Portal:Feminism

The Feminism Portal

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.

Originating in late 18th-century Europe, feminist movements have campaigned and continue to campaign for women's rights, including the right to vote, run for public office, work, earn equal pay, own property, receive education, enter into contracts, have equal rights within marriage, and maternity leave. Feminists have also worked to ensure access to contraception, legal abortions, and social integration; and to protect women and girls from sexual assault, sexual harassment, and domestic violence. Changes in female dress standards and acceptable physical activities for women have also been part of feminist movements.

Many scholars consider feminist campaigns to be a main force behind major historical societal changes for women's rights, particularly in the West, where they are near-universally credited with achieving women's suffrage, gender-neutral language, reproductive rights for women (including access to contraceptives and abortion), and the right to enter into contracts and own property. Although feminist advocacy is, and has been, mainly focused on women's rights, some argue for the inclusion of men's liberation within its aims, because they believe that men are also harmed by traditional gender roles. Feminist theory, which emerged from feminist movements, aims to understand the nature of gender inequality by examining women's social roles and lived experiences. Feminist theorists have developed theories in a variety of disciplines in order to respond to issues concerning gender.

Numerous feminist movements and ideologies have developed over the years, representing different viewpoints and political aims. Traditionally, since the 19th century, first-wave liberal feminism, which sought political and legal equality through reforms within a liberal democratic framework, was contrasted with labour-based proletarian women's movements that over time developed into socialist and Marxist feminism based on class struggle theory. Since the 1960s, both of these traditions are also contrasted with the radical feminism that arose from the radical wing of second-wave feminism and that calls for a radical reordering of society to eliminate patriarchy. Liberal, socialist, and radical feminism are sometimes referred to as the "Big Three" schools of feminist thought.

Since the late 20th century, many newer forms of feminism have emerged. Some forms, such as white feminism and gender-critical feminism, have been criticized as taking into account only white, middle class, college-educated, heterosexual, or cisgender perspectives. These criticisms have led to the creation of ethnically specific or multicultural forms of feminism, such as black feminism and intersectional feminism. (Full article...)

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A Vindication of the Rights of Woman: with Strictures on Political and Moral Subjects (1792), written by the eighteenth-century British feminist Mary Wollstonecraft, is one of the earliest works of feminist philosophy. In it, Wollstonecraft responds to the educational and political theorists of the eighteenth century who wanted to deny women an education. She argues that women ought to have an education commensurate with their position in society, claiming that women are essential to the nation because they educate its children and because they could be "companions" to their husbands, rather than mere wives. Instead of viewing women as ornaments to society or property to be traded in marriage, Wollstonecraft maintains that they are human beings deserving of the same fundamental rights as men. Wollstonecraft was prompted to write the Rights of Woman by Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord's 1791 report to the French National Assembly which stated that women should only receive a domestic education; she used her commentary on this specific event to launch a broad attack against sexual double standards and to indict men for encouraging women to indulge in excessive emotion.

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Credit: Detroit Publishing Co.

A photochrom of an elderly Irish woman using a spinning wheel, a device for spinning thread or yarn from natural or human-made fibers. Manual spinning wheels were likely invented in the 13th century, replacing the earlier spindle and distaff, and remained in use until automated mass production techniques were invented in the Industrial Revolution. Hand-spinning remains a popular handicraft.

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In this month

May 1892 – Publication of "The Yellow Wallpaper" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman (pictured), a prominent American writer, and utopian feminist who argued for women's economic independence in Women and Economics
16 May 1929 – Birth of Adrienne Rich, award-winning lesbian American poet and feminist
20 May 1806 – Birth of John Stuart Mill, British philosopher whose essay The Subjection of Women argued for the equality of women
21 May 1970 – First Women's studies program established in the United States at San Diego State College after a year of intense consciousness raising, rallies, petitions, and unofficial classes
24 May 1990 – Judi Bari Day, honoring the American ecofeminist and labor leader who worked to protect the redwood forests of Northern California

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I’ve been described as a tough and noisy woman, a prize fighter, a man-hater, you name it. They call me Battling Bella, Mother Courage, and a Jewish mother with more complaints than Portnoy. There are those who say I’m impatient, impetuous, uppity, rude, profane, brash, and overbearing. Whether I’m any of those things, or all of them, you can decide for yourself. But whatever I am —and this ought to be made very clear—I am a very serious woman.

