Feminist Theory

Based on classic liberal ideas

Works within the existing system to help women get equal treatment

Aims to change things from the inside

Started with ideas from the American Revolution

Early supporters like Abigail Adams and Mary Wollstonecraft wanted equality for women

Often makes slow progress, helped by more radical feminist movements

Women can reason and make decisions just as well as men

Patriarchy has kept women at home and out of public life

Gender inequality comes from societal and cultural attitudes

Achieve equality through education and policy changes

Focus on making laws that protect equal opportunities for women.

Important laws include the Equal Rights Amendment of 1972, which aimed to ensure equality based on sex

Focuses on the idea that women's oppression is the most basic and widespread form of oppression

Aims for major social changes to achieve equality

Emerged from the civil rights and peace movements in 1967-1968

Was a leading feminist theory from 1967-1975

Known for being more extreme and less universally accepted today

Society prioritizes men's experiences and views

Gender roles are deeply rooted in all parts of modern life

Real equality requires completely overhauling/changing the current system

Gender separation and political lesbianism is needed to achieve equality

Patriarchy can be defeated if women recognize their own values and strengths

Push for big revolutionary changes in society

Challenge and change how society is built to get rid of strong gender roles

Influence and spread many feminist ideas, even if not all the otherbranches agree with them

Argues that women face oppression due to capitalism and private property systems and that these systems must be overthrown to get true equality

Sees women's oppression as reinforcing and supporting capitalism

Evolved from Karl Marx’s ideas of linking capitalism with patriarchy

Marxist feminists believe women are exploited for unpaid labour like housework and childcare

Socialism is seen as necessary to replace traditional family structures and create equitable social systems

Believes capitalism benefits from keeping women in lower roles and reinforces patriarchal hierarchies

Achieving gender equality requires ending capitalist exploitation of women's labour

Supports a socialist revolution to make a fairer government that helps families and respects women's ideas and contributions

Pushes for economic systems that value women's labour

Challenges capitalism that makes gender unfair

Adds economic and social justice to fighting for women's rights

Social, academic, and cultural movement

Focuses on economic, civil, and ideological disparities between genders.

Sex and gender discrimination

Treating women as objects

Economic equality

Gender roles and differences

Power differences

Awareness that women are often held back due to the power/status system

Inequalities can lead to conflicts between genders

Gender roles and inequalities are created by society

Patriarchy is a system where men dominate and oppress women

Feminism doesn’t have one single definition; it changes with different experiences

Different types of feminist theory focus on different ideas and experiences

Understand that women's experiences are different from men's and often unfair

Fight against laws and norms that result in women earning less and having fewer opportunities in education and careers

Fight the the ways women are not just treated unfairly but are also controlled, exploited, and sometimes abused by men

Challenge the systems like capitalism and patriarchy that keep men in power and create gender inequality

Work to prevent sexual violence against women and support those who have been affected

Ensure women have the right to control their own sexuality and reproductive choices

Fight the stigma around women being sexually active and ensure access to safe abortion services

Make sure both men and women can express themselves freely and follow their interests, even if it goes against societal expectations