2. Feminism is a collection of social theories, political
movements and moral philosophies, largely motivated by or
concerned with the liberation of women. Most feminists are
especially concerned with social, political and economic
inequality between men and women (in the context of it
being to the disadvantage of women).
3. In simple terms, feminism is the belief in social, political
and economic equality of the sexes, and the movement
organized around the belief that gender should not be
the pre-determinant factor shaping a person's social
identity, or socio-political or economic rights.
5. The first feminist document is "Declaration of
the rights of women and citizen", written by a
Frenchwoman Olympia de Huzh in 1791, in which it
was stated that women had the same rights to freedom,
property ownership as men. Declaration aroused strong
opposition in society, especially the phrase: "If a
woman has the right to climb the scaffold, she should
have the right go to the tribune”.
6. Feminism in main events:
1893 New Zealand became the first country that gave
women the right to vote. In 1902 joined Australia and
Finland - 1906. In 1920 - USA. France - in 1944. The last
countries were Switzerland (1971) and Portugal (1977).
1907 In France was passed the law which allowed married
women to control their own private wage and spend money
on things which they considered appropriate.
1949 Simone de Beauvoir published her scandal book "The
Second Sex" which made a revolution in the feminist
thought. 22,000 copies were sold in the first week, and in
the U.S. for the year - 1 000 000 copies.
7. 1975 In the United States for the first
time was heard the expression “date
rape”. American feminist Susan
Brown-Miller argued that every second
raped woman was the victim of her
date friend. The alarming results of
surveys indicated that every fourth
American student was raped or a
victim of sexual aggression, and that
from 60 to 80% of rapes were
committed by people close to the
victim.
8. 1980 Crime and punishment.
In France, just updated criminal
code considered rape as a crime
deserving from 10 to 20 years
imprisonment and life imprisonment -
for the gang rape. Yet this rape was
considered as one of the display of
insanity, just deserving consideration
in the penal court.
10. The most important thing to understand
about feminism is that it’s not about women being
better than men. A quote by Jane Galvin Lewis
will be well-directed here: “You don't have to be
anti-man to be pro-woman." True feminism is not
about women wanting a higher place in society
than men, it is about wanting an equal place in
society”.