Fifteenth Century Literature

The poor quality and general lifelessness of the 15th century verse is suggested by the fact that the greater part of it is initiative. The poets tried their best to follow the footstep of Chaucer but had failed. The best known are Thomas Occleve (1370?-1450?) and John Lydgate (1370?-1451). Occleve wrote a long poem “The Governial Of Princess”, in Chaucer’s seven line stanza (ababbcc) and in the prologue, in which he tells us much about himself, describes his gried on Chaucer’s death and signs his master’s pieces. In “A Regiment Of Princess,” his attention to the fashions of the period, Lydgate’s longer productions being the “Storie Of Thebes”” (designed as a new Canterbury Tales”), the “Troy Boke” and the “Falls Of Princes”-the last based on a French paraphrase of a Latin work by Boccaccio...........

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Fifteenth Century Literature

With Chaucer English literature made a brilliant beginning, but it was only a beginning, and after his death we enter upon a long barren period i.e. one and a half century.

The poor quality and general lifelessness of the 15th century verse is suggested by the fact that the greater part of it is initiative. The poets tried their best to follow the footstep of Chaucer but had failed. The best known are Thomas Occleve (1370?-1450?) and John Lydgate (1370?-1451). Occleve wrote a long poem “The Governial Of Princess”, in Chaucer’s seven line stanza (ababbcc) and in the prologue, in which he tells us much about himself, describes his gried on Chaucer’s death and signs his master’s pieces. In “A Regiment Of Princess,” his attention to the fashions of the period, Lydgate’s longer productions being the “Storie Of Thebes”” (designed as a new Canterbury Tales”), the “Troy Boke” and the “Falls Of Princes”-the last based on a French paraphrase of a Latin work by Boccaccio.

The best poetry of the 15th century was written in Scotland. James I of Scotland (1394-1437) tells in his “King’s Quair,” his love for the lady Jane Beaufort (the Duke of Somerset’s daughter). In William Dunbar (1465?-1530?) graceful allegorical poem, The Thistle And The Rose, composed to commemorate the marriage of James IV of Scotland and Margarete, daughter of Henry VII of England. But his best known ballad is Dance of the seven deadly sins. There is a combination of vigour, broad humour and homely pathos which belongs wholly to the character of the poet and his native soil. Robert Henryson (1430-1505?) who followed Chaucerian models in testament of Cresseide and also Robin and Makyne a story which anticipates Burn’s Duncan Gray. Gowin Douglas (1474-1522), whose Political of honor is full of Chaucer, while his original prologues to the successive books of the translation Aeneid bears a stamp of his own mind and style.

During the 15th century prose made some leeway. Many remarkable works were produced. The learned Reginald (1390?-1460?) wrote two prose works—Repressor Of Overmuch Blaming Of The Clergy, and Boke Of Faith. His works are rugged and obscure but his vocabulary was excessive and bordered on the land of the tautology and redundancy. The political treatise of Sir John Fortescue (1394?-1476?) The Difference Between An Absolute And A Limited Monarchy and William Caxton’s (1422?-1491?) Recuryell Of The Histories Of Troye and The Game And The Plays Of Chess, remarks a good example. The best known among prose writers of the century is Thomas Malory (d. 1471?). His Morte D’Arthur is a compilation. The book is written with a uniform dignity and fervor. The style has a transparent clarity and a poetic sensitivity. The dialogue and narrative is full of flour and life.

Thus we find that the 15th century is a great era of preparation. H.S. Bennet writes, “the break up of the old memorial system, the decline of chivalry, the isolation caused by the hundred years war, the rise of middle class, the increasing ability to read and write English—things such as these helped to make the century a notable one, albeit puzzling, full of divided aims and lacking in much that encourage great literature.

Feminist Criticism

Feminism is the belief in social, political and economic equality of the sexes and a movement organised around the belief *2 that gender should not be the predeterminant factor shaping a person's social identity or sociopolitical or economic rights. Feminist literary criticism affiliates women with two things - one is the representation of women in literature and another is to change the condition of women through making them free from the repressive hindrances.
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Feminist Criticism

A free and autonomous being like all human creatures (a woman) nevertheless finds herself living in a world where man compel her to assume the status of the other. *1

Feminism is the belief in social, political and economic equality of the sexes and a movement organised around the belief *2 that gender should not be the predeterminant factor shaping a person's social identity or sociopolitical or economic rights. Feminist literary criticism affiliates women with two things - one is the representation of women in literature and another is to change the condition of women through making them free from the repressive hindrances. It has great connection with the fundamental attachments of modern literary theory. So, Feminist criticism is a part of the greater movement for women's equality in society.

