Feminism

Feminism refers to movements aimed at establishing and defending equal political, economic, and social rights and equal opportunities for women. Its concepts overlaps with those of women’s rights. Feminism – That is, persons practicing feminism – can be persons of either sex. Feminist theory emerged from these feminist movements and includes general theories and theories about the origins of inequality and in some cases about the social construction of sex and gender, in a variety of disciplines. First – wave feminism sought equality in property rights, changes in the marriage relationship, and eventually in women’s suffrage or women’s right to vote. Second – wave feminism also sometimes called women’s liberation, began in 1960s and focused on discrimination and on cultural, social and political issues and books about it included The Feminine Mystique and The Second Sex. It was often accused of orienting to upper middle-class white women and sometimes, of biological essentialism. Third – wave feminism began in the 1980s or early 1990s and addresses feminism across class and race lines.