— Bella Abzug

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Emma Goldman was an anarchist known for her political activism, writing, and speeches. She was lionized as a free-thinking "rebel woman" by admirers, and derided as an advocate of politically-motivated murder and violent revolution by her critics. Born in the province of Kaunas, Lithuania she moved with her sister Helena to Rochester, New York in the United States at the age of sixteen. Attracted to anarchism after the Haymarket Riot, Goldman was trained by Johann Most in public speaking and became a renowned lecturer, attracting crowds of thousands. The writer and anarchist Alexander Berkman became her lover, lifelong intimate friend and comrade. Together they planned to assassinate Henry Clay Frick as an act of propaganda of the deed. Though Frick survived, Berkman was sentenced to twenty-two years in prison. In 1917 Goldman and Berkman were sentenced to two years in jail for conspiring to "induce persons not to register" for the newly instated draft. After their release from prison, they were arrested – with hundreds of others – and deported to Russia. Initially supportive of that country's Bolshevik revolution, Goldman quickly voiced her opposition to the Soviet use of violence and the repression of independent voices. Eventually she traveled to Spain to participate in that nation's civil war. She died in Toronto on 14 May 1940.

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... that after dying in her daughter's arms in an asylum in 1897, Maria Trubnikova was remembered as the "heart and soul" of feminist activism in Russia?
... that the retelling of stories can focus on female characters to reflect the feminist perspective?
... that Margareth Rago seeks to establish a methodology for what she calls "feminist science"?

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...that Marie-Anne Gaboury (pictured) was the first woman of European descent to travel to and settle in the Canadian west?
...that a woman, chamberlain Urszula Mayerin, was among the most influential figures at Sigismund III Vasa's court, signing official state documents in his name and receiving foreign ambassadors during his illness?
...that Peggy McKercher was the first woman to serve on the Corman Park Council?

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The following are images from various feminism-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 1María Elena Oddone holding a banner, on International Women's Day in 1984 in Argentina. The banner says "No to motherhood, yes to pleasure" (from International Women's Day)
Image 2bell hooks (from History of feminism)
Image 3Frances Cobbe (from History of feminism)
Image 4Bessie Rayner Parkes (from History of feminism)
Image 5Author and scholar Helen Kendrick Johnson opposed women's suffrage. (from History of feminism)
Image 6The White Feather: A Sketch of English Recruiting" (Arnold Bennett, 1914) (from History of feminism)
Image 7Yellow mimosa is the symbol of International Women's Day in Italy as well as in Russia, Ukraine and many other ex-Soviet Union republics (from International Women's Day)
Image 8Wealthy Chinese women with bound feet (Beijing, 1900). Foot binding was a symbol of women's oppression during the reform movements in the 19th and 20th centuries. (from History of feminism)
Image 9Irena Krzywicka (from History of feminism)
Image 10The Nineteenth Amendment (from History of feminism)
Image 11Gloria Steinem at news conference, Women's Action Alliance, January 12, 1972 (from History of feminism)
Image 12
  Official holiday
  Holiday for women
  Non-official holiday
(from International Women's Day)
Image 13Florence Nightingale (from History of feminism)
Image 14Ida B. Wells (from History of feminism)
Image 158M 2018 in Pamplona (from International Women's Day)
Image 16Lucy Stone (from History of feminism)
Image 17Cover of WSPU's The Suffragette, April 25, 1913 (after Delacroix's Liberty Leading the People, 1830) (from History of feminism)
Image 18Giorgia Meloni, first female prime minister of Italy at a 2024 Women's Day event in Rome (from International Women's Day)
Image 19Matilda Joslyn Gage (from History of feminism)
Image 20John Neal (from History of feminism)
Image 21Emily Davison (from History of feminism)
Image 22Christine de Pizan presents her book to Queen Isabeau of Bavaria. (from History of feminism)
Image 23Board of directors of "Jam'iat e nesvan e vatan-khah", a women's rights association in Tehran (1923–1933) (from History of feminism)
Image 24A veil-burning ceremony in Andijan on International Women's Day in 1927 (from International Women's Day)
Image 25Suffrage parade in New York, May 6, 1912 (from History of feminism)
Image 26Huda Shaarawi, founder of the Egyptian Feminist Union (from History of feminism)
Image 27Sylvia Pankhurst (from History of feminism)
Image 28First edition print of A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (from History of feminism)
Image 29Female members of the Australian Builders Labourers Federation march on International Women's Day 1975 in Sydney (from International Women's Day)
Image 30Marie Stopes (from History of feminism)
Image 31Margaret Sanger (from History of feminism)
Image 32Betty Friedan 1960 (from History of feminism)
Image 338M 2020 in Spain (from International Women's Day)
Image 34Nellie McClung (from History of feminism)
Image 35Simone de Beauvoir (from History of feminism)
Image 36Catharine MacKinnon (from History of feminism)
Image 37Germaine Greer in June 1972 (from History of feminism)
Image 38Women on the street celebrating International Women's Day in Cameroon (from International Women's Day)
Image 39Camilla Collett (from History of feminism)
Image 40Elizabeth Cady Stanton (seated) and Susan B. Anthony (from History of feminism)
Image 41Women's Liberation march in Washington, D.C., 1970 (from History of feminism)
Image 42The vandalized Concepción Feminist Mural in Spain, which was vandalized on International Women's Day 2021. (from International Women's Day)
Image 43Clara Zetkin (left) and Rosa Luxemburg (right) in January 1910 (from International Women's Day)
Image 44An Antimonumenta, installed in Mexico City on International Women's Day 2019, as photographed the day after. The circle part says "In Mexico 9 women are murdered daily" and the cross part says "Not one more!" On the opposite side, the Antimonumenta reads "We demand a national gender alert", and in the central part "No + Femicides" (from International Women's Day)

