feminism questions for essay

380 Powerful Women’s Rights & Feminism Topics [2024]

Are you looking for perfect feminist topics? Then you’ve come to the right place. With our help, you can be sure to craft a great essay. Here, you can find feminist topics for discussion, feminism research topics and other ideas and questions for students.

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Some people think all feminists hate men. It couldn’t be further from the truth! Feminists are people of all genders who believe that they are socially and politically equal. Thanks to their achievements, women’s rights around the world are progressing.

If you want to contribute to the discussion, this article has what you need. Here, our custom writing experts compiled:

Creative feminism topics for your paper,
Tips to help you pick the perfect topic.

Let’s dive right in!

🔝 Top 10 Feminism Essay Topics

✅ How to Choose a Topic

⚖️ Top 10 Women’s Rights Essay Topics

🔬 top 10 feminism research topics.

📜 Women’s Rights History Topics
💪👩 Feminism Topics
📚 Feminist Theory
👩‍💻 Women Empowerment
👩‍🎓 Women’s Studies
🏥 Abortion Topics
🙅‍♀️ Domestic Violence

🔍 References

The 4 waves of feminism
Liberal vs. radical feminism
What is feminist psychology?
Feminist views on trans rights
Why ecofeminism is important
How has feminism changed culture?
Feminism interactions with socialism
The effects of liberal feminism on the society
Civil rights movement’s influence on feminism
The main proponents of feminist standpoint theory

✅ How to Choose a Feminism Topic

Picking the right topic is a crucial first step for any assignment. Check out these tips for a little starting help:

Formulate your topic as a question , such as “What makes Alice Schwarzer a controversial feminist figure?” This trick will help you clearly determine what your essay will be about.
Compile a keyword list . Once you have a general idea of what you want to work on, think of related words and phrases. For example, if our area of interest is “ Feminism in America , ” some of our keywords might be women’s suffrage movement , Fifteenth Amendment, birth control . You can use them to outline your research.
A concept map can be a helpful brainstorming tool to organize your ideas. Put your area of interest (for instance, women empowerment ) in a circle in the middle. Write all related concepts around it, and connect them with lines.
Stay clear from overused themes . Writing on popular subjects might be tempting. But can you offer a unique perspective on the issue? Choose such topics only if your answer is “yes.”
Make sure there is enough information available . Sure, an essay on the role of women in 17th century Tongan culture sounds exciting. Unfortunately, finding good sources on this topic might prove difficult. You can refer to subjects of this kind if you’re researching a thesis or a dissertation.

Now you’re ready to find your perfect topic. Keep reading and let one of our exciting suggestions inspire you.

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Gender bias in driving
Girls’ education in Afghanistan
Women’s political rights in Syria
Women’s land ownership rights
Overincarceration of women in the US
Resettlement of women refugees: risks
Abortion rights in conservative countries
Reproductive rights and HIV among women
Honor killings as women’s rights violation
Access to cervical cancer prevention for women of color
Gender equity vs. gender equality
Adverse effects of child marriage
#Metoo movement’s impact on society
Environmental crisis as a feminist issue
The importance of women’s education
Is gender equality a social justice issue?
Why is teen pregnancy dangerous?
How can gender biases be lessened?
Ethics of artificial reproductive technologies
Legacy of women’s suffrage movement

📜 History of Women’s Rights Topics

The history of women’s rights in America is long and full of struggles. The US is still far from having achieved complete equality. And in many developing countries, the situation is even worse. If you’re interested in the feminist movements and activists who paved the way thus far, this section is for you.

The role of women in the first American settlements.
Why weren’t women allowed to serve in combat positions in the US army until 2013?
What happened at the Seneca Falls Convention?
Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Women’s Suffrage in America.
Discuss the impact of Sojourner Truth’s Ain’t I a Woman? speech.
Explore gender equality in 20th century Britain.
Trace the timeline of events that led to the 19th amendment.
Why was the invention of the pill a milestone in the fight for equal rights ?
The legacy of Amelia Earhart.
What was The Bitch Manifesto ?
Outline the history of women in American politics .
The role of women in the Civil Rights Movement.
How did the Comstock Laws affect the struggle for women’s rights?
How did Ruth Bader Ginsburg fight against gender discrimination in the US?
In what ways did the introduction of Islamic law improve women’s rights in Arabia?
Artemisia Gentileschi: forerunner of feminism.
In 2016, the first female president was nominated by a major US party. Why did it take so long?
Explore the origins of witch trials in Europe.
What did Molly Dewson achieve?
The history of women’s rights in Russia vs. England.
How did WWI influence the fight for equal rights ?
What were the goals of the Women’s Trade Union League?
The effects of the Equal Pay Act.

Study the connection between women’s health and rights throughout history.
When did women receive the right to own property in America? Why was it important?
Debate the role of women in history of theater.
In the past, Russia was one of the first European countries to introduce women’s suffrage . In 2016, it decriminalized domestic violence. What led to this change?
Women in the workforce: the long road towards workplace equality .
Minna Canth: the history of women’s rights activism in Finland.
Who were “The Famous Five”?
Why was Japan quicker to enact equality laws than its European counterparts?
The role and visibility of women writers in the 19th century.
What problems did the National Organization for Women face?
Discuss the foundation and impact of the Redstockings. Did they reflect the general attitude of women towards liberation at the time?
Who or what was responsible for the failure of the ERA ?
The role of women in Ancient Greek communities.
Alice Paul and the Silent Sentinels: how did they contribute to establishing the right to vote for women?
Why was Betty Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique critical to the progress of feminism in the 20th century?
The presidential candidacy of Victoria Woodhull.
What was the purpose of the Hull House? How did it advance women’s rights?
Why did Elizabeth Cady Stanton oppose the Fifteenth Amendment?
Lucy Stone’s influence on the abolitionist and women’s rights movements .
Discuss the significance of literature for the success of the suffragist movement in America.
Slavery: compare women’s and men’s narratives.
How Frances Ellen Watkins Harper’s speeches and poetry changed the world.
Emmeline Pankhurst as the central figure of the UK’s suffragette movement.
Why did it take so long for suffragette movements around the globe to gain traction?
From a historical perspective, why weren’t women’s rights the same as human rights?
Trace the development of women liberation in Morocco.
Investigate the founding of women’s day.

👩👍 Feminism Topics to Research

Feminism is a global phenomenon. That’s why it’s not surprising that the term has many definitions. What to consider sexism? What can we do about it? How important is the concept of gender? Those are central questions feminists around the world seek to answer. Feminism’s areas of study include politics, sociology, and economics.

Compare feminist issues on a global scale.
What distinguishes radical feminists from liberal ones?
Black feminism: is it a separate movement?
When does “being a gentleman” become sexist?
Is feminism always anti-racist?
What do we need gender concepts for?
Feminism oppression in Islamic countries.
How do gender stereotypes form in children?
Why are societies around the globe still struggling to achieve full equality?
The effects of gender-oriented politics.
Can men be feminists? (Consider Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s We Should All Be Feminists )
How did the patriarchy develop?
Would a matriarchal society be more peaceful than a patriarchal one? Draw your conclusions from real-life examples.
Compare and contrast Judith Butler and Alice Schwarzer.
Effectiveness of provocative methods in feminism.
What’s the problem with unisex bathrooms in restaurants and bars?
Discuss the prejudice transgender people face. What should we do about it?
Why are reproductive rights a crucial issue on the way to equality?
Describe various types of feminism.
How can hairstyle function as a political statement?
Which feminist movements are most prevalent in Asia?
Trace the history of feminist ethics.
What’s the “pink tax,” and why should it be abolished?
Discuss Audre Lorde’s feminism.
How does feminist research methodology influence education?
Sexism in advertising : why is it still a problem?
What are the goals of Girls Who Code?
The role of literacy politics in achieving gender equality .
Stay at home moms: are they a step back on the feminist agenda?
Explore the origins of color-coding pink and blue as girl and boy colors, respectively.
Are beauty pageants harmful to women’s positive body image?
The problem of ableism in intersectional feminist movements.
What is identity politics , and why is it important?
New Zealand’s Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern, recently introduced her new cabinet. Of the 20 people who serve in it, eight are women, five Maori, three belong to the minority Pasifika, and three are queer. Is it what all future cabinets should strive for?
What makes racism a feminist issue?
Describe how objectification works and why it is harmful.
A history of women inventors who didn’t get credit for their innovations.
Female circumcision as an example of women’s oppression disguised as a cultural tradition.
The infantilization of women: origins and effects.

Define how feminism influences science.
How does one avoid gender bias when raising a child?
What popular ideas about feminism are myths?
Gender inequality in politics of India and Iran .
What is the definition of ecofeminism? Describe its merits.
How do men benefit from feminism?
Why do we need gender equality in language?
Problems of reconciling religion and the LGBTQ community.
More and more fitness clubs introduce “women’s hours.” Some bars are only open for women. They claim to do this to create safe spaces. What’s your position on this development?
Anti-feminism: is it a movement for the far-right?
The impact of #metoo on work culture.

📚 Feminist Theory Topics to Look Into

Feminist theory criticizes how culture perpetuates misogyny. The best way to look at it is to divide feminism into three waves:

First-wave feminism (the late 1700s – early 1900s). It includes the women’s suffrage movement.
Second-wave feminism (the 1960s – ’70s.) Key points are equal working conditions and feminist political activism.
Third-wave feminism (1990s – today). It encompasses not only women but all marginalized groups.

Take a look at culture from a feminist perspective with our topics:

Discuss the concept of feminism in Barbie Doll by Marge Piercy.
Explain the success of Gillian Armstrong’s Little Women.
What inequalities between men and women does Mary Wollstonecraft mention in A Vindication of the Rights of Women ?
Masculinity and femininity in William Somerset Maugham’s Of Human Bondage.
An existentialist view: how Simone de Beauvoir influenced the feminist discourse.
The role of women in Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Americanah.
Discuss the power dynamics between men and women in the Terminator series.
How does rap music perpetuate traditional concepts of masculinity ?
Daisy’s character in The Great Gatsby through a feminist lens.
Write about the depiction of women and the patriarchy in Mad Men.
What distinguishes the third wave of feminism from the other two?
Women’s history and media in Susan Douglas’ Where the Girls Are .
What is the goal of gynocriticism?
Possibilities of sisterhood in Hulu’s TV show A Handmaid’s Tale .
Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar : where does Esther Greenwood see her place in society?
Early feminist perspectives in Virginia Woolf’s A Room of One’s Own.
Compare and contrast how the characters in Mulan react to the protagonist as a woman vs. a man.
Life stages of women in Alfonso Cuarón’s Roma .
Why were feminists unhappy about Prado’s exhibition Uninvited Guests ?
Sexuality and society in Céline Sciamma’s Portrait of a Lady on Fire .
Gender expectations in The Little Mermaid .
Feminist concepts and issues in Netflix’s Thirteen Reasons Why .
Challenging traditional femininity: independence and rebellion in Thelma and Louise.
The target audience of Mad Max: Fury Road is stated as male. Yet, the central character of the film Furiosa is a strong rebel woman. Does this make it a feminist movie?
Persepolis : what it means to grow up as a liberal woman in Iran.
Blockbuster movies have an enormous reach. Does it obligate them to support feminist issues?
Marjorie Liu’s Monstress : what does it tell us about feminism?
The Berlin Film Festival announced that they would no longer crown the best actor and actress. Instead, they honor the best performance in either a leading or supporting role. What are the consequences of this?
What does it mean to criticize an art piece from a feminist point of view?
Compare and contrast the portrayal of female characters in horror genre throughout the years.
Analyze Donna Haraway’s A Cyborg Manifesto . Why does the author use the cyborg metaphor? What arguments does it help bring across?
How do black women characters in Toni Morrison’s novels experience society?
What makes various awards an important instrument of feminism?
Analyze Katniss Everdeen archetype in Hunger Games.
Many classic children’s stories include outdated depictions of women and people of color. Because of this, some people are demanding to ban or censor them. Do you think this is the right way to tackle the problem?
What does the term “male gaze” mean, and why is it a problem?
The role of the body in feminist aesthetics.
Discuss the impact of women philosophers on renowned male scholars of their time.
What distinguishes feminist art from other art forms?
Debate the political dimension of using women in body art.
Does the message in Lemonade make Beyoncé a feminist icon?
Why are misogynist song lyrics still widely accepted?
How did Aretha Franklin’s music impact the Civil Rights Movement in America?
Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray from a queer theoretical perspective.
Objectification in film: analyzing Rachel’s character in The Dark Knight.
Investigate the Star Wars’ representation problem. How did the franchise develop into a battleground for diversity?
Misogynist vs. psycho: feminist aspects of David Fincher’s Gone Girl.
Was the diversity in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse a good thing?
The cultural significance of strong female characters.
Examine the concept of femininity in William Golding’s Lord of the Flies.

👩‍💻 Women Empowerment Topics to Write About

Women were excluded from crucial work areas such as the military and politics for a long time. This situation is changing now. Empowerment programs encourage women to seek professions in typically male-dominated areas. Do you want to research ways of increasing women’s control over their choices? Check out the following topics:

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Joan of Arc as a leadership idol.
The role of She Should Run in encouraging women to run for political positions.
What should we do about higher education barriers for African American women?
Examine current trends in female empowerment .
Importance of the women’s empowerment principles.

How can businesses use the Gender Gap Analysis Tool to promote equality in their companies?
Why is there such a big gap between committing to advancing equality and corporate efforts to implement women’s empowerment programs?
What business practices need to change so that men and women benefit from work programs equally?
Analyse the reasons behind poor body image among young women.
How does the transition from cash to digital payrolls help empower women in developing countries?
What challenges do large companies face when it comes to gender equality ?
How does making fashion a circular economy impact women?
Discuss what everyone can do to empower the women in their community.
Why is it important to demand fair pay?
The impact of Reese Witherspoon’s media company Hello Sunshine.
What does it mean to be empowered?
The influence of climate change on gender equality.
Women in leadership positions: the rhetoric and the reality.
Social stigma and family planning: the work of HER project in Kenya.
CARE: why providing women with access to clean water is crucial for empowerment.
How do you teach a girl that she can make a difference?
Achievements of the global Women Deliver Conferences.
How does Pro-Mujer help underprivileged women in Latin America?
Why is workplace health a particular concern for women empowerment?
What can businesses do to bridge the financial inclusion gender gap?
Debate how strengthening women’s social position helps fight discrimination against all kinds of marginalized groups.
Analyze the various benefits of women empowerment.
Fighting gender stereotypes in the 21st century.
The connection between a lack of women in politics and missing programs to support marginalized groups.
What are patriarchal taboos that keep women from seeking power?
How can a gender perspective on resilience activities assist businesses in finding ways to combat climate change?
What methods does the #WithHer movement use to raise awareness of violence against women?
The Spotlight Initiative: training sex workers to escape violence in Haiti.
Define the gender digital divide.
What’s the problem with the female gendering of AI assistants?
Criticize the Gender Empowerment Measure.
What role does the internet play in empowering girls?
Compare the Gender Parity Index in the US and South Africa.
How is Every Mother Counts working to decrease deaths related to pregnancies?
Debate the reliability of the Gender Development Index.
Child Marriage : the impact of Girls Not Brides.
What are the political and social constraints that hamper women’s empowerment in Nigeria?
How can you encourage women to give public speeches ?
How does e-learning help women worldwide gain independence?
Explore the influence of the women’s rights movement on anti-descrimination activities.
Challenges of women business in Mauritius.
Labibah Hashim as an inspirational figure for women empowerment in Lebanon.
How did Malaka Saad’s magazine al-Jens al-Latif inspire women to educate themselves in the Arab world?
The development of sexual harassment policies in East Africa.
How does microfinance in South America help women to start businesses?

👩‍🎓 Interesting Women’s Studies Topics for an Essay

Women’s or gender studies is an interdisciplinary science. It combines research from many fields, such as economics, psychology, and the natural sciences. Key aspects are women’s experiences and cultural as well as social constructs surrounding gender.

What is velvet rope discrimination?
The IT sphere is comparatively modern. Why does it still have such a gender gap problem?
Is paid maternity/ paternity leave a fundamental right for workers?
How do we break the glass ceiling in today’s society?
Discussing social taboos: postnatal depression.
Women in religion: why shouldn’t women be priestesses?
The queer of color critique: history and theory.
Should feminists be against supporting care policies?
Does foreign aid benefit women entrepreneurship in Sub-Saharan Africa?
Gender bias in criminal justice.
What does legalized prostitution mean for sex workers?
Does “stealthing” make otherwise consensual sex nonconsensual? Should this practice have legal consequences?
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks : a gendered analysis.
Rojava: give an overview of the egalitarian feminist society.
The role of women in modern nation-building processes.
How do we include transgender athletes into sex-segregated competitive sports?
Discuss the significance of gender in the euthanasia debate .
Chivalry and capital punishment : why are women who commit murders less likely to be sentenced to death?
Why do men have less confidence in women’s abilities than in men’s?
Are hijabs always a symbol of oppression?
Write about the role of feminism in international relations.
Universal basic income: changing perspectives for women.
Gamergate: what does it tell us about some men’s view on the video game industry?
Discuss the social construction of gender roles.
What is benevolent sexism, and why is it a problem?
The military seems to be especially notorious when it comes to discriminating against LGBT people. Where might this originate from?
Many army officers don’t hide that they don’t want women to serve. Why do women still do it? Why should they?
The Eurovision Song Contest gave drag queen Conchita Wurst an enormous audience. How did she use this opportunity?
Why are men who wear typically female clothing stigmatized?
How have The Guerilla Girls shaped the art world in the past 30 years?
Healthcare: what challenges do transgender patients face?
Femme invisibility: discrimination inside the LGBT community.
How did the idea develop that gay men and lesbians have to act and look a certain way to be considered queer?
The history of sodomy laws in the US.
“The Squad” as an example of the current success of left-wing women in politics.
Should women use their attractiveness to get what they want?
Are the careers of women scientists more affected by turmoil than those of their male counterparts?

Some of the most important female scientists.

Do children’s toys restrict gender criteria?
Many drugs are only tested on male subjects. How does this affect women?
Enumerate some qualities that are seen as positive in men and negative in women. Why do you think this happens?
Discuss the significance of the “Transgender Tipping Point.”
The meaning of “home” and home spaces for women over the centuries.
How do gender issues influence lawmaking?
Analyze queer narratives from post-soviet states. How do gender norms in these countries differ from those in your community?
Transgender representation in media: views of Viviane Namaste and Julia Serano.
Nuclear power between politics and culture: a feminist perspective.
Women guards in national socialist concentration camps.
What reasons do women have for sex tourism ?
The problem of eurocentrism in European education.
Explore the connection between citizenship and race.

🏥 Abortion Topics to Research

For some, abortion is a fundamental healthcare right. Others view it as a criminal act. Many conservative governments continue to restrict the access to this procedure. Because of this discrepancy, abortion remains a fiercely debated topic all around the globe. Consider one of these thought-provoking ideas:

Why was Roe v. Wade such a landmark decision?
Discuss why some CEOs step up against abortion bans .
Abortion in transgender and intersex people.
From a biological point of view, when does life begin?
What signs should indicate that it is too late to terminate the pregnancy?
Who influenced the abortion debate before Roe v. Wade?
Is abortion morally wrong? If so, does that mean it’s always impermissible?
Under what circumstances is terminating a life justified?
Who or what defines if a being has the right to life or not?
Analyse the access to abortion clinics as a policy issue.
Reproductive rights and medical access in Sub-Saharan Africa.
People terminate pregnancies, whether it’s illegal or not. Why would one still outlaw abortions?
Investigate the occurrence of forced abortions during China’s one-child policy .
Is the fetus’ right to life more important than the mother’s right to have control over her body?
What rights are more essential than the right to life?
Discuss women’s health as their integral right.
Should there be restrictions on abortions?
Can better access to contraceptives reduce the number of abortions?
At what point does a fetus become a human being?
Is selective abortion ethical?
Germany’s paragraph 219a prohibits the display of information on abortion services. In 2019, the government decided to revise it, and now patients can consult a list provided by the department for health education. Is this compromise enough?
What is the moral status of a human embryo?
Should pregnancy terminations be free for low-income women?
Is the criminalization of abortion discrimination?
The social and psychological impact of pregnancy terminations on families.
Should the man have a say in whether the woman has an abortion or not?
What non-religious persuasive arguments against abortion are there?
Are there good and bad reasons for ending a pregnancy?
Should it be required for teenagers to have their parents’ consent for the abortion procedure?
Examine the arguments of pro-life movement.
Analyze how the public’s attitude towards abortion has changed over the past 50 years.
Is withholding access to abortions a violation of human rights?
After week-long strikes, the Polish government has delayed its proposed abortion ban. Is this a victory for the local feminist movement?
Compare and contrast the various legal abortion methods.
Analyze A Defense of Abortion by Judith Jarvis Thomson.
How is abortion viewed in Eastern vs. Western countries?
Describe potential health issues surrounding late-term pregnancy terminations.
How can we prevent unsafe abortions ?
What complications can occur during the abortion process?
Debate the impact of the March for Life.
Discuss whether women should have an abortion if diagnostics show fetal abnirmalities.
What does Planned Parenthood do, and why is the organization important?
Should Helms Amendment be repealed?
How does the Hyde Amendment impact women of color in particular?
Is forcing a woman to carry out an undesired pregnancy morally permissible?
Mexican newspaper coverage on issues surrounding abortions.
What are the possible health consequences of an abortion?
Reproductive justice and women of color: the history of SisterSong.
Compare organizations that offer information on abortions.
How is the topic of abortion approached in Jason Reitman’s film Juno ?

🙅‍♀️ Domestic Violence Topics for a Paper

Domestic violence comes in many shapes, and it’s not always directed against women. It traumatizes not only the victim but the whole family. The long-term impacts on the victims are catastrophic, too. If you want to write a research paper on this topic, be sure to steel yourself before starting your reading.

How did the COVID-19 lockdowns influence domestic violence cases?
Domestic violence in closed religious communities.
Does the type of abuse differ if the perpetrator is a man or a woman?
Compare the problem of spousal abuse in the US, Asia, and Africa.
Why do many victims choose not to report their cases of domestic violence?
From a psychological perspective, why does domestic violence happen?
Domestic violence prevention : the role of parental communication.
Should a person with a history of abuse have custody over their child?
Why are men more likely to resort to violence than women?
Identify risk factors that can lead to elder abuse.
Trace how the frequency of reports on domestic violence has changed in your community over the past 30 years.

Domestic abuse is characterized by the following pattern.

Why do some victims choose to stay with their abusive partners?
What actions would you classify as domestic abuse?
Domestic violence and feminism in Bell Hooks’ theory.
Cultural perspectives on domestic violence : Saudi Arabia vs. Japan.
What do different religions say about IPV ?
If a victim kills its abuser to escape the violence, what legal consequences should they face?
Examine the legislature of different states concerning marital rape .
The social and legal concept of consent in marriage.
Domestic violence and integrity among women of color.
Abuse in teenage relationships.
Common psychological characteristics of a person who commits parricide.
Effects of emotional neglect on a child’s mental development .
Discuss the effectiveness of art therapy for victims of domestic violence.
The significance of Oregon v. Rideout.
Explore the link between spousal and animal abuse.
What is the Battered Woman Syndrome?
Analyze different forms of domestic violence using case studies.
Study the psychology behind victim blaming.
How do mental illnesses and domestic violence affect each other?
What are the signs of coercive control? How can one get out of it?
The problem of control in gay relationships.
How does one develop Stockholm Syndrome, and what does it entail?
Analyze the discourse surrounding domestic violence in Hong Kong.
The pseudo-family as a sociological concept.
Compare cases of domestic violence in military and religious families.
What is compassionate homicide, and how does the law deal with it?
If a juvenile delinquent was abused as a child, should that lessen their sentence?
Parental abduction: why do parents feel the need to kidnap their children?
Domestic violence: new solutions.
Is one sibling bullying the other a form of domestic abuse?
How do communities typically respond to domestic violence ?
Explore the link between women’s suicide and abuse.
What can healthcare specialists do to identify victims of violence more effectively?
What are the economic and social consequences of leaving an abusive relationship ?
How does Netflix’s show You portray the relationship between a stalker and his victim?
Treatment of perpetrators of domestic violence .
Why do some people repeatedly end up in relationships with IPV ?
What are the main motives for femicides ?
Discuss the psychological aggression men and women suffer during separation processes.

With all these great ideas in mind, you’re ready to ace your assignment. Good luck!

489 Feminism Essay Topics

Women make up half of the world’s population. How did it happen they were oppressed?

We are living in the era of the third wave of feminism, when women fight for equal rights in their professional and personal life. Public figures say that objectification and sexualization of women are not ok. Moreover, governments adopt laws that protect equal rights and possibilities for people of all genders, races, and physical abilities. Yes, it is also about feminism.

In this article, you will find 400+ feminism essay topics for students. Some raise the problems of feminism; others approach its merits. In addition, we have added a brief nuts-and-bolts course on the history and principal aspects of this social movement.

❗ Top 15 Feminism Essay Topics

💻 Feminism Research Topics
📜 History of Feminism Topics
🙋‍♀️ Topics on Feminism Movements

🔥 Famous Feminists Essay Topics

👩‍🎓 Topics on Women’s Rights in the World
👸 Antifeminism Essay Topics

📚 Topics on Feminism in Literature

🔗 references.

Compare and contrast liberal and radical feminism.
The problem of political representation of feminism.
Is Hillary Clinton the most prominent feminist?
How can feministic ideas improve our world?
What is the glass ceiling, and how does it hinder women from reaching top positions?
What can we do to combat domestic violence?
Unpaid domestic work: Voluntary slavery?
Why do women traditionally do social work?
What are the achievements of feminism?
Why is there no unity among the currents of feminism?
Pornographic content should be banned in a civilized society.
Does feminism threaten men?
What is intersectional feminism, and why is it the most comprehensive feminist movement?
Those who are not feminists are sexists.
Why are women the “second gender?”

💻 Feminism Research Topics & Areas

Feminism is the belief in the equality of the sexes in social, economic, and political spheres. This movement originated in the West, but it has become represented worldwide. Throughout human history, women have been confined to domestic labor. Meanwhile, public life has been men’s prerogative. Women were their husband’s property, like a house or a cow. Today this situation has vastly improved, but many problems remain unresolved.

A feminism research paper aims to analyze the existing problems of feminism through the example of famous personalities, literary works, historical events, and so on. Women’s rights essay topics dwell on one of the following issues:

Healthcare & Reproductive Rights of Women

Women should be able to decide whether they want to have children or not or whether they need an abortion or not. External pressure or disapprobation is unacceptable. In many countries, abortions are still illegal. It is a severe problem because the female population attempts abortions without medical assistance in unhygienic conditions.

Economic Rights of Women

Women’s job applications are often rejected because they are expected to become mothers and require maternity leave. Their work is underpaid on a gender basis. They are less likely to be promoted to managerial positions because of the so-called “ glass ceiling .” All these problems limit women’s economic rights.

Women’s Political Rights

Yes, women have voting rights in the majority of the world’s countries. Why isn’t that enough? Because they are still underrepresented in almost all the world’s governments. Only four countries have 50% of female parliamentarians. Laws are approved by men and for men.

Family & Parenting

The British Office for National Statistics has calculated that women spend 78% more time on childcare than men. They also perform most of the unpaid domestic work. Meanwhile, increasingly more mothers are employed or self-employed. It isn’t fair, is it?

Virginity is a myth. Still, women are encouraged to preserve it until a man decides to marry her. Any expression of female sexuality is criticized (or “ slut-shamed “). We live in the 21st century, but old fossilized prejudices persist.

📜 History of Feminism Essay Topics

First wave of feminism & earlier.

Ancient and medieval promoters of feminist ideas.
“Debate about women” in medieval literature and philosophy.
The emergence of feminism as an organized movement.
Enlightenment philosophers’ attitudes towards women.
The legal status of women in Renaissance.
Women’s Liberation Movement Evolution in the US.
Mary Wollstonecraft’s views on women’s rights.
Sociopolitical background of the suffrage movement.
The most prominent suffrage activists.
The Liberation Theme Concerning Women.
“Declaration of sentiments”: key points and drawbacks.
What was special about Sojourner Truth and her famous speech?
The significance of the first feminist convention in Seneca Falls.
The National Woman Suffrage Association: goals and tactics.
The influence of abolitionism on feminism ideas.
Why did some women prefer trade unions to feminism?
Radical feminists’ criticism of the suffrage movement.
The UK suffragists’ approach to gaining voting rights for women.
Alice Paul and Emmeline Pankhurst’s role in the suffrage movement.
The Nineteenth Amendment: the essence and significance.
Infighting in the post-suffrage era.

Second Wave of Feminism Essay Titles

How did second-wave feminism differ from the suffrage movement?
The roots of the second wave of feminism.
John Kennedy’s policies concerning women’s rights.
Eleanor Roosevelt’s contribution to feminism.
Debates on gender equality in the late 1960s.
Feminism activists’ achievements in 1960-1970.
What was the focus of second-wave feminist research?
Why was there no comprehensive feminist ideology?
Anarcho-, individualist, “Amazon,” and separatist feminism: key ideas.
The nature of liberal feminism.
How did liberal and radical feminism differ?
Why was cultural feminism also called “difference” feminism?
Liberal and Postmodernist Theories of Feminism.
What is the difference between liberal and radical feminism?
Black feminists’ challenges and input to the fight for equity.
Sociocultural differences in views on female liberation.
The globalization of feminism: positive and negative aspects.
Taliban’s oppression of Afghani women.
Women in the US Military: World War II.
What were the main concerns of feminists from developing countries?
Why did Third World women criticize Western feminists?
Feminism achievements to the end of the 20th century.

