- What is the feminist movement?
- History of the feminist movement
- Characteristics of the feminist movement
- What is it to be a feminist?
- Feminisms today
We explain what the feminist movement is, its history and the characteristics of this position. Also, what is it to be a feminist?
What is the feminist movement?
When we speak of feminism or the feminist movement, we refer to a diverse set of positions and models of critical thinking political, economic, cultural and social, which have in common their aspiration to vindicate the rights of women and the conquest of an equal role with respect to men in the different aspects of life. society.
The feminist movement aspires to demonstrate and rethink the roles traditionally assigned according to the gender, that is, the place that men and women are assigned in society depending exclusively on their sex and not on their interests, talents or abilities.
In this sense, feminism fights against patriarchal order of society: a cultural and social model that gives men a predominant role and women a more submissive and secondary role.In this struggle, feminism is more or less allied with other subaltern movements, such as the LGBT movement (in favor of sex diversity).
Thanks to the different stages and versions of the feminist struggle, the role of women has grown in participation and rights throughout the history of humanity, and political triumphs have been achieved such as the female vote, the equality before the law or reproductive rights, despite the fact that there are still many controversial issues on the agenda.
Likewise, feminism has allowed the emergence of schools of critical theory, applied to various fields such as literature, the sociology, the anthropology, etc. that have enriched the gaze of the human being around himself and have allowed him to raise debates regarding the way in which he understands the life and society.
History of the feminist movement
The feminist movement has many antecedents in ancient times, in what is often called proto-feminism or pre-modern feminism. Cases like that of Juana de Arco, Christine de Pizan, or later Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, Manuela Sáenz and Juana de Azurduy are specific cases of women who fought against an order that excluded and marginalized them.
The first wave of feminism as such occurred in the late 19th and early 20th centuries in England and Latin America, in the voice of numerous intellectuals, writers and social activists who raised their voices to demand a more leading role for women in the nascent capitalist republics.
This passed through rights to study, vote and even work. The famous suffragette movement in Europe It was a powerful and radical attempt to win the vote of women and allow them to participate in the leadership of the Condition.
The second wave arose in the middle of the century, between 1960 and the 90s, and expanded the fight to combat de facto inequalities, not only legal, but also sexual and reproductive rights, in what was called theWomen's Liberation Movement.
The third wave is supposed to start in the 90s and reaches the 21st century, and arises as a response to the failures of second wave feminism, rethinking the social and cultural idea of what a woman is to incorporate other races, lessons, religions, cultures, etc.
Characteristics of the feminist movement
Feminism is broadly a movement:
- Diverse. There are numerous political, social and philosophical positions on the subject, it is not a homogeneous organization.
- Continuous. Feminism does not have an end, a objective in which to end, but is part of a critical current of the thought that updates its goals as society changes.
- Multi-disciplinary. It does not focus on a single field of knowledge, but rather has lines of thought in various areas of the Sciences and the humanities.
- Egalitarian. Feminism does not pursue the superiority of women over men, or anything like that, but rather an equal distribution of roles and social rights between the two.
What is it to be a feminist?
There is no unique way to be a feminist, and there is a lot of misinformation about what it means to be a feminist. Some mistakenly think that it is a movement for the superiority of women, or a preaching of lesbianism, hatred of men, or many other baseless accusations.
It is true that there may be individuals, people, feminists or not, who believe these things, and who are commonly called “feminazis”. But those are superficial positions that have nothing to do with feminism.
Being a feminist means thinking that women should occupy an equal place in society and be willing to review the patterns that exist in it to make it more inclusive, fair and democratic in that sense. It is perfectly possible to be a man and be a feminist.
Feminisms today
The debate on feminism today gave way to broader approaches to subordination and the fight against it. patriarchy, in what is called Gender Studies (Gender studies) and that instead of focusing on the vindication of women, he prefers to address the idea of gender (not sex, biologically determined) as a cultural construction that can be reviewed, criticized and modified.