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History of feminism essay
The emergence of feminism
History of feminism essay
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Feminism
Feminism is a body of political movement and social theory primarily based on and motivated by the experiences of the sexes. While generally providing a critique of social relations, proponents of feminism also focus on analyzing gender inequality and the promotion of women’s rights, interest, and issues. However, having the major goal of developing into an equal society between genders. We have evolved, but our views on gender roles have not evolved.
History about feminism and the world of feminists is a good basis to help people understand the true meaning and reasoning behind feminism itself. The centuries-long fight for women's right to vote was not just about ballot-casting, but about securing women's right to participate as full citizens. For example, to own property, keep their hard-earned wages, have guardianship of their kids, and, of course, vote. While these rights are all direct outgrowths of classic liberalism, it's significance is nothing that when, in the mid-1800s, Elizabeth Cady Stanton argued that suffrage must be added to the platform of the burgeoning women's rights campaign, she was considered by many of her faction to be ridiculous, if not dangerously far-reaching. And subsequent suffrage campaigners like Alice Paul truly were militant activists, engaging in acts of civil insubordination to the disregard of more conservative suffragist (Fudge).
Now a strong issue that the population has when they hear the word feminism is that they naturally lead to the stereotype of feminism, which is called cultural feminism. Cultural feminism is a point of view that is reinforced by the essentialist strains of feminism positing that women are naturally, biologically different, and often better than men. But pe...
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...an part of the reason why women are at unequal rights, and quoted “That the female mind is inferior to the male mind need not be assumed. There is something about it essentially different and that this difference is of a kind and degree that votes for women would constitute a political danger ought to be plain to everyone. I do not wish to see the day come when the women in my state shall trail their skirts in the muck and mire of partisan politics. These flippant girls singing “votes for women” know not the disasters they invite by this reckless movement.”
The problem with gender is that it prescribes how we should be rather then recognizing how we are. Woman’s suffrage is caused by culture. Culture does not make people, people make culture. Chimamanda once defined feminist, the person who believes in the social, political, and economical equality of the sexes.
The term feminist is seen with a negative connotation because people use it as an insult against women in an effort to make them seem irrational and unfair, but in reality it is the exact opposite of that. Feminism is defined as the “belief in or advocacy of women’s social, political, and economic rights, especially with regard to equality of the sexes.” (Feminism). There is no reason that there should be a negative connotation to this belief or participation in advancing this belief, yet there is. This battle and struggle for equal rights has been going on for a very long time, but it really took off in the 1920s. The 19th amendment and The New Woman really helps to show how quickly women and their rights progressed in the United States. Many
“Feminism”, as defined today, is “1: the theory of the political, economic, and social equality of the sexes,” and “2: organized activity on behalf of women’s rights and interests.”2 Many critics claim that feminism has been active longer than the word itself has existed.3 The word, “feminist” was not in true use until the late 1800s and early 1900s, but activism for women’s rights was alive and well a...
Women were treated differently because they were not men. Whether they were male or female caused many problems for them and it just was not fair. Women were not allowed to vote because of their this. Gender is what this speech is mainly about. Women began fighting these injustices after World War II. They started fighting for a way to be able to vote with the men in their society. This is the way that it should have been all along. These men had no problems in their society. Is it because they were always the ones with the hand of power? Perhaps so. However, this was the problem because women felt as though they should be able to do anything that the men could, equally.
Feminism included the view from some feminist such as liberal feminist, socialist feminism, radical feminist post- modern feminist. Mostly, liberal feminist has being influenced by liberal theory or ideology that demands the equal right for women as well. In liberal feminism, feminism was defined when men and women are equally divided without discriminations. There are few writers that prominent to liberal feminism such as Mary Wollstonecraft, Maria steward,The Grimke Sisters,Betty Friedan and others. Basically, the liberal feminism defined by MaryWollstonecraft in her book name 'A Vindication of the Rights of Women' as:
In the United States, the feminist movement was a civil rights issue that sought to establish equality for women. The movement aimed to transform the lives of women in American society and exerted a profound global effect throughout the twentieth century. Today, individuals who support this movement are identified as feminist: an ideology that all individuals should identify with. Feminism is the doctrine that advocates women 's rights which advocates political, economic, and social equality in comparison to men (“feminism”). This movement for equality is a rational and logical idea that the Bill of Rights and the Constitution should be expanded to accommodate the other half of the human population, promoting inclusion, individual identity,
Feminism, in its simplest definition, is the belief that men and women should have equal rights and opportunities. (Webster) Feminists fight for equality for women to men socially, politically, and economically. At the peak of feminist discourse is equality for men and women in education and in employment. However, feminism also focuses on more than issues regarding the rights of women in relation to men. Issues of gender equality and women’s right to control their sexuality are also at the core of feminist theory. A key argument made by many feminists is how women have very little control over their sexuality, mainly being defined and controlled by men. T...