Third Wave of Feminism Research Topics

What was peculiar about the third wave of feminism?
Why did third-wave feminists consider their predecessors’ work unfinished?
Social, political, economic, and cultural premises of third-wave feminism.
How did the information revolution impact feminism?
Third Wave Foundation’s major goals.
Women’s Rights and Changes Over the 20th Century.
Jennifer Baumgardner and Amy Richards’ views on feminism.
The impact of second wavers success on third-wave feminism.
New approaches in fighting discrimination, utilized by third-wave feminists.
The influence of the postmodern movement on feminism.
The concept of a gender continuum.
How did sexist symbols turn into female empowerment tools?
What was specific about third-wave feminist art?
Third-wavers’ redefinition of women as powerful and assertive figures.
“Girl power” in pop culture.
How did the Internet impact third-wave feminism?
Sexualized behavior: sexual liberation or oppression in disguise?
Why was third-wave feminism criticized?
The multifaceted nature of third-wave feminism.
Is multivocality a strength or weakness of third-wave feminism?
How did third wavers counter the criticism?

Fourth Wave of Feminism Essay Topics

The premises of fourth-wave feminism.
Feminism’s major goals after 2012.
Peculiarities of fourth-wave feminism.
What behavior is sexual harassment?
Gender Equality at the Heart of Development.
Sexual harassment: different gender-based perspectives.
Social media: a feminist tool.
Can social media deepen discrimination?
Gender discrimination in video games.
Musical Preferences: Race and Gender Influences.
GamerGate’s alleged “men’s rights campaign.”
Sexism in Donald Trump’s speech.
Women’s March: reasons and significance.
Main steps in MeToo’s development.
Tarana Burke’s fight for justice.
Gender Stereotypes of Superheroes.
MeToo’s contribution to women’s rights.
The most impactful MeToo stories.
Harvey Weinstein’s case: outcome’s implications.
Gender Roles in the Context of Religion.
Sexual harassment awareness after MeToo.
MeToo’s influence on Hollywood’s ethics.
Reasons for criticism of MeToo.
Social Change and the Environment.
Are sexual violence discussions necessary?

🙋‍ Argumentative Essay Topics on Feminism Movements

Mainstream feminism topics.

What is the focus of mainstream feminism?
Mainstream feminism predispositions in the 19th century.
The place of politics within mainstream feminism.
What is males’ place in mainstream feminism?
The correlation of mainstream feminism and social liberalism.
The correlation between mainstream feminism and state feminism.
Gender equality in the doctrine of mainstream feminism.
Why sunflower is the symbol of mainstream feminism?
Anthony Gidden’s ideas regarding liberal feminism.
Liberal feminism, according to Catherine Rottenberg.
Mary Wollstonecraft and her vision of liberal feminism.
Liberal feminism through John Stuart Mill’s perspective.
Interdependence of mainstream feminism and political liberalism.
NOW’s activities and mainstream feminism.
LWV’s activities and mainstream liberalism.
LGBT’s place in mainstream liberalism’s doctrine.
Discourse Analysis of the Me Too Movement’s Media Coverage.
Frances Wright’s role in establishing mainstream feminism.
Mainstream feminism and the civil rights movement in the 1960s.
Constitutional Equity Amendment and mainstream feminism.
International Woman Suffrage Alliance’s activities and mainstream feminism.
Mainstream feminism and Gina Krog’s works.
Betty Friedan’s understanding of mainstream feminism.
Gloria Steinem’s theoretical contribution to mainstream feminism.
Simone de Beauvoir’s ideas and the framework of mainstream feminism.
Rebecca Walker and her vision within the scope of mainstream feminism.
NWPC’s activities and mainstream feminism.
WEAL’s activities and mainstream feminism.
Catherine Mackinnon and mainstream feminism’s critique.
“White woman’s burden” and mainstream feminism’s critique.
The roots of mainstream feminism in Europe.

Radical Feminism Essay Titles

Society’s order according to radical feminism.
Sexual objectification and radical feminism.
Gender roles according to radical feminism.
Shulamith Firestone’s ideas regarding the feminist revolution.
Ti-Grace Atkinson’s ideas in Radical feminism.
The vision of radical feminism on patriarchy.
Radical feminism’s impact on the women’s liberation movement.
Radical feminism’s roots in the early 1960s.
Kathie Sarachild’s role in radical feminism movements.
Carol Hanisch’s contribution to radical feminism.
Roxanne Dunbar and her radical feminism.
Naomi Weisstein and her vision of radical feminism.
Judith Brown’s activities in terms of radical feminism.
UCLA Women’s Liberation Front role in radical feminism.
Why have women come to be viewed as the “other?”
Ellen Willis’s ideas regarding radical feminism.
Redstockings’ role in radical feminism.
The feminist’s role in radical feminism.
Differences between The Feminists’ and Restokings’ positions.
The protest against Miss America in 1968.
11-hour sit-in at the Ladies Home Journal headquarters.
Forms of direct action in radical feminism.
Protest of biased coverage of lesbians in 1972.
Lisa Tuttle’s vision of radical feminism.
Catharine MacKinnon’s position regarding pornography.
Peculiarities of radical lesbian feminism.
Recognition of trans women in radical feminism.
Radical feminism in the New Left.
Mary Daly’s vision of radical feminism.
Robin Morgan’s vision of radical feminism.

🎯 Persuasive Women’s Rights Essay Topics

Healthcare and reproductive rights of women.

Is abortion morally acceptable?
Why is the fight for child care not over?
Should government participate in birth control?
Researching of Maternity Care in Haiti.
Government’s moral right to cancel abortions.
Should the government allow abortions?
What are birth control and its meaning?
Abortion rights recently disappeared in the US.
Gender Disparity in Colorectal Cancer Screening.
Why are women’s rights becoming less vital?
Western world’s degradation in women’s rights issue.
Canceling abortion endangers women’s human rights.
Female access to healthcare in developing countries.
Developed countries’ role in improving women’s healthcare.
Media’s contribution to legalizing abortions.
Middle-Aged Women’s Health and Lifestyle Choices.
Female genital mutilation’s moral side.
Feminism’s impact on LGBTQ healthcare rights.
The reproductive rights of women are everyone’s problem.
Abortion rights’ impact on country’s economy.
Protection From Infringement and Discrimination.
Women’s reproductive rights in developing countries.
Abortion rights crisis and the UN’s failure in achieving SDG#4.
UN’s contribution to achieving equal healthcare rights.
IGO’s impact on women’s reproductive rights issue.
Report on the Speech by Gianna Jessen.
Is birth control already at risk?
Why should abortions not be allowed?
Meaning of reproductive justice.
Reproductive rights movement’s role in the country’s development.
Single Mothers, Poverty, and Mental Health Issues.
The reproductive rights movement, as all social movements’ drivers.
Abortion’s relation to healthcare rights.
Healthcare rights’ impact on a country’s economic development.
Political agenda behind abortion cancellation.
Feminism’s role in national healthcare.

Economic Rights, Salaries, and Access to Education for Women

Definition of women’s economic rights.
Female economic rights’ impact on the economy.
Female economic rights and education.
Gender Prevalence in Medical Roles.
Can women do “male jobs”?
Gender inequality in the workplace.
Women’s economic rights movements.
How Wealth Inequality Affects Democracy in America.
Barriers to gender-equal economic rights.
Gender inequality by social classes.
Female economic rights and poverty.
Can equal economic rights solve SDG#1?
Gender-Based Discrimination in the Workplace.
Why is it important to have equal access to education?
How did the gender pay gap appear?
Why does the gender pay gap exist?
Women’s economic rights and industrialization.
Characteristics of Mayo Clinic.
Female economic rights worldwide.
Legal rights of women workers.
Laws that protect women’s economic rights.
Women as leaders in the workplace.
The Future of Women at Work in the Age of Automation.
Why are companies against women workers?
Fertility’s impact on female economic rights.
Quiet revolution’s impact female workforce.
Reasons to monitor occupational dissimilarity index.
Women’s Roles in Islam, Christianity, and Hinduism.
Female economic rights in developing countries.
Democracy and female economic rights.
Gender pay gap as a global problem.
ILO’s role in the fight for equal economic rights?
Politics’ impact on female economic rights.
Health Disparities: Solving the Problem.
Female economic rights movement and the fight against racism.
The best practices in achieving gender-equal economic rights.
Democracy and gender pay gap.
Equal Pay for Work of Equal Value.

Women’s Political Rights Essay Topics

Women’s suffrage movement definition.
Female suffrage movement’s significance.
Causes of gender inequality in politics.
Women’s suffrage movement’s role today.
Female suffrage’s impact on democracy.
Women’s suffrage and economy.
Suffrage movement’s effect on politics in the US.
Do women need the right to vote?
Effects of gender inequality on politics.
Suffrage movement and politics in Britain.
Laws for gender-equal political rights.
The correlation between gender inequality in politics and authoritarianism.
The possible solutions to gender inequality in politics.
The role of IGOs in solving gender inequality in politics.
How has the UN participated in the women’s suffrage movement?
What is women’s role in politics in developing countries?
How can women improve politics in their countries?
What can men do for women’s equal political rights?
Why equal rights to vote are everyone’s problem?
The impact of Antoinette Louisa Brown on women’s suffrage.
The effect of equal rights to education on equal political rights.
Are western policies for equal rights applicable in developing countries?
The importance of equal rights to vote.
How to eliminate the gender pay gap?
Why had women not had equal rights in politics?
Is politics a “male job”?
Benefits of appearance of female leaders in politics.
Who created the women’s suffrage movement?
How does women’s suffrage impact racism?
Women’s suffrage contribution to LGBTQ communities’ equal political rights.

Family and Parenting Research Titles

Female and male roles in a family.
Sexism in families.
Eliminating sexism in families is the best solution to gender inequality.
Why is feminism a pro-family movement?
The Childbirth Process in Women’s Experiences.
The benefits of feminist upbringing.
The causes of sexism in families.
How does feminism help LGBTQ parents?
Why should sexism be legally banned?
Healthcare Resources and Equity in Their Distribution.
The effects of sexism in families.
The influence of sexist customs on society.
Why should every family be feminist?
How can feminism help solve the domestic violence issue?
Government’s role in creating feminist families.
What is feminist family value?
The relation of authoritarian parent-paradigm on politics.
Can feminist families bring democracy?
Teaching feminism at home vs. at school.
Traditional vs. Feminist parenting.
Why should women have the right to be child-free?
The impact of bringing up feminist daughters.
Can feminist parents bring up mentally healthy children?
Does the government have a moral right to endorse feminist values?
The role of media for feminist families.
How does feminism transform parent-child relationships?
Can feminism help families overcome poverty?
The role of feminist families in the economy.
The influence of hierarchal husband-wife relationships on children.
Do IGOs have moral rights to intervene in feminist families?
The movements endorsing feminism in families.
The effect of different views on feminism in parents on children.

Sexuality Essay Ideas

The views of radical feminists on women’s sexuality.
Who are sex-positive feminists, and their values?
Feminism’s impact on sexual orientation.
The role of feminism in sexual identity matters.
Gender-Based Violence Against Women and Girls.
How does feminism help eliminate sexual violence?
What is harassment, and why are feminists fighting it?
The role of media in women’s sexuality.
Traditional views on women’s sexuality.
How is feminism transforming sexuality?
Domestic Violence and COVID-19 Relation.
What are feminist sex wars?
Why are some feminists against pornography?
What are pro-pornography feminist arguments?
How is feminism protecting the rights of sex workers?
Rights of sex workers in developed vs. developing countries.
Media Promotion of Cosmetic Surgery in Women.
Feminist critique of censorship.
What is behind the issue of sex trafficking?
Children’s rape problem and feminism.
The role of feminism in solving the sex trafficking problem.
The Influence of the Women Image in the Media.
R v. Butler case discussion.
How is pornography enhancing sexual objectification?
How is poverty causing prostitution?
Can feminism eliminate prostitution by solving poverty?
Child Marriage in Egypt and Ways to Stop It.
Pro-sex worker feminists and their beliefs.
What are the perspectives of pro-sex workers?
The consequences of violence against women.
The role of feminism to LGBTQ sex workers.
Why are feminists trying to decriminalize prostitution?
Beauty Standards: “The Body Myth” by Rebecca Johnson.
Prostitution in developed vs. developing countries.
The effect of class and race differences on prostitution.
Short- and long-term impacts on sex workers.

👩‍🎓 Essay Topics on Women’s Rights in the World

Essay topics on feminism in developing countries.

Social taboos and abortion in Nigeria.
Access to sexual healthcare in Asia.
Human Papillomavirus Awareness in Saudi Women.
Sexual health and access to contraception in developing countries.
Coronavirus pandemic’s impact on gender inequalities.
Health and education access for women in Afghanistan.
Female Empowerment in the Islamic States.
Does poverty result in increased sexual violence?
Regulations on gender equality in developing countries.
Unsafe abortion, contraceptive use, and women’s health.
Female genital mutilation in the 21st century.
Practicing female genital mutation in Africa.
Gender Discrimination After the Reemergence of the Taliban in Afghanistan.
Which countries have the highest gender gap?
Forced and child marriages in humanitarian settings.
The Taliban’s view: Is woman a property?
Feminism in Latin America.
Honor killing in Pakistan: 1000 women are killed annually.
Women’s access to healthcare in Somalia.

Feminism Essay Topics in Developed Countries

“Broken Rung” and the gender pay gap.
What are the obstacles to reaching gender equality?
Do gender stereotypes result in workplace discrimination?
Increased educational attainment of young women.
Culture: Women With Hijab in Western Countries.
Ending sexual harassment and violence against women.
Is sexual harassment a form of discrimination?
Cracking the glass ceiling: What are the barriers and challenges?
Domestic drama: The impact of sexual violence on women’s health.
Socio-cultural Factors That Affected Sport in Australian Society.
Feminism and the problem of misogyny.
The challenges faced by women in developed counties.
Female participation in the labor market.
Discrimination Against Girls in Canada.
Unequal pay for women in the workplace.
How do developed countries improve women’s rights?
Nations with strong women’s rights.
Women’s employment: Obstacles and challenges.

👸 Antifeminist Essay Topics

Antifeminism: The right to abortion.
Gender differences in suicide.
Manliness in American culture.
Antifeminism view: Men are in crisis.
The threats of society’s feminization.
The meaning of antifeminism across time and cultures.
Antifeminism attracts both men and women.
Gender and Science: Origin, History, and Politics.
Antifeminism: The opposition to women’s equality?
How do religious and cultural norms formulate antifeminism?
Saving masculinity or promoting gender equality?
Traditional gender division of labor: Fair or not?
Are feminist theories of patriarchy exaggerated?
Oppression of men in the 21st century.
Psychological sex differences and biological tendencies.
Does feminism make it harder for men to succeed?
The change of women’s roles: Impact on the family.
How were traditional gender roles challenged in modern culture?
History of antifeminism: The pro-family movement.
Religion and contemporary antifeminism.
Antifeminist on the rights of minorities.
Heterosexual and patriarchal family: Facts behind antifeminism.
Women against feminism in Western countries.
Feminism versus humanism: What is the difference?
Does feminism portray women as victims?
Same-sex marriage: The dispute between feminists and antifeminists.
Male-oriented values of religions and antifeminism.
Does antifeminism threaten the independence of women?
Men’s rights movement: Manosphere.
Does antifeminism refer to extremism?
The fear of being labeled as a feminist.
A Vindication of the Right of Woman by Mary Wollstonecraft.
Jane Austen: Criticism of inequitable social rules.
Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley: Frankenstein and aborted creations.
Undercutting female stereotypes in Jane Eyre.
“Throwing Like a Girl: A Phenomenology of Feminine Body” by Marion.
Oppression of woman’s traditional roles in The Awakening.
Society’s inequitable treatment of women in The Age of Innocence.
Virginia Woolf and her feminism.
Orlando: A Biography. Evolving from man to woman.
Harriet Jacobs’s Experiences as an Enslaved Black Woman.
Feminist criticism: A Room of One’s Own.
Social oppression in Three Guineas by Woolf.
Rape, illegitimacy, and motherhood in The Judge by Rebecca West.
Feminist utopias of Charlotte Perkins Gilman.
Women’s rights and societal reform views of Charlotte Perkins Gilman.
Feminist critics in a culture dominated by men.
Black women’s aesthetic in Their Eyes Were Watching God.
Alice Walker’s ideas on Feminist women of color.
Female sexuality in Fear of Flying by Erica Jong.
How do feminist novels address race and ethnicity?
Society’s inequitable treatment of women in the Age of Innocence.
Social and emotional pressures in Love Medicine by Erdrich.
Feminist Parenting: The Fight for Equality at Home – Psychology Today
Feminist Parenting: An Introduction – Transformation Central Home
Women’s suffrage – Britannica
Only half of the women in the developing world are in charge of their own bodies – Reuters
Gender Equality for Development – The World Bank
How #MeToo revealed the central rift within feminism today – The Guardian
Feminist Novels and Novelists – Literary Theory and Criticism
Health Care & Reproductive Rights – National Women’s Law Center

291 Feminism Topics

Much has been written about feminism, yet there always are good feminism essay topics and issues to debate about. Here, we invite you to delve into this movement advocating for gender equality, women’s rights, and the dismantling of patriarchal norms. With our feminist topics, you can encompass a wide range of perspectives and theories that challenge systemic discrimination and promote social change.

277 Feminism Topics & Women’s Rights Essay Topics

18 January 2024

last updated

Feminism topics encompass a comprehensive range of themes centered on advocating for gender equality. These themes critically address the social, political, and economic injustices primarily faced by females, aiming to dismantle patriarchal norms. Feminism topics may span from intersectional feminism, which underscores the diverse experiences of women across various intersections of race, class, and sexuality, to reproductive rights that advocate for women’s bodily autonomy and healthcare accessibility. They also involve the examination of workplace discrimination through concepts, such as the gender wage gap and the glass ceiling. Violence against women, including work and domestic abuse, sexual assault, and harassment, is a hot aspect, providing many discussions. In turn, one may explore the representation of women in media, politics, and STEM fields. Explorations of gender roles, gender identity, and the significance of male feminism are integral parts of these discussions. As society continues to evolve, feminism topics persistently adapt to confront and address emerging forms of gender inequality.

Best Feminism & Women’s Rights Topics

Achievements of Women in Politics: A Global Perspective
Emphasizing Gender Equality in the 21st-Century Workplace
Evolving Representation of Women in Media
Fight for Women’s Voting Rights: The Historical Analysis
Intersectionality: Examining its Role in Feminism
Unpacking Feminism in Third-World Countries
Dissecting Misogyny in Classical Literature
Influence of Religion on Women’s Rights Worldwide
Unveiling Bias in STEM Fields: Female Experiences
Gender Pay Gap: Global Comparisons and Solutions
Probing the Historical Evolution of Feminism
Reshaping Beauty Standards Through Feminist Discourse
Importance of Reproductive Rights in Women’s Health
Exploring Women’s Role in Environmental Activism
Glass Ceiling Phenomenon: Women in Corporate Leadership
Trans Women’s Struggles in Feminist Movements
Empowering Girls: The Role of Education
Intersection of Race, Class, and Feminism
Effects of Feminism on Modern Art
Impacts of Social Media on Women’s Rights Movements
Deconstructing Patriarchy in Traditional Societies
Single Mothers’ Challenges: A Feminist Perspective
Dynamics of Feminism in Post-Colonial Societies
Queer Women’s Struggles for Recognition and Rights
Women’s Contributions to Scientific Discovery: An Underrated History
Cybersecurity: Ensuring Women’s Safety in the Digital Age
Exploring the Misrepresentation of Feminism in Popular Culture
Repositioning Sexuality: The Role of Feminism in Health Discourse
Women’s Economic Empowerment: The Impact of Microfinance
Investigating Sexism in Video Gaming Industry
Female Leadership During Global Crises: Case Studies

Feminism Topics & Women’s Rights Essay Topics

Easy Feminism & Women’s Rights Topics

Power of Women’s Protest: A Historical Study
Feminist Movements’ Role in Shaping Public Policy
Body Autonomy: A Key Aspect of Feminist Ideology
Cyber Feminism: Women’s Rights in Digital Spaces
Violence Against Women: International Legal Measures
Feminist Pedagogy: Its Impact on Education
Depiction of Women in Graphic Novels: A Feminist Lens
Comparing Western and Eastern Feminist Movements
Men’s Roles in Supporting Feminist Movements
Impacts of Feminism on Marriage Institutions
Rural Women’s Rights: Challenges and Progress
Understanding Feminist Waves: From First to Fourth
Inclusion of Women in Peace Negotiation Processes
Influence of Feminism on Modern Advertising
Indigenous Women’s Movements and Rights
Reclaiming Public Spaces: Women’s Safety Concerns
Roles of Feminist Literature in Social Change
Women in Sports: Overcoming Stereotypes and Bias
Feminism in the Context of Refugee Rights
Media’s Roles in Shaping Feminist Narratives
Women’s Rights in Prisons: An Overlooked Issue
Motherhood Myths: A Feminist Examination
Subverting the Male Gaze in Film and Television
Feminist Critique of Traditional Masculinity Norms
Rise of Female Entrepreneurship: A Feminist View
Young Feminists: Shaping the Future of Women’s Rights

Interesting Feminism & Women’s Rights Topics

Roles of Feminism in Promoting Mental Health Awareness
Aging and Women’s Rights: An Overlooked Dimension
Feminist Perspectives on Climate Change Impacts
Women’s Rights in Military Service: Progress and Challenges
Achieving Gender Parity in Academic Publishing
Feminist Jurisprudence: Its Impact on Legal Structures
Masculinity in Crisis: Understanding the Feminist Perspective
Fashion Industry’s Evolution through Feminist Ideals
Unheard Stories: Women in the Global Space Race
Effects of Migration on Women’s Rights and Opportunities
Women’s Land Rights: A Global Issue
Intersection of Feminism and Disability Rights
Portrayal of Women in Science Fiction: A Feminist Review
Analyzing Post-Feminism: Its Origins and Implications
Cyberbullying and Its Impact on Women: Measures for Protection
Unveiling Gender Bias in Artificial Intelligence
Reimagining Domestic Work Through the Lens of Feminism
Black Women’s Hair Politics: A Feminist Perspective
Feminist Ethical Considerations in Biomedical Research
Promoting Gender Sensitivity in Children’s Literature
Understanding the Phenomenon of Toxic Femininity
Reconsidering Women’s Rights in the Context of Climate Migration
Advancing Women’s Participation in Political Activism

Feminism Argumentative Essay Topics

Intersectionality’s Impact on Modern Feminism
Evolution of Feminist Thought: From First-Wave to Fourth-Wave
Gender Wage Gap: Myths and Realities
Workplace Discrimination: Tackling Unconscious Bias
Feminist Theory’s Influence on Contemporary Art
Intersection of Feminism and Environmental Activism
Men’s Roles in the Feminist Movement
Objectification in Media: A Feminist Perspective
Misconceptions about Feminism: Addressing Stereotypes
Feminism in the Classroom: The Role of Education
Feminist Analysis of Reproductive Rights Policies
Transgender Rights: An Extension of Feminism
Intersection of Feminism and Racial Justice
Body Shaming Culture: A Feminist Viewpoint
Feminism’s Influence on Modern Advertising
Patriarchy and Religion: A Feminist Critique
Domestic Labor: Feminist Perspectives on Unpaid Work
Sexism in Sports: The Need for Feminist Intervention
The MeToo Movement’s Influence on Modern Feminism
Feminism and the Fight for Equal Representation in Politics
Women’s Rights in the Digital Age: A Feminist Examination
Feminist Critique of Traditional Beauty Standards
Globalization and Its Effects on Women’s Rights
The Role of Feminism in LGBTQ+ Rights Advocacy
Popular Culture and Its Reflection on Feminist Values

Controversial Feminist Research Paper Topics

Intersectionality in Modern Feminist Movements: An Analysis
Representation of Women in High-Powered Political Roles
Cultural Appropriation Within the Feminist Movement: An Inquiry
The Role of Feminism in Defining Beauty Standards
Women’s Reproductive Rights: A Debate of Autonomy
Feminism and Religion: The Question of Compatibility
Male Allies in the Feminist Movement: An Evaluation
Shift in Traditional Gender Roles: Feminist Perspective
Impacts of Media on Perceptions of Feminism
Dissecting the Wage Gap: A Feminist Examination
Menstrual Equity: A Battle for Feminist Activists
Feminism in Popular Music: Power or Appropriation?
Climate Change: The Unseen Feminist Issue
Education’s Role in Shaping Feminist Beliefs
Power Dynamics in the Workplace: A Feminist Scrutiny
Cyber-Feminism: Harnessing Digital Spaces for Activism
Healthcare Disparities Faced by Women: An Analysis
Transgender Women in Feminist Discourse: An Exploration
Feminist Perspectives on Monogamy and Polyamory
Feminist Analysis of Modern Advertising Campaigns
Exploring Sexism in the Film Industry through a Feminist Lens
Debunking Myths Surrounding the Feminist Movement
Childcare Responsibilities and Their Feminist Implications
Women’s Sports: Evaluating Equity and Feminist Advocacy

Feminist Research Paper Topics in Feminism Studies

Evaluating Feminist Theories: From Radical to Liberal
Women’s Health Care: Policies and Disparities
Maternal Mortality: A Global Women’s Rights Issue
Uncovering Sexism in the Tech Industry
Critique of Binary Gender Roles in Children’s Toys
Body Positivity Movement’s Influence on Feminism
Relevance of Feminism in the Fight Against Human Trafficking
Women in Coding: Breaking Stereotypes
The Role of Women in Sustainable Agriculture
Feminism in the Cosmetics Industry: A Dual-Edged Sword
The Influence of Feminism on Modern Architecture
Bridging the Gap: Women in Higher Education Leadership
The Role of Feminism in Advancing LGBTQ+ Rights
Menstrual Equity: A Key Women’s Rights Issue
Women in Classical Music: Breaking Barriers
Analyzing Gendered Language: A Feminist Approach
Women’s Rights and Humanitarian Aid: The Interconnection
Exploring the Role of Women in Graphic Design
Addressing the Lack of Women in Venture Capitalism
Impact of Feminism on Urban Planning and Design
Maternal Labor in the Informal Economy: A Feminist Analysis
Feminism’s Influence on Modern Dance Forms
Exploring the Role of Women in the Renewable Energy Sector
Women in Esports: An Emerging Frontier
Child Marriage: A Grave Violation of Women’s Rights

Feminist Topics for Discussion

Feminist Criticism of the Fashion Modelling Industry
Domestic Violence: Feminist Legal Responses
Analyzing the Success of Women-Only Workspaces
Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting: A Human Rights Issue
Women’s Role in the Evolution of Cryptocurrency
Women and the Right to Water: A Feminist Perspective
Gender Stereotypes in Comedy: A Feminist View
Intersection of Animal Rights and Feminist Theory
Roles of Feminism in the Fight Against Child Labor
Representation of Women in Folklore and Mythology
Women’s Rights in the Gig Economy: Issues and Solutions
Revisiting Feminism in Post-Soviet Countries
Women in the Space Industry: Present Status and Future Trends
The Influence of Feminism on Culinary Arts
Unraveling the Impact of Fast Fashion on Women Workers
Feminist Perspectives on Genetic Engineering and Reproduction
Assessing the Progress of Women’s Financial Literacy
Sex Work and Feminism: A Controversial Discourse
Women in Cybernetics: An Untapped Potential
Uncovering the Women Behind Major Historical Events
The Impact of the #MeToo Movement Globally
Women’s Rights in the Cannabis Industry: Challenges and Progress
Redefining Motherhood: The Intersection of Feminism and Adoption
Roles of Feminist Movements in Combatting Child Abuse

Women’s Rights Essay Topics for Feminism

Evolution of Women’s Rights in the 20th Century
Roles of Women in World War II: Catalyst for Change
Suffrage Movement: Driving Force Behind Women’s Empowerment
Cultural Differences in Women’s Rights: A Comparative Study
Feminist Movements and Their Global Impact
Women’s Rights in Islamic Societies: Perceptions and Realities
Glass Ceiling Phenomenon: Analysis and Impacts
Pioneering Women in Science: Trailblazers for Equality
Impacts of Media Portrayal on Women’s Rights
Economic Autonomy for Women: Pathway to Empowerment
Women’s Rights in Education: Global Perspective
Gender Equality in Politics: Global Progress
Intersectionality and Women’s Rights: Race, Class, and Gender
Legal Milestones in Women’s Rights History
Inequities in Healthcare: A Women’s Rights Issue
Modern-Day Slavery: Women and Human Trafficking
Climate Change: A Unique Threat to Women’s Rights
Body Autonomy and Reproductive Rights: A Feminist Analysis
Globalization’s Effect on Women’s Rights: Opportunities and Threats
Gender Violence: An Erosion of Women’s Rights
Indigenous Women’s Rights: Struggles and Triumphs
Women’s Rights Activists: Unsung Heroes of History
Empowerment Through Sports: Women’s Struggle and Success
Balancing Act: Motherhood and Career in the 21st Century
LGBTQ+ Women: Rights and Recognition in Different Societies

Women’s Rights Research Questions

Evolution of Feminism: How Has the Movement Shifted Over Time?
The Workplace and Gender Equality: How Effective Are Current Measures?
Intersectionality’s Influence: How Does It Shape Women’s Rights Advocacy?
Reproductive Rights: What Is the Global Impact on Women’s Health?
Media Representation: Does It Affect Women’s Rights Perception?
Gender Stereotypes: How Do They Impede Women’s Empowerment?
Global Disparities: Why Do Women’s Rights Vary So Widely?
Maternal Mortality: How Does It Reflect on Women’s Healthcare Rights?
Education for Girls: How Does It Contribute to Gender Equality?
Cultural Norms: How Do They Influence Women’s Rights?
Leadership Roles: Are Women Adequately Represented in Positions of Power?
Domestic Violence Laws: Are They Sufficient to Protect Women’s Rights?
Roles of Technology: How Does It Impact Women’s Rights?
Sexual Harassment Policies: How Effective Are They in Protecting Women?
Pay Equity: How Can It Be Ensured for Women Globally?
Politics and Gender: How Does Women’s Representation Shape Policy-Making?
Child Marriage: How Does It Violate Girls’ Rights?
Climate Change: How Does It Disproportionately Affect Women?
Trafficking Scourge: How Can Women’s Rights Combat This Issue?
Female Genital Mutilation: How Does It Contradict Women’s Rights?
Armed Conflicts: How Do They Impact Women’s Rights?
Body Autonomy: How Can It Be Safeguarded for Women?
Women’s Suffrage: How Did It Pave the Way for Modern Women’s Rights?
Men’s Role: How Can They Contribute to Women’s Rights Advocacy?
Legal Frameworks: How Do They Support or Hinder Women’s Rights?

