Portal:Feminism

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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. Some have argued that feminism often promotes misandry and the elevation of women's interests above men's, and criticize radical feminist positions as harmful to both men and women. (Full article...)

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1921 Certificate of Membership from Gamma Chapter at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Alpha Kappa Alpha (ΆΚΆ) is the first Greek-lettered sorority established and incorporated by African-American college women. The sorority was founded on January 15, 1908, at Howard University in Washington, D.C. by a group of nine students, led by Ethel Hedgeman Lyle. Forming a sorority broke barriers for African-American women in areas where little power or authority existed due to a lack of opportunities for minorities and women in the early twentieth century. Alpha Kappa Alpha was incorporated on January 29, 1913. Consisting of college-educated women of African, Caucasian, Asian, and Hispanic descent, the sorority serves through a membership of more than 200,000 women in over 975 chapters in the United States and several other countries. Women may join through undergraduate chapters at a college or university, or through a graduate chapter after acquiring a college degree. Since being founded over a century ago, Alpha Kappa Alpha has helped to improve social and economic conditions through community service programs. Members have improved education through independent initiatives, contributed to community-building by creating programs and associations – such as the Mississippi Health Clinic – and influenced federal legislation by Congressional lobbying through the National Non-Partisan Lobby on Civil and Democratic Rights. The sorority works with communities through service initiatives and progressive programs relating to education, family, health, and business.

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Credit: Luigi Rados

Sophie Blanchard (1778-1818) was the first woman to work as a professional balloonist. Napoleon Bonaparte named her "Aeronaut of the Official Festivals" ("Aéronaute des Fêtes Officielles") with responsibility for organising ballooning displays at major events, and may have also made her his Chief Air Minister of Ballooning, in which role she is reported to have drawn up plans for an aerial invasion of England. On the restoration of the monarchy in 1814 she performed for Louis XVIII, who named her "Official Aeronaut of the Restoration". She died in a ballooning accident four years later.

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In this month

July 1843 – First publication in The Dial of Margaret Fuller's essay The Great Lawsuit, one of the first American feminist works
July 1923 – Foundation of the People's Party of Women in the Republic of Turkey by Nezihe Muhiddin
14 July 1858 – Birth of Emmeline Pankhurst, the driving force behind women's suffrage in the United Kingdom
15 July 1907 – Execution of Qiū Jǐn (秋瑾) (pictured), a Chinese anti-Qing Empire revolutionary, feminist and writer.
19 July 1848 – Seneca Falls Convention, the first women's rights convention in the United States, organized by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and others, where she presented her Declaration of Sentiments and advocated women's right to vote

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I myself have never been able to find out precisely what feminism is: I only know that people call me a feminist whenever I express sentiments that differentiate me from a doormate or a prostitute.

— Rebecca West

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Ann Bannon (pseudonym of Ann Weldy) (1932 - ) is an American writer who wrote six lesbian pulp fiction novels from 1957 to 1962 known as The Beebo Brinker Chronicles. The books' enduring popularity and impact on lesbian identity has earned her the title "Queen of Lesbian Pulp Fiction". Bannon was a young housewife trying to address her own issues of sexuality when she was inspired to write her first novel, which became the second best-selling paperback of 1957. Despite her traditional upbringing and role in married life, her novels defied conventions for romance stories and depictions of lesbians, by addressing complex homosexual relationships positively during the morally repressive era of the 1950s and 1960s. Although her books shaped lesbian identity for lesbians and heterosexuals alike, Bannon was unaware of their impact. She stopped writing in 1962 and later earned a doctorate in linguistics and became an academic. She endured a difficult marriage for 27 years and as she separated from her husband in the 1980s, her books were republished and she was stunned to learn of their influence on society. They were released again in 2001, and have been adapted as an award-winning Off-Broadway production. They are taught in Women's and LGBT studies courses, and Bannon has been given numerous awards for pioneering lesbian and gay literature.

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Did you know (auto-generated) - load new batch

... that Margareth Rago seeks to establish a methodology for what she calls "feminist science"?
... 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?

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...that Japanese painter Uemura Shoen (work pictured) was the first woman awarded Japan's prestigious Order of Culture?
...that Clare Winger Harris was the first woman to publish short stories under her own name in science fiction magazines?
...that Lois DeBerry is the first African-American woman speaker pro tempore of the Tennessee House of Representatives?

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

Image 1Women on the street celebrating International Women's Day in Cameroon (from International Women's Day)
Image 2Frances Cobbe (from History of feminism)
Image 3Germaine Greer in June 1972 (from History of feminism)
Image 4Matilda Joslyn Gage (from History of feminism)
Image 5The Nineteenth Amendment (from History of feminism)
Image 6
  Official holiday
  Holiday for women
  Non-official holiday
(from International Women's Day)
Image 7Sylvia Pankhurst (from History of feminism)
Image 8Author and scholar Helen Kendrick Johnson opposed women's suffrage. (from History of feminism)
Image 9Yellow mimosa is the symbol of IWD in Italy as well as in Russia, Ukraine and many other ex-Soviet Union republics (from International Women's Day)
Image 10Huda Shaarawi, founder of the Egyptian Feminist Union (from History of feminism)
Image 11Nellie McClung (from History of feminism)
Image 12Emily Davison (from History of feminism)
Image 13Irena Krzywicka (from History of feminism)
Image 14Suffrage parade in New York, May 6, 1912 (from History of feminism)
Image 15Wealthy 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 16Lucy Stone (from History of feminism)
Image 17Cover of WSPU's The Suffragette, April 25, 1913 (after Delacroix's Liberty Leading the People, 1830) (from History of feminism)
Image 18Simone de Beauvoir (from History of feminism)
Image 19Margaret Sanger (from History of feminism)
Image 20Female members of the Australian Builders Labourers Federation march on International Women's Day 1975 in Sydney (from International Women's Day)
Image 21The vandalized Concepción Feminist Mural in Spain, which was vandalized on International Women's Day 2021. (from International Women's Day)
Image 22Camilla Collett (from History of feminism)
Image 23Bessie Rayner Parkes (from History of feminism)
Image 24bell hooks (from History of feminism)
Image 25John Neal (from History of feminism)
Image 26Gloria Steinem at news conference, Women's Action Alliance, January 12, 1972 (from History of feminism)
Image 27Betty Friedan 1960 (from History of feminism)
Image 28Catharine MacKinnon (from History of feminism)
Image 298M 2018 in Pamplona (from International Women's Day)
Image 30Marie Stopes (from History of feminism)
Image 31An 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 32A veil-burning ceremony in Andijan on International Women's Day in 1927. (from International Women's Day)
Image 33Florence Nightingale (from History of feminism)
Image 34Christine de Pizan presents her book to Queen Isabeau of Bavaria. (from History of feminism)
Image 35Women's Liberation march in Washington, D.C., 1970 (from History of feminism)
Image 36First edition print of A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (from History of feminism)
Image 37Elizabeth Cady Stanton (seated) and Susan B. Anthony (from History of feminism)
Image 38Ida B. Wells (from History of feminism)
Image 39Board of directors of "Jam'iat e nesvan e vatan-khah", a women's rights association in Tehran (1923–1933) (from History of feminism)
Image 40Clara Zetkin (left) and Rosa Luxemburg (right) in January 1910 (from International Women's Day)
Image 41María 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 428M 2020 in Spain (from International Women's Day)

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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