Feminism is a perspective that views gender as one of the most important bases of the structure and organization of the social world. Feminists argue that in most known societies this structure has granted women lower status and value, more limited access to valuable resources, and less autonomy and opportunity to make choices over their lives than it has granted men. (Sapiro 441)
Feminism can simply be defined as a range of movements and ideologies in which share a common ground in terms of defining, establishing and achieving equal opportunities to that of males, in regards to economic, cultural and social rights. It is a critique of male supremacy with efforts in changing this to end the social oppression of women. (Hooks, 2000)
Throughout history, women have remained subordinate to men. Subjected to the patriarchal system that favored male perspectives, women struggled against having considerably less freedom, rights, and having the burdens society placed on them that had been so ingrained the culture. This is the standpoint the feminists took, and for almost 160 years they have been challenging the “unjust distribution of power in all human relations” starting with the struggle for equality between men and women, and linking that to “struggles for social, racial, political, environmental, and economic justice”(Besel 530 and 531). Feminism, as a complex movement with many different branches, has and will continue to be incredibly influential in changing lives.
The word feminism is sometimes misinterpreted and associated with female superiority and hatred of men, although most people probably agree that feminism can mean the desire for social and economic parity. There is so much baggage surrounding this term that clarification of what feminism is and is not, is essential. Indeed, the way feminism has developed has not been pretty. “Feminism over the years have [sic] evolved away from its noble purpose of creating awareness and defending women rights to creating new ridiculous ‘belief systems.’...feminism has become more like a medium for angry women to vent their hatred and frustration towards man”(“Feminism is Chauvinism”). This definition goes completely against the true meaning of what feminism entails. Feminism can be defined as a fundamental respect for others and the desire for equality between men and women.
Feminism is defined as “the advocacy of women’s rights on the grounds of the equality of the sexes.” (Oxford English Dictionary) Politics has generally been seen as a mainly male dominated area, feminists have challenged this in recent years as women are stepping out of the stigmatic domestic roles and assuming roles in areas such as politics. Since the end of the 19th century, feminists have represented collective movement; liberal feminism on the other hand gears more towards the individual “rather than advocating wholesale revolutionary change.” (Browning, Gary K. 1997) Liberal feminism suggests that women should have same legal and political rights as men and participate fully in public political life. Their achievements include a reformation
Feminism is defined as the theory of the political, economic, and social equality of the sexes. It began as an organized activity on behalf of women?s rights and interests. This concept was developed to help women earn a place in a predominantly male society. Unfortunately over the years, the intentions of feminism have become distorted, not only by anti-feminists, but also by the feminists themselves. The principle of equality for women and men has turned into a fight in which feminists wish to be better than men. Feminism has been twisted and misunderstood so much that it has become a harmful idea.
The great United States was founded on the idea of freedom; though this great nation claims to be progressive and definitive in freedom when the majority of citizens have none. When it was declared in 1776 that ‘All men are created equal’ in the American Constitution they severely under-sided a majority of the country. The phrase ‘all men are created equal’ is not true equality, it is equality for the white man, particularly one who is wealthy and thrives off of a capitalist society. Our society needs feminism to provide the same freedoms for all American citizens; including achieving suffrage in every state, securing the vote not only for women, but people of colour, and promoting an environment in which every voice is heard.
The feminist movement helped earn women the right to vote, but even then, it wasn’t enough to get accepted into the workforce. They were given the strength to fight the journey for equality and social justice. There has been known to be three waves of feminism, each wave fighting for a different issue concerning women’s rights. Laws protecting sexual assault and alimony would be enacted, and women were now allowed custody of their children in divorce cases.
Outline and assess the view that patriarchy is the main cause of gender inequality (40 marks)