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 holds the position that modern societies are patriarchal—they 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.
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 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.
Postmodern feminism is a mix of postmodernism and French feminism that rejects a universal female subject. The goal of postmodern feminism is to destabilize the patriarchal norms entrenched in society that have led to gender inequality. Postmodern feminists seek to accomplish this goal through opposing essentialism,philosophy,and universal truths in favor of embracing the differences that exist amongst women in order to demonstrate that not all women are the same. These ideologies are rejected by postmodern feminists because they believe if a universal truth is applied to all women of society,it minimizes individual experience,hence they warn women to be aware of ideas displayed as the norm in society since it may stem from masculine notions of how women should be portrayed.
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.
Katharine Penelope 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 have been described 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.
Women have made significant contributions to philosophy 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 Simone Weil Susanne Langer,G.E.M. Anscombe,Hannah Arendt and Simone de Beauvoir entered the canon.
Mihaela Miroiu is a Romanian political theorist and feminist philosopher,the most prominent activist for women's rights and a very well known activist for Roma rights and,more generally,for the rights of minorities. She is currently a professor of Political science at the Faculty of Political Science,National University of Political Studies and Public Administration,Bucharest.
Sally Miller Gearhart was an American teacher,feminist,science-fiction writer,and political activist. In 1973,she became the first open lesbian to obtain a tenure-track faculty position when she was hired by San Francisco State University,where she helped establish one of the first women and gender study programs in the country. She later became a nationally known gay rights activist.
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.
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.
Andrea Nye is a feminist philosopher and writer. Nye is a Professor Emerita at the University of Wisconsin–Whitewater for the Philosophy and Religious Studies Department and an active member of the Women's Studies Department. In 1992,Nye received the University of Wisconsin–Whitewater Award for Outstanding Research.
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 the early 2010s 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 the 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.
The origins of feminism in Brazil trace back to the 19th century. During the Empire of Brazil,some jurists attempted to legalize women's suffrage,with or without the consent of the husband. Later,the republican constitution of 1891 did not exclude women from voting,because they were not considered individuals who could have rights. That made some women request,without success,their inclusion among the voters. The 1891 constitution initially had a clause that gave women the right to vote,but it was abolished in its last version because the idea that politics was not an honorable activity for women prevailed.