Feminist theory aims to understand the nature of gender inequality. In examines women's social roles and lived experience and feminist politics in variety of fields."3

Feminism became an organized movement in the 19th century as people increasingly came to believe that women were being treated unfairly. Charles Fourier coined the word féminisme in 1837. He had argued that the extension of women's rights was the general principle of all social progress. At first the feminist movement concentrated on gaining legal equality especially the right to vote, called suffrage. Women in the United States and many European nations finally obtained the vote during the early 1900's. The Feminist movement nearly disappeared after women received the right to vote. During the mid 1900's however increasing the numbers of women entered the labour force. They found them. A new concern with economic and social equality helped to create a revival of the feminist movement in the 1960's. The national list fought to end education and job discrimination against women.

Feminist criticism can be divided into two distinct varieties- (1) the first type is concerned with woman as reader with woman as the consumer of male produced literature and with the ways in which the hypothesis of a female reader changes our apprehension of a given text awakening up to the significance of its sexual codes. (2) the second type is concerned with woman as writer with woman as the produces of textual meaning, with the history, themes, genres and structures of literature by women.

Many feminist thinkers raised their pen againist oppression, suppression and inequality of women. One of them is Wollstonecraft. In her book "A vindication of the Rights of Women," (1792). She describes the state of ignorance in which society kept women. Sarah M. Gimke in her pamphlet "Letters on the Equality of the Sexes and the Condition of Woman (1838)" placed a powerful argument against the religious leaders.

The Feminist literary criticism of today is the direct product of the "women's movement" of the 1968's. The concern with conditioning and socialization underpins a crucial set of distinctions that between the terms feminist, female and feminine. As Toril Moi explains "a matter of biology' and the third "a set of culturally defined characteristics." *04

Feminism is not a single ideology. Over-time several sub-types of feminist ideology have developed. . Early feminists and primary feminist movements are often called the first-wave feminists, and feminists after about 1960 the second-wave feminists. More recently, a new generation of feminists have started third-wave feminism.

Feminist criticism since the 1970's has been remarkable for the wide range of positions that exist within it debates and disagreements have centered on three particular areas, there being -

1. The role of theory

2. The nature of language and

3. The value or otherwise of psychoanalysis.

Feminist criticism and the role of theory:

The Anglo-Americans maintain a major interest in traditional critical concepts like themes, movie and characterization.

English feminist criticism is, after all, often distinctly different from Americans.

Feminist Criticism and Language:

Virginia Woolf in her essay is gendered so that when a woman turns to novel writing, she finds that there is no common sentence ready for her use she quotes am example and says that is a man's sentence : this has been " subsemstently developed and theorized by feminist critics such as Dale Spenser is "man made language" 1980.

English-speaking feminists are often proponents of using non-sexist language, using "Ms." to refer to both married and unmarried women, for example, or the ironic use of the term "herstory" instead of "history". Feminists are also often proponents of using gender-inclusive language, such as "humanity" instead of "mankind", or "he or she" in place of "he" where the gender is unknown.

Feminist criticism and Psychoanalysis:

The story, feminisms's relationship with psychoanalysis, can be said to begin, like so much else, with Kate Millett's "sexual politics" in 1969 which condemns Freud as a prime source of the patriarchal attitudes againist which feminist must fight.

Postcolonial feminist criticizes certain ideas of western forms of feminism, notably radical feminism and its most basic assumption, universalization of the female experience. They argue that this assumption can not so easily be applied to women for whim gender oppression comes second to, for example racial or class oppression.

Relationship to other movements:

Most feminists take a holistic approach to politics, believing the saying of Martin Luther King Jr., "A threat to justice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere".*5 In that belief, some feminists usually support other movements such as the civil rights movement, the gay rights movement and, more recently fathers' rights.

Criticism of Feminist Criticism:

Feminism has attracted attention due to the social changes it has effected in Western society.

Some critics (both male and female) find that some feminists are effectively preaching hate against males or claiming male inferiority, citing that if the words "male" and "female" were replaced by "black" and "white" respectively in some feminist writings, the texts could be viewed as racist propaganda. While some feminists generally disagree with the view that men are equally oppressed under patriarchy, other feminists, especially third-wave feminists agree that men are similarly oppressed and that gender equality means oppression of neither gender.

