Feminism

Feminism is a social and political movement of women and for women that since the 19th century has been gaining ground around the world, promoting political and social changes for the benefit of women and society as a whole. Its initial flags were access to formal education and the right to vote and eligibility for women, followed by civil liberties and legal autonomy, such as the right to property, labor rights and the right to divorce.

Later on, reproductive rights and the fight against physical, sexual and psychological violence also became important banners of this movement. Over the years and according to each context, feminism has also incorporated specific demands and remains of paramount importance for female emancipation and the construction of more equitable societies .

Feminism concept

Feminism is a social movement for civil rights, led by women , which since its inception has claimed political, legal and social equality between men and women. Its performance is not sexist, that is, it does not seek to impose some type of female superiority, but equality between the sexes.

The word feminism was used for the first time in the first half of the 19th century by the French philosopher and theorist of utopian socialism Charles Fourier (1772-1837), author of the book “Theory of four movements”, in which he states that the progress of society as a everything has as a precondition the conquest of rights by women.

History

The emergence of civil movements in search of rights dates back to the French Revolution (1789), which was influenced by the ideals of the Enlightenment . However, although in this important historical moment men’s rights were expanded in France, women were not initially affected by the change .

Two women from that period had their writings later used as the basis of the feminist movement: Olympe de Gouges (1748-1793), a French activist who wrote the “Declaration of the rights of women and citizens” in 1791 and two years later was sentenced to death; and Mary Wollstonecraft (1759-1797), English educator who published in 1792 the article “Vindication of the rights of women”, in which she advocated that women should have the same access to formal education as men.

Later, Rosa Luxemburgo (1871-1919), a Marxist philosopher , reflected and wrote specifically about working women. It is important to note that even before these pioneers, at different times in history women confronted the oppression they suffered and reflected on it in writings, however, as an organized movement, feminism only emerged in the 19th century , in the context that echoed changes arising from another milestone restructuring of Western societies: the Industrial Revolution (18th century).

• first wave of feminism

The so-called first wave of feminism, which occurred at the end of the 19th century and the first decades of the 20th century, had as its main demand the right to vote for women , that is, the political rights to vote and be voted for. And why was the vote the main flag at that moment? Because it was the common claim of all women.

The movement was initially formed by upper-class women who wanted equality with men of their class and by women from the middle classes who wanted formal and scientific educational training, as well as good jobs, as men of their class, the so-called liberal feminists . Finally, working women , with poor working conditions, low wages and an overload of domestic work, wanted better working and employment conditions.

All had in common the fact that they could not vote and be voted for, so this agenda galvanized the support of all, since the specific demands of each group could only happen through changes in the laws. Thus, legal equality depended on political equality, and claims such as formal education and the right to property and divorce were linked to the struggle for the right to vote.

The suffrage movement , which represents this first wave, started in England and reached the world. Its most notorious spokeswoman was Emmeline Pankhurt (1858-1928), leader of the suffragettes, who, from a certain moment on, ceased to form part of the peaceful movement to carry out radical and violent militancy, willing to be arrested, injured or killed by the cause.

The first country to guarantee women’s suffrage was Finland, in 1893. The others did so throughout the 20th century, especially in the post-war period. The last country to enact women’s suffrage was Saudi Arabia in 2015.

• second wave of feminism

The second wave of feminism took place in the second half of the 20th century, between the 1960s and 1980s . In this phase of the movement, female sexuality was a primary theme , as was the issue of female pleasure, sexual freedom, reproductive rights, women’s health and rape (non-consensual sex).

This second wave took place within the scope of the sexual revolution of the 1960s, a period of the invention of the contraceptive pill and the re-signification of sex not only as a means for procreation, but for pleasure. Another topic that was the subject of reflection and claims during this period were issues related to the family environment , such as domestic violence, unpaid domestic work mostly carried out by women and family planning on the number of children and when to have them.

The theorist and activist who significantly influenced not only the second wave of feminism, but those that would follow it was the French philosopher Simone de Beauvoir (1908-1986), especially through her work “The Second Sex”, published in 1949 Her fundamental thesis is that being a woman is a social construction, not a biological one, summarized in her famous phrase: “You are not born a woman, you become one” .

This perception implied understanding that the oppression of women in all areas is also a social construction , and not something natural and unchangeable. Therefore, the idealization of the feminine as emotional, delicate and focused on motherhood and marriage is cultural and not a woman’s biological inclination.

The book “The Feminine Mystique” (1963), by author Betty Friedan (1921-2006), which addresses the dissatisfaction of white American women with social expectations of femininity that did not correspond to their real desires, is considered the trigger of the second wave of feminism in the US. The famous “burning of bras”, which was later used to stereotype feminism, also occurred during this period, in a protest by the Women’s Liberation Movement against the Miss America beauty pageant, in 1968.

• third wave of feminism

The third wave of feminism took place in the 1990s , in a context of strong reaction to the feminist agenda due to a conservative policy, which considered it unnecessary, as if full equality had already been achieved. Theoretical works then turned to showing where inequalities still remained and added the conception of intersectionality , which points to the need to consider other patterns of oppression, such as race, class and sexual orientation, which add to machismo, generating violence and specific demands.

An influential theoretician of this period is the philosopher Judith Butler (1956 – to the present), whose book “Gender Problems” (1990) problematizes the concept of gender, approaching it as non-binary, fluid and constituted by behaviors that make up a performance. . This reframing of the conception of gender and sexuality became known as queer theory , which opened space for, in feminism, heteronormativity to be questioned and transfeminism to develop.

Another dimension addressed in the third wave is that of colonialism , that is, the influence of hegemonic countries on the construction of feminism in peripheral countries. Thus, indigenous feminism and postcolonial feminism have included the geopolitical factor of colonialism in their gender claims.

