Feminism

Feminism is a social, political, and intellectual movement and ideology that seeks to define, establish, and defend equal political, economic, cultural, personal, and social rights for women and girls. It rejects systemic gender-based inequalities and aims to challenge structures that perpetuate discrimination, harassment, and violence against people on the basis of gender.

Historically, feminism has developed in waves. First wave in the late 19th and early 20th centuries focused on legal rights, particularly suffrage. Second wave from the 1960s to the 1980s broadened the debate to workplace equality, reproductive rights, and legal protections. Third wave in the 1990s and 2000s emphasized individualism, diversity, and intersectionality, acknowledging how race, class, sexuality, and other identities intersect with gender. Some scholars and activists describe a fourth wave from the 2010s onward, characterized by digital activism and a focus on consent, harassment, and the #MeToo movement.

Feminist thought encompasses several traditions, including liberal feminism, radical feminism, socialist feminism, and cultural feminism, among others. Intersectional feminism analyzes how different forms of inequality overlap. While the movement works toward equality, it faces criticism and opposition, including charges of essentialism or neglect of men's issues, and debates about approaches to reform and reformulation of gender roles. In many countries, feminism has driven legal reforms, increased educational participation, expanded reproductive rights, and greater visibility of women in politics and media, though gaps remain in pay, leadership representation, and violence prevention.