FEMINISM

FEMINISM is a chain of political movements, ideologies or a political stance sharing a

common goal i.e. to seek and establish equal political, economic and social rights for
women. It is inclusive of acquiring equal status for women in education and employment.

Charles Fourier, a Utopian socialist and French

philosopher, coined the term ‘feminisme’ in 1837. Since then the word appeared in different
countries in different point of time. Going through historical records, it has been noted that
feminists around the world have had different causes and goals. Early feminist historians
proposed the fact that the term ‘feminist’ must be used to address the social workers who
worked for women centric issues even if they don’t align themselves to the term. Other
historians belief that the term should be limited to the modern feminists and it’s
descendants. These historians use the term ‘protofeminist’ to describe earlier movements’.

The history of modern western feminism has been divided into three waves.
The first wave comprised women’s suffrage movements of the nineteenth and early
twentieth centuries. The second wave was associated with the ideas and actions of the
women’s liberation movement beginning in the 1960’s. it basically emphasised on the legal
and social equality for women. The third wave is a continuation of and reaction to the
failure of second wave feminism beginning in the 1990’s.

Feminist theory is the extension of feminism into theoretical

or philosophical fields. It encompasses work in a variety of disciplines, including
anthropology, sociology, economics, women's studies, literary criticism, art history,
psychoanalysis and philosophy Feminist theory aims to understand gender inequality and
focuses on gender politics, power relations, and sexuality. While providing a critique of
these social and political relations, much of feminist theory also focuses on the promotion of
women's rights and interests.

TYPES OF FEMINISM

Since the inception of the term ‘feminism’, some branches of feminism closely track the
political leanings of the larger society, such as liberalism and conservatism, or focus on the
environment. And accordingly certain divisions were made regarding the types of feminism.
Some of them are – liberal feminism, radical feminism, conservative feminism, eco
feminism and black feminism.
LIBERAL FEMINISM
Liberal feminism is a form of feminist theory, which emphasises on women’s ability to
maintain their equality through their actions and choices. Liberal feminists argue that
society tends to belief that women are, by nature, less intellectual and physically capable
than men and thus encourages the trend of patriarchy. Thus it tends to discriminate against
women in the academy, the forum, and the marketplace. Liberal feminists believe that
"female subordination is rooted in a set of customary and legal constraints that blocks
women’s entrance to and success in the so-called public world". They strive for sexual
equality via political and legal reform.

After winning the vote in 1920, the liberal feminists became quiet for some
time. It was then in the year 1960 during the civil rights movement, liberal feminists drew
parallels between systemic race discrimination and sex discrimination. Several organisations
were formed during that time to take forward women’s rights. Some of them were National
Organization for Women, the National Women's Political Caucus, and the Women's Equity Action
League. In the U.S., these groups have worked for the ratification of the Equal Rights
Amendment or "Constitutional Equity Amendment", in the hopes it will ensure that men
and women are treated as equals under the democratic laws that also influence important
spheres of women's lives, including reproduction, work and equal pay issues. Other issues
important to liberal feminists include but are not limited to reproductive rights and abortion
access, sexual harassment, voting, education, fair compensation for work, affordable
childcare, affordable health care, and bringing to light the frequency of sexual and domestic
violence against women.

Popular feminist writers associated with this theory are Mary Wollstonecraft, John Stuart Mill, Helen
Taylor; Second Wave feminists Betty Friedan and Gloria Steinem; and the Third Wave feminist
Rebecca Walker.

CRITIQUES

Critics of liberal feminism argue that its individualist assumptions make it difficult to see the
ways in which underlying social structures and values disadvantage women. They argue that
even if women are not dependent upon individual men, they are still dependent upon a
patriarchal state. These critics believe that institutional changes like the introduction of
women's suffrage are insufficient to emancipate women.