History of Women’s Rights Topics

Emergence of Feminism in the 19th Century
Roles of Women in the Abolitionist Movement
Suffragette Movements: Triumphs and Challenges
Eleanor Roosevelt and Her Advocacy for Women’s Rights
Impacts of World War II on Women’s Liberation
Radical Feminism in the 1960s and 1970s
Pioneering Women in Politics: The First Female Senators
Inception of the Equal Rights Amendment
Revolutionary Women’s Health Activism
Struggle for Reproductive Freedom: Roe vs. Wade
Birth of the Women’s Liberation Movement
Challenges Women Faced in the Civil Rights Movement
Women’s Roles in the Trade Union Movement
Intersectionality and Feminism: Examining the Role of Women of Color
How Did the Women’s Rights Movement Impact Education?
Sexuality, Identity, and Feminism: Stonewall Riots’ Impact
Influence of Religion on Women’s Rights Activism
Women’s Empowerment: The UN Conferences
Impact of Globalization on Women’s Rights
Women’s Movements in Non-Western Countries
Women in Space: The Fight for Equality in NASA
Achievements of Feminist Literature and Arts
Evolution of the Women’s Sports Movement
Advancement of Women’s Rights in the Digital Age
Cultural Shifts: The Media’s Role in Promoting Women’s Rights

Feminism Essay Topics on Women’s Issues

Career Challenges: The Gender Wage Gap in Contemporary Society
Examining Microfinance: An Empowering Tool for Women in Developing Countries
Pioneers of Change: The Role of Women in the Space Industry
Exploring Beauty Standards: An Analysis of Global Perspectives
Impacts of Legislation: Progress in Women’s Health Policies
Maternity Leave Policies: A Comparative Study of Different Countries
Resilience Through Struggles: The Plight of Female Refugees
Technology’s Influence: Addressing the Digital Gender Divide
Dissecting Stereotypes: Gender Roles in Children’s Media
Influence of Female Leaders: A Look at Political Empowerment
Social Media and Women: Effects on Mental Health
Understanding Intersectionality: The Complexity of Women’s Rights
Single Mothers: Balancing Parenthood and Economic Challenges
Gaining Ground in Sports: A Look at Female Athletes’ Struggles
Maternal Mortality: The Hidden Health Crisis
Reproductive Rights: Women’s Control Over Their Bodies
Feminism in Literature: Portrayal of Women in Classic Novels
Deconstructing Patriarchy: The Impact of Gender Inequality
Body Autonomy: The Battle for Abortion Rights
Women in STEM: Barriers and Breakthroughs
Female Soldiers: Their Role in Military Conflicts
Human Trafficking: The Disproportionate Impact on Women
Silent Victims: Domestic Violence and Women’s Health

To Learn More, Read Relevant Articles

385 odyssey essay topics & ideas, 415 rogerian essay topics & good ideas.

334 Feminism Essay Topics & Examples

If you’re looking for original feminist topics to write about, you’re in luck! Our experts have collected this list of ideas for you to explore.

📝 Key Points to Use to Write an Outstanding Feminism Essay

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You may find yourself confused by various theories, movements, and even opinions when writing a feminism essay, regardless of your topic. Thus, producing an excellent paper becomes a matter of more than merely knowing your facts.

You should be able to explain difficult concepts while coincidentally touching upon fundamental points of feminist theory. Here are some starter examples of crucial essay-writing points, which can make your work better:

Research and create a bibliography before beginning to write. There are various book and journal titles available both online and in libraries, and using them defines your essay’s credibility. You may use both books published long ago, such as “The Second Sex” by Simone de Beauvoir, and modern-day publications. Referencing reliable sources throughout your work will help you convince your readers that your approach is factual and in line with the main trends of the academic community.
Writing a feminism essay outline beforehand will save you precious time. Not only because it is a tool to get your thoughts in order before beginning to write but also because it allows you to judge whether you have covered the subject thoroughly. Furthermore, structuring beforehand enables you to understand possible drawbacks of your previous research, which you can promptly correct.
Explain the history behind your problem. Doing so allows you to set the scene for your essay and quickly introduce it to an audience, who may not be as well versed in feminism essay topics as you. Furthermore, you can use your historical introduction later as a prerequisite to explaining its possible future effects.
Be aware of the correct terminology and use it appropriately. This action demonstrates a profound knowledge of your assigned issue to your readers. From women’s empowerment and discrimination to androcentrism and gynocriticism, track the terms you may need to implement throughout your work.
Do not overlook your title as a tool to gain your readers’ attention. Your papers should interest people from the beginning and making them want to read more of your work. Writing good feminism essay titles is a great start to both catching their attention and explaining what your central theme is.
Read available feminism essay examples to understand the dos and don’ts that will help you write your own paper. Plagiarism and inspiration are different concepts, and you can get great ideas from others’ work, so long as you do not copy them!

After you have done your research, drafted an outline, and read some sample works, you are ready to begin writing. When doing so, you should not avoid opposing opinions on topics regarding feminism, and use them to your advantage by refuting them.

Utilizing feminist criticism will allow you to sway even those with different perspectives to see some aspects worthy of contemplation within your essay. Furthermore, it is a mark of good academism, to be able to defend your points with well-rounded counterarguments!

Remember to remain respectful throughout your essay and only include trusted, credible information in your work. This action ensures that your work is purely academic, rather than dabbling in a tabloid-like approach.

While doing the latter may entertain your readers for longer, the former will help you build a better demonstration of your subject, furthering good academic practices and contributing to the existing body of literature.

Find more points and essays at IvyPanda!

21st Century Patriarchy.
Third Wave Feminism.
Men in the Movement.
Gender Roles in Sports.
Femininity in Media.
The History of Feminist Slogans.
Must-Read Feminist Books.
Feminist Perspective in Politics.
Gender Equality in Patriarchal Society.
Feminism & Contemporary Art.
Feminism: Benefits over Disadvantages They believe that feminists make the importance of family less critical than it used to be, which affects children’s lives and their psychological state.
Feminism in “A Doll’s House” by Henrik Ibsen Nora is referred by her husband as a songbird, a lark, a squirrel, names that suggest how insignificant she is to her.
Feminist Perspective: “My Last Duchess”, “To His Coy Mistress”, and “The Secretary Chant” He thinks such behavior is offensive to his position and his power, this is why this woman is in the past, and the other one is waiting for him downstairs to enlarge Duke’s collection of […]
The Great Gatsby: Analysis and Feminist Critique The feminist critique is an aspect that seeks to explore the topic of men domination in the social, economic, and political sectors.
Feminist Approach to Health In general feminist recognize gender as an important aspect and believe that gender inequality essentially exist.
Third-World Feminism Analysis Although the primary aim of western feminists is centered on the issues women face, the beliefs of the third world consist of various tenets compared to western feminist interpretations.
Feminist Criticism in Literature: Character of Women in Books Wright The unimportance of women in the play is a critical factor for the women should follow all the things that their men counterparts impose on them.
Top Themes About Feminism It’s a movement that is mainly concerned with fighting for women’s rights in terms of gender equality and equity in the distribution of resources and opportunities in society.
Feminism in Frankenstein by Mary Shelley Mary Wollstonecraft expressly makes her stand known in advocating for the rights of the women in her novel, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, but her daughter is a bit reluctant to curve a […]
Female Characters in Shakespeare’s “Othello”: A Feminist Critique This shows that Desdemona has completely accepted and respected her role as a woman in the society; she is an obedient wife to Othello.
Metropolis’ Women: Analysis of the Movie’s Feminism & Examples This film is an endeavor to examine the image of the female depicted, the oppression that they have to endure before they are liberated, as well as the expectations of men with regard to the […]
Feminism in “The Handmaid’s Tale” by Margaret Atwood Religion in Gilead is the similar to that of the current American society especially, the aspect of ambiguity which has been predominant with regard to the rightful application of religious beliefs and principles.
“We Should All Be Feminists” Adichie’s TED Talk For Adichie, the only thing necessary to qualify as a feminist is recognizing the problem with gender and aspiring to fix it, regardless of whether a person in question is a man or woman. This […]
Feminism in Advertisements of the 1950s and Today In the paper, the author discussed how the whole process of advertising and feminism is depicted in print advertisements. The common characteristic is the advertisements’ illustration of feminism in the media.
Hedda Gabler: Feminist Ideas and Themes Central to the female world was the woman with knowledge.”Think of the sort of life she was accustomed to in her father’s time.
Character Analysis in Pride and Prejudice From the Feminist Perspective Darcy is a character who is able to evolve over the span of the story, and eventually, he recognizes his mistakes.Mr.
Feminism in The Yellow Wallpaper In an attempt to free her, she rips apart the wallpaper and locks herself in the bedroom. The husband locks her wife in a room because of his beliefs that she needed a rest break.
Race, Class and Gender: Feminism – A Transformational Politic The social construction of difference in America has its historical roots in the days of slavery, the civil war, the civil rights movement, and the various shades of affirmative action that have still not managed […]
Feminism in the “The Bell Jar” by Sylvia Plath This piece of writing reveals the concept of gender in general and “the role of female protagonists in a largely patriarchal world” in particular. In Plath’s novel, the bell jar is a metaphor used to […]
Yves Klein’s Works From a Feminist Perspective The images were painted in the 20th century in the backdrop of the rising pressure in many parts of the globe for the government to embrace gender equality.
Feminism in “Heart of Darkness” and “Apocalypse Now” However, one realizes that she is voiceless in the novel, which highlights the insignificance of role of women in Heart of Darkness.
Feminist Theory of Delinquency by Chesney-Lind One of the core ideas expressed by Chesney-Lind is that girls are highly susceptible to abuse and violent treatment. At the same time, scholars note that girls do not view delinquency as the “rejection of […]
A Feminist Life Lesson in “Sula” by Toni Morrison This essay is going to review gender and love and sexuality as the key themes that intertwined with Nel and Sula’s friendship, while also explaining how these influenced each of the two main characters. On […]
Mary Rowlandson’s Feminism and View on Women’s Role The sort of power developed by Rowlandson was such that it set her apart from the traditional roles of the Puritan women in her time and within her culture.
Gender Issues: Education and Feminism These experiences in many times strongly affects the individual’s understanding, reasoning, action about the particular issue in contention In this work two issues of great influence and relevance to our societies are discussed.
Kate Chopin’s Feminist Short Stories and Novels Two short stories were written by Chopin, A Story of One Hour and The Storm well as her brilliant novel Awakening should be regarded as one of the best examples of the feminist literature of […]
Female Chauvinist Pigs: Raunch Culture and Feminism The biological make-up of women and the cultural perception by the society has contributed to this position of women in the society.
The Picture of Arabic Feminist Najir’s father’s taking of her sexually excludes her from chances at a marriage of her own, because she is deprived of her virginity, and exposes the young woman to the risk of a pregnancy which […]
Feminism in “The Introduction” and “A Nocturnal Reverie” by Finch One of Anne Finch’s poems, “The Introduction,” talks about female writers of her time in the first twenty lines of her text.
Feminist Critique of Jean Racine’s “Phedre” Racine view Phedre as in a trap by the anger of gods and her destiny due to the unlawful and jealous passion that resulted into the deaths of Hippolytus and Oenone.
Feminist Approach: Virginia Woolf In “A room of ones own” Virginia Woolf speaks about the problems of women, gender roles, and the low social position of women writers in society.
The Fraternal Social Contract on Feminism and Community Formation The contract was signed by men to bring to an end the conditions of the state of nature. Life was anarchic and short lived which forced men to sign a social contract that could bring […]
Feminism: “The Second Sex” by Simone de Beauvoir According to post-structural feminism structures in society still hold the woman back.de Beauvoir states that this is because structures still exist in the minds of people as to the place of women in society.
Feminist Literature: “The Revolt of Mother” by Mary E. Wilkins The woman in her story goes against the tradition of the time and triumphs by challenging it and gaining a new self-identity. The author uses this story to address the issue of women oppression that […]
Judith Butler’s Feminist Theory From a phenomenological point of view, gender is a stable identity that is realized through the repetition of certain acts. Butler’s article is dedicated to the role of gender, its relation to a body and […]
Willa Cather and Feminism Ability to work and/or supervise oneself as a woman is also quietly depicted through the girl who is able to work in the absence of her father. Cather depicts most of the women in her […]
Feminist View of Red Riding Hood Adaptations The Brothers Grimm modified the ending of the story, in their version the girl and her grandmother were saved by a hunter who came to the house when he heard the wolf snoring.
Feminism in Laura Esquivel’s “Like Water for Chocolate” At the center of this story is Tita, a young woman who is the last born in her family. This is a very unique way of championing the right of women.
Shifting the Centre: Race, Class, and Feminist Theorizing About Motherhood The author is very categorical in that it is necessary to put the role of the woman of color in the same position as that of the white one since this ensures that cultural identity […]
Feminism is for Everybody: Passionate Politics It seems that this approach to this problem is important for discussing the origins of social inequalities existing in the community. This is one of the main points that can be made.
Feminist Accountability Approach Therefore, the feminist accountability approach involves the collective responsibility to fight social injustices regardless of gender and race. Therefore, integrating the global approach to social injustice promotes the aspect of universality and unity in promoting […]
Feminist Film Strategy: The Watermelon Women These techniques have the capabilities of shifting meaning away from the narrative as the source of meaning to the audience’s background knowledge in making meaning.
“Feminism and Religion: The Introduction” by R. Gross Gross critically in order to see the essence of the book and the competence of the author in the current issue.
“Feminism and Modern Friendship” by Marilyn Friedman Individualism denies that the identity and nature of human beings as individuals is a product of the roles of communities as well as social relationships.
Seven Variations of Cinderella as the Portrayal of an Anti-Feminist Character: a Counterargument Against the Statement of Cinderella’s Passiveness It is rather peculiar that, instead of simply providing Cinderella with the dress, the crystal slippers and the carriage to get to the palace in, the fairy godmother turns the process of helping Cinderella into […]
Feminist Connotations in Susan Glaspell’s “Trifles” It is a call to reexamine the value of women in a patriarchal society; through their central role in the drama, the female characters challenge traditional notions about women’s perspective and value.
Feminist Research Methods The study of methods and methodology shows that the unique differences are found in the motives of the research, the knowledge that the research seeks to expound, and the concerns of the researchers and the […]
World Politics: Realist, Liberals, and Feminists Theories The development of the League of Nations to protect the interest of the allies, the partnership of France, Britain and USA to form the allies and the struggle for Germany to control Eastern Europe clearly […]
Elena Poniatowska and Her Feminism Thus, the primary objective of her journalism and fiction was to break the indifference of the society and to open people’s eyes to the problems of those who are silently excluded from public life.
The Adoption of Structuralism and Post-Structuralism Basics in Feminist Cultural Theory On the contrary, post structuralism is opposite to such an assumption and uses the concept of deconstruction in order to explain the relations and the position of women in the society.
Feminist Challenge to Mainstream International Relations Theory Feminist international relations approaches in the past used to be part of the major debate that ensued between the post-positivists and their counterparts, the positivists.
Feminist Analysis of Gender in American Television The analysis is guided by the hypothesis that the media plays a role in the propagation of antagonistic sexual and gender-based stereotypes.
Importance of Feminism in Interpersonal Communication in “Erin Brockovich” In this presentation, the theme of feminism in interpersonal communication will be discussed to prove that it is a good example of how a woman can fight for her rights.
Feminism in ‘Telephone Video’ To demonstrate how feminist theory in communication is relevant to music, the paper will analyze the depiction of females, the vocal arrangements, representation of female roles and their visual appearance in Lady Gaga’s “Telephone” music […]
Feminist Approach in Literary Criticism The reason for this is simple this particular plot’s development suggests that, just as it happened to be the case with the functioning of a male psyche, the working of a female psyche implies that […]
Feminist Theory in “A Family Thing” Movie Discrimination and disregard of someones basic rights are one of the central causes for the emergence of significant psychological problems and the gradual deterioration of the quality of life.
Feminism in the Past and Nowadays The definition of liberal feminism is the following: “a particular approach to achieving equality between men and women that emphasizes the power of an individual person to alter discriminatory practices against women”.
Feminism in the Story “Lord of the Rings” The movie, in its turn, instead of focusing on the evolution of the female leads, seemed to be concerned with the relationships between the male characters as well as the growth of the latter.
Historical Development of Feminism and Patriarchy This gain was highly attributed to the undying efforts of women movements, which for the purpose of the discussions of this paper, are considered as belonging to the umbrella that advocates of feminism.
Equal Society: Antebellum Feminism, Temperance, and Abolition It is characterized by the emergence of a women’s rights movement that was spearheaded by activists who sought to secure the rights of women to vote, own property, and participate in education and the public […]
Feminism in the “Lorraine Hansberry” Film Her activism aligns with the fundamental tenets of women of color feminism, which emphasizes the intersecting nature of oppression and the importance of centering the experiences of marginalized groups in social justice movements.
Gloria Steinem: Political Activist and Feminist Leader Thesis: Gloria Steinem’s direct, bold, argumentative, and explicit style of conveying her ideas and values is the result of her political activism, feminist leadership, and her grandmother, Pauline Perlmutter Steinem.
The Myntra Logo from a Feminist Perspective The first feature of the Myntra logo that comes under the scrutiny of transnational feminism is the commercialization of female sexuality.
Feminist Geography and Women Suppression Tim Cresswell’s feminist geography explores how the patriarchal structures of our society have silenced women’s voices and experiences in the field of geography for centuries and how recent changes in the field have allowed for […]
Feminism from a Historical Perspective Accordingly, the discontent facilitated the development of reform-minded activist organizations across Europe and the United States and the subsequent rise of the Modern or New Women’s Movement.
“Othello” Through the Lens of Feminist Theory It depicts female characters in a state of submission and obedience and shows the disbalance in the distribution of power between men and women.
The Feminist Theory in Modern Realities The theory and culture of feminism in modern philosophy and the development of society play a significant role in cultural and social development.
Alice Walker’s Statement “Womanist Is to Feminist…” In her short tale “Perspectives Past and Present,” author and poet Alice Walker famously uses the statement “Womanist Is to Feminist as Purple Is to Lavender,” meaning that womanist is a larger ideological framework within […]
Feminist Perspective on Family Counselling The author of the article considers the study and the data obtained as a result of it as information reporting not only about the specifics of homosexual relationships but also about their perception in American […]
The Feminist and Gender Theory Influence on Nursing That is, gender and feminist theories are still relevant in the modern world. This is explained by the fact that women are struggling to demonstrate their professionalism in order to receive the same recognition and […]
Modern Feminism and Its Major Directions Radical feminism views patriarchy as the reason men have more rights than women and attempts to fight against it. Liberal, intersectional, and radical feminism differ in many ways as they have various perspectives on women’s […]
Feminist Theory and Its Application Alice Walker advocated for the rights of women of color at the end of the 20th century, creating a feminist branch named womanism. The feminist theory is one of the most known and popular theories […]
The Feminist Theory in Nursing Since nursing has traditionally been a women’s profession, it is important to understand the oppression of women to gain insight into some of the most pressing issues in nursing.
Discussion of Feminist Movements The feminist movements have been behind a sequence of political and social movements that champion the equal rights of women in all aspects of life.
Feminists on the Women’s Role in the Bible The author of the article uses the term intertextuality, which plays a significant role in the text analysis, including from the feminist aspect.
The Incorporation of Feminism in Literature By focusing on the character, the book portrays the demand for feminism in society to allow females to have the ability and potential to undertake some responsibilities persevered by their male counterparts. The belief in […]
Feminist Contribution to International Relations Moreover, it will be shown that the concept of gender is important as it helps to shed light on the power dynamics in the sphere of international relations and explain female exclusion from politics.
Feminist Therapy: Gwen’s Case Study The application of a feminist perspective in Gwen’s case is different from other theoretical frameworks as the approach highlights the impact of gender and associated stressors on the client’s life.
Emotional Revival in Feminist Writers’ Short Stories This paper aims to discuss the emotional revival of heroines in the short stories of Kate Chopin and Charlotte Perkins Gilman.”The Story of an Hour” is a very short story that describes a woman’s experience […]
Emotion and Freedom in 20th-Century Feminist Literature The author notes that the second layer of the story can be found in the antagonism between the “narrator, author, and the unreliable protagonist”.
The Cyborg Term in the Context of Feminist Studies In other words, during the transition of identity from the individual to the collective level, people, especially women, may encounter inequalities manifested in the collective space.
Feminist and Traditional Ethics The feminist ethics also criticize the gender binary of distinct biological formation between men and women. Consequentialism, deontology, and virtue ethics are the three theories of conventional ethics.
Feminism: A Road Map to Overcoming COVID-19 and Climate Change By exposing how individuals relate to one another as humans, institutions, and organizations, feminism aids in the identification of these frequent dimensions of suffering.
White Privilege in Conflict and Feminist Theories They see how the privilege of whiteness and denial of non-whiteness are connected to the social and political meaning of race and ethnicity.
Women’s Role in Society From Feminist Perspective Also, in Hartsock’s opinion, that the whole society would benefit if women were allowed to have a role equal with men in a community.
The Feminist Theory and IR Practice Focusing on how international relations theorists explained some concepts, such as security, state, and superiority that led to gender bias, feminists felt the need to develop and transform the international relations practice and theory.
Intersectionality and Feminist Activism Therefore, I hope to study the academic literature to discuss the existing tendencies and difficulties to contribute to the understanding of the identified topic in terms of gender and female studies.
Feminism: Reflection of Cultural Feminism If they found that the gases were harmful and may lead to complications in their body, they would approve the employer’s right to prohibit women from working in the company.
Feminist Theoretical Perspectives on Rape There is a number of theoretical perspectives aimed at explaining what stands behind rape, that is, how rape is reinforced by, why it is more widespread in specific concepts, and what a rapist’s motivations for […]
A Feminist Reading of “Wild Nights” and “Death Be Not Proud” From the feminist perspective, the key feature of the speaker’s stance in “Death Be Not Proud” that sets it apart from “Wild Nights” is the speaker’s persona, which is openly and unequivocally male.
Body: Social Constructionist & Feminist Approaches The idea of the gendered body was based on the focus on the concept of gender, which sees masculinity and femininity as social roles and the need for the representatives of genders to maintain within […]
Feminist Film Theory Overview The presence of women on the screen is commonly accomplished by the sexualization and objectivization of female characters. Along with that, sadism and fetishism toward the physical beauty of the object and the representation of […]
“Daddy-long-Legs”: Why Jerusha Is a Feminist Heroine Jerusha is a feminist because she uses the letters to communicate the inequalities she feels in her relationship with Daddy-long-legs and her limits.
Homosexuality and Feminism in the TV Series The depiction of these complex topics in the TV series of the humoristic genre implies both regressive and progressive impulses for the audience.
Popular Feminism in Video Post of Emma Watson According to Emma Watson, now feminism is increasingly associated with hatred of men, although in reality it only implies the belief that men and women should have equal rights and opportunities.
Contingent Foundations: Feminism and Postmodernism Feminism offers women theoretical bases on which to interrogate the issues of womanhood while Postmodernism takes this away by arguing for the “death of subjects”.abolition of the foundations of the ideals of reality.
The Feminist Theory, Prostitution, and Universal Access to Justice In the essay, it is concluded that the theory is a key component of the reforms needed in the criminal justice system with respect to prostitution. In this essay, the subject of prostitution is discussed […]
Art, Pornography and Feminism and Internet Influence The purpose of pornography is not the desire to admire the human body and respect physical intimacy. Indeed, society can say that women themselves agree to such rules, but the choice of a minority forms […]
The Contemporary Image of Feminism Following the initial surge of the movement, governments finally came to acknowledge the magnitude of the situation and satisfied the demands of the female population.
Historical Development of Feminism and Patriarchy Women in the United States have always encountered challenges that interfere with their individual fulfillment in society.
Feminism and Nationalism: The Western World In this case, we find that feminism has been a different that all the time and therefore, it is impossible to predict the trend of feminism in future.
Gould’s and Sterling’s Feminist Articles Critique The focal point of this paper is to prepare a critical reflection on the articles by Stephen Jay Gould named “Women’s Brains” in The Panda’s Thumb and by Anne Fausto-Sterling named “The biological Connections,” from […]
Core Aspects of Black Feminist and Womanist Thoughts Compared to Jones, who believes in “unparalleled advocates of universal suffrage in its true sense,” Lindsey does not support the relegation of the “voices and experiences of women of color to the background”.
Barbara and Beverly Smith: Black Feminist Statement Sexism was an explicit element of the African American Civil Rights Movement. Fight against segregation was rather single-sided.
Feminism: Fundamentals of Case Management Practice The feminist therapy’s main emphasis is put on the notion of invoking social changes and transforming the lives of people in favor of feminist resistance in order to promote equality and justice for all.
Feminist Contributions to Understanding Women’s Lives This gave women a clear picture of the daily realities in their lives. The success of feminism is evident at all levels of human interaction since there is a better understanding of women and their […]
As We Are Feminist Campaign’s Strategic Goals The present paper is devoted to the analysis of the goals of a feminist campaign As We Are that is aimed at challenging gender stereotypes that are being promoted by the media and society in […]
Feminist Ethics in Nursing: Personal Thoughts The concept of feminist ethics emphasizes the belief that ethical theorizing at the present is done from a distinctly male point of view and, as such, lacks the moral experience of women.
Feminism: Kneel to the Rest of Life, or Fight for the Fairness It seems that the law is not perfect, and the public opinion of sexual harassment might influence a woman’s life negatively.
Feminist Perspective Influence on Canadian Laws and Lawmakers The change in the statistics is attributed to social changes, which include increase of women in the labor force, conflict in female-male relations, increase in alcohol consumption and increase in the rate of divorce. Feminists […]
Blog Post: Arab Feminism in Contemporary World Women of the Arab world have struggled to overcome inequality, oppression, and rights deprivation by state authorities, which takes the discussion of the Islamic feminist movement to the political domain. According to Sharia, the unity […]
Feminist Movement and Recommendations on Women’s Liberation According to Nawal El-Saadawi In Egypt, the feminist movement was started by Nawal El-Saadawi, and her article “The Arab Women’s Solidarity Association: The Coming Challenge” has historical importance as it addresses the plight of women in the community.
Technological Progress, Globalization, Feminism Roots However, the work becomes more complicated when the time distance of the events and processes is shorter, and the stories are unfinished.
Race at the Intersections: Sociology, 3rd Wave Feminism, and Critical Race Theory In this reading, the author examines the phenomenon of racism not merely as an issue but a systematic, institutionalized, and cultural phenomenon that is hard to eliminate.
The Feminist Performers: Yoko Ono, Marina Abramovic, Gina Pane The feminist artists ccontributed to the women’s image, its role in society, and exposed the passiveness and submissiveness the women are obliged to endure.
Feminism and Multiculturalism for Women The foundation of liberalism is having an interest in all the minority cultures that are put together to form the larger special group.
“The Great Gatsby” by Fitzgerald: Betrayal, Romance, Social Politics and Feminism This work seeks to outline the role of women in the development of the plot of the book and in relation to the social issues affecting women in contemporary society.
Pornography’s Harm as a Feminist Fallacy In this scenario, scientific research has proven the argument not to be true. It is weakened by the fact that people are not forced to watch the video.
Feminism in Mourning Dove’s “Cogewea, the Half-Blood” The patriarchal practices embraced by the Indian community and the subsequent system of governance humiliated the writer; hence, the use of Cogewea in the passage was aimed to imply the abilities that were bestowed upon […]
The Emerging Feminism in India and Their Views on God as a Feminist However, among the explanation of the cause of the phenomenon for this lack of agreement is the tendency for people to define religion too narrowly, and in most cases from the perspective of their own […]
Feminist Psychology in Canada The introduction of the article gives the purposes of the research that include the historical and present condition of the psychology of women field of interest.
American Art Since 1945 Till Feminism The entire movement represented the combination of emotional strength and the self-expression of the European abstract schools: Futurism, the Bauhaus and Synthetic Cubism.
Modernist Art: A Feminist Perspective Clarke limited the definition of modernism even further by his restriction of it to the facets of the Paris of Manet and the Impressionists, a place of leisure, pleasure, and excesses, and it seems that […]
Enlightenment, Feminism and Social Movements As a result of Enlightenment, the creative entrepreneurs as well as thinkers enjoyed the high freedom benefits that were brought in by the Enlightenment thinkers, enabling them to apply the newly acquired liberty to invent […]
“Our Journey to Repowered Feminism” by Sonja K. Foss Foss tried to work out a new conception of repowered feminism in the article “Our Journey to Repowered Feminism: Expanding the Feminist Toolbox”.
Maya Angelou and Audre Lorde: The Black Feminist Poets The themes of double discrimination are developed in the poems “Woman Work” and “Still I Rise” by Maya Angelou and poems “A Meeting of Minds” and “To the Poet Who Happens to Be Black and […]
Feminist Position on Prostitution and Pornography The only requirement is that it should not violate the norms of the law. On the other hand, one of the suggestions for feminists is to envisage individual cases of enslaving women as prostitutes.
The Politics of Feminism in Islam by Anouar Majid Considering the work The Politics of Feminism in Islam by Anouar Majid written in 1998, it should be noticed that the main point of this article is the Muslim feminism and the relation of West […]
The Feminist Art Movement in the 1970s and Today The feminist art movement emerged in the 1960s and from that time the women had taken much interest in what causes them to be different from the male gender and particularly, what causes the art […]
Feminist Theory. Modes of Feminist Theorizing The second point of conflict is the acknowledgment that most of the feminist ideas are part and parcel of our culture yet these ideas might be presented in a way that is hard for us […]
Australian Feminism Movements The fact that feminism movements do not have a great following in Australia is because they are not generally seen to address issues that women and the society are facing.
Feminism in Canadian Literature First of all, the female author of the article considered by Cosh is evidently a supporter of the equality of rights for men and women, and her account on the women liberation movement in the […]
Understanding of Feminism: Philosophical and Social Concepts The vision that emerges, in the narrative as in the world it represents, is of a whole composed of separate, yet interdependent and interrelating, parts.
Geoffrey Chaucer: A Founder of English Literature as a Feminist Despite the distorted interpretation of gender in the patriarchal society, Chaucer’s vision of women contradicts the orthodox view of the biological distinction of males and females as the justification for gender inequality.
Feminist Activism for Safer Social Space by Whitzman The scientist pays special attention to the municipal parks, mainly High Park in Toronto, from the point of view of feminists trying to make women involved into the discourse concerning different aspects of the park.
Feminist Theory in Psychotherapy This theory puts women at the first place, and this place is reflected in three aspects: the first is its main object of study – the situation and difficulties faced by women in society, and […]
Feminism in ‘Trifles’ by Susan Glaspell The Feminist Movement, also called the Women’s Movement and the Women’s Liberation Movement, includes a series of efforts by women in the world to fight for the restoration of gender equality.
Western Feminism as Fighters Against Oppression For postmodern feminists and post-colonial feminists, the second component of the new women’s ideology is the idea of the responsibility of the state to rule and administer both genders on the basis of their interpretation […]
Perils and Possibilities of Doing Transnational Feminist Activism These have promoted awareness of human rights among women and other masses, ensured and led to the adoption of the rules and regulations recognizing women rights and that supports ending of women violations and participated […]
The Feminist Gendering Into International Relations These are early female contributions to IR academic and the In terms of conferences, the theme of gender and politics was being explored in conferences.
Western Feminists and Their Impact on the Consciousness and Self-Identity of Muslim Women One of the main objectives of the Western feminism is to give to the citizen of the new nation a feeling of dignity and importance resulting from that citizenship and from his ethnic origin, and […]
Feminism – Women and Work in the Middle East The history of feminism consists of different movements and theories for the rights of women. The first wave of this phenomenon began in the 19th century and saw the end only in the early 20th […]
Harriet Martineau, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, and Marianne Weber: Feminist Sociologists Through her writings she always advocated for the equal rights of women with men and remarked the importance of financial self-sufficiency among women in the society. She observed the role of women in society and […]
Feminist Theory and Postmodern Approaches It seems to me that such technique can be quite helpful because it helps to get to the root of the problem.
English Language in the Feminist Movement In addition to that, it is of the crucial importance to explore the underlying causes of this phenomenon. Now that we have enumerated the research methods, that can be employed, it is of the utmost […]
Feminist Ideas in Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein” One of these issues and the subject of this paper is the theme of feminism in Shelley’s novel. It is time to separate unchangeable morals from local manners”.- Mary Wollstonecraft in A Vindication of the […]
Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni’s Works and Feminism The woman’s role is depicted ever so poignantly in the works of Divakaruni and this also reflects the importance of reclaiming the understanding of the role of women in society.
Black Feminism: A Revolutionary Practice The Black Feminist Movement was organized in an endeavor to meet the requirements of black women who were racially browbeaten in the Women’s Movement and sexually exploited during the Black Liberation Movement.
Popular Culture From the Fifties to Heroin Chic: Feminism The women have become aware of their legal rights and disabilities as a consequence of the inclusion of educated women in movements to repair the legal disabilities.
Positive Changes That Feminism Brought to America And when, in 1919, the American Constitution was amended such that the women in all the States were given the right to vote, it was then that the first period of feminism officially ended, their […]
Are Feminist Criticisms of Militarism Essentialist? In the following essay, I will trace the essentialist feminists and their juxtaposition to the extent of their deep thoughts and activities toward the militaristic attitude and the changing perception of women in the militarism […]
Western Feminist Critics and Cultural Imperialism To be able to fulfill the above-provided task, it would be necessary to discuss and analyze the issues of race, gender, sexuality, the oppression of multiculturalism, cultural relativism, the attitude of the feminists toward the […]
Social Justice and Feminism in America So as to make a change in this situation, the feminists in America took efforts to improve the condition of women.
American Women in History: Feminism and Suffrage It is important to note that the key sharp issues discussed in this chapter are: a finding of the independent women suffrage movement, the role of the constituency in this process, the role of war […]
Wendy McElroy: A Feminist Defense of Men’s Rights The author sees the recent violation of men’s rights in the excessive spread of gender feminism, which appeared in the 1960s and touched primarily the family aspects of woman’s life, in particular, the right to […]
The Concept of Feminist Epistemology The analysis starts with an overview of the evolutions process of standpoint epistemology; then, the philosophical movement is defined and the major ideas and arguments embedded into the theory are discussed.
Modern Feminism as the Part of Intellectual Life Feminism In France has split lots of features recognizable to the anglophone world by the means of the feminist movements in the UK and the USA: on the one hand, the wish and the fight […]
Feminist Movements in Contemporary Times The artists are the intellectual leaders of a society who incur significant influence in the patterns of culture and civilization. The participation of women in the development of cultural values and literary achievements are also […]
Feminist Critiques of Medicine In the area of new reproductive technologies, for instance, some women have campaigned to end the use of techniques such as IVF, seeing them as potentially genocidal and of no value to women.
Shakespeare: A Feminist Writer A careful analysis of Lady Macbeth’s intensely complicated character and her role in the play proves that Shakespeare is actually a feminist writer.
Feminism in Ibsen’s Hedda Gabler
Liberal Feminism Movement Analysis
Feminism and Support of Gender Equality
Feminism: Liberal, Black, Radical, and Lesbian
Women and Law. Feminist Majority Foundation
Empowerment and Feminist Theory
A Feminist Analysis on Abu Ghraib
“The Historical Evolution of Black Feminist Theory and Praxis” by Taylor
Is Power Feminism a Feminist Movement?
Postcolonial Feminism Among Epistemological Views
Feminist Theory: Performing and Altering Bodies
Feminist Theories by Bordo, Shaw & Lee, Shildrick & Price
Feminist Examination of Science
Race, Sex and Knowledge From Feminist Perspective
Colonialism and Knowledge in Feminist Discourse
Feminist Perspective in “Ruined” Play by Nottage
Feminism and the Relational Approach to Autonomy
Feminism and Sexuality in the “Lila Says” Film
Ecological Feminism and Environmental Ethics
Feminist Perspective: “The Gender Pay Gap Explained”
Second Wave of Feminist Movement
Education and Feminism in the Arabian Peninsula
Black Women in Feminism and the Media
Spiritual and Educational Feminist Comparison
Feminist Theoretical Schools in Various Cultures
The Application of Psychoanalysis in Feminist Theories
Feminism: Exposing Women to the Public Sphere
Feminist Psychoanalysis From McRobbie’s Perspective
Feminist Films: “Stella Dallas” and “Dance Girl, Dance”
Ageism and Feminism in Career and Family Expectations
“Feminist Geopolitics and September 11” by Jenifer Hyndman
The History of Feminism in the 1960
Feminist Theory of Family Therapy
Feminism in Tunisia and Jordan in Comparison
Feminism and Gender Studies in Science
Feminism in the United Arab Emirates
Conceptualization of Difference in Feminism
Feminist Political Theory, Approaches and Challenge
Feminism in Latin America
Planet B-Girl: Community Building and Feminism in Hip-Hop
Hello Kitty as a Kitsch and Anti-Feminist Phenomenon
Methods of Feminism Education and Its Modern Theories
Feminism in Lorrie Moore’s “You’re Ugly, Too”
Anti-Feminism and Heteropatriarchal Normativity
Feminist Archaeologists’ Interpretations of the Past
The Theory of Feminism Through the Prism of Time
Development of Feminism in Chile
Concept of “Western Feminism”
Marxism vs. Feminism: Human Nature, Power, Conflict
Feminism in Lorber’s, Thompson’s, Hooks’s Views
Prison and Social Movement in Black Feminist View
Great Awakening, American Civil War, and Feminism
Feminism and Roles in “A Raisin in the Sun” Play
Feminist Miss America Pageant Protest of 1968
Black Feminist Perspectives in Toni Morrison’s Works
Feminist Movement as an Attempt to Obtain Equal Rights
Axel Honneth Views on Feminism
Activist and Feminist Rose Schneiderman
Feminist Deceit in Short Stories
Post-Feminism in the Wonder Bra Commercial
Feminist Movement Influence on the Arab Film Industry
Third World Feminism and Its Challenges
“First Wave” Feminist Movement
Feminism: the Contraception Movement in Canada
Beyonce and Assata Shakur Feminism Ideas Comparison
Feminism in “‘Now We Can Begin” by Crystal Eastman
Gender Studies of Feminism: Radical and Liberal Branches
Feminism and Film Theory
The Realization of Third-wave Feminism Ideals
Sexuality as a Social and Historical Construct
Modern Feminist Movements
Feminist Theories in Relation to Family Functions
Rebecca Solnit’s Views on Feminism
Feminism and Respect for Culture
“Old and New Feminists in Latin America: The Case of Peru and Chile” by Chaney E.M.
“Frida Kahlo: A Contemporary Feminist Reading” by Liza Bakewell
Chinese Feminism in the Early 20th Century
Feminism in the 20th Century: a Literature Perspective. Research Summaries
Feminism and Modern Friendship
Women and Their Acceptance of Feminism
Women, Religion, and Feminism
Women’s Health and Feminism Theory
The History of the Pill and Feminism
Challenges to Build Feminist Movement Against Problems of Globalization and Neoliberalism
Feministic Movement in Iron Jawed Angels
Hillary Clinton: Furthering Political Agenda Through Feminism
Feminist Pro-Porn During Sex Wars
Feministic View of McCullers’ “The Member of the Wedding”
“Feminism, Peace, Human Rights and Human Security” by Charlotte Bunch
Feminism in China During the Late Twentieth Century
Feminist Political Change
Antonio Gramsci and Feminism: The Elusive Nature of Power
Changes That Feminism and Gender Lenses Can Bring To Global Politics
Feminism Has Nothing to Tell Us About the Reality of War, Conflict and Hard, Cold Facts
Feminism in the works of Susan Glaspell and Sophocles
Cross Cultural Analysis of Feminism in the Muslim Community
The Adoption of Feminist Doctrine in Canada
Feminist Movement in Canada
The Feminist Power and Structure in Canada
Feminism and Gender Mainstreaming
Feminist Movement: The National Organization for Women
Feminist Analysis of the Popular Media: The Sexualization Process Takes Its Toll on the Younger Female Audience
Women in the Field of Art
The Reflection of the Second-Wave Feminism in Scandinavia: “Show Me Love” and “Together”
Liberal and Socialist Feminist Theories
What Does Feminism Stand For? Who are These Creatures who call themselves Feminists?
Full Frontal Feminism – What is Still Preventing Women from Achieving Equality?
The Ordeal of Being a Woman: When Feminist Ideas Dissipate
Comparison and Contrast of Spiritual and Educational Feminists
Gender Issue and the Feminist Movement
Dorothy E. Smith and Feminist Theory Development
Feminism Builds up in Romanticism, Realism, Modernism
Feminist Movement Tendencies
Scholars Comment on Gender Equality
The Smurfette Principle in the Modern Media: Feminism Is over?
The Feminist Movement
Feminism and Evolution or Emergence of Psychology
Reasons Why the Black Women Population Did Not Consider Themselves a Part of the Ongoing Feminist Movements
Black Women and the Feminist Movement
Feminism and Patriarchy
Feminism Interview and the Major Aim of Feminism
Gender and Religion: Women and Islam
Charlotte Gilman’s feminism theory
Concept and History of the Liberal Feminism
Feminism and Women’s History
Feminist Criticism in “The Story of an Hour” and “The Yellow Wallpaper”
Obesity: Health or Feminist Issue?
Feminism in Roger and Dodger Film
Comparing Views on the Feminism of Wollstonecraft and Martin Luther King
Anarchy, Black Nationalism and Feminism
Concepts of Feminism in the Present Societies
Gender Issues and Feminist Movement
“Just Say No? The Use of Conversation Analysis in Developing a Feminist Perspective on Sexual Refusal” by Kitzinger and Frith: Summary
Feminist Ethics Concept
How Did African Feminism Change the World?
Why Might Feminism and Poststructuralism Be Described as an Uneasy Alliance?
Does Feminism and Masculinity Define Who People Are Today?
How Did Feminism Change New Zealand?
Can Feminism and Marxism Come Together?
How Did Second Wave Feminism Affect the Lives of Women?
Does Arab Feminism Exist?
How Does Chivalry Affect Feminism?
Has Feminism Achieved Its Goals?
How Does the French Feminism Theory Manifest Itself?
Does Feminism Create Equality?
How Has Feminism Changed the Lives of Women, Men, and Families?
Has Feminism Benefited the American Society?
How Does Feminism Explain Gender Differences in Comparison to the Mainstream Psychology?
Does Feminism Discriminate Against Men?
How Does Feminism Harm Women’s Health Care?
Does Feminism Really Work?
How Does Feminism Threaten Male Control and Alters Their Dominance in Society?
What Are the Basic Traits of Liberal Feminism?
How Has Economic Development and Globalization of South Korea Influenced the Role of Feminism?
What Are the Concepts of Marxism and Feminism?
How Has Feminism Developed?
What Are the Main Theoretical and Political Differences Between First and Second Waves of Feminism?
Why Should Men Teach Feminism?
How Does Popular Fiction Reflect Debates About Gender and Sexuality?
When Does Feminism Go Wrong?
How Do Teenage Magazines Express the Post-feminism Culture?
Why Has Patriarchy Proved Such a Contentious Issue for Feminism?
What Are the Main Contributions of Feminism to the Contemporary Lifestyle?
Can Modern Feminism Start the Discrimination of Men?
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Essay on Feminism

