The feminist movement (also known as the Women's Movement, Women's Liberation, or Women's Lib) refers to a series of campaigns for reforms on issues such as reproductive rights, domestic violence, maternity leave, equal pay, women's suffrage, sexual harassment, and sexual violence, all of which fall under the label of feminism. The movement's priorities vary among nations and communities and range from opposition to female genital mutilation in one country or to the glass ceiling in another.
The movement began in the western world in the late 18th century and has gone through three waves. First-wave feminism was oriented around the station of middle- or upper-class white women and involved suffrage and political equality. Second-wave feminism attempted to further combat social and cultural inequalities. Third-wave feminism includes renewed campaigning for women’s greater influence in politics.
Read more about Feminist Movement: History, Scope, Social Changes
Famous quotes containing the words feminist and/or movement:
“There was no need for a feminist philosophy. My mother never stopped to think that she couldn’t do something.... You didn’t have to change the rules. Just be a strong and skilled individual, work hard, do your homework, and you can do it.”
—Katherine Berman Mariano (b. 1957)
“Our movement took a grip on cowardly Marxism and from it extracted the meaning of socialism. It also took from the cowardly middle-class parties their nationalism. Throwing both into the cauldron of our way of life there emerged, as clear as a crystal, the synthesis—German National Socialism.”
—Hermann Goering (1893–1946)