Published on 20th April 2025
Authored By: Farha Faiz
University of London
Abstract
Feminism is a vibrant movement that challenges the patriarchal ideology that prioritizes men in all social aspects. Feminism openly criticizes the male dominance and discrimination, which restricts the presence of women in society simply because of being a woman, which leads to wage gaps, limited access to economic, political, and social prospects, gender-based violence, etc.
Women have played multiple roles as follows: as a wife, who is obliged to care for her husband and his chores and kids. As a daughter, she has the responsibilities to take care of her parents and obey their words, and she must ensure the safety and well-being of kids, including education, food, etc., as a mother. Nevertheless, in the present sociocultural era, women are more dignified as career women who are also allowed to work and support their families.
In the annals of history, women are exhibited as equivalent to slaves and projected as an object of their father’s or husband’s. The feminist movement criticized that law and society favor men more and are gender biased. They expected that the legal aspects in society should be changed and aimed to dismantle the patriarchal social structure[1].
It is a source of pride to witness the evolution of feminism and its journey so far. Despite that growth, feminism can be expressed through diverse approaches by legal scholars and activists around the globe. Although feminism has reached heights and wider recognition in the contemporary world, there are a multitude of misconceptions and critics are being addressed and are being expected to be clarified.
Feminism and its evolution
Feminism stresses the urge for gender equality in every single matter, including education, health, employment, bodily autonomy, and legal rights. This movement desires that the rights, dignity, and dreams of women and young girls should be respected and accepted as how men’s and young boys’ hopes and rights are welcomed in society.
In light of G.D. Anderson, ‘feminism is not about making women strong. Women are already strong. It is about changing the way that the world perceives strength’[2]. Accordingly, the vision of the feminist movement is about having equal rights and opportunities as the male gender. Rather, it’s not about exalting females or aggrandizing themselves.
Feminist activists, Mary Wollstonecraft’s contribution holds a special place in the feminist era. Her work, ‘A Vindication of the Rights of Women’ significantly challenged the inequality between genders. Her main concern was to enhance the knowledge of women and emphasized the need for education. Her thoughts and insights on women and their rights empowered later feminist movements and writers to fight for their rights and autonomy.[3]
In the incipient phase of feminism, the feminist movement has unfolded into three waves. The first face of development magnified the women’s appearance in the legal phase. The main achievement of the movement was the right to vote (suffrage) and securing legal rights for women in society. They also dealt with education, property rights, and bodily autonomy. At the outset of the first wave of US development, The Seneca Falls Convention played a crucial role in evolving women’s rights in 1848.
During the nascent period of the feminist movement, the second wave was expanded beyond the legal rights. It addressed the challenges of male dominance, social structure, and cultural norms in the community. They deepen the issues like sexuality, domestic violence, and de facto and legal disparities. Further, this wave offered a critique on unfairness that is faced by females in the workplace and employment. A notable development that occurred within this wave the women’s enhancement in legal education. As a result, towards the end of the 1960s, female legal was students started to question and focus on the matters of rape, sexual harassment, sexual discrimination, domestic violence, and reproduction.
An important case, Tukaram and Anr. vs. State of Maharashtra, which is known as the ‘Mathura Rape Case (1972)[4], representing a watershed moment in Indian judicial history, necessitates discussion here. A 16-year-old tribal girl, Mathura, was raped on the 26th of March, 1972, by two police constables within the police station area. After so many protests and outcry from the public, two constables were arrested. However, the judgments of this case favored the accused and stated that since the victim was habituated to sexual intercourse, her consent was already given. The Supreme Court failed to distinguish between consent and forcible submission. Accordingly, this case was demonstrative evidence of how women were treated as second-class individuals in the stereotypical society. This case was the main foundation for strengthening the laws regarding women and their rights.
Through a historical lens, the third wave played a crucial role due to its emphasis on intersectionality. Unlike other traditional aspects of feminism, it highlights that gender is not an independent factor; rather, it should be interconnected with other social factors like race, class, and sexuality. It challenges that the oppressed female around the world experience and feel the oppression in the same manner. It more highlights and expresses how different diversities of females face different issues in different ways. Yes! Not all the females from different societies experience unique problems; it is obviously different from others. For example, differing from the lived realities of white women, Black women are discriminated against by their color at workplaces.
Despite the historical development of feminism across three main waves, a significant number of societal misconceptions remain to be clarified.
Misconception of feminism theories
In point of fact, the ideology behind the word ‘feminism’ is erroneously interpreted as ‘female supremacy’ theory. Contrary to popular belief, the feminist movement is centered on achieving a more equitable era for all humankind, regardless of their gender discrimination. It is the biggest misconception within the populace that all the feminists hate men and work against men. This misconception was explicitly addressed by Kate Nash: ‘Feminism is not a dirty word. It does not mean you hate men. It means you believe in equality’. In accordance with this statement, it is clear that feminist movements cherish women’s strength, rights, dignity, and their presence in society, rather than blaming the male cohort.
Another instance of misunderstanding regarding feminism centers on the idea of the ‘sameness’ approach[5]. This approach has been misunderstood and necessitates continued clarification. Most of the people misinterpret the word ‘sameness’ as both men and women are the same in all ways. No! That cannot be always true. The natures of men and women are biologically and physically different. There is a misbelief that women desire to be exactly like men, and they urge doing the things that men do. Contrary to the view above, the sameness approach truly highlights that the opportunities, human dignity, respect, and fundamental rights should be equally given to both males and females. This approach encourages women to access to education, shine in their careers, and appear in politics, the same as men.