500 words essay on feminism.

Feminism is a social and political movement that advocates for the rights of women on the grounds of equality of sexes. It does not deny the biological differences between the sexes but demands equality in opportunities. It covers everything from social and political to economic arenas. In fact, feminist campaigns have been a crucial part of history in women empowerment. The feminist campaigns of the twentieth century made the right to vote, public property, work and education possible. Thus, an essay on feminism will discuss its importance and impact.

Importance of Feminism

Feminism is not just important for women but for every sex, gender, caste, creed and more. It empowers the people and society as a whole. A very common misconception is that only women can be feminists.

It is absolutely wrong but feminism does not just benefit women. It strives for equality of the sexes, not the superiority of women. Feminism takes the gender roles which have been around for many years and tries to deconstruct them.

This allows people to live freely and empower lives without getting tied down by traditional restrictions. In other words, it benefits women as well as men. For instance, while it advocates that women must be free to earn it also advocates that why should men be the sole breadwinner of the family? It tries to give freedom to all.

Most importantly, it is essential for young people to get involved in the feminist movement. This way, we can achieve faster results. It is no less than a dream to live in a world full of equality.

Thus, we must all look at our own cultures and communities for making this dream a reality. We have not yet reached the result but we are on the journey, so we must continue on this mission to achieve successful results.

Impact of Feminism

Feminism has had a life-changing impact on everyone, especially women. If we look at history, we see that it is what gave women the right to vote. It was no small feat but was achieved successfully by women.

Further, if we look at modern feminism, we see how feminism involves in life-altering campaigns. For instance, campaigns that support the abortion of unwanted pregnancy and reproductive rights allow women to have freedom of choice.

Moreover, feminism constantly questions patriarchy and strives to renounce gender roles. It allows men to be whoever they wish to be without getting judged. It is not taboo for men to cry anymore because they must be allowed to express themselves freely.

Similarly, it also helps the LGBTQ community greatly as it advocates for their right too. Feminism gives a place for everyone and it is best to practice intersectional feminism to understand everyone’s struggle.

Get the huge list of more than 500 Essay Topics and Ideas

Conclusion of the Essay on Feminism

The key message of feminism must be to highlight the choice in bringing personal meaning to feminism. It is to recognize other’s right for doing the same thing. The sad part is that despite feminism being a strong movement, there are still parts of the world where inequality and exploitation of women take places. Thus, we must all try to practice intersectional feminism.

FAQ of Essay on Feminism

Question 1: What are feminist beliefs?

Answer 1: Feminist beliefs are the desire for equality between the sexes. It is the belief that men and women must have equal rights and opportunities. Thus, it covers everything from social and political to economic equality.

Question 2: What started feminism?

Answer 2: The first wave of feminism occurred in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. It emerged out of an environment of urban industrialism and liberal, socialist politics. This wave aimed to open up new doors for women with a focus on suffrage.

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Feminism Essay Topics

Due to its broad and expansive nature, many university degrees will include a discussion of topics related to feminism, including sociology, history, politics, film and media studies, and many more.

Feminism refers to the fight for gender equality, and it promotes concepts of choice, empowerment and dismantling the patriarchy. However, it is not one singular perspective. Instead, it is an umbrella term, which is used to refer to hundreds of differing opinions. These essay questions are all related to the subject of feminism, with reference to the latest 2020/21 trends. It includes thirty top questions from a wide array of different subjects and concerning a variety of topics.

Feminism 101

Narrowing the gap, controversial essay questions about feminism, beyond the binary: deconstructing gender, feminism around the globe, female empowerment.

The following essay questions are related to the basics of feminism, including its history, development and theoretical underpinnings.

Discuss the difference between sex and gender with reference to postmodern feminism.
How do stereotypical gender roles continue to perpetuate inequality in 21st century Britain?
Define and discuss the waves of feminism and determine the existence of a possible fourth wave.
Judith Butler stated that ‘There is no gender identity behind the expressions of gender’. Discuss this quote in reference to the performativity of gender.
“In almost every professional field, in business and the arts and sciences, women are still treated as second-class citizens.” How has feminism changed society since Betty Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique?

At the very core of feminism is the belief in equality above all else. Yet despite significant progress being made in the twentieth century, gender inequality remains prevalent in the UK and around the world. Some essay questions related to disadvantage include:

“As white women ignore their built-in privilege of whiteness and define woman in terms of their own experience alone, then women of Color become “other,” the outsider whose experience and tradition is too “alien” to comprehend.”― Audre Lorde
With reference to the above quote, how intersectional is feminism in the 21st Century?
Discuss whether there was an unequal distribution of emotional labour during the COVID 19 pandemic and if so, why?
Does the gender pay gap exist? Explain the factors behind your argument.
Women in leadership: Are women fairly represented in senior leadership roles and why?
With evidence to suggest that 1 in 3 women in the UK will experience domestic violence at some point in their lives, how can governments better address Violence against Women and Girls? Provide a critical analysis of the policy and legislative framework in a country of your choosing.

Feminist debates can be controversial as the perspective often shines a light on topics that may be considered to be sensitive. Debates surrounding topics such as abortion and sex are often emotive and sensitive, but

Should abortion be classed as a universal human right?
Is feminism just for women? Provide a critical analysis regarding whether there is a continued need for feminism in modern society and how the patriarchy negatively impacts on the lives of men.
Discuss the concept of Trans- Exclusionary Radical Feminists or ‘Terfs’ and how an increase in support for so-called ‘gender critical’ feminism could change the future of feminism.
Should sex and relationships education be compulsory and why?
How are feminists and the feminist perspective represented in the media?

Gender roles are believed to be embedded in our society and they refer to the stereotypical beliefs pertaining to what is expected based on a person’s gender. These questions all refer to gender as a contrast and the differences between gender roles and ascribed sex.

The idea that gender is ‘natural and rooted in biology’ has had ‘profound psychological behavioural and social consequences (West and Zimmerman 1987 p. 128). What are the differences between sex and gender and how is this communicated in British society?
How are stereotypical gender roles communicated through socialisation and how does this affect children’s development and understanding of their gender identity.
Discuss the idea of gender as a binary concept.
Are gender reveal parties inherently transphobic? Discuss feminist views on transgender experiences, with reference to Trans Exclusionary Radical Feminists and Intersectional Feminism.
Communicating gender stereotypes: A discourse analysis to deconstruct the Madonna/ Whore dichotomy in mass media.

One of the most significant criticisms of the feminist perspective is a focus on women in Western countries that fails to acknowledge the significant disparities related to gender that occur on a global scale. The following questions provide the opportunity to provide critical analysis of the role of feminism in protecting the rights of women and promoting gender equality worldwide.

Freeing women from oppression or failing to recognise the importance of choice? In 2021, Sri Lanka joined other countries in ‘banning the burka’. Discuss this from a feminist perspective.
Compare and contrast domestic violence and abuse legislative and policy framework in two countries of your choosing.
As Scotland becomes the first country to provide free menstruation products to all that need them, should this policy be adopted in your own country? What are the potential barriers to the distribution of free menstrual products?
How are women in developing countries represented in the globalised media? Exploring the impact of globalisation on women, with a focus on the communication of stereotypes and victimhood by Western media sources.
How has the world changed? Consider the impact of the Millennium Development Goals and the fight for global gender equality.

Considering how feminism has worked to eradicate the imbalances of power that sustain inequality and recognise the manner in which government, organisations, front line workers, and activists work to empower women from around the world.

How can we address toxic masculinity using a feminist perspective?
Should sex work be legal? Discuss with reference to relevant feminist theory.
How has society changed since the Time Out campaign and #MeToo Movement?
What are industries doing to increase the number of women studying and working in STEM areas and why is this important?
Discuss the role of international policy and legislation in supporting female empowerment, including any barriers to its implementation.

Essays About Feminism: Top 5 Examples Plus Prompts

When writing essays about feminism, there are a lot of aspects you can focus on. We have collected some of the best essay examples with prompts.

Feminism is a socio-political movement that is about fighting for equal rights and opportunities for all genders. While many point its beginnings to the women’s rights movements in the 19th century, when women were liberated and finally allowed to vote, feminist thinking can actually be traced back to as early as the late 14th century with the works of French writer Christine De Pizan , touted the first feminist philosopher.

Today, the definition of feminism has expanded to end discrimination, oppression and stereotyping of all genders from all walks of life. It aims to make radical reforms to eliminate cultural norms and push the legislation of equality-supporting laws.

Because feminism is a widely relevant topic, you may be asked to write an essay about feminism either as a student or a professional. However, it may be difficult to find a starting point given the broad spectrum of areas in which feminism is found relevant.

For help with your essays, check out our round-up of the best essays on feminism to provide inspiration:

1. Men Explain Things to Me by Rebecca Solnit

2. bad feminist by roxane gay, 3. civic memory, feminist future by lidia yuknavitch, 4. trickle-down feminism by sarah jaffe, 5. emily ratajkowski explores what it means to be hyper feminine by emily ratajkowski , 1. definition of feminism, 2. does feminism still matter in the workplace, 3. would you consider yourself a feminist, 4. historical evolution of feminism, 5. criticisms against feminism, 6. how can we achieve gender equality , 7. who are the feminists in your community and what are they fighting for.

“The battle with Men Who Explain Things has trampled down many women — of my generation, of the up-and-coming generation we need so badly, here and in Pakistan and Bolivia and Java, not to speak of the countless women who came before me and were not allowed into the laboratory, or the library, or the conversation, or the revolution, or even the category called human.

Solnit starts with amusing narratives of real-life experiences with men who have critiqued her books wrongly. Solnit points out that men’s arrogance and tendency to explain things to women, thinking they know better, have forced women into silence and weakened their credibility even in places where their voices are crucial – such as in the court stand when women testify to being raped. Solnit, thus, emphasizes that the fight against mansplainers is important to the feminist movement. For more, check out these articles about feminism .

“I want to be independent, but I want to be taken care of and have someone to come home to. I have a job I’m pretty good at. I am in charge of things. I am on committees. People respect me and take my counsel. I want to be strong and professional, but I resent how hard I have to work to be taken seriously, to receive a fraction of the consideration I might otherwise receive. Sometimes I feel an overwhelming need to cry at work, so I close my office door and lose it.”

Gay reveals a series of secrets that make her believe she is a “bad feminst.” At first, she had tried to hide her fondness for men, fashion and thuggish rap, among many other things that gave her joy but went against the ideal feminist image etched in the mind of many. Eventually, Gay embraces the “mess of contradictions” that she is, proudly owning the label of a “bad feminist” while she speaks up on issues critical to the feminist movement and debunks myths on the unrealistic standards surrounding the sisterhood.

“There is no photo for what my father did to his daughters. It came into our bodies as a habit of being, a structure of consciousness, a way of life. Maybe it is akin to feeling discovered and conquered and colonized. Maybe the first colonizations are of the bodies of women and children, and from there they extend like the outstretched hand of a man grabbing land. Cultures.”

Yuknavitch highlights her rage against “fathers” both in her personal life and in each political administration that she survived. Yuknavitch described how these fathers and father images try to take control of others’ bodies and lives and crush others’ spirits. In her confrontation and memory of such men, however, Yuknavitch also learned to create art and find her feminist purpose.

“Women may be overrepresented in the growing sectors of the economy, but those sectors pay poverty wages. The public sector job cuts that have been largely responsible for unemployment remaining at or near 8 percent have fallen disproportionately on women (and women of color are hit the hardest). Those good union jobs disappear, and are replaced with a minimum-wage gig at Walmart—and even in retail, women make only 90 percent of what men make.”

Jaffe gives an in-depth view of the gains and impasse in the fight to improve women’s working opportunities. She stresses that women’s breakthroughs in the workplace may not always be a cause for celebration if these do not translate to long-term and more concrete changes for women to be treated better in the workplace. Jaffe encouraged feminists to continue organizing themselves to focus on solutions that can address the continued low wages of women, gender pay gaps and the minimal choice of professions offered to women.

“I often think about this. Why, as a culture, do we insist on separating smart and serious from sexy? Give women the opportunity to be whatever they want and as multifaceted as they can be.”

American model Ratajkowski writes a candid memoir on what it means to be hyper feminine in a society that represses and shames sexuality. She recounts how a misogynistic culture heavily influenced her early adventures on exploring her feminine side, how she took it to her advantage and turned being “sexy” into her strength. Ratajkowski also reveals how she feels about feminism today and women, in general, having their own decision and choices.

Writing Prompts on Essays about Feminism

For more help in picking your next essay topic, check out these seven essay prompts that can get you started:

Feminism is largely believed to be women’s fight against the patriarchy. Could it be a fight against all forms of oppression, discrimination, objectification and stereotyping? Could it be something more? You may even investigate some common myths about feminism. You might be interested in our list of adjectives for strong women .

Essays about Feminism: Does feminism still matter in the workplace?

Now that several women are climbing to the top of corporate ladders, have the right to vote and could get a doctorate, does feminism remain relevant?

Your article can explore the continued challenges of women in the workplace. You may also interview some working women who have faced obstacles toward certain goals due to discrimination and how they overcame the situation.

This would tie in closely to the topic on the definition of feminism. But this topic adds value and a personal touch as you share the reasons and narratives that made you realize you are or are not a feminist.

A common misconception is that only women can be feminists.

The First Wave of feminism started in the 19th century as protests on the streets and evolved into today’s Fourth Wave where technologial tools are leveraged to promote feminist advocacies. Look at each period of feminism and compare their objectives and challenges.

While feminism aims to benefit everybody, the movement has also earned the ire of many. Some people blame feminism for enabling hostility towards men, promiscuity and pornography, among others. You can also touch on the more controversial issue on abortion which feminists fight for with the popularizd slogan “My body, my choice.” You can discuss the law of abortion in your state or your country and what feminist groups have to say about these existing regulations.

Gender equality is pursued in various fields, especially where women have had little representation in the past. One example is the tech industry. Choose one sector you relate closely with and research on how gender equality has advanced in this area. It may be fun to also interview some industry leaders to know what policy frameworks they are implementing, and what will be their strategic direction moving forward.

Everyone surely knows a handful of feminists in their social media networks. Interview some friends and ask about feminist projects they have worked on or are working on. Of course, do not forget to ask about the outcomes or targets of the project and find out who has benefitted from the cause. Are these mothers or young women?

WRITING TIPS: Before you head on to write about feminism, check out our essay writing tips so you can have a struggle-free writing process.

If writing an essay still feels like a lot of work, simplify it. Write a simple 5 paragraph essay instead

Yna Lim is a communications specialist currently focused on policy advocacy. In her eight years of writing, she has been exposed to a variety of topics, including cryptocurrency, web hosting, agriculture, marketing, intellectual property, data privacy and international trade. A former journalist in one of the top business papers in the Philippines, Yna is currently pursuing her master's degree in economics and business.

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Feminism Essay: How to Write a Powerful Paper on Women’s Rights

A feminism essay or paper takes an in-depth look at what the word means, how women have been historically treated and the work still to be done toward equality.

A feminist essay can examine women’s rights from the perspective of several different disciplines, such as gender studies, history and sociology.

Regardless of your topic, writing a feminist essay requires you to be well informed on the topic and knowledgeable about your resources, so you can provide accurate facts and persuasive arguments to support your ideas.

Read on for a step-by-step breakdown of how to write a strong essay about feminism.

Define the topic for your feminism essay

To define your topic, first, start with defining feminism and its many facets.

Feminism is defined as the political, economic and social equality of all genders; however, it has come to mean much more than that.

For instance, there are now intersectional feminists who study issues related to race and sexual orientation alongside those related to gender.

There are also two waves of feminism.

First Wave feminism focused mainly on women’s suffrage, voting rights and reproductive rights while Second Wave feminism encompassed these topics while adding societal changes like workplace discrimination and rape culture.

Feminist movements often focus on specific marginalized groups such as trans people, Black Lives Matter activists and queer folks.

To help you narrow down your definition of feminism and decide which topics will best suit your needs, ask yourself a few questions.

What is my definition of feminism? What issue would I like to explore? Is this issue restricted to gender? What does my definition allow me to explore? What does my definition limit me from exploring?

Once you answer these questions, you’ll know which area best suits your topic and what information should go into each paragraph.

Researching the Topic For your feminism essay

This step is perhaps the most important part of writing a powerful feminist essay.

You need to gather facts and statistics about your topic, but don’t stop there!

Find articles, essays and interviews with experts in the field to get perspectives that are both traditional and outside the box.

Sometimes looking up just one source can change your entire understanding of something; always try to read multiple perspectives before making any conclusions.

Additionally, pay attention to sources because not all are created equal.

Some may be biased, some may contain factual inaccuracies and some may not even use credible sources at all.

The only way to tell if a resource is credible or not is by evaluating the author’s credentials (e.g., their academic background), whether they cite their sources properly and the opinions of other scholars in the field.

If a scholarly article was published in a peer-reviewed journal, chances are good that the writer’s statements are based on sound evidence and expert opinion.

