7 Types of Feminism: A Brief History of Feminism

Feminism is a social, academic, and cultural movement aimed at interrogating and changing the economic, civil, and ideological disparities between men, women, and those who identify outside of the gender binary. The feminist movement also seeks to alter the way in which culture views sex and gender holistically.

There is no monolithic definition of feminism because it is constantly evolving to address diverse people’s experiences in various societies. There are also many schools of feminist theory focusing on different ideologies, identities, and experiences. However, feminism has historically focused on women earning the same truly equal rights and freedoms afforded to men in a patriarchal society and capitalist system.

Historians and cultural critics often divide the history of feminism into a series of periodic “waves,” reflecting periodic tide changes of varying focus and progress. Here is a brief overview of feminism’s history:

• Early feminist tomes: In 1405, the famed Enlightenment-era French writer Christine de Pizan wrote The Book of the City of Ladies, which highlighted misogyny, lack of education for women, and women’s oppression. In 1792, the proto-feminist Mary Wollstonecraft published her first feminist treatise, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, in which she argued for women’s standing in the current society. She delved into a series of social issues affecting women, such as education, arguing that they should be allowed to gain the same experiences afforded to men (in addition to being mothers and caretakers).
• First wave: Those involved in the first-wave feminist movement of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century advocated for constitutional and social change to mitigate gender inequality. First-wave feminism focused on gaining women the right to vote, the right to education, the right to own property, and the right to be legally recognized as independent subjects from their husbands, rather than their property. In 1920, Congress passed the Nineteenth Amendment, affording women the right to vote.
• Second wave: Second-wave feminism, roughly dating from the 1960s to the 1980s, involved expanding previous ideas and victories of first-wave feminism. This phrase entered popular discourse in an article authored by journalist Martha Weinman Lear in New York Times Magazine entitled “The Second Feminist Wave: What Do These Women Want?” The second wave of feminism pushed for equal opportunities in the workplace, home, and public sphere of a historically patriarchal system. This period of the women’s movement focused on both indirect and direct oppression of women.
• Seminal second-wave texts: Two seminal feminist texts from this period were Betty Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique and Simone de Beauvoir’s The Second Sex. Betty Friedan’s 1963 bestseller The Feminine Mystique explored many women’s lack of life fulfillment due to the social roles they inhabited. While American women had long discussed these ideas in intellectual circles, Friedan’s book popularized them unprecedentedly, with homemakers reading and discussing the text. In 1949, Simone de Beauvoir published The Second Sex, which became a foundational feminist text. The book looks at how women contended with explicit and implicit forms of oppression and prejudice.
• Inclusivity and the third wave: The mid-1990s saw the rise of third-wave feminism. Women began to embrace individuality and autonomy afforded to them by previous civil rights and women’s liberation movements. This period of the movement expanded its horizons to become more inclusive. In 1989, gender and critical race scholar Kimberlé Crenshaw coined the phrase “intersectionality” to explain the intersection between demographics like class, gender identity, sexual orientation, and race. Intersectionality became an essential factor in modern feminist discussions, referring to how inequality and discrimination across different social identities can overlap and exacerbate one another, creating unique sets of experiences and circumstances for different groups. Transfeminism also emerged, exploring the place of trans women in discussions of gender equality. Postmodern feminism and ecofeminism also cropped up and further diversified the feminist discussion.
• Empowerment in the fourth wave: The fourth wave began in the late aughts and early 2010s and aims to achieve even fuller inclusion of women’s rights and gender equality. This wave focuses on equal pay, sexual violence, greater representation of marginalized groups (like the disabled community), and body positivity. Feminist critique from this time also explores how capitalism can exploit trendy “female empowerment” in advertising and media for profit.
• #MeToo and beyond: The internet globalized discussions about oppressive systems built around racism, sexual harassment, and misogyny with viral campaigns like the #MeToo movement, one of the largest movements in recent history, which shed light on toxic sexism and intimidation in the workplace.

There are many different types of feminism with varying beliefs and areas of focus, including:

1. 1. Black feminism: Black feminism is a philosophy centered around the condition of Black women—who experience oppression both on the basis of race and sex—in patriarchal, white-dominated, capitalist western society. Largely ignored by the first and second feminist waves and early Black male-dominated liberation movements, Black women created their own space to discuss the unique oppression and discrimination affecting their everyday lives. The National Black Feminist Organization (NBFO) was formed in 1973 to ensure that the demands of mainstream civil rights groups would not overshadow their rights as autonomous human beings.
2. 2. Cultural feminism: Cultural feminism refers to the separatist idea that women innately possess an evolved essence, which distinguishes them from men, giving them societal advantages that culture at large has historically qualified as weaknesses. Cultural feminists believe that a woman’s perspective should receive more credence. Critics argue that cultural feminism relies too heavily on the “essentialist” tenets of society’s gender binary.
3. 3. Ecofeminism: Ecofeminism aligns the historical and present-day oppression of both women and the environment, arguing that patriarchal societies have used the same methods to dominate the planet’s resources as they have to control women. Ecofeminists believe that respecting and prioritizing a healthy planet is integral to achieving true equality.
4. 4. Mainstream feminism: Also known as “liberal feminism,” this form mainly focuses on achieving women’s rights and social justice through legal and political reform applied to existing social structures. Mainstream, liberal feminists focus on abortion rights, sexual harassment, affordable childcare, reproductive rights, and domestic violence.
5. 5. Marxist and socialist feminism: Marxism is one of the direct influences for socialist feminists, who argue that capitalism was expressly designed to benefit patriarchal hierarchies and encourage the subordination of women. Socialist and Marxist feminism teaches that achieving gender equality will involve dismantling capitalist economic systems that exploit and undervalue women’s labor.
6. 6. Multiracial feminism: Multiracial feminism aims to educate people on how race influences gender constructions and oppression. Multiracial feminists offer feminist perspectives from marginalized groups such as Asian, Latina, and Black women.
7. 7. Radical feminism: Radical feminists believe that society prioritizes the male experience and that gender roles are so far ingrained in every facet of modern life that true equality can only be achieved with a complete overhaul of the current societal system.

Feminism is an intersectional movement with a focus on issues that touch every part of our lives, including reproductive rights, workplace culture, and caregiving. Gain access to exclusive videos on feminism with the MasterClass Annual Membership and get a crash course from leaders Gloria Steinem, Amanda Nguyen, Tina Tchen, and adrienne maree brown.