Some argue that because of feminism, males are beginning to be oppressed. Those who make this claim often note that males die from suicide 4 times more frequently than females attempting suicide in the USA. *6

Many people object to the feminist movement as trying to destroy traditional gender roles. They say that men and women have many natural differences and that everyone benefits from recognizing those differences.

Conclusion: Throughout history, women have usually had fewer rights and lower social status than men. Feminist movement has enabled large groups of women to question and determine their rights and responsibilities.…

Reference:

01.Simone De Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1959.

02. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition.

03. http://en/wikipedia.org/wiki/Feminist_Theory

04. Peter Barry, Literary Criticism, 2002, Page 122.

05. Martin Luther King Jr., Letter from Birmingham Jail, April 16, 1963

06. http://www.who.int/mental_health/media/en/374.pdf

Feminist Criticism

"Towards A Feminist poetics" is Showalter’s important critical essay.  Showalter discusses the following topics in this essay.  They are:

1.     Woman as reader [Feminist Critique],

2.     Woman as writer [Gynocritics],

3.     The problems of Feminist Critique,

4.     Program of Gynocritics, and,

5.     Feminine, Feminist and Female Stages..............
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Feminist Criticism

Feminist Criticism in the Wilderness

"Towards A Feminist poetics" is Showalter’s important critical essay.  Showalter discusses the following topics in this essay.  They are:

1.     Woman as reader [Feminist Critique],

2.     Woman as writer [Gynocritics],

3.     The problems of Feminist Critique,

4.     Program of Gynocritics, and,

5.     Feminine, Feminist and Female Stages.

1) Woman as reader [Feminist Critique]

According to Elaine Showalter feminism can be divided into two distinct varieties.  The first type is concerned with ‘woman as reader’.  In this concept woman is considered as the consumer of literature produced by male-writers.  She calls it male-produced literature.  Elaine argues that a female reading may change our idea of a given text.  Elaine calls this kind of analysis the feminist critique.  It is a historically grounded inquiry.  Its subjects include the images and stereotypes of women in literature, the omissions and misconceptions about women in criticism.  It also look into the fissures in male constructed literary history.  For example Cleopatra, the queen of Egypt, at the time of Julius Caesar has been treated differently by Shakespeare and Bernard Shaw.  Bernard Shaw gives her the role of Caesar’s adopted daughter, whereas Shakespeare considers her Caesar’s concubine.  Feminist critique also concerned with the exploitation and the manipulation of the female audience, especially in popular culture and film.  We find advertisements in which women appear in different poses exhibiting part of their body to get more publicity to various consumer products. 

2)Woman as writer [Gynocritics] 

The second type of feminist criticism is concerned with woman as writer.  In this concept woman is the producer of textual meaning.  It looks into and discusses themes, genres and structures of literatures by woman.  Woman as writer includes the following subjects:

a)      The psychodynamics of a female creativity,

b)      Linguistics and the problem of a female language,

c)       The collective female literary career,

d)      Literary history, and,

e)      Studies of particular female writers and their works.

As there is no particular term in English for such a branch, Elaine has adopted the French term la gynocritique and modified it as Gynocritics.

The Feminist critique is essentially political and polemical.  It is theoretically affiliated to Marxist sociology and Aesthetics.  Gynocritics is more self contained and experimental.

3) The problems of the Feminist critique

One of the problems of the Feminist critique is that it is male-oriented.  If we study stereotypes women, the sexism of male critics and the limited role the women play in literary history, we are not learning what women have felt and experienced.  We get only experience of whaat men have felt.  In some fields of specialization apprenticeship to the male-theoretician is essential.  That poses another problem, the problem of reluctance or resistance to questioning.  The critic has a tendency to naturalize women’s victimization by making it the inevitable.

4) Program of Gynocritics

The program of Gynocritics is to construct a female frame work for the analysis of women’s literarature.  Another task is to develop new models based on the study of female experience.  It doesn’t support the idea of adopting male models and theories.  Showalter remarks “Gynocritics begins at the point when we free ourselves from the lenear absolutes of male literary theory, stop trying to fit women between the lines of the male tradition.  Elaine hopes to establish a visible world of female culture. 

  

5)Feminine, Feminist and Female stages

In her book “A Literature of Their Own” Elaine Showalter writes on English women writers.  She says that we can see patterns and phases in the evolution of a female tradition.  Showalter has divided the period of evolution into three stages.  They are: the Feminine, the Feminist, and, the Female stages.