However, if the article was published elsewhere, do your research to make sure the writer is qualified and can back up their claims.

Create an outline for your Feminism paper

An outline for your Feminine paper should have the following parts: introduction, argument, conclusion, and bibliography.

The introduction should be a brief overview of what you are going to be talking about in the essay.

Arguments should consist of your points as they relate to feminism. The conclusion should summarize your points and draw conclusions from them.

The bibliography is where you will list all sources used in the paper.

Remember the outline is not necessarily set in stone – feel free to change it if you want.

For example, if you think that two paragraphs would work better than one paragraph then by all means do so.

A good Feminine essay outline should not be detailed; instead, it is meant to highlight the topics which are going to be covered in the essay.

You can also use subheadings within your body paragraphs to help make things clearer or give more information when necessary.

Remember, there are no right or wrong ways to create an outline, just what works best for you!

Writing Your feminist essay Argument

There are many ways to structure your argument depending on the nature of your topic and style of the essay.

It is important to remember that a solid introduction and conclusion are the foundation of your essay, and without them, you won’t be able to establish your thesis.

In the introduction, you want to give your reader a broad idea of what you’re going to be discussing in the essay and why it matters.

Remember, though, that introductions are short- keep your brief.

An effective feminism essay argues in favour of women’s rights while providing examples of how women are currently disadvantaged.

A simple essay may argue that feminism is necessary to fight against gender inequality, while a more complex essay might argue that feminism is necessary in order to dismantle patriarchy.

Be sure to address your topic, include examples, and provide a thesis statement in your introduction and conclusion.

The body of the essay about feminism will be divided into three paragraphs.

The first should cover the definition of feminism and provide context for the following paragraphs.

The second paragraph should introduce an example of how women are currently being disadvantaged, while the third paragraph will discuss solutions to these problems.

For example, in the first paragraph, you could talk about the definition of feminism and mention that it includes fighting for gender equality.

The second paragraph could mention some issue like male violence against women and child marriage that is happening around the world. The third paragraph could then be dedicated to possible solutions to these problems.

For example, you could talk about campaigns like HeForShe and UN Women’s call to end violence against women and girls.

It is important to know that when you are citing resources, you must also include a bibliography as well as citations within the text of your paper so readers know where they can find more information.

Hitting the Right Tone

Once you’ve written your essay, take a few moments to reflect on your tone.

This is the final check to make sure that your paper is being communicated in the appropriate manner.

One easy way to determine your tone is to ask yourself who you are talking to and what they already know about the subject.

For instance, someone who has never heard of feminism would be reading this article from a very different perspective than someone who has spent years studying feminist theory.

The former may have a lot of questions about the topic and its implications, while the latter is likely to be more familiar and comfortable with the language.

This means that you’ll have to approach your writing in two different ways, tailoring your argument to your audience’s level of knowledge.

Think carefully about whether or not you’re using too much jargon or speaking too broadly, and make adjustments accordingly. You want to strike the right balance between accessible and academic writing. When people start reading your essay, their minds should light up with understanding; if they don’t understand something immediately, you need to find a way to explain it more clearly or change your word choice.

Tips for Writing a College Feminism Essay

Write strong introductions and conclusions

The introduction of the feminist essay should be informative, yet concise.

This is your chance to inform the reader of your thoughts and reasoning.

Do not feel obligated to present every detail, just enough to tell the story you wish to share.

Give an explanation of what you plan to say in the rest of your essay.

Next, conclude by bringing back your point one last time and summarizing the main points of your argument.

This is your opportunity to touch on the importance of feminism and remind the reader of what you’re trying to accomplish.

Consider your tone

It is essential to consider the tone of your essay, which refers to the attitude that a writer takes towards their subject. Tones are usually classified in terms of formal and informal or objective and subjective.

The formal tone is more reserved, with less personal input on the author’s part.

This tone is often seen in research papers and thesis papers.

The informal tone, on the other hand, is more conversational and casual. This tone is found in blogs, news articles, and editorials.

The formal tone is typically preferred in scholarly essays due to the seriousness of the subject matter.

However, both styles can be used effectively depending on your purpose and intended audience.

If you use the wrong tone in your essay it might sound preachy or off-putting to your readers.

Keep sentences simple, clear and concise

One important element of your essay is sentence structure.

Avoid unnecessarily complicated or difficult sentences. Your writing will be much easier to read if you keep things straightforward and concise.

There are times when complex sentences are appropriate, but only when it serves your purpose.

Generally speaking, simpler sentences are better as they help readers connect better with what you’re trying to say.

A feminism essay’s sentences should be as direct and clear as possible. Using short, to-the-point sentences helps the reader better understand your point of view.

This doesn’t mean you should avoid using long sentences occasionally, just be mindful of what you’re saying.

Too many big words or sentences that are too complicated won’t make your essay more credible.

In general, you want to convey your ideas in a clear and engaging manner. Make it easy on your reader!

Use the active voice and descriptive verbs

It’s a good idea to mix the active voice with passive sentences, especially when you’re telling a story or describing events.

Active voice, in essence, is where the subject of the sentence is doing the action that is expressed in the verb.

Passive voice, on the other hand, places more emphasis on what happens to someone or something rather than who does it.

Feminist papers should be written in an active voice because it focuses on what the subject is doing rather than what is happening to them.

This is crucial for avoiding ambiguity and confusing language.

Use concrete language

One way to improve your writing style is by using specific language and examples.

Concrete language relates more closely to objects, actions, and details that people can see or experience.

For example, instead of saying I wanted, try I wanted.

Specifics are always better than vague statements that may cause misunderstanding.

In feminist writing, the focus is on the woman and how she has to break down barriers in order to succeed.

As a result, language should be specific and accurate.

Address counterarguments

One of the goals of a persuasive feminist essay is to convince the reader that your position is correct.

This means you must acknowledge any valid arguments against your viewpoint and provide a response. This response could include evidence, logical explanations, or qualifications.

You also need to show that you’ve considered all aspects of your topic before making any claims about it. This is necessary in order to present a fair and balanced perspective on the subject.

Provide sources

One of the most common mistakes in an essay is not citing your sources.

Citing your sources is one way to back up what you are arguing or stating.

It gives credibility to your argument while demonstrating that you are informed about the topic.

One important way you need to cite your sources is by listing them at the end of your essay.

Doing so also allows readers who are interested in knowing more about your topic easy access to relevant information.

It’s true that some writers prefer to use footnotes, but it is generally accepted that the referencing system used at the end of your paper is the preferred method.

Avoid sexist language

Sexist language refers to words and phrases used primarily to refer to either women or men.

Examples of sexism include referring to a group of men as gentlemen, calling women sweethearts, or asking someone when they’re going to start a family.

Avoid these types of language in your writing because it is offensive and dismissive. Instead, replace gendered language with gender-neutral terms.

This will help to create a less biased and therefore, more effective essay.

A few ideas of gender-neutral terms to use in place of feminine language include driver, employee, human being, and student.

The tone and language you choose should be a reflection of your intended audience. To do this, you have to know what your audience is looking for.

Men are typically more interested in facts, figures, and straight talk whereas women are more receptive to emotional stories that make the point.

This means that if you’re writing a feminist essay on a political issue such as health care, you might want to take the latter approach. This strategy is more likely to lead to a successful essay.

Proofread, proofread, proofread!

Once you’re sure your paper has addressed all of these points and that it is perfect, it’s time to proofread your essay.

This step will help you ensure that there are no typographical or grammatical errors.

Even one typo can take away from what you’re saying and ultimately detract from your argument.

To check for mistakes, print out your essay then read it aloud to yourself, using different voices for different parts of the writing if possible.

This will help you catch any misspellings, misuse of punctuation and other mistakes that can otherwise be difficult to spot.

Next, ask a friend or colleague to proofread your essay for you.

Their opinion is often more objective than yours and this way you can be confident that your essay is the best it can be.

Feminine essay topics Examples

Essay topics for a feminist essay can be based on a wide range of issues.

For example, how feminism is perceived in America, the impact of feminism on male and female relationships, or the role of feminism in politics.

Here is a list of a few essay topics that a writer might consider, in order to write a powerful paper on the rights of women:

What is your opinion of feminism and its effect on society?
What does feminism mean to you?
What is the feminist movement today, and where is it headed?
Do feminists fight only for the rights of females, or are they working to protect everyone’s rights?
Why is it important for girls to embrace feminism?
How has feminism helped you personally?
Why is it important for boys to become feminists too?
When did you first become aware of the feminist movement, and why was this moment so significant to you?
You’ve said that feminism is about fighting for the rights of both males and females. Could you elaborate on what this entails?
In your own experience, which types of struggles have been the most challenging to overcome, and which ones have been the easiest?
Explain the importance of feminism to a woman’s daily life.
Explain the importance of feminism to a man’s daily life.
Would you like to live in a world without any form of discrimination?
Which is more important – personal happiness, or fighting for the rights of others?
In your opinion, is achieving equal rights worth the struggle?
If someone asked you to define feminism in just one sentence, what would you say?
What advice do you have for young people who want to know how to get involved with the feminist movement?
Discuss some ways that men can support their wives’ goals and dreams.
Is sexism against men an issue as well as sexism against women?
What are some long-term goals of the feminist movement, such as equality at home and work, or improved health care access?
Who should we thank for getting us this far in the feminist movement, and what do we need to thank them for?
What does feminism mean to you, and how has it impacted your life?

Writing a Feminine essay Final remarks

Feminine papers are usually focused on specific aspects of feminism, and arguments for the rights of women.

Topics for a feminine paper could include the effect of feminism on American culture, the significance of feminism to female relationships, and the role feminism plays in politics.

There is a wide variety of different feminist essay topics so writers can choose whichever topic suits them best.

Whether readers are interested in looking at how feminism is portrayed in popular culture, the effects of feminism on femininity and masculinity, or exploring ways to join the movement themselves there will be something here for every type of audience member.

Finally, always follow your professor’s specific instructions for writing this kind of paper.

Some professors may ask students to discuss ideas from readings in class, while other instructors may require students to use certain resources.

It is a good idea to follow the guidelines of the instructor because if not, the student may end up receiving a lower grade for violating these instructions

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5 Essays About Feminism

On the surface, the definition of feminism is simple. It’s the belief that women should be politically, socially, and economically equal to men. Over the years, the movement expanded from a focus on voting rights to worker rights, reproductive rights, gender roles, and beyond. Modern feminism is moving to a more inclusive and intersectional place. Here are five essays about feminism that tackle topics like trans activism, progress, and privilege:

“Trickle-Down Feminism” – Sarah Jaffe

Feminists celebrate successful women who have seemingly smashed through the glass ceiling, but the reality is that most women are still under it. Even in fast-growing fields where women dominate (retail sales, food service, etc), women make less money than men. In this essay from Dissent Magazine, author Sarah Jaffe argues that when the fastest-growing fields are low-wage, it isn’t a victory for women. At the same time, it does present an opportunity to change the way we value service work. It isn’t enough to focus only on “equal pay for equal work” as that argument mostly focuses on jobs where someone can negotiate their salary. This essay explores how feminism can’t succeed if only the concerns of the wealthiest, most privileged women are prioritized.

Sarah Jaffe writes about organizing, social movements, and the economy with publications like Dissent, the Nation, Jacobin, and others. She is the former labor editor at Alternet.

“What No One Else Will Tell You About Feminism” – Lindy West

Written in Lindy West’s distinct voice, this essay provides a clear, condensed history of feminism’s different “waves.” The first wave focused on the right to vote, which established women as equal citizens. In the second wave, after WWII, women began taking on issues that couldn’t be legally-challenged, like gender roles. As the third wave began, the scope of feminism began to encompass others besides middle-class white women. Women should be allowed to define their womanhood for themselves. West also points out that “waves” may not even exist since history is a continuum. She concludes the essay by declaring if you believe all people are equal, you are a feminist.

Jezebel reprinted this essay with permission from How To Be A Person, The Stranger’s Guide to College by Lindy West, Dan Savage, Christopher Frizelle, and Bethany Jean Clement. Lindy West is an activist, comedian, and writer who focuses on topics like feminism, pop culture, and fat acceptance.

“Toward a Trans* Feminism” – Jack Halberstam

The history of transactivsm and feminism is messy. This essay begins with the author’s personal experience with gender and terms like trans*, which Halberstam prefers. The asterisk serves to “open the meaning,” allowing people to choose their categorization as they see fit. The main body of the essay focuses on the less-known history of feminists and trans* folks. He references essays from the 1970s and other literature that help paint a more complete picture. In current times, the tension between radical feminism and trans* feminism remains, but changes that are good for trans* women are good for everyone.

This essay was adapted from Trans*: A Quick and Quirky Account of Gender Variability by Jack Halberstam. Halberstam is the Professor of American Studies and Ethnicity, Gender Studies and Comparative Literature at the University of Southern California. He is also the author of several books.

“Rebecca Solnit: How Change Happens” – Rebecca Solnit

The world is changing. Rebecca Solnit describes this transformation as an assembly of ideas, visions, values, essays, books, protests, and more. It has many layers involving race, class, gender, power, climate, justice, etc, as well as many voices. This has led to more clarity about injustice. Solnit describes watching the transformation and how progress and “ wokeness ” are part of a historical process. Progress is hard work. Not exclusively about feminism, this essay takes a more intersectional look at how progress as a whole occurs.

“How Change Happens” was adapted from the introduction to Whose Story Is it? Rebecca Solnit is a writer, activist, and historian. She’s the author of over 20 books on art, politics, feminism, and more.

“Bad Feminist” extract – Roxane Gay

People are complicated and imperfect. In this excerpt from her book Bad Feminist: Essays , Roxane Gay explores her contradictions. The opening sentence is, “I am failing as a woman.” She goes on to describe how she wants to be independent, but also to be taken care of. She wants to be strong and in charge, but she also wants to surrender sometimes. For a long time, she denied that she was human and flawed. However, the work it took to deny her humanness is harder than accepting who she is. While Gay might be a “bad feminist,” she is also deeply committed to issues that are important to feminism. This is a must-read essay for any feminists who worry that they aren’t perfect.

Roxane Gay is a professor, speaker, editor, writer, and social commentator. She is the author of Bad Feminist , a New York Times bestseller, Hunger (a memoir), and works of fiction.

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About the author, emmaline soken-huberty.

Emmaline Soken-Huberty is a freelance writer based in Portland, Oregon. She started to become interested in human rights while attending college, eventually getting a concentration in human rights and humanitarianism. LGBTQ+ rights, women’s rights, and climate change are of special concern to her. In her spare time, she can be found reading or enjoying Oregon’s natural beauty with her husband and dog.

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205 Engaging Feminist Research Topics For Your Thesis

It’s not a new movement. Every active citizen of many liberal countries already knows about feminism. Women rally against the inequality that exists and request for gender equality. Men are dominant in many countries, while women are relegated to the background.

Uncovering female rights, emphasizing them, and promoting different feminist philosophies remains an essential part of academics. There is already feminist sociology, even feminist psychology, as groups of study in tertiary Institutions. That said, if you need feminism project ideas or feminism essay topics, you’ll find custom and unique ideas in this article.

What is the Feminist Thesis Statement?

It’s all about equality. Women deal with sexual harassment, repression, oppression, and other forms of social and political deprivation.

Feminism emerges as a historical, political, and social movement by women to pursue all-around equality and an end to all forms of discrimination. Feminist activists are on the rise, and their thesis statement is basically about:

Equality Preservation of woman dignity Women empowerment Women political participation

The feminism movement also engages the issue of patriarchy, sexual objectification of women, oppression, stereotyping, and other social, political, and historical challenges.

How To Write an Outline for a Feminism Research Paper

While racking your head for interesting research papers on feminism, you need to go through a few processes before outlining. They are:

Introduction This is the first stage for any academic work. This determines if your readers will keep reading or pick another book. Your introduction must be both engaging, informative, and intriguing. It must show readers that they’re amongst your target audience. Your introduction must also have your thesis statement where your points are clearly stated. Also, you should include the feminist methodology to be employed in your research and the encompassing feminist research questions.
Body This is where you examine each detail of what you’re writing about. The body includes the arguments and the available literature that supports such an argument. It shows all the evidence found during your research. You can examine counterarguments and give answers to them to enhance your academic reputation on the subject. Your professors know everything about what you need to write, so don’t sound dull while writing.
Conclusion This is the last section of your paper, and it includes the summary of all arguments and your ideas. This could be followed by a call to action to provoke your readers to take bold, instructive steps.

Feminist Research Questions

While looking for feminism topics to write about, you need to decide which questions to answer. Feminism paper topics aim to answer questions like:

What is the relevance of feminism today?
Has the movement helped or endangered women?
Is there a future for global Feminism?
What is the threat of the movement to society?
What is the anti-feminist movement, and why are people sensitive about it?

Feminist Topics For Discussion

Different feminism essay topics are increasingly challenging in the world today. You can get on an in depth conversation from these feminist paper topics:

Examine the role of domestic violence in enhancing the feminist movement
What is the role of women in the contemporary world of entrepreneurship?
How has the rise of social media shaped feminism?
What are the ways feminism defines sex and gender differences?
How has the #MeToo movement fueled the adoption of feminism?
Does modern feminism equal men-hatred?
Are men a threat to feminism?
The mass media has affected the global understanding of feminism
Is feminism merely a relic of the history of a subject of contemporary need
Because the Taiwanese President is a female, does that mean that a female president can emerge in America or the UK?
How does feminism equate to human rights?
The perspective of feminism can change as long as every woman is empowered
How has feminism reconstructed gender roles
Would you say feminist critics (three of your choice) are suitable with any of their perspectives?
How can the world cope with the rise in feminist activism, agitation, and advocators
Sexism is unrelated to feminism
Examine the rise of domestic violence as a need promoting Feminism
Examine the reasons why men discrimination is on the high
Examine the relationship of feminism with sports
Is there a presence of feminism in sport and equal Empowerment?
How does feminism affect modern lifestyle and fashion?
What are your thoughts about female officials in different capacities of their world?
What are your thoughts are the lack of women political representation
How does the lack of women’s political representation affect women’s political participation?
Examine the possibility of a female president in America
How does feminism contribute to traditional ideologies of gender roles
How has feminism been used to promote Advocacy for equal rights
Is there a particular theory on feminism
Is feminism all about male dominance?
Does the lack of women’s rights affect universal politics?
What is the public response to feminism?
The attack of feminist activists show aggression against feminists
How have women also impeded feminist advocacy?
Could religion be said to be a contributing factor to the present sad state of women now?
The internet has been a driving force to achieve equality
The feminist movement is just a platform to increase women power
How have the environmental and feminist challenges affect national policies?
Have other movements absorbed feminism?
How has the feminist movement also fought for black lives matter?
Is feminism still all-encompassing or just about women?

Feminism Project Ideas

There are numerous feminist topics to write about. Some feminist research paper topics bordering issues contemporary feminists try to uncover includes:

The role of notable female figures who are either or not branded feminists and how they’ve shaped the world
The activities of three feminists in advocating for women’s right
How feminism has semblance with rebellion
The differences between sexual role and gender role in the society
The distinction between gender women role and the Feminist role in the society
Examining the advantages and disadvantages of identifying as a feminist
Assess the privileges of being a feminist in a developed country and an underdeveloped one
Examine the future of feminism in the Taliban controlled Afghanistan
Examine the motivating factors, across history, of feminism
Highlight and explain how feminism has helped increase education against rape
Feminism and government support: how government support can end all vices against women
The detailed consideration of equity and equality in feminism
The position of feminism in the modern world has shifted: discuss
Examine the life, times, and the biography of any male feminist of your choice
Examine the morality of feminism
What is the role of American women in the feminist movement?
What is the role of Asian women in the feminist movement?
Rationalize the activities of African women in pursuit of gender equality
Rationalize the role of Middle Eastern women in the call for support for gender equality
Examine the actions of any European government in the promotion of feminist ideas
Examine the part of any Southern American government in the preservation of women’s rights
Examine the connection between feminism and lesbianism
Examine the relationship between feminism and the rise of single women in America
Assess the significance of the rise of liberal ideas over conservatism in the promotion of feminism
Identify the future of feminism as hoodlums and violators
Give an overview of women in combat in both Taiwan and the U.S.
The recruitment of women in combat in Taiwan still embraces stereotypes, discuss
Discuss how women in the U.S. military still face discrimination, sexual assault, and violence
Discuss the means to eradicate sexual violence and discrimination in the military of any two countries of your choice
Analyze the role of women in any US election of your choice
Explore the topic of gender equality in Contemporary Britain
Give an overview of the British monarchy and the reconstruction to allow female monarchs
Examine the activities of women during the Civil Rights Movement
Explore the gender gap in the pursuit of any country’s independence
Examine the role of women in the Communist Revolution of Russia
Explore the history of women rights in Europe
Explore the work of women in the technology and automobile industries
What are the challenges of women during the Second World War?
Reestablish the goals and the founding beliefs of the Women’s Trade Union League
Examine the significance of women’s rights to own property and when it started

Feminist Issues to Write About

As earlier established, there are pressing feminism topics to discuss. In any society, these topics must be considered significant to achieving gender equality:

Examine how the internet has infused feminism into a public subject of both ridicule and pride
Explore the theoretical challenge between gender and sex
Examine the history of the #MeToo movement as well as the victim challenge about feminism
Examine the stance of different feminists who are still staunch believers on Islam about Female Genital Mutilation
Underscore the feminist methodology and means to drive home the point of feminism
How does feminism construct, deconstruct, and reconstruct gender roles according to five literature or notable feminists/anti-feminist of your choice?
Assess the ways through which feminists cope with societal discrimination and violence
Examine the employability of women who identify as feminists in the US
What is the feminist critics’ position in the face of global gender inequality?
What are the leading women’s rights violations in the world today?
Why is the feminist movement a threat to make dominance in the world today?
Assess the connection between criminality and feminism in the radical society
What are the means feminists employ to boycott men and other anti-feminists?
Examine the activities of radical feminists, black feminists, white feminists, and male feminists
How literature is used to undermine women
How contemporary beauty standards remain an impediment to what and who is considered beautiful online and offline
How the understanding of beauty is also a radical social and political stereotype depriving women of some inalienable rights
Examine the gender inequality and equality in the politics of America
Explore the gender inequality and equality in the UK government
Examine the gender equality in the Russian government
The benefits of men in gender discrimination
How do fitness clubs discriminate against women?
Rationalize clubs and drinking bars as an agent of sexually objectifying women
Rationalize the definition of ecofeminism and everything it entails
Examine the possibility of reconciling religion, feminism, and liberal morality
Analyze the challenges of women in the face of violence in countries like India and Pakistan
Analyze feminist psychology as it applies to Middle Eastern women
Analyze the evolving feminist philosophy in the world of the academy and the real world
How governments weaponize feminism as an agent of social mobilization leading to the death of their culture
Examine how terrorist organizations use women as a means to achieve political goals

Feminism Research Paper Topics

If you’re interested in examining custom feminist research topics for your dissertation or long essay, consider these:

How are feminism and fashion interwoven?
What does cyber feminism imply, and how has it boxed feminism into a social space?
How do feminist groups achieve financial security to educate the public?
Critically analyze the activities of any Feminist NGO of your choice
What is understood by the Bitch Manifesto, and what has been its significance?
Give examples of the modern feminist manifesto, and what have they included in the feminist ideology?
How is the feminist idea reflected in five literary texts of your choice
Examine the distinct evolution of pro-feminists and anti-feminist movements
What are the effects of feminism on teenagers, and how has it enhanced radicalism?
What is the negative influence of feminism on teenagers, and how has it promoted hatred for men?
Give a step by step guide on how to adopt feminism
Base your writings on a satire about how to become a feminist
Examine the role of celebrities in the feminist movement
Would you say feminism is out for the blood of men?
Following the imprisonment of R Kelly, what is the public stance on women’s power against celebrities in the face of the law?
Speak to a self-branded feminist and engage their ideas of feminism
Examine the controversial issues of feminism and give answers to questions that remain unanswered
Analyze the books or Mona Elhatawy and exhaust her ideas of feminism in comparison with any black Feminist’s books
Would you say black feminism is another movement?
Examine how women from different countries in the world have carved up their understanding of feminism
Examine how being a gentleman could be insulting to feminists
What are the stereotypes against feminism I’m Islamic countries?
What are the excesses of three feminist NGOs in educating people in underdeveloped areas about women’s rights?
What are the challenges of radical feminism?
Distinguish the responsibilities of radical feminists, anarchists, and liberal feminists
Does been anti-racist equals being a feminist?
Does feminism instill a matriarchal society?
Examine Ghana feminism; a country where high regard to paid to the matriarch before further western civilization
Examine the theories of Chimamanda Adichie’s “We Should All be Feminists” and the possibilities of men being Feminists
Drawing from empirical evidence, rationalize if matriarchal societies would be better than patriarchal societies
Drawing from any literary text of your choice, compare and contrast the methods used in equipping women with feminist ideologies
Examine what provocative feminism means
Should unisex bathrooms in bars, restaurants, and hotels be advisable in a rife world with sexual violence?
Examine the prejudice transgender women are faced with and how the feminist movement can be a form of stereotypical liberation
Explore the distinct types of feminism and how hairstyles are also a form of political statements.

Controversial Feminist Topics

The very nature of feminism should not be controversial, but it is. To examine a few advanced feminism topics for your essay or research paper, consider:

An examination of Black Feminism
The education of men and women into feminism
The philosophy of men and women duties in the traditional society
The history of feminism in Europe
The gender gap in African politics
The gender gap in American politics
The gender gap under the Trump administration
The sexism prevalent in Asian countries
The challenges of men fighting for the feminist ideology
The cognitive significance of gender equality
The Examination of misogyny and how it affects the promotion of feminist literature and exposures
The role of bullying in limiting female and girl self-belief
An exploration of the distribution of toys as a means of achieving teenage sex education
The subject of raising boys and girls differently
Why should there be all-boys schools and all-girls schools?
How some women oppress other women with feminist ideologies
How can make feminism help in achieving total equality
Is the feminist fight a women’s fight or a global fight?
Is the feminist movement a fight against patriarchy or a war against men?
The anarchists are extreme and may also be branded terrorists, although they’re on the theoretical level now: discuss
Examine women’s suffrage as a significant and fundamental part of feminism
Examine why there are limited women in both politics and business
The controversy on “what a man can do, a woman can do better” has raised the suggestion of women being guards and bouncers; what has been the response to this?
What are the differences between the waves of feminism as well as the results produced by each stage?
Is feminism needed the most in an aspect of society than another?
How does feminism preach the incorporation of men’s traditional responsibilities into women’s?
Examine the activities of feminists in advocating against harassment and male-work domination in America
Is total global gender equality possible in two generations to come?
Examine the possibility of splitting up the society through feminism
Why should everyone adopt feminism?

Feminist Argumentative Essay Topics

Feminist argumentative essays go back and forth at reasonable lengths. You can also consider these arguments for your debate:

Feminism is another politics
Women’s suffrage didn’t liberate women
Girls and boys should be taught sex education differently
The feminist movement also fuels women ego
Girls and boys should be raised differently
Modern men have no work fighting for women’s right
Men can be isolated in empowerment education
Sexism doesn’t contribute to gender discrimination
Feminism is a fight against men, not patriarchy
Feminism should also be a fight against women brainwashed by the patriarchy
Domestic violence is a terror on the feminist movement
Feminism enhance women hatred for men
Mixed schools can also promote feminism
It’s the teachers’ role to enhance feminism, not parents
NGOs have limited control over feminist education
Feminist critics are apologetics
Feminism is mere psychology
Religion is right; liberal morality is wrong
Religion is an excuse for women violence
Female Genital Mutilation is nothing but a culture
Men’s domination was a myth until the feminist movement fueled it
Society’s definition of beauty should define women
Should women still be subject to men after achieving gender equality?
Should women still obey their husbands in their marriages?
Marriage is the limitation to women rights

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Feminism Takes Form in Essays, Questions and Manifestos

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By Moira Weigel

June 7, 2017

DEAR IJEAWELE, Or, A Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions By Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie 63 pp. Knopf, $15.

When historians write about the mainstreaming of feminism in the early 21st century, they may well begin with “We Should All Be Feminists,” a TED talk Adichie gave in 2012. One year later, Beyoncé sampled it in “Flawless,” and by the time Adichie published a version as a short book, countless listeners knew her words by heart.

Her new book is another brief manifesto, and it is easy to imagine her speaking it in the same contralto. “A couple of years ago,” Adichie begins, “a friend of mine from childhood, who’d grown into a brilliant, strong, kind woman, asked me to tell her how to raise her baby girl a feminist.” Adichie decided to write her a letter. “This book is a version of that letter, with some details changed.”

Each suggestion starts with an imperative. Some are concrete: “Teach Chizalum to read.” Others are more abstract: “Teach her that the idea of ‘gender roles’ is absolute nonsense.” Embedding us in the intimacy of a friendship, the prose makes reflections that might seem common sense in the abstract feel like discoveries. The form of the letter also enacts what Adichie says is her one fixed belief: “Feminism is always contextual.”

WHY I AM NOT A FEMINIST A Feminist Manifesto By Jessa Crispin 151 pp. Melville House, paper, $15.99.

Crispin opens her manifesto with a tacit rebuke to Adichie: “We know that we should all be calling ourselves feminists now. What’s less clear is what exactly that accomplishes.” The core chapters present variations on an important argument that the feminist left and the feminist internet have been making for some time: namely, that feminism has been co-opted by capitalism, telling individual women to lean in and work harder, rather than challenging a system built for men.

Crispin occasionally refers to this “system,” but she never mentions the specific policies that undermined the radical visions of the 1960s and ’70s. Ultimately, her book founders on this inconsistency. It criticizes contemporary feminism for being merely individualistic. Yet because it lacks an analysis of why feminism might have become a lifestyle brand, Crispin can only assign individual blame: “It’s nice in there. It feels good. You get things.” The prose is punchy, but the explanation seems incomplete, and berating women into wanting less seems like a dubious political strategy. Wouldn’t a better movement show that all women deserve more?

THE H-SPOT The Feminist Pursuit of Happiness By Jill Filipovic 320 pp. Nation Books, $27.

