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 societies 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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Mary: A Fiction is the first and only complete novel written by the eighteenth-century British feminist Mary Wollstonecraft. It tells the tragic story of a heroine's successive "romantic friendships" with a woman and a man. Composed while Wollstonecraft was a governess in Ireland, the novel was published in 1788 shortly after her summary dismissal and her momentous decision to embark on a writing career, a precarious and disreputable profession for women in eighteenth-century Britain. Inspired by Jean-Jacques Rousseau's idea that geniuses are self-taught, Wollstonecraft chose a rational, self-taught heroine, Mary, as the central character of her novel. Helping to redefine genius (a word which at the end of the eighteenth century was only beginning to take on its modern meaning of exceptional or brilliant), Wollstonecraft describes Mary as independent and capable of defining femininity and marriage for herself. It is Mary's "strong, original opinions" and her resistance to "conventional wisdom" that mark her as a genius. Making her heroine a genius allowed Wollstonecraft to criticize marriage as well: geniuses were "enchained" rather than enriched by marriage.

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Credit: American colony photographers

A Bedouin woman in traditional attire, c. 1898-1914. Bedouin in the Sinai wore apparel modified for the desert environment, usually cotton, poplin, or sateen. Black was the preferred fabric color. Sinai and Negev Bedouin women used the same brightly colored embroidery cross-stitch used throughout Palestinian villages. Embroidery indicated a woman's marital status: blue for unmarried women and red for married women.

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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 am a feminist, and I define myself: Be yourself, because if you can get away with it, that is the ultimate feminist act.

— Liz Phair

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Sarah Trimmer (née Kirby) (1741 – 1810) was a noted writer and critic of British children's literature in the eighteenth century. Her periodical, The Guardian of Education, helped to define the emerging genre by seriously reviewing children's literature for the first time. Trimmer's most popular children's book, Fabulous Histories, inspired numerous children's animal stories and remained in print for over a century. Trimmer was an active philanthropist as well as author; she founded several Sunday schools and charity schools in her parish. To further these educational projects, she not only wrote textbooks but she also penned manuals for other women interested in starting their own schools. Trimmer's efforts inspired other women, such as Hannah More, to establish Sunday school programs and to write for children and the poor. Trimmer was in many ways dedicated to maintaining the social and political status quo in her works. As a high church Anglican, she was intent on promoting the Established Church of Britain and on teaching young children and the poor the doctrines of Christianity. Her writings outlined the benefits of social hierarchies, arguing that each class should remain in its God-given position. Yet, while supporting many of the traditional political and social ideologies of her time, Trimmer questioned others, such as those surrounding gender and the family.

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

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...that the use of the word "yeoman" in the U.S. Naval Reserve Act of 1916, rather than "man" or "male," enabled women to enlist in the United States Navy Reserve with the rank of Yeoman (F) (pictured) during World War I?
...that Loretta Perfectus Walsh was the first woman to enlist in the United States military?
...that Justice Leila Seth was the first woman judge on the Delhi High Court and the first woman to become Chief Justice of India?

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

Image 1John Neal (from History of feminism)
Image 2Florence Nightingale (from History of feminism)
Image 3Nellie McClung (from History of feminism)
Image 4Clara Zetkin (left) and Rosa Luxemburg (right) in January 1910 (from International Women's Day)
Image 5Christine de Pizan presents her book to Queen Isabeau of Bavaria. (from History of feminism)
Image 6First edition print of A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (from History of feminism)
Image 7Margaret Sanger (from History of feminism)
Image 8Ida B. Wells (from History of feminism)
Image 9Women's Liberation march in Washington, D.C., 1970 (from History of feminism)
Image 10Board of directors of "Jam'iat e nesvan e vatan-khah", a women's rights association in Tehran (1923–1933) (from History of feminism)
Image 11Marie Stopes (from History of feminism)
Image 12bell hooks (from History of feminism)
Image 138M 2019 in Spain (from International Women's Day)
Image 14Yellow 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 15Gloria Steinem at news conference, Women's Action Alliance, January 12, 1972 (from History of feminism)
Image 168M 2020 in Spain (from International Women's Day)
Image 17Women on the street celebrating International Women's Day in Cameroon (from International Women's Day)
Image 18Catharine MacKinnon (from History of feminism)
Image 19Wealthy 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 20Bessie Rayner Parkes (from History of feminism)
Image 21
  Official holiday
  Holiday for women
  Non-official holiday
(from International Women's Day)
Image 22Cover of WSPU's The Suffragette, April 25, 1913 (after Delacroix's Liberty Leading the People, 1830) (from History of feminism)
Image 23Betty Friedan 1960 (from History of feminism)
Image 24Germaine Greer in June 1972 (from History of feminism)
Image 25Elizabeth Cady Stanton (seated) and Susan B. Anthony (from History of feminism)
Image 26Camilla Collett (from History of feminism)
Image 27Emily Davison (from History of feminism)
Image 28Suffrage parade in New York, May 6, 1912 (from History of feminism)
Image 29The Nineteenth Amendment (from History of feminism)
Image 30Huda Shaarawi, founder of the Egyptian Feminist Union (from History of feminism)
Image 31Frances Cobbe (from History of feminism)
Image 32Author and scholar Helen Kendrick Johnson opposed women's suffrage. (from History of feminism)
Image 33Lucy Stone (from History of feminism)
Image 348M 2018 in Pamplona (from International Women's Day)
Image 35Irena Krzywicka (from History of feminism)
Image 36Simone de Beauvoir (from History of feminism)
Image 37Matilda Joslyn Gage (from History of feminism)
Image 38Sylvia Pankhurst (from History of feminism)
Image 39Female members of the Australian Builders Labourers Federation march on International Women's Day 1975 in Sydney (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