Portal:Feminism

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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. Some have argued that feminism often promotes misandry and the elevation of women's interests above men's, and criticize radical feminist positions as harmful to both men and women. (Full article...)

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The Well of Loneliness is a 1928 lesbian novel by the English author Radclyffe Hall. It follows the life of Stephen Gordon, an Englishwoman from an upper-class family whose "sexual inversion" (that is, homosexuality) is apparent from an early age. She finds love with Mary Llewellyn, whom she meets while serving as an ambulance driver in World War I, but their happiness together is marred by social isolation and rejection, which Hall depicts as having a debilitating effect on inverts. The novel portrays inversion as a natural, God-given state and makes an explicit plea: "Give us also the right to our existence". The Well became the target of a campaign by the editor of the Sunday Express newspaper, who wrote "I would rather give a healthy boy or a healthy girl a phial of prussic acid than this novel." Although its only sex scene consists of the words "and that night, they were not divided", a British court judged it obscene because it defended "unnatural practices between women". In the United States the book survived legal challenges in New York state and in Customs Court. Although few critics rate The Well highly as a work of literature, its treatment of sexuality and gender continues to inspire study and debate.

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Credit: Unknown; Restoration: Lise Broer

Helen Keller (1880–1968) was a deafblind American author, political activist, and lecturer. The story of how Keller's teacher, Anne Sullivan, broke through the isolation imposed by a near complete lack of language, allowing the girl to blossom as she learned to communicate, has become widely known through the dramatic depictions of the play and film The Miracle Worker. A prolific author, Keller was well-traveled, and was outspoken in her opposition to war. A member of the Socialist Party of America and the Industrial Workers of the World, she campaigned for women's suffrage, workers' rights, and socialism, as well as many other leftist causes.

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In this month

June 1949 – First publication of The Second Sex by Simone de Beauvoir, a detailed analysis of women's oppression which became a foundational text of contemporary feminism
June 1996 – Fauziya Kassindja was granted asylum in the United States in order to escape the tribal practice of female genital cutting. This set a precedent allowing the grant of asylum for gender discrimination.
21 June 1947 – Shirin Ebadi - Iranian lawyer and human rights activist who was the first Muslim woman awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her pioneering efforts on behalf of women's and children's rights
23 June 1879 – Birth of Hoda Shaarawi (pictured at right), a pioneering Egyptian feminist leader and nationalist; she founded the Egyptian Feminist Union and led protests, notably removing her face veil for the first time in public.
30 June 1966 – Foundation of the National Organization for Women in the United States, which promotes reproductive freedoms; diversity; the end of racism, rape and domestic violence; economic justice; lesbian rights; and constitutional equality for women.

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To me, a feminist belongs in the same category as a humanist or an advocate for human rights. I don't see why someone who's a feminist should be thought of differently.

— Suzanne Vega

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Sir John Vanbrugh was an English architect and dramatist, best known as the designer of Blenheim Palace. He wrote two argumentative and outspoken Restoration comedies, The Relapse (1696) and The Provoked Wife (1697), which have become enduring stage favourites but originally occasioned much controversy. Vanbrugh was in many senses a radical throughout his life. As a young man and a committed Whig, he was part of the scheme to overthrow James II, put William III on the throne and protect English parliamentary democracy, dangerous undertakings which landed him in the dreaded Bastille of Paris as a political prisoner. In his career as a playwright, he offended many sections of Restoration and 18th-century society, not only by the sexual explicitness of his plays, but by their messages in defence of women's rights in marriage. His architectural work was as bold and daring as his early political activism and his marriage-themed plays, and jarred conservative opinions on the subject.

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... that Margareth Rago seeks to establish a methodology for what she calls "feminist science"?
... 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?

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More did you know

...that opera singer Jessie Bartlett Davis (pictured) volunteered to pay for the publishing of the parlor song I Love You Truly, the first song written by a woman to sell one million copies?
...that Abby and Julia Smith fought for women's suffrage by refusing to pay taxes to the Town of Glastonbury, Connecticut and almost lost their property Kimberly Mansion?
...that Randi Weingarten, the openly gay president of the United Federation of Teachers, has been called one of the 25 most powerful women in New York City business?

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

Image 1The Nineteenth Amendment (from History of feminism)
Image 2
  Official holiday
  Holiday for women
  Non-official holiday
(from International Women's Day)
Image 3Nellie McClung (from History of feminism)
Image 4Elizabeth Cady Stanton (seated) and Susan B. Anthony (from History of feminism)
Image 5First edition print of A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (from History of feminism)
Image 6John Neal (from History of feminism)
Image 7Christine de Pizan presents her book to Queen Isabeau of Bavaria. (from History of feminism)
Image 8Catharine MacKinnon (from History of feminism)
Image 9Huda Shaarawi, founder of the Egyptian Feminist Union (from History of feminism)
Image 10Clara Zetkin (left) and Rosa Luxemburg (right) in January 1910 (from International Women's Day)
Image 11The vandalized Concepción Feminist Mural in Spain, which was vandalized on International Women's Day 2021. (from International Women's Day)
Image 128M 2018 in Pamplona (from International Women's Day)
Image 13Florence Nightingale (from History of feminism)
Image 14Frances Cobbe (from History of feminism)
Image 15A veil-burning ceremony in Andijan on International Women's Day in 1927. (from International Women's Day)
Image 16Author and scholar Helen Kendrick Johnson opposed women's suffrage. (from History of feminism)
Image 17Irena Krzywicka (from History of feminism)
Image 18Camilla Collett (from History of feminism)
Image 19María 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 20Matilda Joslyn Gage (from History of feminism)
Image 21Ida B. Wells (from History of feminism)
Image 228M 2020 in Spain (from International Women's Day)
Image 23Wealthy 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 24Germaine Greer in June 1972 (from History of feminism)
Image 25Bessie Rayner Parkes (from History of feminism)
Image 26Board of directors of "Jam'iat e nesvan e vatan-khah", a women's rights association in Tehran (1923–1933) (from History of feminism)
Image 27Suffrage parade in New York, May 6, 1912 (from History of feminism)
Image 28bell hooks (from History of feminism)
Image 29Margaret Sanger (from History of feminism)
Image 30Female members of the Australian Builders Labourers Federation march on International Women's Day 1975 in Sydney (from International Women's Day)
Image 31Marie Stopes (from History of feminism)
Image 32Cover of WSPU's The Suffragette, April 25, 1913 (after Delacroix's Liberty Leading the People, 1830) (from History of feminism)
Image 33Gloria Steinem at news conference, Women's Action Alliance, January 12, 1972 (from History of feminism)
Image 34Lucy Stone (from History of feminism)
Image 35Simone de Beauvoir (from History of feminism)
Image 36Women's Liberation march in Washington, D.C., 1970 (from History of feminism)
Image 37Betty Friedan 1960 (from History of feminism)
Image 38Emily Davison (from History of feminism)
Image 39An 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)
Image 40Women on the street celebrating International Women's Day in Cameroon (from International Women's Day)
Image 41Yellow mimosa is the symbol of IWD in Italy as well as in Russia, Ukraine and many other ex-Soviet Union republics (from International Women's Day)
Image 42Sylvia Pankhurst (from History of feminism)

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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