The Feminism Portal

Feminism involves various movements, theories and philosophies which are concerned with the issue of gender difference, that advocate equality for women, and that campaign for women's rights and interests. According to some, the history of feminism can be divided into three waves. The first wave was in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the second was in the 1960s and 1970s and the third extends from the 1990s to the present. Feminist theory emerged from these feminist movements. It manifests through a variety of disciplines such as feminist geography, feminist history and feminist literary criticism.

Feminism has altered predominant perspectives in a wide range of areas within Western society, ranging from culture to law. Feminist activists have campaigned for women's legal rights (rights of contract, property rights, voting rights); for rights to bodily integrity and autonomy, for abortion rights, and for reproductive rights (including access to contraception and quality prenatal care); for protection from domestic violence, sexual harassment and rape; for workplace rights, including maternity leave and equal pay; and against other forms of discrimination.

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Featured article

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings is the 1969 autobiography about the early years of writer and activist Maya Angelou. The first in a six-volume series, it is a coming-of-age story that illustrates how strength of character and a love of literature can help overcome racism and trauma. In the course of Caged Bird, Maya transforms from a victim of racism with an inferiority complex into a self-possessed, dignified young woman capable of responding to racism. Because Angelou uses thematic development and other techniques common to fiction, reviewers often categorize Caged Bird as autobiographical fiction, but the prevailing critical view characterizes it as an autobiography, a genre she attempts to critique, change, and expand. The book covers topics common to autobiographies written by black American women in the years following the civil rights movement: a celebration of black motherhood; a critique of racism; the importance of family; and the quest for independence, personal dignity, and self-definition. Angelou uses her autobiography to explore subjects such as identity, rape, racism, and literacy. She also writes in new ways about women's lives in a male-dominated society. Caged Bird has been used in educational settings from high schools to universities, and the book has been celebrated for creating new literary avenues for the American memoir. However, the book's graphic depiction of childhood rape, racism, and sexuality have caused it to be challenged or banned in some schools and libraries.

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Featured picture

Credit: Yanagawa Shigenobu

A Japanese weaver using a beater that is mounted from a notched pole and suspended overhead. Woodcut print by Yanagawa Shigenobu, 1825-1832.

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In this month

• March 1918 – First publication of Married Love, an important and influential sex manual by Marie Stopes, a Scottish author, eugenicist, campaigner for women's rights and pioneer in the field of family planning
• March 1976 – First Take Back the Night march was held in Belgium by women attending the International Tribunal on Crimes against Women
• 2 March 1897 – Birth of Shidzue Katō, Japanese feminist who was a pioneer in the birth control movement and one of the first women elected to the Diet of Japan
• 8 March – International Women's Day (pictured) is a day to celebrate the economic, political, and social achievements of women
• 28 March 1794 – Marquis de Condorcet, who died during the French Revolution, argued for free and equal public education as well as for equal rights for women and people of all races

Featured biography

The Princess Helena (Helena Augusta Victoria: Princess Christian of Schleswig-Holstein by marriage; 1846 - 1923) was a member of the British Royal Family, the third daughter and fifth child of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. Helena was educated by private tutors chosen by her father and his close friend and adviser, Baron Stockmar. The intimate atmosphere of the royal court came to an end on 14 December 1861, when her father died and her mother entered a period of intense mourning. On 5 July 1866, Helena married the impoverished German Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein. The couple remained in England, in calling distance of the Queen, who liked to have her daughters nearby, and Helena along with her youngest sister, Princess Beatrice, became the Queen's unofficial secretary. However, after Queen Victoria's death on 22 January 1901, Helena saw relatively little of her surviving siblings. Helena was one of the founding members of the Red Cross. She was founding president of the Royal School of Needlework, and president of the Royal British Nurses' Association. As president of the latter, she was a strong supporter of nurse registration against the advice of Florence Nightingale. She became the first member of her family to celebrate her 50th wedding anniversary in 1916, but her husband died a year later. Helena outlived him by six years, and died aged 77 at Schomberg House on 19 June 1923.

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Did you know...

