Portal:Feminism

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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Aradia, or the Gospel of the Witches is an 1899 book by Charles Godfrey Leland. The book is an attempt to portray the beliefs and rituals of an underground religious witchcraft tradition in Tuscany that had survived for centuries until Leland's claimed discovery of its existence in the 1890s. Scholars have disputed the veracity of this claim. Still, the book has become one of the foundational texts of Wicca and Neo-paganism. Its fifteen chapters portray the origins, beliefs, rituals and spells of an Italian pagan witchcraft tradition. The central figure of that religion is the goddess Aradia who came to Earth to teach the practice of witchcraft to oppressed peasants in order for them to oppose their feudal oppressors and the Christian church. Leland's work remained obscure until the 1950s, when other theories about, and claims of, "pagan witchcraft" survivals began to be widely discussed. Aradia began to be examined within the wider context of such claims. Scholars are divided, with some dismissing Leland's assertion regarding the origins of the manuscript, and others arguing for its authenticity as a unique documentation of folk beliefs.

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Credit: PICQ

An Adivasi (indigenous) woman from the Kutia Khond tribal group in the Indian state of Orissa. Khonds were known for their human sacrifices, which were intended to further the fertilization of the earth.

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In this month

April 1917 – American modern artist Georgia O'Keeffe's first solo art show
April 2007 – Mukhtaran Bibi (pictured) won the North-South Prize for human rights for speaking out regarding her gang rape, taking the rapists to court, and founding the Mukhtar Mai Women's Welfare Organization
5 April 1858 – During the Central India Campaign, Rani Lakshmibai helped defend Jhansi and lead the Indian Rebellion of 1857
11 April 1881 – Establishment of Spelman College, the oldest historically black college for women in the United States
22 April 1766 – Birth of Anne Louise Germaine de Staël, a salonnière of political influence, who challenged Napoleon, and an author

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I’ve been described as a tough and noisy woman, a prize fighter, a man-hater, you name it. They call me Battling Bella, Mother Courage, and a Jewish mother with more complaints than Portnoy. There are those who say I’m impatient, impetuous, uppity, rude, profane, brash, and overbearing. Whether I’m any of those things, or all of them, you can decide for yourself. But whatever I am —and this ought to be made very clear—I am a very serious woman.

— Bella Abzug

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Sir John Vanbrugh was an English architect and dramatist, best known as the designer of Blenheim Palace. He wrote two argumentative and outspoken Restoration comedies, The Relapse (1696) and The Provoked Wife (1697), which have become enduring stage favourites but originally occasioned much controversy. Vanbrugh was in many senses a radical throughout his life. As a young man and a committed Whig, he was part of the scheme to overthrow James II, put William III on the throne and protect English parliamentary democracy, dangerous undertakings which landed him in the dreaded Bastille of Paris as a political prisoner. In his career as a playwright, he offended many sections of Restoration and 18th-century society, not only by the sexual explicitness of his plays, but by their messages in defence of women's rights in marriage. His architectural work was as bold and daring as his early political activism and his marriage-themed plays, and jarred conservative opinions on the subject.

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... 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?
... that Margareth Rago seeks to establish a methodology for what she calls "feminist science"?
... that the retelling of stories can focus on female characters to reflect the feminist perspective?

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...that in the Big Runaway during the American Revolution in Pennsylvania in 1778, Rachel Silverthorn (pictured) rode to warn settlers on Muncy Creek of impending attack when no man would?
...that the role of Kanephoros was the most prominent public office a girl or woman could hold in ancient Athens?
... that Henry Fielding praised Jane Collier, author of An Essay on the Art of Ingeniously Tormenting and The Cry, for her "understanding more than female, mixed with virtues almost more than human"?

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

Image 1Frances Cobbe (from History of feminism)
Image 2Female members of the Australian Builders Labourers Federation march on International Women's Day 1975 in Sydney (from International Women's Day)
Image 3John Neal (from History of feminism)
Image 4Gloria Steinem at news conference, Women's Action Alliance, January 12, 1972 (from History of feminism)
Image 5A veil-burning ceremony in Andijan on International Women's Day in 1927 (from International Women's Day)
Image 6Margaret Sanger (from History of feminism)
Image 7Emily Davison (from History of feminism)
Image 8The Nineteenth Amendment (from History of feminism)
Image 9An 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 108M 2020 in Spain (from International Women's Day)
Image 11Sylvia Pankhurst (from History of feminism)
Image 12The White Feather: A Sketch of English Recruiting" (Arnold Bennett, 1914) (from History of feminism)
Image 13Florence Nightingale (from History of feminism)
Image 14Camilla Collett (from History of feminism)
Image 15Germaine Greer in June 1972 (from History of feminism)
Image 16Marie Stopes (from History of feminism)
Image 17Yellow mimosa is the symbol of International Women's Day in Italy as well as in Russia, Ukraine and many other ex-Soviet Union republics (from International Women's Day)
Image 18María 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 19Christine de Pizan presents her book to Queen Isabeau of Bavaria. (from History of feminism)
Image 20Catharine MacKinnon (from History of feminism)
Image 21Women's Liberation march in Washington, D.C., 1970 (from History of feminism)
Image 22Women on the street celebrating International Women's Day in Cameroon (from International Women's Day)
Image 23Nellie McClung (from History of feminism)
Image 24Wealthy 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 25bell hooks (from History of feminism)
Image 26Board of directors of "Jam'iat e nesvan e vatan-khah", a women's rights association in Tehran (1923–1933) (from History of feminism)
Image 27
  Official holiday
  Holiday for women
  Non-official holiday
(from International Women's Day)
Image 28First edition print of A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (from History of feminism)
Image 29Betty Friedan 1960 (from History of feminism)
Image 30Lucy Stone (from History of feminism)
Image 31Ida B. Wells (from History of feminism)
Image 32Clara Zetkin (left) and Rosa Luxemburg (right) in January 1910 (from International Women's Day)
Image 33Matilda Joslyn Gage (from History of feminism)
Image 34Cover of WSPU's The Suffragette, April 25, 1913 (after Delacroix's Liberty Leading the People, 1830) (from History of feminism)
Image 35Suffrage parade in New York, May 6, 1912 (from History of feminism)
Image 36Giorgia Meloni, first female prime minister of Italy at a 2024 Women's Day event in Rome (from International Women's Day)
Image 37Irena Krzywicka (from History of feminism)
Image 38Huda Shaarawi, founder of the Egyptian Feminist Union (from History of feminism)
Image 39The vandalized Concepción Feminist Mural in Spain, which was vandalized on International Women's Day 2021. (from International Women's Day)
Image 40Author and scholar Helen Kendrick Johnson opposed women's suffrage. (from History of feminism)
Image 41Elizabeth Cady Stanton (seated) and Susan B. Anthony (from History of feminism)
Image 42Bessie Rayner Parkes (from History of feminism)
Image 438M 2018 in Pamplona (from International Women's Day)
Image 44Simone de Beauvoir (from History of feminism)

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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