One of the most prevalent critiques of liberal feminism is that it, as a study, allows too much
of its focus to fall on a "metamorphosis" of women into men, and in doing so, disregards the
significance of the traditional role of women. Liberal feminism focuses on the individual, and
in doing so, discredits the importance of the community. A historical critique of liberal
feminism focuses on its racist, classist and heterosexist past. One of the leading scholars
who have critiqued liberal feminism is radical feminist Catherine A. MacKinnon. Catherine A.
MacKinnon is an American lawyer, writer and social activist. Specializing in issues regarding
sex equality, she has been intimately involved in the case regarding the definition of sexual
harassment and sex discrimination. She, among other leading scholars, view liberalism and
feminism as incompatible because liberalism offers women a, “piece of the pie as currently
and poisonously baked.”

Other critics such as black feminists and postcolonial feminists assert that mainstream
liberal feminism reflects only the values of middle-class white women and has largely
ignored women of different races, cultures or classes.

RADICAL FEMINISM

Radical feminism is a perspective within feminism that calls for a radical reordering of
society in which male supremacy is eliminated in all social and economic contexts. Radical
feminists seek to abolish patriarchy by challenging existing social norms and institutions,
rather than through a purely political process. This includes challenging the notion of
traditional gender roles, opposing the sexual objectification of women, and raising public
awareness about such issues as rape and violence against women.

Early radical feminism, arising within second-wave feminism in the 1960s, typically viewed
patriarchy as a "trans historical phenomenon" prior to or deeper than other sources of
oppression, "not only the oldest and most universal form of domination but the primary
form" and the model for all others. Later politics derived from radical feminism ranged from
cultural feminism to more syncretic politics that placed issues of class, economics, etc. on a
par with patriarchy as sources of oppression. Radical feminists locate the root cause of
women's oppression in patriarchal gender relations, as opposed to legal systems (as in
liberal feminism) or class conflict (as in socialist feminism).

CRITIQUES

During the early years, some radical feminists were criticized for emphasizing sex-based
discrimination at the expense of race and class-based discrimination, for being unwilling to
work with men to effect change through political channels, and for reinforcing gender
essentialism (the idea that men and women are inherently different).

According to Ellen Willis 1984 essay Radical Feminism and Feminist Radicalism, within the
New Left, radical feminists were accused of being "bourgeois", "anti-left", or even
"apolitical", whereas they saw themselves as further "radicalizing the left by expanding the
definition of radical". Early radical feminists tended to be white and middle class. Willis
hypothesized that this was, at least in part, because "most black and working-class women
could not accept the abstraction of feminist issues from race and class issues"; the resulting
narrow demographic base, in turn, limited the validity of generalizations based on radical
feminists' personal experiences of gender relations. Many early radical feminists broke
political ties with "male-dominated left groups", or would work with them only in ad hoc
coalitions.

Also, Willis, although very much a part of early radical feminism and continuing to hold that
it played a necessary role in placing feminism on the political agenda, later criticized its
inability "to integrate a feminist perspective with an overall radical politics," while viewing
this limitation as inevitable in the historical context of the times. In part this limitation arose
from the fact that consciousness raising, as "the primary method of understanding women's
condition" in the movement at this time and its "most successful organizing tool", led to an
emphasis on personal experience that concealed "prior political and philosophical
assumptions".

CONSERVATIVE FEMINISM

The concept of a conservative feminist is, at best, a misinformed and uneducated attempt at
appropriation of women’s rights, as if there’s no such thing as “conservative feminism,” only
some forms that are more conservative than others. A more extreme belief is that a
conservative feminist identity is an attempt to undercut women’s efforts towards equality
by masking a patriarchal wolf in the sheep’s clothing of women’s rights. Yet, feminists who
strive for ‘reproductive rights,’ namely abortion, inevitably foster the perception that
women are incapable of motherhood while maintaining a career. The legality of abortion
empowers irresponsible men, negates societal resources and services, and underutilizes
science and medicine more than it frees women by creating parity.

