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. (Full article...)

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The École Polytechnique massacre occurred on December 6, 1989 at the École Polytechnique de Montréal in Montreal, Quebec. Twenty-five year-old Marc Lépine, armed with a legally-obtained semi-automatic rifle and a hunting knife, shot twenty-eight people, killing fourteen (all of them women) and injuring the other fourteen before killing himself. He began his attack by entering a classroom at the university, where he separated the men and women students from each other. After claiming that he was "fighting feminism", he shot all nine women in the room, killing six. He then moved through corridors, the cafeteria, and another classroom, specifically targeting women to shoot. He killed fourteen women and injured four men and ten women in just under twenty minutes before turning the gun on himself. Lépine's suicide note claimed political motives and blamed feminists for ruining his life. The note include a list of nineteen Quebec women whom Lépine considered to be feminists and apparently wished to kill. Since the attack, Canadians have debated various interpretations of the events, their significance, and Lépine's motives. The massacre is regarded by most feminists and many official perspectives as an anti-feminist attack and representative of wider societal violence against women; the anniversary of the massacre is commemorated as the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women. The incident led to more stringent gun control laws in Canada, and changes in the tactical response of police to shootings, which were later credited with minimizing casualties at the Dawson College shootings.

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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

January 1920 – Shin Fujin Kyokai (The New Woman Association) drafts its demands to the Japanese government, insisting that the law allow women to participate in politics and that divorce be equitable
January 1972 – First publication of Ms. magazine, founded by Gloria Steinem and Letty Cottin Pogrebin
5 January 1925 – Sworn in as governor of Wyoming, Nellie Tayloe Ross (pictured) became the first woman to serve as governor of a U.S. state
22 January 1973 – Roe v. Wade decided by the United States Supreme Court, legalizing abortion
23 January 1823 – Birth of Camilla Collett, considered Norway's first feminist; her only novel deals with the difficulties of being a woman in a patriarchal society

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I myself have never been able to find out precisely what feminism is: I only know that people call me a feminist whenever I express sentiments that differentiate me from a doormate or a prostitute.

— Rebecca West

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Mary II reigned as Queen of England and Ireland from 13 February 1689 until her death, and as Queen of Scotland (technically as Mary II of Scotland) from 11 April 1689 until her death. Mary, a Protestant, came to the throne following the Glorious Revolution, which resulted in the deposition of her Roman Catholic father, James II. Mary reigned jointly with her husband and first cousin, William III, who became the sole ruler upon her death. Popular histories usually know the joint reign as that of "William and Mary". Mary, although a sovereign in her own right, did not wield actual power during most of her reign. She did, however, govern the realm when her husband was abroad fighting wars.

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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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... that the novels of Jane Austen (pictured) became popular with the public only after the publication of A Memoir of Jane Austen in 1869?
... that feminist Jo Freeman was moved from Mississippi by the SCLC in 1966 after the Jackson Daily News published her photo and denounced her as a professional agitator?
... that Anna Borkowska, the mother superior of a Polish convent of Dominican Sisters in World War II, was the first to smuggle in grenades for the Vilnius Jewish ghetto insurgents?

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

Image 1María 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 28M 2020 in Spain (from International Women's Day)
Image 3Bessie Rayner Parkes (from History of feminism)
Image 4Women's Liberation march in Washington, D.C., 1970 (from History of feminism)
Image 5Gloria Steinem at news conference, Women's Action Alliance, January 12, 1972 (from History of feminism)
Image 6bell hooks (from History of feminism)
Image 7An 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 8Florence Nightingale (from History of feminism)
Image 9Elizabeth Cady Stanton (seated) and Susan B. Anthony (from History of feminism)
Image 10Lucy Stone (from History of feminism)
Image 11John Neal (from History of feminism)
Image 12Irena Krzywicka (from History of feminism)
Image 13Clara Zetkin (left) and Rosa Luxemburg (right) in January 1910 (from International Women's Day)
Image 14Simone de Beauvoir (from History of feminism)
Image 15Sylvia Pankhurst (from History of feminism)
Image 16Marie Stopes (from History of feminism)
Image 17Catharine MacKinnon (from History of feminism)
Image 18Matilda Joslyn Gage (from History of feminism)
Image 19Camilla Collett (from History of feminism)
Image 20The vandalized Concepción Feminist Mural in Spain, which was vandalized on International Women's Day 2021. (from International Women's Day)
Image 21Suffrage parade in New York, May 6, 1912 (from History of feminism)
Image 22Board of directors of "Jam'iat e nesvan e vatan-khah", a women's rights association in Tehran (1923–1933) (from History of feminism)
Image 23Germaine Greer in June 1972 (from History of feminism)
Image 24Female members of the Australian Builders Labourers Federation march on International Women's Day 1975 in Sydney (from International Women's Day)
Image 25Betty Friedan 1960 (from History of feminism)
Image 26Female soldiers from Peru, Egypt, India and other countries celebrate International Women's Day. (from International Women's Day)
Image 27Nellie McClung (from History of feminism)
Image 28First edition print of A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (from History of feminism)
Image 29Author and scholar Helen Kendrick Johnson opposed women's suffrage. (from History of feminism)
Image 30The Nineteenth Amendment (from History of feminism)
Image 31Ida B. Wells (from History of feminism)
Image 328M 2018 in Pamplona (from International Women's Day)
Image 33Emily Davison (from History of feminism)
Image 34A veil-burning ceremony in Andijan on International Women's Day in 1927. (from International Women's Day)
Image 35Female soldiers from Peru, Egypt, India and other countries celebrate International Women's Day. (from International Women's Day)
Image 36
  Official holiday
  Holiday for women
  Non-official holiday
(from International Women's Day)
Image 37Cover of WSPU's The Suffragette, April 25, 1913 (after Delacroix's Liberty Leading the People, 1830) (from History of feminism)
Image 38Huda Shaarawi, founder of the Egyptian Feminist Union (from History of feminism)
Image 39Women on the street celebrating International Women's Day in Cameroon (from International Women's Day)
Image 40Wealthy 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 41Frances Cobbe (from History of feminism)
Image 42Christine de Pizan presents her book to Queen Isabeau of Bavaria. (from History of feminism)
Image 43Margaret Sanger (from History of feminism)
Image 44Yellow 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)

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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