• ...that Elsa Eschelsson, the first woman both to finish a doctorate in Law and to teach in a university in Sweden, was denied the right to serve even as acting professor because of her sex?
• ...that in March 2007, Agnes Devanadera (pictured) became the 41st and first woman Solicitor General of the Philippines?
• ...that Cecilia Krieger, who translated the work of Sierpinski into English, was the first woman to receive a Ph.D in mathematics in Canada?

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Categories

WikiProjects

• WikiProject Gender Studies
  • Feminism Task Force
• WikiProject LGBT
• WikiProject Human Rights
• WikiProject Sociology
• WikiProject Philosophy
• WikiProject Discrimination

Selected quote

The basic discovery about any people is the discovery of the relationship between its men and its women. — Pearl S. Buck

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• Stubs: Gender studies stubs, Feminism stubs, Women's rights activist stubs

Featured content

Featured articles: Princess Alice of Battenberg • Alpha Kappa Alpha • Anne of Denmark • Anne of Great Britain • Aradia, or the Gospel of the Witches • Aspasia • Baby Gender Mentor • Bannon, Ann • Barbauld, Anna Laetitia • Barney, Natalie Clifford • But I'm a Cheerleader • Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough • Clarke, Rebecca Helferich • The Country Wife • Bette Davis • Catherine de' Medici • Catherine de' Medici's building projects • Douglas, Marjory Stoneman • Elizabeth I of England • Equal Protection Clause • Fuller, Margaret • Fun Home • Fundamental Rights, Directive Principles and Fundamental Duties of India • Fitzgerald, Zelda • Girl Scouts of the USA • Goldman, Emma • H.D. • Princess Helena of the United Kingdom • I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings • Joan of Arc • Johnson, Joseph • Keaston, Diane • Letters Written in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark • Lives of the Most Eminent Literary and Scientific Men • Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll • Lyon, Elizabeth Bowes • Madlax • Maria: or, The Wrongs of Woman • Mary II of England •Mary: A Fiction • McClintock, Barbara • Menstrual cycle • Noether, Emmy • Pankhurst, Emmeline • The Penelopiad • Hannah Primrose, Countess of Rosebery • Prostitution in the People's Republic of China • Revithi, Stamat • Roe v. Wade • Same-sex marriage in Spain • Shelley, Mary • The Supremes • Tahirih Justice Center • Thoughts on the Education of Daughters • Trimmer, Sarah • Tubman, Harriet • Vanbrugh, John • A Vindication of the Rights of Woman • The Well of Loneliness • Wollstonecraft, Mary • Wong, Anna May • Zinta, Preity

Featured lists: List of defense of marriage amendments to U.S. state constitutions by type • List of Alpha Kappa Alpha sisters • Timeline of Jane Austen • Timeline of Mary Wollstonecraft

Featured topics: Mary Wollstonecraft

Featured portal: Portal:Feminism

Featured pictures: Annie Oakley • Apa Tani tribal women • Charlotte Corday • Elizabeth II • Golda Meir • Joan of Arc • Kutia Khond tribal woman • Lillian Gish • Maiko • Manzanar War Relocation Center during WWII in the US • Mary of Teck • Migrant mother • Patchwork quilt • Rosie the Riveter • Spinner and spinning wheel • Queen Wilhelmina and her daughter Juliana • WWI US Navy recruiting poster • WWII US female aircraft worker • WWII US female factory worker • Zuni girl with pottery

Topics

Feminism

Concepts - Movement · Theory · Film theory · Economics · Sexology · Theology · Women's liberation · Women's movement · Women's rights · Women's studies · Gender equality · Pro-feminism · Anti-feminism

History

Social - Women's history · Feminist history · History of feminism

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Waves - First · Second · Third

Subtypes - Amazon · Anarchist · Black · Chicana · Christian · Cultural · Cyberfeminism · Difference · Eco · Equality · Equity · Fat · Gender · Global · Individualist · Islamic · Jewish · Lesbian · Liberal · Marxist · New · Postcolonial · Postmodern · Pro-life · Radical · Religious · Separatist · Sex-positive · Socialist · Feminist spirituality · Third world · Transfeminism · Womanism · French feminism

By country - Egypt · France · Indonesia · Iran · Japan · Nepal · Nicaragua · Poland · United Kingdom · United States

Lists - Feminists · Literature · Topics

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