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International Journal of Research in Economics and Social Sciences(IJRESS) Available online at: http://euroasiapub.org Vol. 10 Issue 7, July- 2020 ISSN(o): 2249-7382 | Impact Factor: 7.101 | FEMINISM :DEFINITION AND TYPES ANUPRIYA RESEARCH SCHOLAR B.N.M. UNIVERSITY,MADHEPURA ABSTRACT This article aims to throw light on the origin of feminism and its different shades. Charles Fourier, a French philosopher is credited with having coined the term “feminisme” in 1837.Fenminismis a belief in the social, political and economic equality of the sexes. Different shades of feminism discussed in this article are Socialist, Marxist, Radical,Black feminism, Popfeminism,Ecofeminism,Essentialist,Cultural,Post-Colonial,Post modern, Postfeminism, Amazon feminism, I-feminism,Anarcha feminism etc. Thus feminism can be seen as a framework for building an egalitarian society. Keywords: I-feminism, Black feminism, Anarcha feminism, Amazon feminism, Ecofeminism. INTRODUCTION Feminism is a belief in the social, political and economic equality of the sexes. Feminist Theory is an outgrowth of the general movement to empower women worldwide.It can be definedas a recognition and crtitique of male supremacy combined with efforts to change it. A feminist thus advocates or supports the rights and equality of women. Feminist movements have campaigned and continue to campaign for women’s rights,including the right to vote,to hold public office, to work,to earn fair wages,or equal pay,to own property,to education, to enter contracts ,to have equal rights within marriage,and to have maternity leave. CHARLES FOURIER ,a Utopian Socialist and French philosopher is credited with having coined the word”feminisme” in 1837.The words “feminisme”and “feminist”first appeared in France and Netherland in 1872,Great Britain in the 1890s and the United States in 1910,and The Oxford English Dictionary lists 1852 as the year of the first appearanceof “feminist”and 1895 for”feminism.” Depending on historical movement,culture and country,feminists around the world have had different causes and goals.Most Western feminist historians assert that all movements which work to obtain women’s rights should be considered feminist movements,even when they do not apply the term to themselves.Other historians assert that the term should be limited to the modern feminist movement and the descendants.So in order to describe the earlier movements,the term “PROTOFEMINIST” is used. The history of the modern, Western feminist,movement is divided into three “WAVES.”Each wave dealt with different aspects of the same feminist issues.The first wave comprised women’s suffarage movements of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries,promoting International Journal of Research in Economics & Social Sciences 181 Email:- [email protected], http://www.euroasiapub.org (An open access scholarly, peer-reviewed, interdisciplinary, monthly, and fully refereed journal.) International Journal of Research in Economics and Social Sciences(IJRESS) Available online at: http://euroasiapub.org Vol. 10 Issue 7, July- 2020 ISSN(o): 2249-7382 | Impact Factor: 7.101 | women,s rights to vote.The second wave was associated with ideas and actions of the womens’ liberation movement beginning in the 1960s.The second wave campaigned for legal and social equality for women.The third was in a continuation of and a reaction to the perceived failures of second-wave feminism,beginning in the 1990s. SENECA FALLS,NEW YORK is said to be the birthplace of American feminism.ELIZABETH CADY STANTON and LUCRETIA MOTL spearheaded the first Womens Rights Convention in Seneca Falls in 1848.The Convention brought in more than 300 people.The discussion was focussed on the social,cilvil,and religious condition of women.The Convention lead to the Declaration of Sentiments which was modelled after The Declaration Of Independence.The Convention marked a 22 year battle to gain women the right to vote in the US.In 1920 women won the right to vote. In Germany the feminists were fighting for the right of women to engage in sexual relations regardless of marital and legal consideration.Marianne Welar –a feminist, thought that women should be treated equally in the social institutions.She made it clear that marriage was between man and women. The Contemporary feminism movement began in the 1960s.Free love helped escape the sexual double standard.Divorce became commonplace.Women were “happy housewives”no more.Higher level employment and fulfillment outside the home were becoming the norm. LIBERAL FEMINISM All people are created equal and should not be denied equality of opportunity because of gender.Liberal Feminists focus their change on social change through the construction of legislation and regulation