Feminism

In theory, feminism is trying to achieve better rights (whether they be social, cultural, economic) for women. This is linked with attempting to gain equal rights with men. This is a good thing as inequality between the two genders has went on for far too long and feminism is a way to reverse this.

This type of feminism can be divided into three different waves:

First wave feminism took place from the mid-19th century (mid 1800s) to early 20th century (1900s). This was women trying to fight for equal social and political rights, with the main focus being on getting the right to vote (suffrage). This succeeded in getting women the vote (1918; women over 30 could now vote. 1928; women and men vote on equal terms). Other results included; women being allowed higher education, property rights and jobs being more available to them.

Second wave feminism was a libertarian movement during the 1960s and 1970s. This mainly focused on issues like unequal pay, rights at work and not having enough representation in public bodies such as Parliament.

Third wave feminism occurred in the 1980s and 1990s and was different compared to the two previous waves in that it was less about fighting for equality (which has, more or less, been achieved) and more about emphasising positive qualities about women.

All of these waves were positive and all-around successful however recently there has been a, most-likely, vocal minority in the feminist group. These feminists could be said to have painted a bad image for the movement as, nowadays, when people talk about feminism they usually mean it in the negative sense that these feminists use.

This is an example of a bad feminist stereotype by Pat Robertson. This is obviously not true but some people have taken it to heart and do believe this about feminists. The reason for this may be because of the actions of the small minority of feminists as mentioned above. It should be noted that as of 2016, Pat Robertson is 86 years old so his viewpoints are from a radically different time were gender inequality was much more prevalent in society.