Feminism

Feminism is a political and social movement based on the idea that women and men should have equal rights and opportunities. The movement examines how power, wealth, and work are distributed between genders, and seeks to change laws and customs that create inequality.

The term originates from French (féminisme) and became established in European languages during the nineteenth century. Feminism is not a single perspective: there are several schools of thought that differ on the causes of inequality and methods of change—including liberal feminism, which emphasizes law and individual rights; socialist feminism, which connects inequality to economics; and radical feminism, which focuses on broader social structures.

Brief history

History is commonly divided into waves. The first wave (late nineteenth to early twentieth century) focused on legal rights: voting, property ownership, and education. The second wave (1960s and 1970s) addressed work, family, reproductive rights, and violence. The third and fourth waves emphasized the diversity of women's experiences across race, class, and online spaces. This wave framework is general and does not apply evenly across all regions of the world.

Key ideas

One foundational idea is the distinction between biological sex and socially constructed gender roles—the idea that many traits attributed to nature are actually learned by society. Another concept is intersectionality, which holds that gender inequality interacts with inequalities based on race, class, sexuality, and nationality, and therefore cannot be understood in isolation.

Contested issues

The movement has faced internal and external debate. Internally, there are disputes over personal freedom versus social protection, questions about sexual autonomy, and concerns from women in the Global South that Western feminist ideas are being imposed on their contexts. Externally, there is resistance from cultural and religious groups who believe some demands conflict with family values and tradition.