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This is a list of recognized content, updated weekly by JL-Bot (talk · contribs) (typically on Saturdays). There is no need to edit the list yourself. If an article is missing from the list, make sure it is tagged (e.g. {{WikiProject Feminism}}) or categorized correctly and wait for the next update. See WP:RECOG for configuration options.

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Alice Manfield - Guide Alice, Mt Buffalo, c1900-30, SLV
Alice Park - Records of the National Woman's Party
Alice Paul (1915) by Harris & Ewing
Angela Davis in a half-length portrait by Bernard Gotfryd - crop
Anne Dallas Dudley LOC
Avril de Sainte-Croix - Restored, cropped
Bertha Lutz 1925
Cabinet Card of Sojourner Truth - Collection of the National Museum of African American History and Culture
Convicts Lunatics and Women! Have No Vote for Parliament, ca. 1907-1918
Dr. Caroline Spencer 275029v
Ethel Smyth
Frances Benjamin Johnston, Self-Portrait (as "New Woman"), 1896
Fredrikke Mørck
George Charles Beresford - Virginia Woolf in 1902 - Restoration
Henrietta Rodman from the George Grantham Bain Collection
Henry Mayer, The Awakening, 1915 Cornell CUL PJM 1176 01 - Restoration
Hester Jeffrey
Hubertine Auclert 1910
Iris Calderhead
Joy Young Rogers outside the White House
Lucretia Mott, signed photo, by F. Gutekunst
Mabel Vernon, c. 1917, by Edmonston, Washington, D.C.
Marguerite Durand 1910 - Restoration
Marie Stopes in her laboratory, 1904 - Restoration
Mary Garrity - Ida B. Wells-Barnett - Google Art Project - restoration crop
Millicent Fawcett
Mrs. Crystal Eastman Benedict by Edmonston, Washington, D.C.
Mrs. Lillian Ascough, chairman of the Connecticut branch of the Woman's Party
Mrs. Pauline Adams 147002v
Portrett av Gina Krog (6276081582) - Restoration
Poster by Anna Soós Korànyi for the Seventh Conference of the International Woman Suffrage Alliance
Ray Strachey restored
Sojourner Truth, 1870 (cropped, restored)
Victoria Claflin Woodhull by Mathew Brady - Oval Portrait
Voltairine de Cleyre (Age 35)
We Can Do It! NARA 535413 - Restoration 2