ECO FEMINISM

Ecofeminism describes movements and philosophies that link feminism with ecology. The
term is believed to have been coined by the French writer Françoise d'Eaubonne in her book
Le Féminisme ou la Mort (1974). From arguments that there are particular and significant
connections between women and nature, ecofeminism interprets their repression and
exploitation in terms of the repression and exploitation of the environment. Eco feminists
believe that these connections are illustrated through traditionally "feminine" values such as
reciprocity, nurturing and cooperation, which are present both among women and in
nature. Women and nature are also united through their shared history of oppression by a
patriarchal Western society.
In the 1993 essay entitled "Ecofeminism: Toward Global Justice and Planetary Health"
authors Greta Gaard and Lori Gruen outline what they call the "ecofeminist framework."
The essay provides a wealth of data and statistics in addition to laying out the theoretical
aspects of the ecofeminist critique. The framework described is intended to establish ways
of viewing and understanding our current global situations so that we are better able to
understand how we arrived at this point and what may be done to ameliorate the ills. The
four sides of the frame are: the mechanistic materialist model of the universe that resulted
from the scientific revolution and the subsequent reduction of all things into mere resources
to be optimized, dead inert matter to be used; the rise of patriarchal religions and their
establishment of gender hierarchies along with their denial of immanent divinity; self and
other dualisms and the inherent power and domination ethic it entails; and capitalism and
its intrinsic need for the exploitation, destruction and instrumentalization of animals, earth
and people for the sole purpose of creating wealth. They hold that these four factors have
brought us to what ecofeminists see as a "separation between nature and culture" that is
the root source of our planetary ills.

CRITIQUES

The major criticism of ecofeminism is that it is essentialist. The ascribed essentialism

appears two main areas:

 Adherence to strict dichotomy between men and women: Some eco-feminist

critiques are that the dichotomy between women and men and nature and culture
creates a dualism that is too stringent and focused in the difference of women and
men. That eco-feminism too strongly correlates the social status of women with the
social status of nature, rather than the non-essentialist view that women along with
nature both have masculine and feminine qualities, and that just like feminine
qualities have often been seen as less worthy, nature is also seen as having lesser
value than culture, or the qualities involved in these concepts.
 Divergent view regarding participation in oppressive structures: As opposed to
radical and liberation-based feminist movements, mainstream feminism (that most
tightly bound with hegemonic social status) strives to promote equality within the
existing social and political structure, such as making it possible for women to occupy
positions of power in business, industry and politics, using direct involvement as the
main tactic for achieving pay equity and influence. In contrast, many ecofeminists
would stand in opposition to active engagement in these arenas, as these are the
very structures that the movement intends to dismantle.
BLACK FEMINISM

Black feminism is a school of thought which argues that sexism, class oppression, gender
identity and racism are inextricably bound together. The way these concepts relate to each
other is called intersectionality. The term intersectionality theory was first coined by legal
scholar Kimberlé Crenshaw in 1989. In her work, Crenshaw discussed Black feminism, which
argues that the experience of being a black woman cannot be understood in terms of being
black or of being a woman. Each concept is considered independently, but must include the
interactions, which frequently reinforce each other and also motherhood is very important.
Feminism at its core is a movement to abolish the inequalities women face. The Combahee
River Collective argued in 1974 that the liberation of black women entails freedom for all
people, since it would require the end of racism, sexism, and class oppression.

Black feminism became popular in the 1960s, in response to the sexism of the Civil Rights
Movement and racism of the feminist movement. From the 1970s to 1980s, black feminists
formed various groups which addressed the role of black women in Black Nationalism, gay
liberation, and second-wave feminism. In the 1990s, the Anita Hill controversy placed black
feminism in a mainstream light. Black feminist theories reached a wider audience in the
2010s, as a result of social media advocacy.

Among the theories that evolved out of the black feminist movement are Alice Walker's
womanism, and historical revisionism with an increased focus on black women. Angela
Davis, bell hooks, Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw, and Patricia Hill Collins have emerged as
leading academics on black feminism, whereas black celebrities, notably Beyoncé, have
encouraged mainstream discussion of black feminism.

CONCLUSION

These are in short the types of feminism. Feminism however in the modern era has been
misused in different ways. Rather misconstrued. It can be defined as a political stance for
establishing equality between men and women in the society. Some feminist deny the
existing special privileges in the society for women while some others try to avail them.
Hence not only in the ancient times, but also in the present day different feminists have
different goals and causes.