Most feminists would agree with the above goals but we often have different ideas on how to achieve them. Get five feminists in a room and whilst they may agree on most points, they are unlikely to see eye to eye on everything. Get ten feminists in a room together and there will be even less agreement.
We are a mixed bag in feminist land so here is a very shallow dive, more like a toe-dip really, into the various schools of feminist thought along with some further recommended reading.
We have had various waves of feminism throughout Western history and according to most social commentators, scholars and researchers we are currently in the middle of the fourth wave - which began around 2012 and is associated with social media use to galvanise activism.
The following piece focuses on schools of feminist thought that have emerged in the Western Hemisphere, and is by no means a comprehensive guide.
MAINSTREAM FEMINISM
Mainstream feminism has taken different guises over the years and usually reflects the current cultural and political movements of the the time. In the 20th century it was focused on political and legal reform, and has its roots in early liberal feminism.
Current Mainstream Feminism is concerned with issues such as women's political participation and access to education, and uses current systems of power such as capitalism to convey feminist messages.
LIBERAL FEMINISM
Liberal Feminism focuses on the individual and the choices women make in order to achieve equality with men. Liberal feminists believe that women’s subordination is because of cultural and legal obstructions to women’s full participation in public life. Liberal feminists tend to favour using the law and legislative change to gain equality, and view the state as the protector of individual liberty.
Liberal Feminism does not have a hard and fast set of objectives but values an individualistic approach to seeking equality with men and downplays sexual differences. Liberal Feminists believe that issues like domestic violence and reproductive rights can be solved by removing obstacles to women achieving on a level with men in public life.
Notable Liberal Feminists: Mary Wollstonecraft, Emma Watson Recommended Reading: Freedom Fallacy: The Limits of Liberal Feminism by Miranda Kiraly and Meagan Tyler, A Vindication of The Rights of Women by Mary Wollstonecraft.
MARXIST FEMINISM
Marxist feminism focuses on exploring the ways in which women are oppressed under patriarchy through capitalism and private property. Marxists say that under capitalism two types of labour exist: productive and reproductive.
Productive labour results in goods or services that have value under capitalism.
Reproductive labour is, well, reproductive labour. According to Marxist theory women quite literally create the workforce that keeps capitalism ticking along, with little to no compensation. Marxist feminists believe, amongst other things, that women should be compensated for their reproductive labour and their labour in the domestic sphere.
Notable Marxist Feminists: Angela Davis, Clara Zetkin, Clara Fraser
Recommended Reading: The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx and Frederich Engels, Women’s Oppression Today: The Marxist/Feminist Encounter by Michèle Barrett.
SOCIALIST FEMINISM
Socialist Feminism started to gain prominence in the1960s and 1970s in tandem with other leftist movements.
Drawing from Marxist Feminism, Socialist feminists believe that women are oppressed under patriarchy through capitalism. Marxists believe that class is the main issue driving oppression. Marx argued once class oppression was overcome, sex-based oppression would disappear as well. Socialist feminists believe that there is a more complicated interplay between class, capitalism and patriarchy.
Notable Socialist Feminists: Barbara Ehrenreich, Johanna Brenner
Recommended Reading: “What Is Socialist Feminism?” by Barbara Ehrenreich, Socialist Feminsm: The First Decade, 1966-1976 by Gloria Martin
RADICAL FEMINISM
Radical Feminists hold the view that the female sex, as a group, is oppressed by the male sex, as a group. Radical Feminism seeks to abolish patriarchy by challenging the cultural and institutional domination of men over women. Radical feminists believe that gender roles are socially constructed and used to reinforce men’s oppression of women.
Notable Radical Feminists: Andrea Dworkin, Linda Bellos, Julie Bindel
Recommended Reading: Feminism Unmodified by Catharine MacKinnon, Pornography: Men Possessing Women by Andrea Dworkin, The Female Eunuch by Germaine Greer.
ECOFEMINISM
Ecofeminism sees a connection between patriarchy and the environmental destruction of planet Earth.
Ecofeminism focuses on the way that women and the environment are treated in a male-dominated society. They draw links between men's desire to control both women and the environment - leading to the denigration of both.
Ecofeminism seeks to dismantle the current social system and rebuild one where all living things are given equal importance.
Notable Ecofeminists: Carol J. Adams, Maria Mies
Recommended Reading: Ecofeminism by Maria Mies and Vandana Shiva, Greeham Common: Women at the Wire by Barbara Harford and Sarah Hopkins
BLACK FEMINISM
Distinct from African Feminism, Black Feminism focuses on the concerns of the African diaspora in the Western Hemisphere.
Black feminists believe that characteristics such as race, class and sex are bound up inextricably and that black woman can experience patriarchy differently to white women whilst experiencing racism differently to black men. Black feminists believe that mainstream feminism has mostly focused on issues affecting white, middle-class women, such as women having the power to work outside the home. Black feminists do not see this as an accomplishment as many black women have worked outside the home for generations due to poverty.