1)      The first phase, the feminine phase dates from about 1840-1880.  During that period women wrote in an effort to equal the intellectual achievements of the male culture.  The distinguishing sign of this period is the male pseudonym.  This trend was introduced in England in the 1840’s.  It became a national characteristic of English women writers. During this phase the feminist content of feminine art is typically oblique, because of the inferiority complex experienced by female writers. 

2)      The feminist phase lasted about 38 years; from 1882 to 1920.  The New Women movement gained strength—women won the right to vote.  Women writers began to use literature to dramatize the ordeals of wrong womanhood.

3)      The latest phase or the third phase is called the female phase ongoing since 1920.  Here we find women rejecting both imitation and protest.  Showalter considers that both are signs of dependency. Women show more independent attitudes.  They realize the place of female experience in the process of art and literature.  She considers that there is what she calls autonomous art that can come from women because their experiences are typical and individualistic.  Women began to concentrate on the forms and techniques of art and literature.  The representatives of the female phase such as Dorothy Richardson and Virginia Woolf even began to think of male and female sentences.  They wrote about masculine journalism and feminine fiction.  They redefined and sexualized external and internal experience.    

Feminist Criticism

Feminist criticism has gradually shifted its center from revisionary readings to a sustained investigation of literature by women. Showalter starts her essay with the poem of LOUISE BOGAN, "Women” which opens with the lines:

“Women have no wilderness in them,

They are provident instead,

Content in the tight hot cell of their hearts

To eat dusty bread. ......

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Feminist Criticism

Feminist Criticism in the Wilderness

It is impossible to define a feminine practice of writing, and this is an
impossibility  that will remain, for this practice will never be theorized, 
 enclosed, encoded-which doesn't mean that it doesn't exist.

-HELENE CIXOUS, "The Laugh of the Medusa"

Feminist criticism has gradually shifted its center from revisionary readings to a sustained investigation of literature by women. Showalter starts her essay with the poem of LOUISE BOGAN, "Women” which opens with the lines:

“Women have no wilderness in them,

They are provident instead,

Content in the tight hot cell of their hearts

To eat dusty bread. 

With the publication of Virginia Woolf’s A Room of One’s Own (1920) a step in the direction of inspiring women to become writers was taken. This way is called Feminist Bible that upholds women as creative artist. In the very first paragraph of the essay Woolf emphatically remarks: 

“—a woman must have money and

a room of her own if she is to write fiction.” 

Woolf thinks “A woman's writing is always feminine; it cannot help being feminine; at its best it is most feminine; the only difficulty lies in defining what we mean by feminine.”

Elan Showalter, in her essay Feminist criticism in Wilderenss (1985) defines and explores the development of women centered criticism which chiefly evaluated the women’s writing as expression of women’s experience. She says that “If in 1981, feminist literary critics are still wandering in the wilderness, we are in good company; for, as Geoffrey Hartman tells us, all criticism is in the wilderness”but quoting Goeffrey she says all criticism is in wilderness today. She says, in feminine criticism had been no theoretical basis and it has been “an empirical orphan in the theoretical storm.” In this essay Showalter analyses four theoretical models that explore the difference between the androcentric and gynocentric criticism. These models are biological, linguistic, psychoanalytic and cultural. The cultural model provides “a more complete and satisfying way to talk about the specificity and difference of women's writing than theories based in biology, linguistics, or psychoanalysis..”

There are two distinct modes of feminist criticism, and to conflate them (as most commentators do) is to remain permanently bemused by their theoretical potentialities. The first mode is ideological; it is concerned with the feminist as reader, and it offers feminist readings of texts which consider the images and stereotypes of women in literature, the omissions and misconceptions about women in criticism, and woman-as- sign in semiotic systems. This is not all feminist reading can do; it can be a liberating intellectual act, as Adrienne Rich proposes: A radical critique of literature, feminist in its impulse, would take the work first of all as a clue to how we live, how we have been living, how we have been led to imagine ourselves, how our language has trapped as well as liberated us, how the very act of naming has been till now a male prerogative, and how we can begin to see and name-and therefore live-afresh.