of employment practises. Inequality stems from the denial of equal rights.The primary obstacle to equality is sexism.Liberal Feminists argue that society holds the false belief that women are by nature less intellectually and physically capale than men,thus it tends to discriminate against women in the academy,the forum and the marketplace.Liberal Feminists believe that “female subordination rooted in asset of customary and legal constraints that blocks women’s entrance and success in the so called public world.” In the United States,Liberal feminism was quiet for four decades after winning the vote in 1920. In the 1960s during the Civil Rights Movement ,Liberal Feminists drew paralles between systemic race discrimination and sex discrimination.Groups such as The National Organization for Women,The Nationa Women’s political Caucus,and The Womens Equity Action League were all created at that time to further women’s rights. Other issues important to Liberal Feminists include but are not limited to reproductive rights and abortion access,sexual harassment,voting,education,fair compensation for work,affordable child care,and bringing to light the frequency of sexual and domestic violence against women International Journal of Research in Economics & Social Sciences 182 Email:- [email protected], http://www.euroasiapub.org (An open access scholarly, peer-reviewed, interdisciplinary, monthly, and fully refereed journal.) International Journal of Research in Economics and Social Sciences(IJRESS) Available online at: http://euroasiapub.org Vol. 10 Issue 7, July- 2020 ISSN(o): 2249-7382 | Impact Factor: 7.101 | MARXIST FEMINISM (MATERIALIST FEMINISM) Marxist feminism is a branch of feminism focused on investing and explaining the ways in which women are oppressed through systems of capitalism and private property.According to Marxist Feminists,women’s liberation can only be achieved through a radical reconstructing of the current capitalist economy, in which much of women’s labour is uncompensated. INTERSECTIONALITY AND MARXIST FEMINISM With the emergence of intersectionality as a widely popular theory of current feminism,Marxist feminists are broadening their focus to include persons that would be at an increased risk of exploitation in a capitalist system while also remaining critical of intersectionality theory for relying on burgeois identity politics.The current organization Radical Women provides a clear example of successful incorporation of the goals of Marxist Feminism.Without overlooking identities that are more susceptible to exploitation.They contend that elimination of the capitalist profit driven economy will remove the motivation for sexism,racism,homophobia and other forms. RADICAL FEMINISM Male power and privilege is the basis of social relations.Sexism is the main tool used by men to keep women oppressed.Women’s oppression is the most widespread and the deepest.This in turn causes the most suffering.Women’s oppression thus provides a conceptual model for understanding of all other forms of oppression.Radical Feminism thus believes in speaking out against all social structures as they are all created by men. Radical Feminists seek to abolish patriarchy,by challenging existing social norms and institutions, rather than through a purely political process.This includes challenging the notion of tradition gender roles,opposing the sexual objectification of women, and raising public awareness about rape and violence against women. Early Radical feminism arising within second wave feminism in the 1960s,typically viewed patriarchy as “transhistorical phenomenon”prior to or deeper than other sources of oppressin,”not only the oldest and most universal form of domination but the primary form and the model for all others. Radical feminists locate the root cause of women’s oppression in patriarchial gender relations, as opposed to legal systems (as in liberal feminism) or class conflict(as in anarchist feminism,social feminism and Marxist Feminism).Radical feminists also believe that eliminating patriarchy,and other systems which perpetuate the domination of one group over another,will liberate everyone from an unjust society.Thus there was a spark to legalize abortion. International Journal of Research in Economics & Social Sciences 183 Email:- [email protected], http://www.euroasiapub.org (An open access scholarly, peer-reviewed, interdisciplinary, monthly, and fully refereed journal.) International Journal of Research in Economics and Social Sciences(IJRESS) Available online at: http://euroasiapub.org Vol. 10 Issue 7, July- 2020 ISSN(o): 2249-7382 | Impact Factor: 7.101 | SOCIALIST FEMINISM It aims at viewing women’s oppression as stemming from their work in the family and the economy.Women’s inferior position is the result of class-based