Filipovic identifies some of the same problems as Crispin, but her book moves in the opposite direction. Rather than advocate an ascetic renunciation of faux-feminist consumerism, Filipovic argues that women should pursue their right to happiness. She was a lawyer before she became a journalist, and she frames happiness as a political question — one that goes back to the Declaration of Independence itself.

Alternating sections on history and policy with memoir and reportage, Filipovic alludes to the competing classical traditions of hedonia and eudaimonia , as well as more everyday terms like “pleasure” and “satisfaction,” but she never settles on a clear definition of happiness. The result can feel diffuse, and her attempts to pivot back to her central topic are often slightly abrupt. Still, she shows her subject is crucial, and the political changes needed to close the “happiness gap” between American men and women would be revolutionary. If, as the old adage has it, no one is free until we are all free, Filipovic shows the same may be true of being happy.

THE MOTHER OF ALL QUESTIONS By Rebecca Solnit Illustrated by Paz de la Calzada 176 pp. Haymarket, paper, $14.95.

Books have long lead times, and so for another few months at least, we’ll be reading books meant to be read under a Hillary Clinton presidency. Crispin directly criticizes Clinton; by contrast, Solnit’s new collection sounds like practice scales for a celebration that never arrived.

Solnit explores a range of topics relevant to contemporary feminism, including the phenomenon that propelled Solnit herself to internet stardom when she wrote an essay describing (but not naming) it: “mansplaining.” The introduction proposes, with the playfulness and precision of aphorism, that “there is no good answer to how to be a woman; the art may instead lie in how we refuse the question.”

Read in order, the essays chart a progression from a condition of voicelessness to a feminist outpouring. She concludes with an unexpected and dazzling art essay — an account of watching and rewatching the 1956 film “Giant.” Over time, Solnit finds all her themes in it. “This is a film about a man who found he couldn’t control anything at all, and he’s not Job and this is not a jeremiad,” she writes on the text’s final page. “This, says ‘Giant,’ is the future; get used to it.” If only it had been.

DOUBLE BIND Women on Ambition Edited by Robin Romm 303 pp. Liveright, $27.95.

Romm recounts how difficult it was to get contributors to address her subject. Women she contacted would respond enthusiastically, but then they began to waver: “I’m not sure I’m ambitious.” The essays that Romm eventually assembled exemplify the many forms that female aspirations take. Their authors are actors, butchers, playwrights, dog sled racers, psychiatrists and full-time mothers, as well as writers. The results may be uneven, but ambivalence remains a constant.

So, too, does the insight that ambition is relational. Roxane Gay writes movingly of a woman who came to one of her readings: “May I be worthy,” Gay writes, “of the work you have done to make my life possible.” Claire Vaye Watkins recalls a young woman in her hometown: “I find myself transfixed by Jo’s ambition.” The subject of motherhood arises again and again, as a practical concern and as a source of identity. Daughterhood does, too. The playwright Sarah Ruhl tells her mother that she wants to free her: “I want, before you die, for you to feel at rest, to feel you’ve accomplished enough.” If we believe the evidence of the book, “enough” might be the farthest reach.

Moira Weigel is the author of “Labor of Love: The Invention of Dating.”

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50 winning feminist topics for essays.

There is no denying it; feminism is an enthralling subject. Millions around the globe support feminism while an equal number express concerns about it.

Feminism is a political, historical, and social movement of ladies who fearlessly spoke for social, economic, political, and personal equality between men and women.

Because of feminism, women can enjoy suffrage rights, study in schools, go outside without being accompanied by men, work, and wear what they want.

Feminism has also become a popular area for most lecturers. When they give their students assignments, the first step, which involve selecting feminist paper topics is always a challenge. In this post, we are going to help you address the challenge by listing the top 50 feminist topics for you.

Popular Feminism Essay Titles

Notably, the subject of feminism is pretty broad. To get you started on this list of feminist topics for essays, here are some ideas on general questions.

Domestic violence and feminism.
Feminism and activism in the 21 st century.
What is the role of women in the current world of business?
How did feminism contribute to the contemporary lifestyle?
How has the internet affected the publicity of feminism?
Defining the differences between gender and sex.
Mass media defining beauty standards: What are the pros and cons on women?
Feminism is hatred to men: Is this a myth or reality?
What are the main principles of feminism?
The contrast of classic and modern feminism.
Deconstructing the myths about feminists and feminism.
What methods are used by feminists to fight for their ideas?
Human rights and feminism.
Feminist critics: Are they right in any way?
Women rights violation in the contemporary world.
Criminality and feminism: Are they related?
What obstacles did feminists face in the contemporary world?

Controversial Feminism Paper Topics

To craft an excellent research paper on feminism, you need to have an inherent understanding of the topic. But feminism has been changing over time and attracting major controversies. So, if you want to focus on the controversial side of feminism, here are some research paper topics on feminism to consider.

Sexual education on children: What are the pros and cons?

Men and women’s non-traditional roles: Does feminism encourage it?

What are the causes of gender imbalance in Asia?

What are the best coping strategies for gender inequality?

Misogyny: What are the causes and ways to overcome it?

Kids’ toys for boys and girls: Should boys and girls be raised differently?

Analyzing feminism in Islamic countries?

Where do we need feminism most?
What are the best strategies for achieving gender equality?
Why do men lead in businesses and politics even after decades of active feminism?
Analyze the role of feminism in the declining cases of domestic violence.

The Most Interesting Feminist Research Taper Topics

Have you been wondering about the most thrilling feminist topics to write about? As feminism develops, it generates loads of issues, and you can focus on them to create winning papers. Here are some interesting feminist research paper topics to work on.

The history of fashion and feminism.
What are the impacts of feminism on education?
Are gender stereotypes still relevant today?
What components of women inequality are evident in the modern workplace?
What are the main impacts of feminism on teenagers?
What are the steps of becoming a feminist today?
A closer look at top feminist personalities of the 21 st century.
Feminism vs anti-feminism.
Can feminism impact women negatively?
Is it possible to make the world a better place for women?
Sexuality and politics.
Feminism in the developing world.

Powerful Feminist Topics for Research Paper

Whether you want to focus on feminism and gender, workplace, or traditional male-female duties, powerful topics will always make your paper stand out. Here are some of the powerful ideas for the best research paper on feminism.

Analyzing gender violence cases in the US and UK.
What issues are faced by modern Feminists today?
A closer look at the advantages of investing in girl education.
Comparing the career opportunities for men and women in the US military.
How is feminism presented in literature?
Rethinking the society without gender stereotypes.
What is the influence of feminism on the modern media?
Analyzing the controversial issues of feminism.
Men earn more than women: Can you research to confirm or deny this assertion.
Feminism and transgender theory.

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Feminist Philosophy

This entry provides an introduction to the feminist philosophy section of the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (SEP). Overseen by a board of feminist philosophers, this section primarily takes up feminist philosophy of the twentieth and twenty-first century. It has three subsections of entries (as can be seen in Table of Contents under “feminist philosophy”): (1) approaches to feminist philosophy, (2) feminist interventions in philosophy, and (3) feminist philosophical topics. By “approaches to feminist philosophy” we mean the main philosophical approaches such as analytic, continental, psychoanalytic, pragmatist, and various intersections. We see these as methodologies that can be fruitfully employed to engage philosophically isssues of feminist concern. The second group of entries, feminist interventions in philosophy, includes entries on how feminist philosophers have intervened in and begun to transform traditional philosopical areas such as aesthetics, ethics, the history of philosophy, metaphysics, and political philosophy. Entries in the third group, feminist philosophical topics, take up concepts and matters that traditional philosophy has either overlooked or undertheorized, including autonomy, the body, objectification, sex and gender, and reproduction. In short, this third group of entries shows how feminist philosophers have rendered philosophical previously un-problematized topics, such as the body, class and work, disability, the family, human trafficking, reproduction, the self, sex work, and sexuality. Entries in this third group also show how a particularly feminist lens refashions issues of globalization, human rights, popular culture, race and racism, and science. Following a brief overview of feminism as a political and intellectual movement, we provide an overview of these three parts of the feminist section of the SEP.

In addition to the feminist philosophy section of the SEP, there are also a number of entries on women in the history of philosophy, for example, on Mary Wollstonecraft , Mary Astell , Jane Addams , Rosa Luxemburg , Simone de Beauvoir , Iris Murdoch , and others. Additionally, dozens of other entries throughout the SEP discuss facets of feminist philosophy, including, to name just a handful, the entries on global justice , respect , contemporary Africana philosophy , multiculturalism , privacy , and Latinx philosophy .

1. Introduction
2. What is Feminism?

3. Approaches to Feminism

4. interventions in philosophy, 5. topics in feminism, other internet resources, related entries, 1. what is feminism.

Broadly understood, feminism is both an intellectual commitment and a political movement that seeks an end to gender-based oppression. Motivated by the quest for social justice, feminist inquiry provides a wide range of perspectives on cultural, economic, social, and political phenomena. It identifies and evaluates the many ways that some norms have been used to exclude, marginalize, and oppress people on the basis of gender, as well as how gendered identities have been shaped to conform and uphold the norms of a patriarchal society. In so doing, it tries to understand the roots of a system that has been prevalent in nearly all known places and times. It also explores what a just society would look like.

While less frequently than one would think, throughout history women have rebelled against repressive structures. It was not until the late 19th century that feminism coalesced into a movement. In the mid-1800s the term feminism was still used to refer to “the qualities of females.” After the First International Women’s Conference in Paris in 1892, the term feminism , following the French term féministe , was used regularly in English for a belief in and advocacy of equal rights for women based on the idea of the equality of the sexes. Hence the term feminism in English is rooted in the mobilization for women’s suffrage in Europe and the United States during the late nineteenth and early twentieth century.

As a term, feminism has many different uses and its meanings are often contested. For example, some writers use the term to refer to a historically specific political movement in the United States and Europe; other writers use it to refer to the belief that there are injustices against women, though there is no consensus on the exact list of these injustices. Some have found it useful, if controversial, to think of the women’s movement in the United States as occurring in “waves.” The wave model has some virtues, but it also tends to overlook a great deal of heterogeneity of thought in any given moment. It works well enough for what is thought of as the first wave, identified as the period from the mid-nineteenth century until the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment in 1920. This first wave focused on the struggle to achieve basic political rights. According to the wave model, feminism in the United States waned after women achieved voting rights, to be revived in the late 1960s and early 1970s as “second wave” feminism. In this second wave, the model holds, feminists pushed beyond the early quest for political rights to fight for greater equality across the board, e.g., in education, the workplace, and at home. But in actuality, many feminists during this time were focusing on more than equality. Like the first wave, many of the leaders of the second wave of feminism were white women seeking equal rights. But also, as in the first wave, other voices emerged, broadening the movement. The second wave came to include women of different identities, ethnicities, and orientations. In addition to calling for equal political rights, they called for greater equality across the board, e.g., in education, the workplace, and at home. Transformations of feminism beginning in the 1990s have resulted in a “third wave.” Third Wave feminists often critique earlier feminists for their lack of attention to the differences among women due to class, ethnicity, nationality, religion, and race (see Breines 2002; Springer 2002), and emphasize “identity” as a site of gender struggle. (For more information on the “wave” model and each of the “waves,” see the subsection on Waves of Feminism in the Other Internet Resources section.)

Some feminist scholars object to identifying feminism in terms of waves on the grounds that doing so eclipses differences within each wave as well as continuity of feminist resistance to male domination throughout history and across cultures. In other words, feminism is not confined to a few (white) women in the West over the past century or so. Moreover, even considering only relatively recent efforts to resist male domination in Europe and the United States, the emphasis on “First” and “Second” Wave feminism ignores the ongoing resistance to male domination between the 1920s and 1960s and the resistance outside mainstream politics, particularly by women of color and working class women (Cott 1987). The wave model also cannot account for theoretical work taking place between waves, for example, of the tremendous work done by Simone de Beauvoir in her groundbreaking book of 1949, The Second Sex . Because of these many limitiations of the wave model, the feminist section of the SEP makes little use of it.

Although the term feminism has a history in English linked with women’s activism from the late nineteenth century to the present, it is useful to distinguish feminist ideas or beliefs from feminist political movements, for even in periods where there has been no significant political activism around women’s subordination, individuals have been concerned with and theorized about justice for women. So, for example, it makes sense to ask whether Plato was a feminist, given his view that some women should be trained to rule ( Republic , Book V), even though he was an exception in his historical context (see, e.g., Tuana 1994). Overall, feminism can be understood as not only a social movement but also a set of beliefs, concepts, and theories that seek to analyze, diagnose, and identify solutions to the manifold injustices that people suffer on account of gendered norms. Broadly understood, this is feminism as a intellectual movement. The SEP feminist section aims to chronicle and explain the various theories, concepts, and philosophical tools that feminist philosophers have developed.

Much has been made of the methodological differences or “divides” between various philosophical traditions, namely analytic and continental, but also pragmatist and psychoanalytic. But throughout these entries the reader will find a continuity of descriptions on the meaning of feminism, even with the heterogeneity of the philosophical methodologies these entries’ authors employ. The entry on feminist ethics, written by the analytic feminist philosopher Kathryn Norlock, describes that field in a way that is agreeable to almost any feminist philosopher:

Feminist Ethics aims “to understand, criticize, and correct” how gender operates within our moral beliefs and practices (Lindemann 2005, 11) and our methodological approaches to ethical theory. More specifically, feminist ethicists aim to understand, criticize, and correct: (1) the binary view of gender, (2) the privilege historically available to men, and/or (3) the ways that views about gender maintain oppressive social orders or practices that harm others, especially girls and women who historically have been subordinated along gendered dimensions including sexuality and gender-identity. (entry on feminist ethics , introduction)

Likewise, the entry on feminist perspectives on power, written by the critical theorist Amy Allen, proposes the idea that “although any general definition of feminism would no doubt be controversial, it seems undeniable that much work in feminist theory is devoted to the tasks of critiquing gender subordination, analyzing its intersections with other forms of subordination such as racism, heterosexism, and class oppression, and envisioning prospects for individual and collective resistance and emancipation.” (entry on feminist perspectives on power , introduction)

Even with general overall shared commitments about the meaning of feminism, numerous differences among feminist philosophers do show up in the array of arenas outlined in this section of the SEP. Some of these may be due to different methodological approaches (whether, for example, continental or analytic), but others show up because of different ontological commitments (such as the category of woman) and beliefs about what kind of political and moral remedies should be sought.

Nonetheless, over the decades there has been a lot of frustration, perhaps because as philosophers these feminist theorists often want to get to the (one) truth of the matter, for example, what is “a woman”? What is freedom? What is autonomy? Yet so far any search for a unified or unifying theory of feminism has yet to bear fruit. Consider the seemingly unproblematic claim that feminism is a commitment to women’s equal rights. Perhaps it is, but framing it this way comes with its own presuppositions. The first is that feminism is committed to a liberal model of politics. Although most feminists would probably agree that there is some sense of rights on which achieving equal rights for women is a necessary condition for feminism to succeed, most would also argue that this would not be sufficient. This is because women’s oppression under male domination rarely if ever consists solely in depriving women of political and legal rights, but also extends into the structure of our society and the content of our culture, and the workings of languages and how they shape perceptions and permeate our consciousness (e.g., Bartky 1988, Postl 2017). A second presupposition is that there is some clear and universal definition of what it is to be a woman. The SEP entry, Feminist Perspectives on Sex and Gender, gives a rich overview of what is problematic about this supposition. Any attempt to define “woman,” according to Judith Butler, is also an attempt to exclude some from that category. More recently this debate shows up in discussions about nonbinary and trans people. Previously, it showed up in suppositions that the typical subject of feminism was white and middle class. While feminism would be easier to theorize if it were clear who its subject is, any attempt to define it runs into trouble. (see the entry on feminist perspectives on trans issues )

Is there any point, then, in asking what feminism is? Rather than looking for a unified field theory of feminism, perhaps feminism can be identified as an engagement precisely where there are contradictions over questions of freedom, identity, and agency. These contradictions are not just logical ones but also historical ones. For example, the question of women’s political equality to men arose precisely at those historical moments when “all men” came to be deemed as equal (McAfee 2021). During the French Revolution, the French settled the matter by saying that “men” meant men and not women. In the American Revolution, “men” was not so clearly gendered but it was certainly raced as white. Equality becomes an issue precisely where there is a disjunct between what seems to be the case normatively and what is happening empirically. Questions about the category of women arise in the context of political diversity and biological malleability, where peoples of many cultures mingle and sexual or gender identity can be altered. Feminist debates over pornography and sex work become heated in the context, respectively, of a free press and economic precarity. In short, feminist inquiry arises in the context of disagreement and contradiction and it produces new ways of approaching issues and asking questions. Thus, that it lacks a cohesive set of answers may be beside the point.

In sum, “feminism” is an umbrella term for a range of views about injustices against women. There are disagreements among feminists about the nature of justice in general and the nature of sexism, in particular, the specific kinds of injustice or wrong women suffer; and the group who should be the primary focus of feminist efforts. Nonetheless, feminists are committed to bringing about social change to end injustice against women, in particular, injustice against women as women.

2. Feminist Scholarship

Contemporary feminist philosophical scholarship emerged in the 1970s as more women began careers in higher education, including philosophy. As they did so, they also began taking up matters from their own experience for philosophical scrutiny. These scholars were influenced both by feminist movements in their midst as well as by their philosophical training, which generally was anything but feminist. Until about the 1990s, one could not go to graduate school to study “feminist philosophy.” While students and scholars could turn to the writings of Simone de Beauvoir or look back historically to the writings of “first wave” feminists like Mary Wollstonecraft, most of the philosophers writing in the first decades of the emergence of feminist philosophy brought their particular training and expertise to bear on analyzing issues raised by the women’s liberation movement of the 1960s and 1970s, such as abortion, affirmative action, equal opportunity, the institutions of marriage, sexuality, and love. Additionally, feminist philosophical scholarship increasingly focused on the very same types of issues taken up by mainstream philosophers.

Feminist philosophical scholarship begins with attention to women, and to limitations on their roles and locations and the ways they were valued or devalued. It developed further by considering gender in less binary terms as well as recognizing that gender is only one fact of the complex interactions among class, race, ability, and sexuality. Feminist scholarship asks how attention to these might transform feminist philosophy itself. From here we move to the realm of the symbolic and how it constructs “the feminine.” How is the feminine instantiated and constructed within the texts of philosophy? What role does it play in forming, either through its absence or its presence, the central concepts of philosophy?

Feminist philosophers brought their philosophical tools to bear on these questions. Since these feminist philosophers employed the philosophical tools they knew best and found most promising, feminist philosophy began to emerge from all the traditions of Western philosophy prevalent at the end of the twentieth century, including analytic, continental, and classical American philosophy. While the thematic focus of their work was often influenced by the topics and questions highlighted by these traditions, the larger shared feminist concerns often create as much commonality as difference. Hence, a given question could be taken up and addressed from an array of views in ways that are sometimes divergent and at other times complementary.

As an historically male discipline, many of the leading philosophical journals and societies did not recognize much feminist scholarship as properly philosophical. In response, feminist scholars began founding their own journals and organizations. The first leading feminist journal, Hypatia: A Journal of Feminist Philosophy , was founded in 1982 as a venue for feminist philosophical scholarship. It embraced a diversity of methodological approaches in feminist philosophy, publishing work from a variety of traditions. Feminist scholarship in each of these traditions is also advanced and supported though scholarly exchange at various professional societies, including the Society for Women in Philosophy, founded in the United States in 1972. Additionally, the Society for Analytical Feminism, founded in 1991, promotes the study of issues in feminism by methods broadly construed as analytic, to examine the use of analytic methods as applied to feminist issues, and to provide a means by which those interested in analytical feminism can meet and exchange ideas. The journal philo SOPHIA was established in 2005 to promote continental feminist scholarly and pedagogical development. The Society for the Study of Women Philosophers was established in 1987 to promote the study of the contributions of women to the history of philosophy. Similar organizations and journals on many continents continue to advance scholarship in feminist philosophy. Often a feminist philosophical society will publish its own journal, just as the International Network on Feminist Approaches to Bioethics publishes the International Journal of Feminist Approaches to Bioethics. While the discipline of philosophy in the West remains predominantly white and male, feminist journals and scholarship continues to proliferate.

Important feminist philosophical work has emerged from all the current major philosophical traditions, including analytic philosophy, continental philosophy, and American pragmatist philosophy. It is also emerging from other new areas of inquiry, such as Latin American thought, which arises out of the context of colonialism. Entries in the SEP under the heading “approaches to feminism” discuss the impact of these traditions and constellations of thought on feminist scholarship. The subsection also addresses how some work, such as psychoanalytic feminism, bridges two or more traditions. The editors of the feminist section of the SEP see these different traditions as a rich array of methodologies rather than “continental divides.” The array reflects a variety of beliefs about what kinds of philosophy are both fruitful and meaningful. The different methodologies bring their own ways of asking and answering questions, along with constructive and critical dialogue with mainstream philosophical views and methods and new topics of inquiry.

As the SEP continues to grow, we anticipate that this subsection on approaches to feminism will expand to address other traditions, including Black feminism. But for now, here are links to entries in this subsection:

analytic feminism
continental feminism
Latin American feminism
pragmatist feminism
intersections between pragmatist and continental feminism
intersections between analytic and continental feminism
psychoanalytic feminism

Though not included along with these in the table of contents, another relevant approach can be found in the entry on gender in Confucian philosophy .

All these approaches share a set of feminist commitments and an overarching criticism of institutions, presuppositions, and practices that have historically favored men over women. They also share a general critique of claims to universality and objectivity that ignore male-dominated theories’ own particularity and specificity. Feminist philosophies of almost any philosophical orientation will be much more perspectival, historical, contextual, and focused on lived experience than their non-feminist counterparts. Unlike mainstream philosophers who can seriously consider the philosophical conundrums of brains in a vat, feminist philosophers always start by seeing people as embodied. Feminists have also argued for the reconfiguration of accepted structures and problems of philosophy. For example, feminists have not only rejected the privileging of epistemological concerns over moral and political concerns common to much of philosophy, they have argued that these two areas of concern are inextricably intertwined. Part 2 of the entry on analytic feminism lays out other areas of commonality across these various approaches. For one, feminist philosophers generally agree that philosophy is a powerful tool for, as Ann Garry states in that entry, “understanding ourselves and our relations to each other, to our communities, and to the state; to appreciate the extent to which we are counted as knowers and moral agents; [and] to uncover the assumptions and methods of various bodies of knowledge.” As such, philosophy is also a powerful tool for understanding how gender itself has been constructed, that is, why and to whose benefit it is to construct some people as lesser and less capable than others. Along these lines, feminist philosophers are keenly attuned to male biases at work in the history of philosophy, such as those regarding “the nature of woman” and supposed value neutrality, which on inspection is hardly neutral at all. Claims to universality, feminist philosophers have found, are usually made from a very specific and particular point of view, contrary to their manifest assertions. Another orientation that feminist philosophers generally share is a commitment to normativity and social change; they are never content to analyze things just as they are but instead look for ways to overcome oppressive practices and institutions.

Such questioning of the problems of mainstream approaches to philosophy has often led to feminists using methods and approaches from more than one philosophical tradition. As Ann Garry notes in Part 3 of the entry on analytic feminism (2017), it is not uncommon to find analytic feminists drawing on non-analytic figures such as Beauvoir, Foucault, or Butler; and because of their motivation to communicate with other feminists, they are more motivated than other philosophers “to search for methodological cross-fertilization.” Moreover, feminist philosophers are generally inclined to incorporate the perspectives of all those who have been oppressed.

Even with their common and overlapping orientations, the differences between the various philosophical approaches to feminism are significant, especially in terms of styles of writing, influences, and overall expectations about what philosophy can and should achieve. Analytic feminist philosophy tends to value analysis and argumentation, though anyone trained in philosophy does so as well. Continental feminist theory puts more emphasis on interpretation and deconstruction, and pragmatist feminism values lived experience and exploration. Coming out of a post-Hegelian tradition, both continental and pragmatist philosophers usually suspect that “truth,” whatever that is, emerges and develops historically. They tend to share with Nietzsche the view that truth claims often mask power plays. Yet where continental and pragmatist philosophers are generally wary about notions of truth, analytic feminists tend to argue that the way to “counter sexism and androcentrism is through forming a clear conception of and pursuing truth, logical consistency, objectivity, rationality, justice, and the good.” (Cudd 1996: 20).

These differences and intersections play out in the ways that various feminists engage topics of common concern. One key area of intersection, noted by Georgia Warnke, is the appropriation of psychoanalytic theory, with Anglo-American feminists generally adopting object-relations theories and continental feminists drawing more on Lacan and contemporary French psychoanalytic theory, though this is already beginning to change as it becomes clearer that continental psychoanalytic theory is also interested, via Julia Kristeva and Melanie Klein, in object-relations theory (see the entry on intersections between analytic and continental feminism ). The importance of psychoanalytic approaches is also underscored in Shannon Sullivan’s entry on intersections between pragmatist and continental feminism . Given the importance of psychoanalytic feminism for all three traditions, a separate essay on this approach to feminist theory is included in this section.

No topic is more central to feminist philosophy than sex and gender, but even here many variations on the theme flourish. Where analytic feminism, with its critique of essentialism, holds the sex/gender distinction practically as an article of faith (see the entry on feminist perspectives on sex and gender and Chanter 2009), continental feminists tend to suspect either (1) that even the supposedly purely biological category of sex is itself socially constituted (Butler 1990 and 1993) or (2) that sexual difference itself needs to be valued and theorized (see especially Cixous 1976 and Irigaray 1974).

Despite the variety of different approaches, styles, societies, and orientations, feminist philosophers’ commonalities are greater than their differences. Many will borrow freely from each other and find that other orientations contribute to their own work. Even the differences over sex and gender add to a larger conversation about the impact of culture and society on bodies, experience, and pathways for change.

Philosophers who are feminists have, in their work in traditional fields of study, begun to change those very fields. The Encyclopedia includes a range of entries on how feminist philosophies have intervened in conventional areas of philosophical research, areas in which philosophers often tend to argue that they are operating from a neutral, universal point of view (notable exceptions are pragmatism, poststructuralism, and some phenomenology). Historically, philosophy has claimed that the norm is universal and the feminine is abnormal, that universality is not gendered, but that all things feminine are not universal. Not surprisingly, feminists have pointed out how in fact these supposed neutral enterprises are in fact quite gendered, namely, male gendered. For example, feminists working on environmental philosophy have uncovered how practices disproportionately affect women, children, and people of color. Liberal feminism has shown how supposed universal truths of liberalism are in fact quite biased and particular. Feminist epistemologists have called out “epistemologies of ignorance” that traffic in not knowing. Across the board, in fact, feminist philosophers are uncovering male biases and also pointing to the value of particularity, in general rejecting universality as a norm or goal.

Entries under the heading of feminist interventions include the following:

feminist aesthetics
feminist bioethics
feminist environmental philosophy
feminist epistemology and philosophy of science
feminist ethics
feminist history of philosophy
liberal feminism
feminist metaphysics
feminist moral psychology
feminist philosophy of biology
feminist philosophy of language
feminist philosophy of law
feminist philosophy of religion
feminist political philosophy
feminist social epistemology

Feminist critical attention to philosophical practices has revealed the inadequacy of dominant philosophical tropes as well as the need to turn philosophical attention to things that had previously gone unattended. For example, feminists working from the perspective of women’s lives have been influential in bringing philosophical attention to the phenomenon of care and care-giving (Ruddick 1989; Held 1995, 2007; Hamington 2006), dependency (Kittay 1999), disability (Wilkerson 2002; Carlson 2009), women’s labor (Waring 1999; Delphy 1984; Harley 2007), the devaluation of women’s testimonies (see the entry on feminist epistemology and philosophy of science ), and scientific bias and objectivity (Longino 1990). In doing so they have revealed weaknesses in existing ethical, political, and epistemological theories. More generally, feminists have called for inquiry into what are typically considered “private” practices and personal concerns, such as the family, sexuality, and the body, in order to balance what has seemed to be a masculine pre-occupation with “public” and impersonal matters. Philosophy presupposes interpretive tools for understanding our everyday lives; feminist work in articulating additional dimensions of experience and aspects of our practices is invaluable in demonstrating the bias in existing tools, and in the search for better ones.

Feminist explanations of sexism and accounts of sexist practices also raise issues that are within the domain of traditional philosophical inquiry. For example, in thinking about care, feminists have asked questions about the nature of the self; in thinking about gender, feminists have asked what the relationship is between the natural and the social; in thinking about sexism in science, feminists have asked what should count as knowledge. In some such cases, mainstream philosophical accounts provide useful tools; in other cases, alternative proposals have seemed more promising.

In the sub-entries included under “feminism (topics)” in the Table of Contents to this Encyclopedia , authors survey some of the recent feminist work on a topic, highlighting the issues that are of particular relevance to philosophy. These entries are:

feminist perspectives on argumentation
feminist perspectives on autonomy
feminist perspectives on class and work
feminist perspectives on disability
feminist perspectives on globalization
feminist perspectives on objectification
feminist perspectives on power
feminist perspectives on rape
feminist perspectives on reproduction and the family
feminist perspectives on science
feminist perspectives on sex and gender
feminist perspectives on sex markets
feminist perspectives on the body
feminist perspectives on the self
feminist perspectives on trans issues

See also the entries in the Related Entries section below.

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How to cite this entry . Preview the PDF version of this entry at the Friends of the SEP Society . Look up topics and thinkers related to this entry at the Internet Philosophy Ontology Project (InPhO). Enhanced bibliography for this entry at PhilPapers , with links to its database.

Resources listed below have been chosen to provide only a springboard into the huge amount of feminist material available on the web. The emphasis here is on general resources useful for doing research in feminist philosophy or interdisciplinary feminist theory, e.g., the links connect to bibliographies and meta-sites, and resources concerning inclusion, exclusion, and feminist diversity. The list is incomplete and will be regularly revised and expanded. Further resources on topics in feminism such as popular culture, reproductive rights, sex work, are available within each sub-entry on that topic.

