FEMINISM 

Introduction 

Feminism is the belief in the equality of the sexes, but it is often mistaken as the fight for women's rights alone. It is the belief that men and women should have equal treatment,  respect, rights and opportunities.

Feminism is an organised activity aimed at achieving political, social and economic rights for women and establishing equality of sexes.

Feminism refer to an instance awareness of identity as a woman and interest in feminine problem. Feminism is linked with women. Feminism is a social,  economic and political movement, based on two assumptions :– 

women are in disadvantages situation owing to their sex to resolve this situation.

Feminine  :– Noun denoting "Female  Gender."

Feminism has been concerned with different doctrines and viewpoints in different times,  sometimes it has taken a reformatory stand at others revolutionary. Feminist principles have been influenced by different political values and women movement has extended it into such domains as female suffrage, equality in education, equal opportunities in employment and salary, abortion and dress code etc.

A Vindication of the Rights of Women  (1972), written by Mary Wollstonecraft, is considered to Bible  of feminism. In the beginning it was mocked at describing it as "Hyena in petticoats". wollstonecraft empathetically argued for woman's rights. She opposed the views of Rousseau pertaining to ideal education for boys and girls, according to which it was necessary to develop in boys  the capacity to take free decisions so that they become good citizens,  and girls should be persons of good conduct, obedient and pure. 

• Feminism is the belief in the equality of the sexes, but it is often mistaken as the fight for women's rights alone.   It is the belief that men and women should have equal treatment, respect, rights and opportunities.

• The term 'Feminism' was first used by Charles Fourier in 1837, to link the status of women and social progress.

• Feminism is an organised activity aimed at achieving political, social and economic right for women and establishing equality of sexes. 

Role of  Feminism 

• Feminism concerned with different doctrines and viewpoints in different times.

• They take reformatory stand and revolutionary status. 

• Feminism is a system of thought and action, feminist is the women taking that action.

Waves of Feminism  :

• First  Wave of  Feminism 

The first-wave feminism was a period of feminist activity that occurred during the 19th and early 20th century throughout the Western world.  It focused on legal issues,  primarily on securing women's Right to vote.

What did it want?

- Women Suffrage  (Right to vote).

- Married women to be allowed to own  and inherit property,  and obtain legal identity independent from husbands. 

• Second  Wave of Feminism

⇒  The second wave of feminism is usually demarcated from the 1960s to the late 1980s.

⇒  This moment was initially concentrated in the United States of America and then spread to other Western countries it focused on issues of equality and discrimination.

⇒ The second- wave slogan "The Personal is Political" identified women's cultural and political inequalities with which encouraged to understand how their personal life reflected sexiest power structures. 

⇒  The proponent on the second wave of feminism was started by The Feminine  Mystique by Batty  Freidan in 1963. In his book she picturized the women from middle class,  leading prosperous and happy life. She criticized the idea that women could find fulfillment only through child-rearing and home making. Then in 1970 Radical Feminism Emerge.

⇒  Equal Pay  Act 1963 

⇒  Civil Right Act 1964

⇒  Formation of National Organisation for Women

⇒  Equal Credit Opportunity Act in 1974

• Third Wave of Feminism 

⇒  The third wave if Feminism is described as a sudden representation of Women at all levels of Government. 

⇒  The third wave feminism deals with issues which appear to limit or oppress women.

⇒  Gender Violence has become a central issue for third wave feminist.

⇒  The third wave of feminism was greatly focused on reproductive rights for women. Feminist advocated for a woman's right to make her own choices about her body and started that it was a basic right to have access to birth control and abortion. 

Fourth Wave of Feminism 

⇒  Fourth-Wave of feminism was created on the grounds of "the opposition to sexism, violence against women, sexual assault and rape culture on college campuses,  body shaming,  and workplace harassment." 

⇒  It began with Laura Bate's Every day Feminism project in 2012, which display some examples of sexism around the globe. 

#Me Too  Movement 

The #Me too movement was started by Tarana Burke in 2006 but become a social media trend in 2017 after the outing of movie Mogul Harvey  Weinstein when is time as a serial Sexual Predator against women in the film industry. 

                     Kinds of Feminism

                                  LIBERAL  FEMINISM 

⇒  Liberal feminism is an individualistic form of feminist theory, which focuses on women's ability to maintain their equality through their own actions and choices.

⇒ Liberal feminism seeks individualistic equality of men and women through political  and  legal  reform without altering the structure of society.

⇒  Due to this she argues that Liberal Feminism cannot offer any sustained analysis of the structures of male dominance,  power or privilege.

⇒  Declaring they would begin to make their own laws, free of male influence, the women's organisation brought liberal feminism to the forefront. 

⇒  Equal Pay Act, Sex Discrimination Act, Domestic Violence Act(Public and private sphere).

⇒  Some branches of feminism closely track the political leanings of the larger society,  such as libealism and conservatism,  or focus on the environment.

⇒  According to Jeelah Eliceteen (1979) Liberal feminism could not identity its shortcomes and inner -conflict with it's assumption of patriarchy and so it remained reformatory.

⇒  Feminist writers associated with this theory include Mary Wollstonecraft, John Stuart Mill,  Helen Taylor, Elizabeth Candy Stanton and Gina.  

Criticism 

⇒  Radical Feminist criticize that treating people equally mean treating women like men. 

⇒  Emphasis on Individual 

⇒  No attention given to the patriachal structure. 

RADICAL FEMINISM 

Radical feminists seek to abolish the patriarchy in order to "liberate everyone from an unjust society by challenging exiting social norms and institutions. 

⇒  Radical feminism is a perspective within feminism that calls for a radical reordering of society in which male supremacy is eliminated in all social and economic contexts. 

⇒  Radical feminists view society as fundamentally a patriarchy in which man dominate and opress woman.

SOCIALIST  FEMINISM 

⇒  Socialist feminism considers women oppression to be due to a complex interplay of social, economic and physiological factors. 

⇒  Marxist Feminism recognizes that women are oppressed due to their economic dependence on men.

⇒  Thus they insist that the only way to the end the oppression of women is to over throw the captalist system.

CULTURAL FEMINISM 

⇒ Cultural feminism refers to a philosophy that men and women have different approaches to the word around them,  and that greater value should be placed on the way women approach the world.

⇒  In some cases, cultural feminism argues that a woman's way of looking at the world is actually superior to men's. This perspective aims to unite all women, regardless of ethnicity, race, class or  age. 

⇒  The essence of being a woman is what makes women special and different compared to men, according to this view.

ECO-FEMINISM

Eco-feminism is a branch feminism that sees environmentalism, and the relationship between women and the earth, as the foundational to its analysis and practice. 

Eco feminist thinkers draw on the concept of gender to analyze the relationships between humans and the natural world.

Eco-feminist analysis explore the connections between women and nature in culture, religion, literature and iconography.