Feminism: an academic overview

Feminism is defined as movements that are aimed to protect rights of the women al around the world. These rights include voting rights, political, economic as well as social rights. The second main aim of the feminist movement is to make sure that women get equal education as well as employment rights. Those who believe in feminism are termed as feminists.

Feminist theory

One of the most important theories in feminism is the feminist theory. The main fact that has been mentioned in the theory is that there is a need to understand the roles that have been played by women all around the world. Secondly based on these roles, increased cases of gender inequality are to be assessed1. Sex and gender inequality and the social construction of sex and gender has been the focus of feminist theory. An important fact in the case of feminism is in relation to the kind of criticism that it has received in the past as it has been argued that most of the arguments of feminists were in favor of white and educated women. This is the main reason of creation of different classes of feminism that include ethnic variation and multicultural variations.

Feminist theory can be argued as an extension of the rules and beliefs of feminism into philosophical categories. Three main phases have been defined of the development of feminist theory. The first phase includes the examination of feminist ideologies by the feminist readers. Second phase has been called as gynocriticism in which women are the textual formers of the theories. Gender theory is the last phase in which literary criticisms and ideal situations are taken into account.

Fields of Feminism

Other than social, economic, legal, education, political and domestic rights, some of the other sections that are highlighted by the feminists include women's bodily integrity, reproductive rights and autonomy.

There is no doubt about the fact that great changes have been brought about by the feminist movements. One of the main examples in these cases is the changes that are being seen in the West. Some of the main achievements of feminists in the Western societies include women's suffrage, equal pays in employment, gender neutrality in English, rights to own property, and most importantly reproductive rights.

Additional protection has been given to the women and girls by the women. Protection from sexual harassment, sexual abuse, and domestic violence has been ensured by the feminists all around the world. In the case of all employment rights, some of the main rights that have been fought for by the feminists include rights to have maternity leaves and has also focused against workplace discrimination against women2.

Effects of Feminism on Societies

Since 1960s, campaign on women's rights in the U.S. And UK had brought more mixed outputs. In these cases one of the main changes was seen in the case of changes in attitudes in relation to child sexual abuse. It was previously believed that younger girls are the main reasons that adults tend to have intercourse with them. Because of voices raised by the feminists, it was later realized that men in these cases are adults thereby responsible for such act, rather younger girls.

Another important change was seen in the case of usage of gender neutral language. The main fact that was argued by the feminists in these cases was that gender and sex of the person should not be mentioned in the language. In these cases, feminists have taken into account two different agendas. Firstly, the language must make sure that both sexes and genders are mentioned, in which case the agenda was called as the gender inclusive agenda. Secondly, gender is the category that does not have any specialty in the language thereby mentioning of genders should be avoided in languages, in which case it is argued as gender neutral language.

Gender equality is the main goal of feminism. The feminist theory has explored the roles played by masculinity and how it affects the goals of gender equality in the society. One of the main facts that are important in the case of feminism is that masculinity and its social construction is an important issue for feminists. Masculinity links men with increased control and aggression. These are some of the ideas that are being negated by the feminists as feminists argue that for the correction of gender inequalities in the society it is important that softer side of men is brought in lime light. Participation of males in feminism is an important example.

Opponents of Feminism

Much criticism has been received by feminism. Many have argued that the beliefs given by the feminists are against the values, culture and beliefs of the common societies. An important example in these cases is that of the acceptance of divorced and unmarried women in the societies. Second example of the fact highlighted by the anti-feminists is that men and women are naturally unequal. Thereby the inequality should be followed in every circle of life3.