Feminist Theory Website
Women and Social Movements in the US: 1600–2000
The Path of the Women’s Rights Movement: Detailed Timeline 1848–1997
Documents from the Women’s Liberation Movement (Duke Univ. Archives)
Documenting Difference: An Illustrated & Annotated Anthology of Documents on Race, Class, Gender & Ethnicity in the United States
Race, Gender, and Affirmative Action Resource Page

Associations

The Society for Women in Philosophy (SWIP)
Association for Feminist Ethics and Social Theory (FEAST)
Feminist Epistemology, Metaphysics, Methodology, and Science Studies (FEMMSS) http://femmss.org/
Feminist Theory Website (Introduction)
philoSOPHIA: A Feminist Society
Society for Analytical Feminism
The Society for the Study of Women Philosophers

“Waves” of Feminism

“Waves of Feminism” by Jo Freeman (1996).
Winning the Vote (Western NY Suffragists).
Amendments to the US Constitution: 13th, 14th, 15th, 18th, 19th, 21st
NOW’s 1966 Statement of Purpose
“The Women’s Liberation Movement: Its Origins, Structures, and Ideals” by Jo Freeman (1971).

Feminism and Class

Marxist, socialist, and materialist feminisms.

WMST-L discussion of how to define “Marxist feminism” Aug 1994)
Marxist/Materialist Feminism (Feminist Theory Website)
A Marxist Feminist Critique

Feminist Economics

Feminist Economics (Feminist Theory Website)
International Association for Feminist Economics
International Center for Research on Women

Women and Labor

Rights for Working Women
United States Department of Labor
United States Department of Labor: Audience – Women , a shortcut to information and services the Department of Labor (DOL) offers for women.

Feminism and Disability

Center for Research on Women with Disabilities (CROWD)

Feminism, Human Rights, Global Feminism, and Human Trafficking

Global Feminism (Feminist Majority Foundation)
NOW and Global Feminism
Sisterhood is Global Institute
Polaris Project
Not For Sale Campaign
Human Trafficking Search website

Feminism and Race/Ethnicity

General resources.

Office of the Gender and Women’s Studies Librarian (U. Wisconsin)
Women of Color Web Sites (WMST-L)

African-American/Black Feminisms and Womanism

Feminism and Black Womanist Identity Bibliography (Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Library)
Black Feminist/Womanist Works: A Beginning List (WMST-L)

Asian-American and Asian Feminisms

American Women’s History: A Research Guide (Asian-American Women)
South Asian Women’s Studies Bibliography (UC Berkeley)
Journal of South Asia Women’s Studies

Chicana/Latina Feminisms

Chicano/a Latino/a Movimientos

American Indian, Native, Indigenous Feminisms

Native American Studies Program (Dartmouth College)

Feminism, Sex, Sexuality, Transgender, and Intersex

Sallie Bingham Center for Women’s History and Culture (Duke Special Collections)

Acknowledgments

Over many revisions, thanks go to Ann Garry, Heidi Grasswick, Elizabeth Harman, Elizabeth Hackett, Serene Khader, Ishani Maitra, Ásta Sveinsdóttir, Leslee Mahoney, and Anita Superson.

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Library of Congress Catalog Data: ISSN 1095-5054

Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

Introduction to feminism, topics: what is feminism.

Introduction
What is Feminism?
Historical Context
Normative and Descriptive Components
Feminism and the Diversity of Women
Feminism as Anti-Sexism
Topics in Feminism: Overview of the Sub-Entries

Bibliography

Works cited.

General Bibliography [under construction]
Topical Bibliographies [under construction]

Other Internet Resources

Related entries, i. introduction, ii. what is feminism, a. historical context, b. normative and descriptive components.

i) (Normative) Men and women are entitled to equal rights and respect. ii) (Descriptive) Women are currently disadvantaged with respect to rights and respect, compared with men.

Feminism is grounded on the belief that women are oppressed or disadvantaged by comparison with men, and that their oppression is in some way illegitimate or unjustified. Under the umbrella of this general characterization there are, however, many interpretations of women and their oppression, so that it is a mistake to think of feminism as a single philosophical doctrine, or as implying an agreed political program. (James 2000, 576)

C. Feminism and the Diversity of Women

Feminism, as liberation struggle, must exist apart from and as a part of the larger struggle to eradicate domination in all its forms. We must understand that patriarchal domination shares an ideological foundation with racism and other forms of group oppression, and that there is no hope that it can be eradicated while these systems remain intact. This knowledge should consistently inform the direction of feminist theory and practice. (hooks 1989, 22)

Unlike many feminist comrades, I believe women and men must share a common understanding--a basic knowledge of what feminism is--if it is ever to be a powerful mass-based political movement. In Feminist Theory: from margin to center, I suggest that defining feminism broadly as "a movement to end sexism and sexist oppression" would enable us to have a common political goal…Sharing a common goal does not imply that women and men will not have radically divergent perspectives on how that goal might be reached. (hooks 1989, 23)

…no woman is subject to any form of oppression simply because she is a woman; which forms of oppression she is subject to depend on what "kind" of woman she is. In a world in which a woman might be subject to racism, classism, homophobia, anti-Semitism, if she is not so subject it is because of her race, class, religion, sexual orientation. So it can never be the case that the treatment of a woman has only to do with her gender and nothing to do with her class or race. (Spelman 1988, 52-3)

D. Feminism as Anti-Sexism

i) (Descriptive claim) Women, and those who appear to be women, are subjected to wrongs and/or injustice at least in part because they are or appear to be women. ii) (Normative claim) The wrongs/injustices in question in (i) ought not to occur and should be stopped when and where they do.

III. Topics in Feminism: Overview of the Sub-Entries

Alexander, M. Jacqui and Lisa Albrecht, eds. 1998. The Third Wave: Feminist Perspectives on Racism. New York: Kitchen Table: Women of Color Press.
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Baier, Annette C. 1994. Moral Prejudices: Essays on Ethics. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Barrett, Michèle. 1991. The Politics of Truth: From Marx to Foucault. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
Bartky, Sandra. 1990. “Foucault, Femininity, and the Modernization of Patriarchal Power.” In her Femininity and Domination. New York: Routledge, 63-82.
Basu, Amrita. 1995. The Challenge of Local Feminisms: Women's Movements in Global Perspective. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
Baumgardner, Jennifer and Amy Richards. 2000. Manifesta: Young Women, Feminism, and the Future. New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux.
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Benhabib, Seyla. 1992. Situating the Self: Gender, Community, and Postmodernism in Contemporary Ethics. New York: Routledge.
Calhoun, Cheshire. 2000. Feminism, the Family, and the Politics of the Closet: Lesbian and Gay Displacement. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
______. 1989. “Responsibility and Reproach.” Ethics 99(2): 389-406.
Collins, Patricia Hill. 1990. Black Feminist Thought. Boston, MA: Unwin Hyman.
Cott, Nancy. 1987. The Grounding of Modern Feminism. New Haven: Yale University Press.
Crenshaw, Kimberlé. 1991. “Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and Violence Against Women of Color.“ Stanford Law Review , 43(6): 1241-1299.
Crenshaw, Kimberlé, Neil Gotanda, Gary Peller and Kendall Thomas. 1995. “Introduction.” In Critical Race Theory, ed., Kimberle Crenshaw, et al. New York: The New Press, xiii-xxxii.Davis, Angela. 1983. Women, Race and Class. New York: Random House.
Crow, Barbara. 2000. Radical Feminism: A Documentary Reader. New York: New York University Press.
Delmar, Rosalind. 2001. "What is Feminism?” In Theorizing Feminism, ed., Anne C. Hermann and Abigail J. Stewart. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 5-28.
Duplessis, Rachel Blau, and Ann Snitow, eds. 1998. The Feminist Memoir Project: Voices from Women's Liberation. New York: Random House (Crown Publishing).
Dutt, M. 1998. "Reclaiming a Human Rights Culture: Feminism of Difference and Alliance." In Talking Visions: Multicultural Feminism in a Transnational Age , ed., Ella Shohat. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 225-246.
Echols, Alice. 1990. Daring to Be Bad: Radical Feminism in America, 1967-75. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
Engels, Friedrich. 1972 (1845). The Origin of The Family, Private Property, and the State. New York: International Publishers.
Findlen, Barbara. 2001. Listen Up: Voices from the Next Feminist Generation, 2nd edition. Seattle, WA: Seal Press.
Fine, Michelle and Adrienne Asch, eds. 1988. Women with Disabilities: Essays in Psychology, Culture, and Politics. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.
Fraser, Nancy and Linda Nicholson. 1990. "Social Criticism Without Philosophy: An Encounter Between Feminism and Postmodernism." In Feminism/Postmodernism, ed., Linda Nicholson. New York: Routledge.
Friedan, Betty. 1963. The Feminine Mystique. New York: Norton.
Frye, Marilyn. 1983. The Politics of Reality. Freedom, CA: The Crossing Press.
Garland-Thomson, Rosemarie. 1997. Extraordinary Bodies: Figuring Physical Disability in American Culture and Literature. New York: Columbia University Press.
Grewal, I. 1998. "On the New Global Feminism and the Family of Nations: Dilemmas of Transnational Feminist Practice." In Talking Visions: Multicultural Feminism in a Transnational Age, ed., Ella Shohat. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 501-530.
Hampton, Jean. 1993. “Feminist Contractarianism,” in Louise M. Antony and Charlotte Witt, eds. A Mind of One’s Own: Feminist Essays on Reason and Objectivity, Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
Haslanger, Sally. Forthcoming. “Oppressions: Racial and Other.” In Racism, Philosophy and Mind: Philosophical Explanations of Racism and Its Implications, ed., Michael Levine and Tamas Pataki. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.
Held, Virginia. 1993. Feminist Morality: Transforming Culture, Society, and Politics. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Herrman, Anne C. and Abigail J. Stewart, eds. 1994. Theorizing Feminism: Parallel Trends in the Humanities and Social Sciences. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
Heywood, Leslie and Jennifer Drake, eds. 1997. Third Wave Agenda: Being Feminist, Doing Feminism.
Hillyer, Barbara. 1993. Feminism and Disability. Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press.
Hoagland, Sarah L. 1989. Lesbian Ethics: Toward New Values. Palo Alto, CA: Institute for Lesbian Studies.
Hooks, bell. 1989. Talking Back: Thinking Feminist, Thinking Black. Boston: South End Press.
______. 1984. Feminist Theory from Margin to Center. Boston: South End Press.
______. 1981. Ain't I A Woman: Black Women and Feminism. Boston: South End Press.
Hurtado, Aída. 1996. The Color of Privilege: Three Blasphemies on Race and Feminism. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
Jagger, Alison M. 1983. Feminist Politics and Human Nature. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield.
James, Susan. 2000. “Feminism in Philosophy of Mind: The Question of Personal Identity.” In The Cambridge Companion to Feminism in Philosophy, ed., Miranda Fricker and Jennifer Hornsby. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Kiss, Elizabeth. 1995. "Feminism and Rights." Dissent 42(3): 342-347
Kittay, Eva Feder. 1999. Love’s Labor: Essays on Women, Equality and Dependency. New York: Routledge.
Kymlicka, Will. 1989. Liberalism, Community and Culture. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Mackenzie, Catriona and Natalie Stoljar, eds. 2000. Relational Autonomy: Feminist perspectives on Autonomy, Agency and the Social Self. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
MacKinnon, Catharine. 1989. Towards a Feminist Theory of the State. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
______. 1987. Feminism Unmodified. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Mohanty, Chandra, Ann Russo, and Lourdes Torres, eds. 1991. Third World Women and the Politics of Feminism. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
Molyneux, Maxine and Nikki Craske, eds. 2001. Gender and the Politics of Rights and Democracy in Latin America. Basingstoke: Palgrave McMillan.
Moody-Adams, Michele. 1997. Fieldwork in Familiar Places: Morality, Culture and Philosophy. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Moraga, Cherrie. 2000. "From a Long Line of Vendidas: Chicanas and Feminism." In her Loving in the War Years, 2nd edition. Boston: South End Press.
Moraga, Cherrie and Gloria Anzaldúa, eds. 1981. This Bridge Called My Back: Writings of Radical Women of Color. Watertown, MA: Persephone Press.
Narayan, Uma. 1997. Dislocating Cultures: Identities, Traditions, and Third World Feminism. New York: Routledge.
Nussbaum, Martha. 1995. "Human Capabilities, Female Human Beings." In Women, Culture and Development : A Study of Human Capabilities, ed., Martha Nussbaum and Jonathan Glover. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 61-104.
_______. 1999. Sex and Social Justice. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
O’Brien, Mary. 1979. “Reproducing Marxist Man.” In The Sexism of Social and Political Theory: Women and Reproduction from Plato to Nietzsche, ed., Lorenne M. G. Clark and Lynda Lange. Toronto: Toronto University Press, 99-116. Reprinted in (Tuana and Tong 1995: 91-103).
Ong, Aihwa. 1988. "Colonialism and Modernity: Feminist Re-presentation of Women in Non-Western Societies.” Inscriptions 3(4): 90. Also in (Herrman and Stewart 1994).
Okin, Susan Moller. 1989. Justice, Gender, and the Family. New York: Basic Books.
______. 1979. Women in Western Political Thought. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Pateman, Carole. 1988. The Sexual Contract. Palo Alto, CA: Stanford University Press.
Reagon, Bernice Johnson. 1983. "Coalition Politics: Turning the Century." In: Home Girls: A Black Feminist Anthology, ed. Barbara Smith. New York: Kitchen Table: Women of Color Press, 356-368.
Robinson, Fiona. 1999. Globalizing Care: Ethics, Feminist Theory, and International Affairs. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
Rubin, Gayle. 1975. “The Traffic in Women: Notes on the “Political Economy” of Sex.” In Towards an Anthropology of Women , ed., Rayna Rapp Reiter. New York: Monthly Review Press, 157-210.
Ruddick, Sara. 1989. Maternal Thinking: Towards a Politics of Peace. Boston: Beacon Press.
Schneir, Miriam, ed. 1994. Feminism in Our Time: The Essential Writings, World War II to the Present. New York: Vintage Books.
______. 1972. Feminism: The Essential Historical Writings. New York: Vintage Books.
Scott, Joan W. 1988. “Deconstructing Equality-Versus-Difference: or The Uses of Poststructuralist Theory for Feminism.” Feminist Studies 14 (1): 33-50.
Silvers, Anita, David Wasserman, Mary Mahowald. 1999. Disability, Difference, Discrimination: Perspectives on Justice in Bioethics and Public Policy . Lanham, Maryland: Rowman and Littlefield.
Simpson, J. A. and E. S. C. Weiner, ed., 1989. Oxford English Dictionary. 2nd ed. Oxford: Clarendon Press. OED Online. Oxford University Press. “feminism, n1” (1851).
Snitow, Ann. 1990. “A Gender Diary.” In Conflicts in Feminism, ed. M. Hirsch and E. Fox Keller. New York: Routledge, 9-43.
Spelman, Elizabeth. 1988. The Inessential Woman. Boston: Beacon Press.
Tanner, Leslie B. 1970 Voices From Women's Liberation. New York: New American Library (A Mentor Book).
Taylor, Vesta and Leila J. Rupp. 1996. "Lesbian Existence and the Women's Movement: Researching the 'Lavender Herring'." In Feminism and Social Change , ed. Heidi Gottfried. Champaign, IL: University of Illinois Press.
Tong, Rosemarie. 1993. Feminine and Feminist Ethics. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
Tuana, Nancy and Rosemarie Tong, eds. 1995. Feminism and Philosophy. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
Walker, Alice. 1990. “Definition of Womanist,” In Making Face, Making Soul: Haciendo Caras , ed., Gloria Anzaldúa. San Francisco: Aunt Lute Books, 370.
Walker, Margaret Urban. 1998. Moral Understandings: A Feminist Study in Ethics. New York: Routledge.
______, ed. 1999. Mother Time: Women, Aging, and Ethics. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield.
Walker, Rebecca, ed. 1995. To Be Real: Telling the Truth and Changing the Face of Feminism. New York: Random House (Anchor Books).
Ware, Cellestine. 1970. Woman Power: The Movement for Women’s Liberation . New York: Tower Publications.
Weisberg, D. Kelly, ed. 1993. Feminist Legal Theory: Foundations. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.
Wendell, Susan. 1996. The Rejected Body: Feminist Philosophical Reflections on Disability. New York and London: Routledge.
Young, Iris. 1990a. "Humanism, Gynocentrism and Feminist Politics." In Throwing Like A Girl. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 73-91.
Young, Iris. 1990b. “Socialist Feminism and the Limits of Dual Systems Theory.” In her Throwing Like a Girl and Other Essays in Feminist Philosophy and Social Theory . Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.
______. 1990c. Justice and the Politics of Difference. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Zophy, Angela Howard. 1990. "Feminism." In The Handbook of American Women's History , ed., Angela Howard Zophy and Frances M. Kavenik. New York: Routledge (Garland Reference Library of the Humanities).

General Bibliography

Topical bibliographies.

Feminist Theory Website
Race, Gender, and Affirmative Action Resource Page
Documents from the Women's Liberation Movement (Duke Univ. Archives)
Core Reading Lists in Women's Studies (Assn of College and Research Libraries, WS Section)
Feminist and Women's Journals
Hypatia: A Journal of Feminist Philosophy
Feminist Internet Search Utilities
National Council for Research on Women (including links to centers for research on women and affiliate organizations, organized by research specialties)
Feminism and Class
Marxist, Socialist, and Materialist Feminisms
M-Fem (information page, discussion group, links, etc.)
WMST-L discussion of how to define “marxist feminism” Aug 1994)
Marxist/Materialist Feminism (Feminist Theory Website)
MatFem (Information page, discussion group)
Feminist Economics
Feminist Economics (Feminist Theory Website)
International Association for Feminist Economics
Feminist Political Economy and the Law (2001 Conference Proceedings, York Univ.)
Journal for the International Association for Feminist Economics
Feminism and Disability
World Wide Web Review: Women and Disabilities Websites
Disability and Feminism Resource Page
Center for Research on Women with Disabilities (CROWD)
Interdisciplinary Bibliography on Disability in the Humanities (Part of the American Studies Crossroads Project)
Feminism and Human Rights, Global Feminism
World Wide Web Review: Websites on Women and Human Rights
International Gender Studies Resources (U.C. Berkeley)
Global Feminisms Research Resources (Vassar Library)
Global Feminism (Feminist Majority Foundation)
NOW and Global Feminism
United Nations Development Fund for Women
Global Issues Resources
Sisterhood is Global Institute (SIGI)
Feminism and Race/Ethnicity
General Resources
WMST-L discussion on “Women of Color and the Women’s Movement” (5 Parts) Sept/Oct 2000)
Women of Color Resources (Princeton U. Library)
Core Readings in Women's Studies: Women of Color (Assn. of College and Research Libraries, WS Section)
Women of Color Resource Sites
African-American/Black Feminisms and Womanism
African-American/Black/Womanist Feminism on the Web
Black Feminist and Womanist Identity Bibliography (Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Library)
The Womanist Studies Consortium (Univ. of Georgia)
Black Feminist/Womanist Works: A Beginning List (WMST-L)
African-American Women Online Archival Collection (Duke U.)
Asian-American and Asian Feminisms
Asian American Feminism (Feminist Theory Website)
Asian-American Women Bibliography (Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe)
American Women's History: A Research Guide (Asian-American Women)
South Asian Women's Studies Bibliography (U.C. Berkeley)
Journal of South Asia Women's Studies
Chicana/Latina Feminisms
Bibliography on Chicana Feminism (Cal State, Long Beach Library)
Making Face, Making Soul: A Chicana Feminist Website
Defining Chicana Feminisms, In Their Own Words
CLNet's Chicana Studies Homepage (UCLA)
Chicana Related Bibliographies (CLNet)
American Indian, Native, Indigenous Feminisms
Native American Feminism (Feminist Theory Website)
Bibliography on American Indian Gender Roles and Relations
Bibliography on American Indian Feminism
Bibliography on American Indian Gay/Lesbian Topics
Links on Aboriginal Women and Feminism
Feminism, Sex, and Sexuality
1970's Lesbian Feminism (Ohio State Univ., Women's Studies)
The Lesbian History Project
History of Sexuality Resources (Duke Special Collections)
Lesbian Studies Bibliography (Assn. of College and Research Libraries)
Lesbian Feminism/Lesbian Philosophy
Society for Lesbian and Gay Philosophy Internet Resources
QueerTheory.com
World Wide Web Review: Webs of Transgender

First published: Content last modified:

Elevate Your Work: 200 Unique Feminist Research Topics for 2023

The role of women in society is commonly highlighted these days. Hence, it’s not surprising that your professor has asked you to produce a research paper on Feminism. Yes, finding a good topic, to begin with, is more challenging than it sounds. But that’s where you can count on this interesting yet very informational write-up to help you out. As you should know, we have been offering Custom writing services for years now, so we have a list of the best topics for you to count on. That said, make sure you read this amazing blog post till the end to make the most of it.

Table of Contents

Feminist Research Topics: Unique, Interesting & Professor-Approved

We cannot deny how daunting feminist research paper writing can get, mostly because it is very difficult to extract the data for the same. That’s where the expert suggests you pick a suitable topic so you can get good help from the Internet with data collection and more. So, without further ado, let’s begin with the top feminist research topics to write on.

Best Feminist Research Topics

Want to make a mark with this research essay? Then, choose a topic from our list of best feminist research topics. Here you go:

Is there a possibility of Feminism becoming a new fashion?
Explain the 2022 trends of Feminism.
Are feminist actions justified?
How is Feminism influencing human psychology?
Can you consider Feminism a social trend?
What is triggering Feminism?
Explain how freedom of speech influences the proliferation of feminist ideas.
Has Feminism developed a new type of discrimination?
Drawbacks of Feminism for society.
Can you regard Feminism as a community’s new weapon?
How do feminist thoughts influence young minds?
Explain what countries are major flashpoints of Feminism and why?
Name the ethnic groups that are not supporting Feminism.

Fascinating feminist research topics

Want to sound impressive yet confident with your final piece? Then go for picking one of these fascinating research topics. Still, you must put some good time and effort into extracting relevant data for these. But those joyous moments of your professor appreciating your final piece is worth everything you could invest now. Here we go with the list of those fascinating topics:

How will you explain Feminism as a philosophy of life?
What encouraged Feminism, humans or society?
How are the sentiments of feminists relevant to the current generation?
Should you consider Feminism a want or need?
What are other ways for a woman to conquer freedom besides Feminism?
How does Feminism address violence?
How is Liberalism changing the way women think?
Where do the stereotypes lie in the 21st century?
How is the state playing a role in feminist movements?
Explain the feminism primary source.
Where are feminist groups illegal?
Discuss how women were treated in ancient times.
Explain the culture of Feminism.
Is it possible for women to change the world by taking part in feminist movements?
Why is Feminism no longer a taboo?
Explain how Feminism is developing.
In what circumstances do feminists’ occasionally resort to illegal means?
Explain how every human is a feminist.
Describe the outcomes of the feminist movement.
How is Feminism evolving in the social networks era?
Reasons to believe that women are no longer silent
Who condemned Feminism?
Understanding the feminist’s modern art.
Who is benefiting the feminist movements?
Does discrimination justify the existence of Feminism?
The role of women in international business.
How is feminism relevant in 2022?
Explain how feminism has harmed women’s reputations.
Effects of the evolution of feminism on society.
Elaborate on the future of feminism.
Explain why some religious groups regard feminism as a threat.
Discuss the impact of feminist views on the 2016 presidential election.

Most Discussed Feminist Research Topics

If you want to get over with your feminist research essay quickly, go with picking up a topic from this list of most discussed feminist research topics:

Is radical Feminism suppressing women’s freedom?
Feminism in the twentieth century.
Equality and Feminism – Things we should know about.
Discussing the second wave feminism.
Feminism and homosexuality – problems we should highlight
The misunderstanding of feminist moments.
How is liberal Feminism affecting equality?
The difference between first and second-wave feminists.
Explain the relationship between Feminism and post Feminism.
Feminism, symbolism, and more.
Shedding light on feminist social theory.
The hidden message of Feminism.
How is Feminism responding to the discrimination against women?
How is Feminism related to constructivism?
Feminism in the light of fairness doctrines.
Discussing the social system and Marxist feminist theory.
Feminism – The First Wave
The difference between Liberalism and political Feminism.
Social justice and Feminism – the connection.
Things you should know about black Feminism.
Explain why a gentleman might be insulting feminists.
Steps for adopting feminism.
How does anti-racism equate to feminists?
Explain the significance of Bitch Manifesto.
Elaborate on provocative feminism.
The study into women’s health and rights.
Is feminism influencing science?
Elaborate on women in leadership positions.
Overcoming gender stereotypes in the 21st century.
The female gendering of AI assistants – The real problem
How is child marriage impacting society?
Should gender roles be socially constructed?
How does feminism count in international relations?

Easiest feminism essay topics

Feeling writing on Feminism a tough ask? Don’t worry; we have the list of the easiest topics for you below. Picking up a simple topic will ensure that you begin writing your research paper immediately. Here’s your list of the easiest feminism research topics to write on and to impress your professor:

Radical Feminism vs. Liberalism
Promotion of Feminism in Beyonce’s music.
Feminism’s pride and power.
Post-feminism culture in teenage magazines.
Chicana Feminism and Mexican culture.
How is Feminism overcoming gender discrimination?
How is the media promoting Feminism?
Feminism vs Multiculturalism.
Dilemmas and Intersections of Feminism and Postcolonialism.
Gender differences in comparison to mainstream psychology.
Explain the differences between Liberal Feminism and Radical Feminism.
Collective representation and multicultural Feminism – an overview.
Feminism in China after Chinese Economic Reforms
Feminism in Haiti and female gender roles.
Julia Ward Howe’s struggle for Feminism.
The contentious issues for Feminism.
Compare and contrast 19th and 20th-century feminist cultures.
How are Masculinity and Feminism defining people today?
The Feminism real meaning.
The Feminism – What’s coming next?
Three types of Feminism.
The Feminism in Arab.
The rise of Feminism in Europe.
Eurocentric Feminism – Things you should know.
Is Feminism achieving its goals?
Western Feminism – How is it different?
How is Feminism benefiting American Society?
How has Feminism changed New Zealand?
The three waves of Feminism.
Elaborate on the Marxist Feminism Theory.
Explain how French Feminism is Manifesting itself.
The effects of Feminism on women, men, and families.
Male control and their dominance in society in the light of Feminism.
Discuss critical Feminism.
Things you should know about Patriarchy in Feminism.
The effects of South Korea Globalization on the role of Feminism.
Feminism and sayings of Stepford wives.
Important theories of Feminism.
Feminism, in simple words.
The objectives of Feminism.
Is Feminism equal to gender equality?
The rise of Feminism in the USA.

Powerful Feminist Research Topics

Surely you can add power to your feminist research essay. The right way of doing that is to pick a powerful research topic. Most importantly, you don’t have to wander about such a topic as we have a long list below.

Explain the Eco-feminism.
How are Fashion and Feminism related?
Modern education and Feminism.
Explain feminist movements in the USA.
Is Cyberfeminism a new concept?
The rise of Gender stereotypes – Are they still relevant?
Modern Feminism – The overview
Discuss how Feminism is influencing your life.
Feminism from a man’s perspective.
Anti-feminism movements.
Women inequality in modern society.
The modern manifestations of Feminism and their positive effects.
Feminism in literature.
Feminism’s negative influence on brand income.
How is feminism mainstream these days?
Teenagers and Feminism.
Famous feminist personalities.
The pros and cons of radical Feminism.
Feminism affects on heterosexual relationships.
A society without gender stereotypes.
How is Feminism harming men?
Feminists’ ways of reaching their goals.
The difference between Feminism and anti-feminism.
Common men’s perspective of Feminism.
Is calling oneself a feminist fashion these days?
Feminism – controversial issues.
Various perspectives of feminist movements.
How is the media influencing Feminism?
Explain how Feminism is negatively affecting women.

Events that have led to the birth of Feminism

The Blonde Beard was a practice where women would disguise themselves as men to get jobs in the workplace. This was done to avoid the glass ceiling and other forms of discrimination against women. The Blonde Beard was popular in the 19th century, but it has since fallen out of favor because of its association with sexism and racism.
Women in the pre-1800s were not allowed to work, go to school, or own property. This was because they were considered inferior to men, and the property was considered male-made.
You might think that the term “mommy blogger” is new, but it’s actually an old-fashioned insult. In fact, it dated back to the 1960s and was used to describe women who were too passive in their roles as mothers or housewives. This idea has stuck around for decades because it’s still very true. Men have historically been the ones who go to work outside the home (and get paid more than women), while women have historically stayed at home with children or other family members — even if they had jobs outside their homes.

Undoubtedly, coming up with a good feminist research topic feminist research paper topics is no less a daunting task. Not when you have found this article that lists great topics for you to get on with your research paper immediately. Furthermore, if we have missed including something here, please feel free to use the comment box below.

Moreover, if you want an expert hand to take care of your feminist research topics, count on one of our writers available.

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Feminism Dissertation Topics – Choose The Best Topic For Your Dissertation

Published by Owen Ingram at January 2nd, 2023 , Revised On August 15, 2023

Feminist dissertation topics focus on the people who believe that women should have equal chances and rights as men. Feminism is a historical, social, and political movement founded by women to achieve gender equality and remove injustice. Feminism is an important topic that has been frequently debated in a male-dominated society since the nineteenth century. However, in recent years, the feminist voice has become louder, and feminist issues have grown in popularity.

An excellent feminist research topic is all you need to write a feminist dissertation. Feminism, in general, is a broad subject that examines the challenges women confront, such as sexual harassment, oppression, repression, stereotyping, sexual objectification, and other types of political and social oppression.

As the subject is vast, selecting a feminist topic for a dissertation or research paper is a difficult challenge. So, to assist you, we have compiled a list of relevant feminist research paper topics for your perusal.

You can also visit these links to get the best dissertation ideas for extensive research about sexual harassment dissertation topics and human rights dissertation ideas .

