Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political,economic,personal,and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that societies prioritize the male point of view,and that women are treated unjustly within those societies. Efforts to change that include fighting against gender stereotypes and establishing educational,professional,and interpersonal opportunities and outcomes for women that are equal to those for men.
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. The ideology and movement emerged in the 1960s.
Christina Marie Hoff Sommers is an American author and philosopher. Specializing in ethics,she is a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute. Sommers is known for her critique of contemporary feminism. Her work includes the books Who Stole Feminism? (1994) and The War Against Boys (2000). She also hosts a video blog called The Factual Feminist.
Women's studies is an academic field that draws on feminist and interdisciplinary methods in order to place women's lives and experiences at the center of study,while examining social and cultural constructs of gender;systems of privilege and oppression;and the relationships between power and gender as they intersect with other identities and social locations such as race,sexual orientation,socio-economic class,and disability.
The history of feminism comprises the narratives of the movements and ideologies which have aimed at equal rights for women. While feminists around the world have differed in causes,goals,and intentions depending on time,culture,and country,most Western feminist historians assert that all movements that work to obtain women's rights should be considered feminist movements,even when they did not apply the term to themselves. Some other historians limit the term "feminist" to the modern feminist movement and its progeny,and use the label "protofeminist" to describe earlier movements.
Womanism is a social theory based on the history and everyday experiences of black women. It seeks,according to womanist scholar Layli Maparyan (Phillips),to "restore the balance between people and the environment/nature and reconcil[e] human life with the spiritual dimension". Writer Alice Walker coined the term "womanist" in a short story,"Coming Apart",in 1979. Since Walker's initial use,the term has evolved to envelop varied,and often opposing,interpretations of concepts such as feminism,men,and blackness.
Feminist sociology is an interdisciplinary exploration of gender and power throughout society. Here,it uses conflict theory and theoretical perspectives to observe gender in its relation to power,both at the level of face-to-face interaction and reflexivity within social structures at large. Focuses include sexual orientation,race,economic status,and nationality.
Janice G. Raymond is an American lesbian radical feminist and professor emerita of women's studies and medical ethics at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. She is known for her work against violence,sexual exploitation,and medical abuse of women,and for her controversial work denouncing transsexuality and the transgender rights movement.
Antifeminism,also spelled anti-feminism,is opposition to some or all forms of feminism. In the late 19th century and early 20th century antifeminists opposed particular policy proposals for women's rights,such as the right to vote,educational opportunities,property rights,and access to birth control. In the mid and late 20th century antifeminists often opposed the right to abortion and,in the United States,the Equal Rights Amendment. In the early 21st century antifeminism has sometimes been an element of violent,far-right extremist acts.
Katharine Burdekin was a British novelist who wrote speculative fiction concerned with social and spiritual matters. She was the younger sister of Rowena Cade,creator of the Minack Theatre in Cornwall. Several of her novels could be categorised as feminist utopian/dystopian fiction. She also wrote under the name Kay Burdekin and under the pseudonym Murray Constantine. Daphne Patai unraveled "Murray Constantine's" true identity while doing research on utopian and dystopian fiction in the mid-1980s.
Although men have generally dominated philosophical discourse,women have been philosophers throughout the history of the discipline. Ancient examples include Maitreyi,Gargi Vachaknavi,Hipparchia of Maroneia and Arete of Cyrene. Some women philosophers were accepted during the medieval and modern eras,but none became part of the Western canon until the 20th and 21st century,when some sources indicate that Susanne Langer,G.E.M. Anscombe,Hannah Arendt and Simone de Beauvoir entered the canon.
Feminism in Egypt has involved a number of social and political groups throughout its history. Although Egypt has in many respects been a forerunner in matters of reform particularly "in developing movements of nationalism,of resistance to imperialism and of feminism," its development in fighting for equality for women and their rights has not been easy.
Equity feminism is a form of liberal feminism that advocates the state's equal treatment of women and men without challenging inequalities perpetuated by employers,educational and religious institutions,and other elements of society. The concept has been discussed since the 1980s. Equity feminism has been defined and classified as a kind of classically liberal or libertarian feminism,in contrast with social feminism,difference feminism,gender feminism,and equality feminism.
Noretta Koertge is an American philosopher of science noted for her work on Karl Popper and scientific rationality.
Ann Ferguson,is an American philosopher,and Professor Emerita of Philosophy and Women's Studies at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. She served as Amherst's director of women's studies from 1995 to 2001. She is known for her work on feminist theory.
Sharon Jean Traweek is associate professor in the Department of Gender Studies and History at University of California,Los Angeles. Her book Beamtimes and Lifetimes:The World of High Energy Physicists,which explores the social world of particle physicists,has been cited in thousands of books and articles relating to the sociology of science and translated into Chinese in 2003.
Fourth-wave feminism is a feminist movement that began around 2012 and is characterized by a focus on the empowerment of women,the use of internet tools,and intersectionality. The fourth wave seeks greater gender equality by focusing on gendered norms and marginalization of women in society.
Celia Amorós Puente is a Spanish philosopher,essayist and supporter of feminist theory. She is a key figure in the so-called equality feminism and focused an important part of her research in the building of relations between Enlightenment and feminism. Her book Hacia una crítica de la razón patriarcal constitutes a new outlook on the gender perspective of philosophy,revealing the biases of androcentrism and claims a critical review on behalf of women.
Ana de Miguel Álvarez is a Spanish philosopher and feminist. Since 2005 she has been a titular professor of Moral and Political Philosophy at King Juan Carlos University of Madrid. She directs the course History of Feminist Theory at the Complutense University of Madrid's Instituto de Investigaciones Feministas.
Alicia Helda Puleo García is an Argentine-born feminist philosopher based in Spain. She is known for the development of ecofeminist thinking. Among her main publications is Ecofeminismo para otro mundo posible.
