Essay on Feminism and Modern Feminist Theory

Liberal feminism wanted to integrate women into modern day society. The argument was that social problems were mostly caused by the ignorance and social constraints of freedom of choice for women. The inequality in gender resulted from the socialization that forces everyone to grow up with the wrong ideas that men and women cannot choose how to live their own lives. They have been taught from the beginning of life that men and women are

Let’s begin with what feminism really is. Feminist theory, according to my first literary criticism, by Haiyan Gao, is to achieve gender equality in all of humanity. “All feminist theory has a basic premise, which is, women worldwide are under an oppression, discrimination, and hierarchy state. In such a social structure prevalent among women in the political, economic, cultural, ideological, knowledge, ideas, ethics and other fields are in an unequal position with men, even in a private sphere of family, women are also in a position of inequality with men. Feminism

Liberal feminism, which is mainly concerned with solving all social problems to fight ignorance and social restraints on freedom of choice for everyone, not just woman.

Liberal feminists-is all about maintaining their equality and this is judged on the way they act as a person or the choices they choose to

Feminism and feminist social theory unlike other theoretical perspectives is woman-centered and inter-disciplinary, hence promotes methods of achieving social justice. The feminism and feminist social theory takes into consideration three questions, what of the women? Why is the present social world as it is today? Additionally, how can the social world be changed to make it more just for the women and all people alike? In recent developments, feminist theorists have begun questioning the differences between women. The areas under question include race, ethnicity, class, age intersect, and gender. In summation, the feminist theory involves the concern with giving women world over voice, and highlighting how they have contributed to the

There are many different forms of feminism that range from radical to more classic liberal feminism. Such a large range makes it easy to identify as a feminist. In the simplest of terms, feminism is equality between all genders. The action of creating gender equality is not something I question. Moreover, gender equality in all aspects of life should be as easily excepted as humans requiring oxygen to breath.

Firstly, Liberal feminist are focused on human and civil rights and freedom of individuals, to summarise, they believe that all humans should have equal rights within their society. They believe that society changing itself to help women does not happen. Liberal feminists believe the status of women changing can become a reality if laws that are oppressing for women change because it would create more opportunities for women to prove that they are equal to men. Oakley explains a difference between sex and gender. Oakley believes sex differences are set

Out of all three, liberal feminism is the most widely known and is often what most think of when they think of feminism. This kind of moderate, mainstream feminism contemplates the public sphere, on legal, political, and institutional struggle for the rights of individuals. This was a time when women really wanted to stop feeling pressured by all those around them. Third Wave feminist wanted freedom from interference by the state, but most importantly from the bonds of custom and prejudice imposed to them by society. They argued the idea of sameness and favored the idea that men and women were simply equal. This led to them simply wanting reforms to work towards this equality as opposed to the Marxist idea of revolution. When it comes to radical feminism there is a rejection of the more liberal idea of assimilating women into areas of activity associated with men. Instead they focus on women’s own oppression as women in a social order dominated by men and the fact that they are oppressed as women and not as members of other groups or social

The liberal individualist concept of persons and the feminist concepts of persons are different. However, both concepts represent a form of feminism that aims to promote equality between men and women.

“Feminism is the radical notion that women are human beings.” ― Cheris Kramarae. Feminism, as defined by merriam-webster’s collegiate dictionary,[2] is “the theory of political, economic, and social equality of the sexes.” A ‘Feminist’ is someone who

By definition, feminism is the ideology that women have the right to be perceived as equal to men in terms of politics, business, and economically. For the last couple of decades, feminism has helped shape our society and the way men perceive women. Because of feminism, women in the United States of America were allowed to vote by August of 1920. Women now have the right to do so many things that would have been considered a taboo back in the early 20th century. Women can own their own businesses, and they can also become more politically involved, such an example would be Margaret Thatcher, ex-prime minister of the United Kingdom. Feminism has gone through many stages throughout the years, these stages have been named “waves”, and they include first wave feminism, second wave feminism, third wave feminism, and the most recent coined term: fourth wave feminism.

They state that gender inequality is at the core of society’s culture and values, that socialization in gender roles creates inflexible expectations of men and women, and discrimination stops women from having equal opportunities (“Feminist Perspectives on Society”). They do not seek big change; just expect small changes to take place in the existing structure in order to reach the main goal of creating equal opportunities (“Feminist Perspectives on Society”). They are the most likely to bring the most impact on how women live, and create the biggest population of women with similar beliefs (“Feminist Perspectives on Society”). Liberal feminism is the most mainstream group of beliefs in the world. They simply want peace and equality for

Liberal feminists are not so concerned with justice, or true equality, however. Although they encourage women to challenge a male dominated society for acceptance as an equal, they do not believe that everyone possesses equal ability or an equal right to societal resources (Freidman et al., 20111, p. 5), ergo ‘justice’. Equality for liberal feminists means equal opportunity to work for what they want - to compete with men on equal terms in both professional and political arenas (Freidman et al., 20111, p. 6). As far as equality in the social arena, liberal feminists are not generally concerned with traditional gender stereotypes and sexism within present society (Freidman et al., 20111, p. 6).

Feminism is an umbrella term for people who think there is something wrong with the idea that gender has the capability to limit an individual’s social and political right. Even if there is inequality between men and women, feminism has never been the main reason to give women their civil rights. Feminism started among European activists in the 19th century, when women were not treated equally and were not elected to high positions of power. Indeed, it sought to eliminate sexism in all forms. While feminism has made advances for women to compete with men and narrow gender differences, feminism is still not a way for creating equality due to opposition and to the existence of different types of feminism, such

There is no one definite conclusion that makes up feminist ideals; it is rather a compilation of theories set to achieve a common goal, the enhancement of the quality of life for women. Since the first wave of feminist thought began back in 1835, there have been extensive changes in the opinions of individual feminists. There have been three main waves of feminist theories each yielding its own unique opinion on how to achieve their common goal of equality. Out of the three waves, liberal feminism emerged first, which was a type of gender reform feminism. Secondly came radical feminism, which was a type of gender resistance feminism. These two traditions of feminism have their strengths, however liberal feminism would be the one that I most identify with. I believe that liberal feminists theories are more applicable to the social and economic structure of our society. Liberal feminism continues to be the least radical of the two different types of traditions. With that being said, it is because of the traditional nature of liberal feminists that I personally agree with their ideologies over radical feminism. To explain why I chose liberal feminism over radical feminism I will go over the two different types in detail and discuss each of their political agendas for social and economic equality.