include fighting against gender stereotypes and improving educational, professional, and interpersonal opportunities and outcomes for women.

The fight for equality was started very in the beginning when the seeds of Patriarchy were growing in the society. In India, during the vedic time, Gargi, Maitree and other women strongly took the instance of female and tried to established equality in the society. The awareness of early age females resulted in great contribution of females in vedic literatures, Buddhist and Bhakti literature. But over the time, the seeds of Patriarchy overshadowed the demand of gender equality. Nevertheless the feminists movement gathered momentum again in 18th century, , when women of Western world start raising demand for equality. 

Feminist movements have campaigned and continue to campaign for women's rights, including the right to vote, run for public office, work, equal pay, to own property, receive education, enter contracts, have equal rights within marriage, and maternity leave. Feminists have also worked to ensure access to contraception, legal abortions, and social integration and to protect women and girls from sexual assault, sexual harassment, and domestic violence.

Waves of Feminism

1. First Wave(19th-20th century)- In the UK and US, it focused on the promotion of equal contract, marriage, parenting, and property rights for women. Later it resulted in women suffrage movement and demands for reproductive and economic rights. First wave resulted in origin of Liberal and Marxist Feminism. 

2. Second Wave(1960s-1980s)- Second wave feminism broadened the debate to include a wider range of issues: sexuality, family, domesticity, the workplace, reproductive rights, de facto inequalities, and official legal inequalities. It gives rise to radical feminism a strong critics of patriarchal society. 

Second-wave feminism covered issues of domestic violence and marital rape, created Rape crisis centers and women's shelters, and brought about changes in custody laws and divorce law. Feminist-owned bookstores, credit unions, and restaurants were among the key meeting spaces and economic engines of the movement.

3. Third Wave(1990s~)- Third wave feminism empowered women to define feminism by themselves resulting in rise of regional/variational feminism in the form of micro police. While first and second waves were led by elitist and white feminisim, the third wave give rise to ethnic, religion and region based feminism like black feminism. 

4. Fourth Wave(21st century)- Feminism driven by technologies. Use of digital media(social media) to raise the issue of feminism. 

Types of Feminism

1. Liberal Feminism- It is the main branch of feminism and focused on achieving gender equality through political and legal reform within the framework of liberal democracy. 

Liberal feminism works within the structure of mainstream society to integrate women into that structure. On the Left-Right axis, Liberal feminism lies at the center. It tries to create change in gradual manner to establish the equality of gender. 

It is started with seeking recognition of women as equal citizens, focusing particularly on women's suffrage and access to education. And gradually broaden its spectrum to encompass different dimensions of human life to establish the equality of gender. 

2. Socialist/Marxist Feminism- A philosophical variant of feminism that incorporates the Marxist theory as a reason for gender inequality. As per Marxist Feminism, the gender inequality is not only outcome of the patriarchal society but also of Capitalism. 

As per this feminisn, the development of oppression and class division in the evolution of human society result in oppressive family structure. 

In capitalism, the work of maintaining a family has little material value, as it produces no marketable products. In Marxism, the maintenance of a family is productive, as it has a service value, and is used in the same sense as a commodity.

3. Radical Feminism- Radical feminism is a perspective within feminism that calls for a radical re-ordering of society in which male supremacy is eliminated in all social and economic contexts, while recognizing that women's experiences are also affected by other social divisions such as in race, class, and sexual orientation. 

Radical feminists view society fundamentally as a patriarchy in which men dominate and oppress women. Radical feminists seek to abolish the patriarchy in a struggle to liberate women and girls from a perceived unjust society by challenging existing social norms and institutions. This struggle includes opposing the sexual objectification of women, raising public awareness about such issues as rape and other violence against women, challenging the concept of gender roles. 

Other feminism includes ecofeminism, intersectional feminism

Views of Feminism

• Sexuality
• Patriarchy
• Transgendered
• Environment

Impacts of Feminism

• Polity
• Social
• Economical
• Environment
• Technology

A rosy-cheeked women, here I am fighting side by side with you men. The prison is my school, the sword is my child, the gun is my husband.