The question of male engagement in the feminist movement is a heated debate among people. Yes! Men also can be feminists too. There is no objection to that. It is the grave misconception of the modern world that all feminists hate men and blame all the male collective. No! It is completely inaccurate. Establishing gender equality is not solely women’s responsibility; it is a collective obligation of both men and women. Men also can voice out against traditional masculinity and oppression.[6]
In the present context, many actors openly express their disagreements on the wage gap and sexual harassment on their social media. Notably, many male musicians collaborate with female musicians to fight against male stereotype thoughts. It is crucial to emphasize that the male projects, like the ‘White Ribbon’ campaign, should be more recognized around the globe, which eliminates gender-biased concepts and violence against females.
There’s a false assumption that feminists are a homogenous group. There is no necessity that all feminists around the globe should follow the same feminist approach. Feminism encompasses multiple branches and perspectives, including liberal feminism, radical feminism, cultural feminism, Black feminism, etc. The liberal feminists express the belief that both genders should be treated equally, and their core ideas are equal rights, freedom of choice, and democracy. Another group of feminists believes in radical feminism, which emphasizes that male domination is the main cause of women oppression. Topics such as sexual violence, domestic abuse, pornography, and prostitution are the more concerning issues of them. Activists like Catherine MacKinnon believed that radical feminist ideology was the only truly feminist theory. Furthermore, another influential feminist perspective is cultural feminism that prioritizes ‘feminine’ qualities and values their feminine nature, such as empathy, nurturing, love, and their experience as well. Unlike other approaches, it focuses on the differences between men and women and values feminine nature as a strength of females. [7]
In spite of many misconceptions and flaws that are circulated around feminism, there’s always a question of what achievements have been gained so far.
The historical success of feminist movement
Notably, there are numerous achievements that can be listed as a success of the feminist movement. In many countries, females are respected and equally paid at their workplaces. Certain provisions of EU Law, such as Article 157 TFEU and the Equal Pay Directive, are the accomplished objectives that encourage equal pay in workplaces.
A further significant accomplishment of feminist movements is the positive development within the judicial system. Countries like the United Kingdom are more specific and give attention to laws and rights of women in domestic violence, sex, etc. Compared to Asian countries. As evident in the case of R v R (1991)[8], the court clearly emphasizes that marital rape is a crime and a wife’s consent is more important for sexual intercourse within marriage itself. This case significantly addresses women’s sexual autonomy within marriage and dignity. Accordingly, it is manifestly clear that the feminist movements have been influenced and have worked really hard to reform and develop the laws and regulations for females and their rights.
Additionally, judgments that favors women in marital rape in the R v R case and acknowledgement of battered women syndrome in the case of Ahluwalia v. Ahluwalia[9] are the huge successes of feminist movements. Further, some cases like R v Humphreys [10]and R v Thornton[11] highlight the differences between men and women and challenge the legal system to be changed in homicide cases.
A substantial number of females actively participate in politics and are chosen for leadership roles around the globe regardless of their color and nature. This is the best sign of how feminism has influenced so far. In today’s context, Sanna Marine was selected as the youngest female prime minister in Finland. Additionally, it is worthy to address that countries like the United Kingdom, Norway, and Latin America encourage women to take part in legislature by introducing the sexual quota.
While western countries have achieved considerable legal and reformative goals, Asian countries continue to have a lack of progress. However, the situation has been uplifted in recent times. For example, a female actress, Priyanka Chopra, has stated in an interview that she was paid equally as a male actor for the first time in the series called ‘Citadel’ in her 22 year career. This is a notably sad reality of the gender pay gap in the entertainment industry. Introduction of the 25% appearance of women in Parliament is an additional noteworthy factor.
Conclusion
Feminism is not merely a movement to value the women’s contribution and rights; it is a dynamic and unique coordination of thousands of women and men to light up many lives of females around the globe. It is pride that the movements are more recognized and welcomed by people regardless of gender, race, and sex, etc. in today’s contemporary world. Despite there being considerable misconceptions and flaws in understanding feminism, social media and other platforms boost and support to enlightening the feminism. Failing to recognize the aspects of feminist movements, the lives of females will be in danger and will lose the dignity of half of the society.
References
[1] Laura Brunell, Elinor Burkett, feminism, Britannica, https://www.britannica.com/topic/feminism
[2] G.D. ANDERSON, https://gdanderson.com.
[3] Mary Wollstoncraft, A Vindication of the Rights of Women Summary, https://www.litcharts.com/lit/a-vindication-of-the-rights-of-woman/summary
[4] Tukaram and Anr. vs. State of Maharashtra, AIR 1979 SC 185
[5] Annaleigh Curtis, Feminism Part 1: The Sameness Approach, https://1000wordphilosophy.com/2014/04/17/feminism-part-1-the-sameness-approach/
[6] Rachel Murray, Demystifying Feminism: 8 Common Myths Debunked, inclusion geeks, https://www.inclusiongeeks.com/articles/demystifying-feminism-8-common-myths-debunked
[7] Rachel Murray, Demystifying Feminism: 8 Common Myths Debunked, inclusion geeks, https://www.inclusiongeeks.com/articles/demystifying-feminism-8-common-myths-debunked
[8] R v R [1991], UKHL 12
[9] Ahluwalia v. Ahluwalia (2023), ONCA 471.
[10]R v Humphreys (1995), 4 All ER 545
[11] R v Thornton (1996), 2 All ER 985