• fourth wave of feminism

The so-called fourth wave of feminism dates back to 2010 , when political militancy on social media grew significantly . The dissemination of feminist ideas was amplified by websites and blogs, and the mobilization itself began to rely on virtual tools , such as hashtags denouncing situations of harassment, for example, which sometimes have a global scale, such as the Argentine campaign #niunaamenos of 2015 and the North American #metoo of 2017.

This fourth wave develops mainly among young women . Representativeness and sexual violence are central themes. A landmark of this new moment was the march organized in 2011 by young Canadian students, the Marcha das Vadias . This movement was motivated by the police approach made to a young woman who had been raped and blamed for the clothes she was wearing. In the same year the march was held in other countries.

An important feminist leader of this period is the Nigerian activist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (1977 – present), author of the book “Let us all be feminists”, based on a lecture of hers that went viral in 2011 and which addresses stereotypes about feminism and the need to that this fight is defended by all, and not just by women.

What does it stand for?

Feminism advocates legal, political and social equality between men and women . This equality must occur in the field of rights and opportunities, involving political rights, civil liberties, the right to education, reproductive rights (among them, the most controversial is the right to abortion), labor rights, wage equality and division of labor. domestic.

In addition to acting on propositional guidelines, feminism also makes a counterpoint, the fight against the various forms of oppression that are culturally and socially manifested, such as moral, psychological, physical harassment, physical and sexual violence, as well as the imposition of standards of beauty and behavior.

Aspects of Feminism

The oppression of women is structural and affects everyone, but it is permeated by other structuring factors, such as ethnicity, social class, education, income, age, among others. Thus, the demands of upper-middle-class white women are different from those of middle-class women or black working women, for example.

If middle-class women claimed the right to work outside the home, factory workers had already done so in poor conditions and wanted better wages, while the rich aspired to the right to own properties in their own name. Therefore, each class has its demands. In addition, different political ideals also imply different worldviews and, therefore, different demands .

• Liberal feminism: the first type of feminism has the perspective of promoting equality between men and women through institutional means, inserting women into structures without destroying them. The suffragist movement is the best example of this trend. It is centered on the individual and seeks to ensure their choices, which depends on legal guarantees, which are only made possible by political participation in law houses.
• Marxist or socialist feminism : arose in criticism of liberal feminism. This current includes in the equation of the feminist struggle the social inequalities that are not always resolved by legal equality. It starts from the premise that the oppression of women is not only due to machismo, but also to capitalism. The guidelines of this strand range from the right to work, the sexual division of work, including domestic and reproductive work, to the socialization of the means of production.
• Black feminism: addresses the dual oppression of gender and race suffered by black women. Thus, the racial issue is also placed in the foreground. The great reference of black feminism in the world is the activist Angela Davis (1944 – until the present), who in 1981 published the book “Women, race and class”, a historical analysis of feminism in the light of these important factors.
• Intersectional feminism: it is in its genesis an opposition to white feminism. It is based on the premise that the intersection of other factors with gender oppression generates specific violence, which must be considered when formulating claims. Indigenous feminism, lesbian feminism, and transfeminism are examples of intersectional feminisms.
• Radical feminism: preaches the abolition of the idea of ​​gender. For those who follow this approach, the very concept of gender carries the structural inequities that affect being a woman. From a young age, girls are taught how to dress, how to speak, what professions they should pursue, what games they can play. Thus, socialization according to gender has all the prejudices, limitations and oppressions that are structurally imposed on each gender. The solution, then, would be to abolish this social construction so that the genitals are just another physiological organ that does not determine behavioral choices.

Achievements

The achievements arising from the feminist struggle are neither linear nor homogeneous. Even the movement itself is not homogeneous or linear. The phased definition serves an analytical purpose, but throughout the period since its inception, feminism has responded to multiple demands from different groups of women, and the realization of rights has occurred at different times, depending on the country and on social and historical factors.

Among the main rights won by women around the world, we can highlight the right to formal education , political rights , legal autonomy , labor rights (paid maternity leave) and reproductive rights .

Today it is unthinkable, but at the beginning of the last century, in many countries, women depended on the legal guardianship of parents, brothers or husband to have bank accounts, acquire possessions and even to travel from one city to another. They couldn’t study, they couldn’t vote, they couldn’t work outside, they couldn’t choose who to marry, they couldn’t get divorced, they couldn’t plan when and how many children to have, among many deprivations of unimaginable choices for women today. Therefore, the feminist struggle has a primordial value for female emancipation , which would not take place in any other way.

Challenges of contemporary feminism

Feminism is characterized by the plurality of agendas , therefore it is in constant transformation. Gender inequality is structural and millenary, reflected in all aspects of social life, from the public sphere, the labor market, to the domestic environment. Political representation still leaves much to be desired. Despite women’s suffrage being an achievement in the most varied countries, the presence of women in elected positions is still small, therefore there is an under-representation of this group in parliaments and governments.

In the labor market, likewise, there are still few women in leadership positions , especially in large companies. In addition, women’s average work accidents with sick leave, and unpaid leave for personal matters. In the latter case, the firm may cut the employee’s salary is still lower than men’s average salary in the performance of the same functions, and the status of mother is usually used by employers as a justification for dismissal or not hiring.

In the domestic environment, work continues to be mostly delegated to women , even though they work outside the home and contribute financially to family expenses. According to Oxfam, only 10% of domestic workers in the world are covered by labor laws. Furthermore, three-quarters of unpaid care work in the world is performed by women.

Violence against women permeates all the environments mentioned – public, work and domestic – in the form of multiple harassments and also physical and sexual aggression. Feminicide is a major challenge for governments and it has grown , despite women’s achievements.