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Topics on Feminist Issues

Examine how the internet has transformed Feminism into a public source of mockery and praise.
Investigate the theoretical conflict between gender and sex.
Investigate the history of the #MeToo movement and the feminism victim challenge.
Examine the views of several feminists who are still devout Muslims on Female Genital Mutilation.
To make the feminist message, emphasize the feminist technique and means.
According to five works of literature or important feminists/anti-feminists of your choosing, how does Feminism establish, dismantle, and reconstruct gender roles?
Examine how feminists deal with societal injustice and violence.
Investigate the employability of feminist women in the United States.
What is the feminist critic’s stance on worldwide gender inequality?
How modern beauty standards continue to limit what and who is considered beautiful online and offline.
How the concept of beauty is also a radical social and political prejudice that denies women some basic rights.
Examine gender disparity and equality in American politics.
Investigate gender imbalance and equality in the UK government.
Consider if religion, Feminism, and liberal morality can be reconciled.
Examine the difficulties women confront in the face of violence in nations such as India and Pakistan.
Examine feminist psychology about Middle Eastern women.
Analyze the changing feminist thought in the academic and in the actual world.
How governments use Feminism as a tool for social mobilization, resulting in the demise of their culture.
Modern beauty standards continue to limit what and who is considered beautiful online and offline.
The concept of beauty is also a radical social and political prejudice that denies women some basic rights.

Feminist Project Topics

The contrast between the gender roles of women and the Feminist role in society
Examining the benefits and drawbacks of identifying as a feminist
Compare the benefits of being a feminist in rich and developing countries.
Examine the future of Feminism in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan. Examine the motivating elements of Feminism throughout history
Highlight and explain how Feminism has contributed to increased rape education.
Feminism and government assistance: How government assistance may put an end to all vices against women
The careful examination of equity and equality in Feminism
The modern world’s perspective on Feminism has shifted: debate
Investigate the lives, times, and biographies of any male feminist.
Justify the role of Middle Eastern women in the struggle for gender equality.
Examine any European government’s activities in promoting feminist principles.
Examine any Southern American government’s role in preserving women’s rights.
Investigate the relationship between Feminism and lesbianism.
Examine the link between Feminism and the increase of single women in America. Determine the relevance of the emergence of liberal ideals over conservative beliefs in promoting Feminism.
Discuss how women in the United States military are still subjected to discrimination, sexual assault, and brutality.
Discuss the methods for eliminating sexual assault and discrimination in the military of two nations of your choice.
Analyze the role of women in your preferred UK election.
Investigate the issue of gender equality in modern Britain.
Provide an outline of the British monarchy and the restoration of female kings.
Rebuild the Women’s Trade Union League’s fundamental ideals and principles.

Feminist Research Topics

Give some instances of modern feminist manifestos and what they have contained in feminist thought.
What is Feminism’s detrimental impact on teens, and how has it created hatred towards men?
What is the public’s take on women’s influence over celebrities in the face of the law in the aftermath of R Kelly’s imprisonment?
Speak with a self-identified feminist and discuss their views on Feminism.
Discuss the contentious topics surrounding Feminism and provide solutions to unsolved problems.
Examine Mona Eataly’s writings and compare her feminist beliefs to those of other black feminists.
Investigate what bold Feminism entails.
Should unisex restrooms be permitted in pubs, restaurants, and hotels in a world fraught with sexual violence?
Examine the prejudices experienced by transgender women and how the feminist movement might be a sort of stereotyped freedom.
Investigate the wide varieties of Feminism and how hairstyles can also be used to make political statements.

Feminist Topic Ideas for Discussion

Is Feminism only a historical residue of a modern need?
Is it possible for a female president to arise in America or the United Kingdom because Taiwan’s president is female?
What are your opinions on female authorities serving in various roles worldwide?
What do you think about the absence of female political representation?
How does a lack of political representation for women influence women’s political participation?
Could religion be claimed to be a contributing element to women’s current plight?
The internet has been a driving factor in the pursuit of equality.
The feminist movement is just a platform for women to gain more power.
How have environmental and feminist issues influenced national policies?
Have other movements swallowed Feminism?

Women Empowerment Topics

What role does the shift from cash to digital payrolls have in empowering women in poor countries?
Why is there such a disparity between corporate attempts to execute women’s empowerment?
Initiatives and corporate commitments to furthering equality?
Talk about what everyone can do to help women in their neighbourhood.
Why is workplace health such an important issue for women’s empowerment?
Examine the numerous advantages of women’s empowerment.
How has the UAE’s feminist movement empowered Arab women?
Women’s political representation, politics, and decision-making.
Discuss the role of feminists in promoting women’s empowerment.
Women’s empowerment in Asian countries has increased during the previous two decades.

Informative Feminism Dissertation Topics

Is it feasible to distinguish the three major waves of Feminism while defining a cohesive philosophy?
Why is the premise that ‘if you believe men and women are equal, you’re a feminist’ insufficient in the Feminist movement’s third wave?
Can Feminism forge a coherent movement amid the shattered environment of 21st-century Feminist thought?
An assessment of the third wave’s inadequacy as the final progression of Feminist thinking, as well as how the next wave will be characterized.
What are the difficulties that Intersectional Feminism has in disentangling oppressive systems from one another, and how can the movement negotiate this complication?
A feminist assessment of the relationship between police violence and patriarchal society.
Where is the boundary between defending an oppressed ecology and imposing oppressive ideals?
Investigating the relationship between authoritarian right anti-environmental and anti-feminist political thought.
Priority or Privilege? A critical examination of the Ecofeminist movement’s inability to address class problems and the consequences for its efficacy.
How does Feminist thought in emerging environments vary from Western Feminist philosophy?
A critical examination of how Western Feminism fails to meet the issues of global women.
Is it feasible for Western philosophy to accurately reflect women living in the aftermath of colonial domination in a postcolonial society?
Is promoting gender equality in emerging countries a moral obligation or an imperialist endeavour?
Investigate the gender difference in the pursuit of independence for any country.
A critical examination of the role of identity politics in social justice movements in the twenty-first century.

It is possible to contribute to an ever-growing and complicated field of study by writing a dissertation or capstone on feminist philosophy and critique. In view of the complexity of the underlying issue of ‘Feminism’, there are a number of feminist dissertation topics to consider. There has never been a more important time to research culturally relevant topics for your dissertation than in 2022.

Please contact us immediately if you need assistance writing your feminist dissertation. Our writers have years of experience researching, writing, proofreading, and editing dissertations on the greatest feminist research topics. Upon receiving your specifications, we will provide you with a high-quality, plagiarism-free research paper on time and within your budget.

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To find feminism dissertation topics:

Study feminist literature and theories.
Analyze gender-related gaps or issues.
Explore intersectionality with race, class, etc.
Investigate historical and contemporary perspectives.
Consider media, politics, arts for feminist angles.
Choose a topic resonating with your passion and research goals.

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80 debating topics on the environment, healthcare is a human right and should be free for everyone, the minimum wage should be increased every year, should we boycott fast fashion brands.

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Black Feminist Thought Essay Questions

By patricia hill collins, essay questions.

These notes were contributed by members of the GradeSaver community. We are thankful for their contributions and encourage you to make your own.

Written by Arfa Saad

Why is black feminism different from white feminism?

The White feminism does not consider the problems faced by black women in their everyday lives. They are not considered a part of White feminism because there is no place for the racial issues in White feminism. The black feminism includes the problems of women along with emphasizing the prejudice faced by the Afro-American women. The society compels them to choose between their African American identity and the identity of being a female.

How are black women treated in US?

Black women face the racial prejudice in schools, stores, offices and in their daily interactions. They are called as ‘mammy’, ‘matriarch’ or ‘hoochie.’ The society describe them as panthers and savage creatures. They are blamed for their own problems by the society. The US society either took them as sexless creatures or entirely focusing on their erotic passions. They are forced to live as outsider-within and are compelled to do low level jobs. They work in the houses or offices of Whites as maids or servants.

What is dialogical relationship?

Collins says that the altered experiences lead to change in consciousness. When the beliefs are changed they automatically change the consciousness. This relationship is known as dialogical relationship. There is a need for black intellectuals who would raise their voices regarding the oppression of black women. It is prerequisite to make the Afro-American women aware of the challenges and the obstacles in their way in order to change their consciousness.

How has the writer urge black women to resist?

The author has urged the black women to resist against their oppression and prejudice by referring to the black activism. Collins has given the examples of black female intellectuals, poets writers, musicians etc. The black women resisted their subjugation and achieved their status in society. They survived despite of facing the brutality and the worst treatment at the hands of Whites.

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The Question and Answer section for Black Feminist Thought is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel.

Study Guide for Black Feminist Thought

Black Feminist Thought study guide contains a biography of Patricia Hill Collins, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

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Essays for Black Feminist Thought

Black Feminist Thought essays are academic essays for citation. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of Black Feminist Thought by Patricia Hill Collins.

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Music Features

Jay-z and beyoncé's blank space, the endless social climb of pop's royal couple.

Sheldon Pearce

Beyoncé and Jay-Z attend the 66th Grammy Awards at Los Angeles' Crypto.com Arena on Feb. 4, 2024. Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for The Recording Academy hide caption

Beyoncé and Jay-Z attend the 66th Grammy Awards at Los Angeles' Crypto.com Arena on Feb. 4, 2024.

When Jay-Z took the stage at this year's Grammys to accept the second-ever Dr. Dre Global Impact Award, the rap titan and business mogul seized the opportunity to address the elephant in the room. After name-checking a few of the organizational fumbles that had led hip-hop artists, himself included, to boycott the ceremony in years past, he swung the spotlight onto his wife. "I don't want to embarrass this young lady," he said, as Beyoncé smiled back from under a white Stetson, "but she has more Grammys than everyone, and never won album of the year. So even by your own metrics, that doesn't work." The nervous laughter that punctuated the moment told the story of an era, in which Beyoncé's repeated passing over in the categories that count the most has increasingly been held up as evidence of an institutional failure, reflecting wider cracks in the foundation. "We gotta keep showing up — and forget the Grammys for a second, just in life," Jay added in closing. "Keep showing up until they give you all those accolades you feel you deserve. Until they call you chairman. Until they call you a genius. Until they call you the greatest of all time."

Let's get this out of the way: Beyoncé should have won already — even Adele knows it — and you could make a case for Jay-Z, too, who was nominated for 4:44 in 2018. Rarely are stars of Bey's stature so ambitious, or their work so consistently unimpeachable. It makes sense that Jay, a careerist who has spent decades crafting an impeccable résumé, can't understand why such an honor is missing from his partner's. Yet while there is a reading of his speech as bold and insurgent, deploying a Trojan Horse from within the city walls, there is another that is more like lobbying — getting ahead of next year's cycle, where a showdown between Beyoncé and Taylor Swift feels all but inevitable. Either way, it represents a seemingly insatiable need to see that trophy on their mantle.

When will Black artists be ready to break up with The Grammys?

Jay's speech exists on a continuum with a more recent stunt, in which Beyoncé's team beamed advertisements for her new album, Cowboy Carter (out March 29), onto the exteriors of the Guggenheim Museum, Whitney Museum, New Museum and the Museum of Arts and Design. The messaging, apart from some mundane release details, qualified her current move into country music, reading: "This ain't a country album. This is a 'Beyoncé' album," as if putting primacy on the artiste as fit for display there. Taking back space has long been a point of emphasis for the couple: When Noel Gallagher responded to Jay-Z headlining Glastonbury by saying hip-hop had no place at the festival, the rapper emerged performing "Wonderwall." The "performance art film" for Jay's song " Picasso Baby " was inspired by the work of artist Marina Abramović and shot at Pace Gallery. As The Carters, they brought their "Apes**t" music video to the Louvre. "Put some colored girls in the MoMA," Jay once rapped, with Beyoncé capping the list. "Call Larry Gagosian, you belong in mo-seums."

Museums, of course, are colonial by nature. And awards ceremonies, at least those that drive conversation in the entertainment business, have long been built on the myth of white culture as the dominant American culture. (For all its diversity initiatives in recent years, the Recording Academy still maintains a white majority in its voting class.) In the Carters' ongoing push for acceptance, most roads seem to lead to a white establishment. To be clear, there is value in the challenge: "De-centering whiteness in arts and cultural institutions is an urgent matter," the writer Jamara Wakefield wrote in 2019. "This is why it is critical that the public continue to apply pressure to power, so institutional leaders do not become complacent or complicit." But what is curious about the efforts of pop's royal couple is how they've triumphed by just about any other metric, and how doggedly they still pursue the approval of a few institutions as the definitive appraisal of their worth. It's no one's place to tell them not to fight, but it may be time to recognize that fight as something other than activism.

The inspiration for Cowboy Carter , Beyoncé revealed in a statement, dates back to 2016, and the hostility she experienced performing her song "Daddy Lessons" at the CMA Awards, alongside the trio then still known as the Dixie Chicks . Country's biggest night, it seemed, was not a safe space for Blackness, a feeling compounded by the Grammys denying the song entry in country categories that same year. In the book Black Country Music: Listening For Revolutions , Francesca T. Royster opens with the complications at the core of this issue — namely, the struggle to distance the music from its more intolerant associations. As she put it, to many ears country music can still "evoke and memorialize visceral memories of racialized violence; lynchings, the indignities of Jim Crow; gender surveillance and disciplining; and the continued experience of racial segregation in urban, suburban, and rural spaces in the North and South."

Beyoncé is getting played on country radio. Could her success help other Black women?

Through the lens of that friction, one can read Beyoncé's very presence on that stage as mounting a case for Black belonging. In an essay centered on the CMA performance, Royster was able to articulate the merit of such seemingly seditious acts: "In the end, I see Beyoncé offering a revised model of rage that can be generative, and also inclusive and justice seeking, one that parallels the Black feminist view of 'mothering.' " But the caveats are obvious: No matter how generative, inclusive and justice-seeking Bey's rage, she remains an interloper, defined as such by the terms of the conversation she wishes to join. Years later, Cowboy Carter faces the same conundrum. The purist is not swayed by an outsider's know-how or obeisance, and any move to show one up plays into the very perception that genre hardliners enforce — of countryfolk keeping out carpetbaggers, even or perhaps especially the most accomplished Black pop star of a generation.

Cowboy Carter 's cover photo has already kicked off some heated debates about intent — specifically, about appealing to the white gaze versus honoring the legacies of Southern Black identity. In the image, she sits sidesaddle on horseback, platinum-blonde hair flowing out of a cowboy hat, hoisting up an American flag. On the one hand, there is a rich history of Black cowboys and rodeos, and bringing that context to the fore is a way to put Black people at the center of a narrative from which they have largely been divorced in popular culture. On the other, there is no more blatant performance of an all-American identity than waving the stars and stripes — and so much of that identity has been predicated on Black erasure that sacrificing oneself to it can feel like submitting to those values. In the 1963 book Blues People , Amiri Baraka said that "the adjustment necessary for the black man to enter completely into 'white' American society was a complete disavowal that he or his part of the culture had ever been anything other than American." There is an extent to which the Americanness of it all comes to supersede the Blackness, where the attempt to reclaim the thing becomes an acquiescence to its power.

The ever-talkative Azealia Banks had a lot to say in response to the cover. "You're reinforcing the false rhetoric that country music is a post civil war white art form. And subsequently reinforcing the idea that there is no racism / segregation / slavery / violence / theft / massacres / plagues / manifest destiny craziness that form the bedrock of epithets like 'proud to be American' or 'god bless the usa,' " she wrote on Instagram. Discourse about Beyoncé tends to vibrate at an extreme pitch; I don't necessarily believe it is her responsibility to unpack all that baggage, and for the moment, it's impossible to say that she won't at least try somehow. That said, there is something disconcerting about the image. It would be one thing if she were a career country artist, actively fighting for the right to exist as she is, as many in that world valiantly are. But she is a pop star, donning the genre like a costume, which makes the whole thing performance — and no amount of proselytizing before the country music faithful that can rewrite the realities of this divided, racialized history. The question then becomes: Who is the audience?

We have seen Black excellence receive the Grammys' highest honor before. Stevie Wonder won album of the year three out of four years in the 1970s. Michael Jackson won album and record of the year in 1984. Lauryn Hill won album of the year and best new artist in 1999. OutKast scored the top prize in 2004. Did those wins kick the door open in a lasting way? Ahead of the 2023 ceremony, one anonymous voter revealed why they had chosen Harry's House , the eventual AOTY winner, over Renaissance : "Did I personally listen to it a ton? No. Did it make itself known in every TikTok? Absolutely." Another on why they chose ABBA instead: "With Beyoncé, the fact that every time she does something new, it's a big event and everyone's supposed to quake in their shoes — it's a little too portentous."

In the same way, other Black pop stars before Beyoncé have gone country and faced versions of the battles that greet her today. Granted, Beyoncé is a Black Texan, and it's easy to understand the importance of preserving a lineage. The Cowboy Carter rollout has already shone a light on contemporary Black artists in country and Americana, how hard they work for recognition and how deep their roots run. There is power in centering Black experience to take back narrative control of an art form, and doing so can lower the barrier to entry for those who might follow in her footsteps. But two things can be true at once: Beyoncé can be tapping into a history she has every right to, and she can also be doing so in deference to governing bodies that will never truly see her.

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There is also the matter of class to consider. Both Jay-Z and Beyoncé are estimated to be billionaires. They do not need institutional support the way others do, and in fact have received an exceptional amount. What would winning album of the year at the Grammys, or being accepted at the CMAs, do for them today? How will infiltration materially affect their communities at this point? If their ultimate goal is political activation, they might find greater engagement elsewhere, rallying the people these institutions were built to alienate. If it is a robust and inclusive music business, they might spend less time at the usual pageants, lean into their wealth and agency and try to build something else entirely. But their core commitment has remained the same: Keep showing up, keep waiting to be acknowledged.

In that light, it feels disingenuous to ignore how their actions also serve the Black capitalist ideal: the principle that infiltration of a white space is the same as decolonizing it, that Black equity is found in assimilation. The Carters' combined efforts raise important questions about the limits of that labor, and when advocacy begins to mingle with brown-nosing. While I don't doubt their genuine desire to see these spaces become more accepting for "people who look like we," as Jay put it on 4:44 's "Legacy," business ventures like the ostensibly artist-focused streaming service Tidal, or Roc Nation's immediately controversial partnership with the NFL, have always eventually tilted in the direction of the existing hierarchy.

There's a passage from Frantz Fanon's Black Skin, White Masks that sticks with me. Fanon, one of the foremost racial theorists, first explained the needs of Black acceptance: "Since the black man has always been treated as inferior, he attempts to react with a superiority complex. ... It is because the black man belongs to an 'inferior' race that he tries to resemble the superior race." After laying out the particulars of this complex, Fanon puts the relationship into striking relief: "Man is human only to the extent to which he tries to impose himself on another man in order to be recognized by him. As long as he has not been effectively recognized by the other, it is the other who remains the focus of his actions. His human worth and reality depend on this other and on his reaction by the other. It is in this other that the meaning of his life is condensed."

It is clear that the Carters, in seeing their work underrecognized by these institutions, see its very meaning condensed. But in truth, it is boundless, far greater than the space of those halls. No one person's reach can extend beyond institutional power, but allowing such institutions to have the final say on legacy is minimizing in its own way, particularly when you no longer need to amplify your voice to be heard, or affirm your own greatness to have influence. So much great art is never considered high art, and that's fine. It would be foolish to say we have not been empowered by their efforts to some extent: The masterpieces created chasing highbrow benchmarks and insider status are the spoils of this crusade, challenging us to push for greater heights, as well. You see it in the reverent way other artists talk about them, their craft and everything they've achieved ( look no further than this year's best new artist winner, Victoria Monét ). We continue to invest in the drama of their fight for inclusion because it can feel like a front-line battleground for a more impartial world: If their excellence can't be recognized, can any of ours? But as the fight drags on, the struggle becomes cyclical, and it grows clearer and clearer that we can't count on their victory to save us.

A viral essay about marriage spawned thousands of hate clicks — and exposed a harsh reality

M arriage is having a moment in American discourse. TikTok videos extol the virtues of being a stay-at-home wife and mother who also feeds chickens, makes sourdough bread and has five children.

Magazines and newspapers are filled with articles and columns exhorting people to just suck it up and marry . Or even offer up marriage as the solution to the inequality in our nation . And these stories are focused on women, because it’s young women who are more likely to opt out of marriage and it’s older women who are divorcing their husbands .

Recently, an essay published in New York Magazine’s The Cut even argued for marriage as a feminist reclamation. Marriage, as the author described it, is a protectorate, wherein she is taken care of and pampered. It truly sounds nice given the level of exhaustion American women are experiencing, after carrying the weight of cognitive and domestic labor , and doing the work of the social safety net . But it’s worth pointing out that gilded cages are still cages.

The “just get married” discourse feels like a tightening rope around women who are already seeing their rights reversed through the rollback of Roe. Women who saw the vast lack of a social safety net during the pandemic and saw America take back whatever advances we made that helped families, while rolling out the war machine. Women are dying because we don’t have choices. Still, the answer that is shouted back at us is “just marry.”

But marriage has never been a safe space for women. And any argument that marriage provides comfort and equality under the benevolent protectorship of a husband isn’t borne out by the history of marriage — or the reality of it.

Even now, with all of its supposed advantages, marriage can be a trap for women, who are more likely than men to experience physical and emotional abuse in marriage. And nearly 20% of marriages involve violence . In 2021, 34% of female murder victims were killed by their intimate partner, compared to only 6% of male murder victims.

Marriage as an institution has been more about keeping some people out and locking others in. Founded on the laws of coverture, historically in marriage a woman’s identity was subsumed under her husband. But, of course, this relative safety of the marital relationship was only afforded to wealthy women. Poor people, the enslaved, queer or disabled people have been historically excluded from the benefits of marriage. Enslaved women , often forced into marriage, only kept those relationships at the whims of their enslavers, and were subject to sexual and racial violence as a result. Today, mass incarceration that targets Black men makes keeping a marriage together harder . Additionally, staying together as a family becomes difficult when the child welfare system targets Black families . And for centuries, until 1967, when the Loving v. Virginia Supreme Court ruling legalized interracial marriage, marriage was a means of policing racial purity. Also, it wasn’t until 2014, when the Supreme Court ruled in Obergefell v. Hodges, that gay marriage was made equal in the United States. People who are disabled were excluded from marriage because historically they were often institutionalized. Today, people who are disabled are often barred from the institution of marriage because they can lose access to life-saving benefits .

And you don’t have to look too far back in American history to see how wives were viewed under the law. It wasn’t until 1993 that marital rape was finally outlawed in all 50 states.

In response to these statistics, critics often accuse women of simply choosing to marry the wrong person. As if you can choose your way out of systemic inequality and an institution that was founded on the fundamental loss of personhood. In sum, marriage never has been, nor ever will be, a form of freedom.

It’s tempting, in a world beleaguered by a pandemic, where women still earn less than men, and where there is no affordable childcare, to see marriage as an appealing way of opting out of the ceaseless grind of capitalism. Better to work for a man who loves you rather than "the man," the logic goes. But it’s an upsetting logic, presuming that marriage is still the work of a woman, rather than a partnership of equals. Plus, that logic doesn’t parse. All it does is economically isolate women. A wife is far more likely to be abused by her husband than a stranger, and stay-at-home moms are more likely to be depressed and anxious .

In “The Second Sex,” Simone de Beauvoir argued that marriage is premised on a man treating a woman as a person enslaved while making her feel like a queen. She also notes, “It is more comfortable to endure blind bondage than to work for one’s liberation; the dead, too, are better suited to the earth than the living.” Beauvoir’s words feel like a face slap from the past, reminding modern women how long we’ve been struggling to be free from the unpaid labor of marriage and how much farther we have to go. Freedom isn’t found under the guardianship of a marriage, it’s found when we are seen as equal partners and given equal opportunities to earn money and control our bodies and our destinies.

Partnership, when executed with mutual respect, can be amazing. But marriage as an institution has never been about a woman’s freedom. And it won’t be until we have full equality.

This article was originally published on MSNBC.com

Any argument that marriage provides comfort and equality under the benevolent protectorship of a husband isn’t borne out by the history of marriage — or the reality of it.

After Shakira Said That Her Young Sons Thought That “Barbie” Was “Emasculating,” People Are Begging Parents To “Raise More Secure Men”

“I like pop culture when it attempts to empower women without robbing men of their possibility to be men,” Shakira said in a controversial new interview.

BuzzFeed Staff

When Barbie was released in July 2023, social media was immediately flooded with discourse as people reacted to the highly-anticipated movie.

Margot Robbie dancing in the Barbie movie

The film grossed over $1 billion in its first three weeks of release, and writer and director Greta Gerwig became the first female solo director in history to have a billion-dollar movie.

But while its cultural impact and staggering box office success is indisputable, some were left disappointed by Barbie’s storyline, which focused heavily on Ken.

Ryan Gosling stole the show as Margot Robbie ’s Barbie’s male counterpart, with the plot focusing on both of them learning about the patriarchy for the first time after they left Barbie Land and entered the Real World.

Others also criticized Barbie for being “ feminism 101 ,” with America Ferrera’s famous speech about all of the things that women are expected to be towards the end of the movie being branded “ basic ” and “ surface level .”

And the Barbie discourse erupted once again earlier this year when Margot and Greta didn’t receive Best Actress or Best Director Oscar nominations, but Ryan Gosling did receive a Best Supporting Actor nomination, as well as a nod in the Best Original Song category.

Ryan Gosling as Ken smiling hard as he gets his mug shot taken in a scene from Barbie

“Nominating Ken but not Barbie is so on the nose it hurts,” one viral tweet read at the time, with Hillary Clinton even entering the conversation to throw her support behind the two snubbed women.

By this point, people were getting fatigued by the conversation, and the outrage was branded “ the very epitome of white feminism ” as it was pointed out that Greta and Margot not being recognized by the academy was overshadowing Latinx actor America’s achievement after she was nominated in Best Supporting Actress.

It's also worth mentioning that the academy recognized Margot’s role as a producer in the Best Picture category, and Greta was nominated alongside Noah Baumbach for Best Adapted Screenplay.

Now, almost nine months after Barbie’s release, the debate around its feminist themes has once again gained traction due to Shakira ’s claim that watching the film had been an “ emasculating ” experience for her two sons.

Shakira in a shimmering top at an MTV event

The singer shares 11-year-old Milan and nine-year-old Sasha with her ex-partner Gerard Piqué.

In case you missed it, Shakira made a series of eyebrow-raising comments about Barbie in a new interview with Allure that was published on Monday.

Shakira in a satin dress with a thigh-high slit, seated with her two sons at an awards show

When asked about her thoughts on the blockbuster, she said: “My sons absolutely hated it. They felt that it was emasculating. And I agree, to a certain extent. I'm raising two boys. I want 'em to feel powerful too [while] respecting women. I like pop culture when it attempts to empower women without robbing men of their possibility to be men, to also protect and provide.”

“I believe in giving women all the tools and the trust that we can do it all without losing our essence, without losing our femininity,” Shakira continued. “I think that men have a purpose in society and women have another purpose as well. We complement each other, and that complement should not be lost.”

“Just because a woman can do it all doesn’t mean she should?” the star then asked. “Why not share the load with people who deserve to carry it, who have a duty to carry it as well?”

Suffice to say, people had a lot of opinions on Shakira’s comments and took to social media to share their thoughts.

Barbie and Ken driving in the Barbie movie

Discussing what the star had said on a Reddit forum, one popular comment simply reads: “You don't have to like Barbie as a movie (I loved it personally) but this is still one of the worst takes I've ever heard. Girl bye.”

Others were confused about what parts of the storyline were “emasculating” to young men, with one person asking: “emasculating? Why, bc Ken had an emotion and didn't end the movie as god? What's going on with your sons Shakira.”

“It's baffling ngl because Barbie's narrative dedicated soooo much time to Ken and his storyline/character development and went out of it's way to sympathize with his internal struggles and insecurities, and people still got mad,” another echoed.

While somebody else retorted: “Raise more secure men. I loved the movie."

It was also pointed out that Shakira’s quotes validated the entry-level feminism that previously saw Barbie receive backlash, with one popular comment reading: “When I watched it I thought that the feminist message was a bit basic and superficial, but it seems that actually that message is needed a lot.”

“There was a lot of discourse about the movie’s message around the Oscars and how it was too surface level to be meaningful or impactful but idk,” another user wrote. “I agree that it’s incredibly introductory, and yet there are people that walked away from it feeling like it was emasculating and man-hating. To me that says a lot. Everyone starts somewhere and if the Barbie movie is someone’s start, I can’t write it off just because my feminism is much more developed. It’s all very interesting to say the least."

This sentiment was echoed over on X, formerly Twitter, where one viral tweet about Shakira’s comments reads: “this is why barbie is a necessary movie for many women to be introduced to feminism 101 as they still suffer from internalised misogyny.”

“Whenever people complain about modern society ‘tearing men down’ and ‘emasculating’ them, it always comes back to wanting to maintain the prestige attached to masculinity,” somebody else tweeted . “It's always about pretending that gender roles are natural and not about power and access to resources.”

While another claimed : “If your sons hated a freaking Barbie movie because they felt ‘emasculated’ then you have failed to raise them correctly, like that’s on you beautiful.”

Shakira in an off-shoulder top and trousers, blowing a kiss at the Latin Grammy Awards

“Shakira: My boys need all movies (including female drive ones named Barbie) to portray Masculinity & Femininity the way they’ve done for the past 100 years or else they’ll feel small and irrelevant,” one more wrote .

“she really decided to set herself up for disaster with this horrendous take,” another user wrote . Somebody else tweeted : “her sons are 11 and 9 they do NOT use words like ‘emasculating.’”

Shakira has not publicly responded to the backlash to her comments, but we will let you know if she does!

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Listen. (3 min) The Shahed-model drone that killed three U.S. service members at a remote base in Jordan on Jan. 28 cost around $20,000. It was part of a family of drones built by Shahed Aviation ...
Shakira Sparks Backlash For Saying Sons Found Barbie "Emasculating"
Now, almost nine months after Barbie's release, the debate around its feminist themes has once again gained traction due to Shakira 's claim that watching the film had been an " emasculating " experience for her two sons. John Nacion / WireImage. The singer shares 11-year-old Milan and nine-year-old Sasha with her ex-partner Gerard Piqué.

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