Written by _Enchanteress_

"You educate a man; you educate a man. You educate a woman; you educate a generation."

―

Brigham Young

Quite simply, feminism is about all genders having equal rights and opportunities.

It's about respecting diverse women's experiences, identities, knowledge, and strengths, and striving to empower all women to realize their full rights.

It's about leveling the playing field between genders, and ensuring that diverse women and girls have the same opportunities in life available to boys and men.

"Feminism means working towards achieving global gender equality. Everyone is born equal, regardless of gender, race, or sexuality. However, there are so many aspects of life in which people are not treated equally: politically, economically, legally, and socially."

"Feminism is about working against the systems built to keep certain groups of people oppressed, and striving towards equality for everyone. It means fighting for intersectionality and acknowledging how race, sexual orientation, and socioeconomic status affect feminism.

It means having civil conversations with people we fundamentally disagree with to try and advocate change. 

It means taking a meaningful stance on injustices and standing up for inequalities, even if we the only ones standing."

Just because we are females doesn't mean we are below. We are not above either. We are equal to men.

Feminism is a series of social movements, political movements, and philosophies aimed at identifying, developing, and achieving gender, political, cultural, personal, and social equality. Feminism reflects the idea that societies favor the male point of view, and that women in such societies are treated unfairly. Efforts to change that include combating gender stereotypes and seeking to establish equal educational and professional opportunities for women to men.

Feminist movements have advocated and continue to advocate for the rights of women, including the right to vote, hold public office, work, earn fair wages, equal pay and reduce the gender pay gap, own land, obtain employment, enter into contracts, have equal rights within marriage and have maternity leave.

Feminists also work to ensure access to legal abortions and social inclusion and to protect women and girls from rape, sexual harassment, and domestic violence. 

Some scholars see feminist campaigns as a major force behind major historical societal changes in women's rights, especially in the West, where they are credited almost universally with achieving women's suffrage, gender-neutral language, women's reproductive rights (including access to contraceptives and abortion), and the right to contract and own property. Although feminist advocacy is, and has been, focused primarily on women's rights, some feminists, including Bell Hooks, argue in favor of including men's liberation within their goals, because they believe that men are also harmed by traditional gender roles.

Feminist theory, which emerged from feminist movements, aims at understanding the nature of gender inequality by examining the social roles and experiences of women; it has developed theories in a variety of disciplines to respond to gender issues.

Over the years numerous feminist movements and ideologies have evolved and represented different points of view and goals. Some forms of feminism have been criticized for only taking white, middle-class, and college-educated perspectives into account. This critique led to the development of ethnically specific or multicultural feminism forms, including black feminism and intersectional feminism. Feminist theory is the extension of feminism into fields of theory or philosophy. It includes research in a variety of fields including anthropology, sociology, economics, women's studies, literary criticism, art history, psychoanalysis, and philosophy. Feminist philosophy attempts to explain the disparity between men and women and focuses on gender roles, power dynamics, and sexuality. Although opposing these social and political ties, much of the feminist philosophy is often based on supporting the rights and interests of women.

Themes discussed in feminist theory include sexism, stereotyping, objectification, inequality, and patriarchy. Elaine Showalter describes the evolution of feminist theory as having three phases in the field of literary critique.

The first she calls "feminist criticism," in which the feminist reader examines literary phenomena the ideologies.

The second Showalter calls "gynocriticism" where "the woman is the creator of textual significance."

The last phase she calls "gender theory," in which she explores the "ideological inscription and the literary effects of the sex/gender system"

(If this continue like this, I swear I will go into politics, or I will become a lawyer I don't care about my social anxiety)