The second mode of feminist criticism engendered by this process is the study of women as writers, and its subjects are the history, styles, themes, genres, and structures of writing by women; the psychodynamics of female creativity; the trajectory of the individual or collective female career; and the evolution and laws of a female literary tradition. English feminist criticism, which incorporates French feminist and Marxist theory but is more traditionally oriented to textual interpretation, is also moving toward a focus on women's writing.  Third mode is Organic or biological criticism is the most extreme statement of gender difference, of a text indelibly marked by the body: anatomy is textuality. Biological criticism is also one of the most sibylline and perplexing theoretical formulations of feminist criticism. Simply to invoke anatomy risks a return to the crude essentialism, the phallic and ovarian theories of art, that oppressed women in the past.CSome radical feminist critics, primarily in France but also in the United States, insist that we must read these metaphors as more than playful; that we must seriously rethink and redefine biological differentiation and its relation to women's unity. They argue that "women's writing proceeds from the body, that our sexual differentiation is also our source." The difference of woman's literary practice, therefore, must be sought (in Miller's words) in "the body of her writing and not the writing of her body."

Last mode is Linguistic and textual theories of women's writing ask whether men and women use language differently; whether sex differences in lan- guage use can be theorized in terms of biology, socialization, or culture; whether women can create new languages of their own; and whether speaking, reading, and writing are all gender marked. The question of how feminist criticism should define itself with relation to the new critical theories and theorists has occasioned sharp debate in Europe and the United States. Nina Auerbach has noted the absence of dialogue and asks whether feminist criticism itself must accept responsibility: Feminist critics seem particularly reluctant to define themselves to the uninitiated. There is a sense in which our sisterhood has become too powerful; as a school, our belief in ourself is so potent that we decline communication with the networks of power and respectability we say we want to change.

All feminist criticism is in some sense revisionist, questioning the adequacy of accepted conceptual structures, and indeed most contemporary American criticism claims to be revisionist too. The most exciting and comprehensive case for this "revisionary imperative" is made by Sandra Gilbert: at its most ambitious, she asserts, feminist criticism 

"wants to decode and demystify all the disguised questions and answers that
have always shadowed the connections between textuality and sexuality,

genre and gender, psychosexual identity and cultural authority." 

What Showalter mean here by "male critical theory" is a concept of creativity, literary history, or literary interpretation based entirely on male experience and put forward as universal.

Perhaps more than any other mode of criticism, feminist theory has cut across and drawn on multiple and contradictory traditions which by presenting what is arguably one of the most fundamental challenges to previous critical orthodoxies in its revolution of subjectively and the category of experience. Like Marxism, feminism is rooted in the political discourses of modernity. Not only Marxism, but also psycho-analysis of Sigmund Freud and Jacques Lacan and post structuralist views, especially deconstruction of Jacques Derrida are considered crucial in feminism. Feminist criticism as a self aware and concerted approach to literature was not inaugurated until late in the 1900’s. Mary Wollstonecraft’s A vindication of the Rights of women (1792), John Stuart Mill’s. the subjection of women (1869) and Margaret Fuller’s women in Nineteenth century are such texts, which are indubitably the landmark in the history of feminist movement. But what is most important to note that Virginia Woolf was an outstanding precursson of of feminist criticism. In her fictions and essays, most notably in A Room of one’s own, she attack the patriarchal bias which prohibited women’s creative possibility, A seminal text is indeed, Simonede Beuvior. The second sex, which identifies women as cultural construct and reveals the fact that women are regarded as merely negative object or ‘other’, while men are defined as dominating subject. Similarly, Mary Ellaman’s Thinking doubt women – with which feminist criticism began in America shows the derogatory stereotypes of women in literature written by women. Another important text which attacks the sexual bias in Freud’s psycho analytical theory is Kote Millet’s sexual politics.

Although early second time feminist criticism drew extensively on de Beauviars works and on Kate Millet’s “sexual politics” and concentrated its analysis on the images of women represented in and constructed through cultural forms such as literature, it has been viewed by later feminist as often failing to offer an adequate analysis of the relationship between ideology and representation. But in spite of the difference in their points of view and procedures some assumptions and concerts are quite basic in this critical mode, western civilization is patriarchal. Just as logo centricism emphasis the extent to which metaphysical assumption about the superiority of speech over writing are built into language itself, phantasmagorical implies that masculine biases are profoundly related to the structures of meta physics. Even the patriarchal ideology is dominant in those writings which we consider great literature. For example, Oedipus, Ulysses, Hamlet, Tom Jones, Captain Ahab – some well known male protagonists in some highly regarded literary works – embody masculine traits and ways of feeling and pursue masculine interests in masculine fields of action. As Simone de Beauvoir remarked, ‘one is not barn but rather becomes, a woman……’. While male is identified as active, dominative and rational feminine is identified as passive, submissive and emotional. If Kate Mallet attacks D. H. Lawrence, Henry Miller, Norman Mailer etc., by analyzing some selected passages of their works for degrading women as submissive sexual objects, most of feminists praise Chaucer, Shakespeare and G. B. Shaw who rise above sexual prejudice.