Black Feminism sees the struggle against male-domination as part of the struggle against racism, and vice-versa.
Notable Black Feminists: Angela Davis, Hazel Carby, Kimberlé Crenshaw, Toni Morrison
Recommended Reading: “White Woman Listen! Black Feminism and the Boundaries of Sisterhood” essay by Hazel Carby, Sister Outsider by Audre Lorde, Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Consciousness, and the Politics of Empowerment by Patricia Hill Collins
INTERSECTIONAL FEMINISM
Emerging out of Black Feminism, Kimberlé Crenshaw coined the term “intersectionality” in her paper "Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex: A Black Feminist Critique of Antidiscrimination Doctrine, Feminist Theory and Antiracist Politics.” Intersectional feminists believe that characteristics such as race, class, disability, sex and sexual orientation do not exist entirely separately from each other but are interwoven.
The ideas behind Intersectional Feminism existed long before Crenshaw’s essay, with Sojourner Truth’s speech “Ain’t I a Woman?” exploring race and femininity.
Originally an exploration of the way Black women experience sexism and racism, intersectionality is now used as a framework to analyse many different social categories.
Notable Intersectional Feminists: Kimberlé Crenshaw, Patricia Hill Collins, bell hooks
Recommended Reading: "Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex: A Black Feminist Critique of Antidiscrimination Doctrine, Feminist Theory and Antiracist Politics” by Kimberlé Crenshaw, Aint I a Woman: Black Woman and Feminism by bell hooks
ANARCHIST FEMINISM
Anarchist Feminism, also known as Anarcha-feminism, combines the goals of anarchism with feminism. Anarchist feminists believe in the right of the individual to live their life however they want so long as it does not harm anyone else. Anarchist feminists believe in the decentralisation of power and the right to free association.
Anarchist feminists seek to abolish capitalism and all other structures of power. They believe that the struggle against patriarchy is an essential part of the struggle against the state.
Anarchist Feminism opposes the institution of marriage and the concept of the traditional nuclear family, instead supporting Free Love and the separation of the state from sexual matters such as marriage and birth control.
Notable Anarchist Feminists: Emma Goldman, Suga Kanno, Audrey Tang
Recommended Reading: Anarchism and Other Essays by Emma Goldman, Free Women of Spain: Anarchism and the Struggle for the Emancipation of Women by Martha A. Ackelsberg, Anarchism: Its Philosophy and Ideal by Pëtr Kropotkin
POSTMODERN FEMINISM
Postmodern Feminism combines postmodernism and feminism. Postmodernism embraces the idea that there is no objective, natural reality, that everything is constructed and that multiple viewpoints can all be true, in opposition to Essentialism. Postmodernist theory suggests that there are no objective moral values, suggesting equality for all things.
Postmodern Feminism challenges the idea that men are the default and that women are the other, some Postmodernist feminists going so far as to argue that sex is socially constructed.
Some Postmodern feminists argue against the distinction between sex (biological) and gender (social), putting forward that material things can also be subject to social construction.
Notable Postmodern Feminists: Simone de Beauvoir, Judith Butler, Bell Hooks
Recommended Reading: The Second Sex by Simone de Beauvoir, Gender Troubles by Judith Butler, Beloved by Toni Morrison
SEPARATIST FEMINISM
Separatist Feminism is based on the idea that opposition to patriarchy can be achieved by women separating from men. Some Separatist feminists assert that men have a parasitic relationship to women, with complete access to women’s resources and bodies (through denial of reproductive rights, marriage) whilst the reverse is not true.
There are differing opinions within Separatist Feminism concerning the degree to which women should separate from men, whether it is an ideology or a strategy, and whether it is a temporary tactic or a lifelong practice.
Notable Separatist Feminists: Marilyn Frye, Adrienne Rich, Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz
TRANSFEMINISM
Transfeminism views the liberation of transwomen to be intrinsically linked to the liberation of all women from male oppression. Transfeminists believe in the right of the individual to self-define and live their life however they choose, and that individualised gender expression should be celebrated. Transfeminism values the right of an individual to make decisions about their body and rejects any interference from authority, medical or otherwise.
Transfeminism celebrates body diversity and argues that trans people challenge societal norms around sex and gender.
Transfeminism views itself as open to anyone sympathetic with the needs of Transfeminism and views their alliance with trans women to be essential for their own liberation.
Notable Transfeminsts: Kate Bornstein, Emi Koyama, Julia Serano
Recommended Reading: “The Transfeminist Manifesto” by Emi Koyama, Whipping Girl: A Transsexual Woman on Sexism and the Scapegoating of Femininity by Julia Serano.
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