A great impetus is given to their critical approach when Flaine Showalter proposes gynocriticism which is mare self contained and experimental and which is concerned with developing and specifically female frame work for dealing with works written by men, and with feminine subject matters in literature written by woman and also with an attempt to specify the traits of a woman’s language. Flaine showalter, however, led much emphasis on woman as a writer rather than woman as a reader. Elaine showalter’s A Literature of their own: British women Novelist from Brontei to lessing, patricia Meyer spacks’s The Female Imagination Ellen Moers’s Literary women, Sandra Gillert and Susan Gular’s The Madowomen in the Attic are some notable works in their made. To evade the dilemma, namely women’s language, Helene Cixous posits ecriture feminine (feminine writing) and Julia Kristeva posits a chora, or pre-linguistic signifying system that she labels ‘semiotics’.

Thus, feminist literary criticism was influenced by multiple literary theories and criticism and congregate them into an organic whole so as to expose objective reality. As Elaine Showalter has observed, “English feminist criticism, essentially Marxist, stresses oppression, French feminist criticism, essentially psycho-analytic, stresses repression; American feminist Criticism, essentially textual, stresses expression”.

Feminism

Introduction

Feminism is a diverse collection of social theories, political movements, and moral philosophies, largely motivated by or concerning the experiences of women, especially in terms of their social, political, and economic situation. As a social movement, feminism largely focuses on limiting or eradicating gender inequality and promoting women's rights, interests, and issues in society..............

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Feminism

Feminism

►        Introduction

►        Origins

►        Feminism in many forms

►        Relationship to other movements

►        Effects of feminism in the West

►        Worldwide statistics

►        Perspective: the nature of the modern movement

►        Criticisms of feminism

►        Famous Feminists

Introduction

Feminism is a diverse collection of social theories, political movements, and moral philosophies, largely motivated by or concerning the experiences of women, especially in terms of their social, political, and economic situation. As a social movement, feminism largely focuses on limiting or eradicating gender inequality and promoting women's rights, interests, and issues in society.

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Within academia, some feminists focus on documenting gender inequality and changes in the social position and representation of women. Others argue that gender, and even sex, are social constructs, and research the construction of gender and sexuality, and develop alternate models for studying social relations.

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Feminist political activism commonly campaign on issues such as reproductive rights, violence within a domestic partnership, maternity leave, equal pay, sexual harassment, discrimination, and sexual violence. Themes explored in feminism include patriarchy, stereotyping, objectification, sexual objectification, and oppression.

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In the 1960s and 1970s, feminism and feminist theory largely represented, and was concerned with, problems faced by Western, white, middle-class women while at the same time claiming to represent all women. Since that time, many feminist theorists have challenged the assumption that "women" constitute a homogenous group of individuals with identical interests. Feminist activists emerged from within diverse communities, and feminist theorists began to focus on the intersection between gender and sexuality with other social identities, such as race and class. Many feminists today argue that feminism is a grass-roots movement that seeks to cross boundaries based on social class, race, culture, and religion; is culturally specific and addresses issues relevant to the women of that society: for example female circumcision in Sudan, or the glass ceiling in developed economies; and debate the extent to which certain issues, such as rape, incest, and mothering, are universal.

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As it moves further into the new millenium, feminism continues to lobby for the rights of the marginalized and is beginning to found explicitly feminist political parties.

Origin

Feminism as a philosophy and movement in the modern sense may be usefully dated to The Enlightenment with such thinkers as Lady Mary Wortley Montagu and the Marquis de Condorcet championing women's education. The first scientific society for women was founded in Middelburg, a city in the south of the Dutch republic, in 1785. Journals for women which focused on issues like science became popular during this period as well. Mary Wollstonecraft's A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792) is one of the first works that can unambiguously be called feminist.

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Feminism became an organized movement in the 19th century as people increasingly came to believe that women were being treated unfairly. The feminist movement was rooted in the progressive movement and especially in the reform movement of the 19th century. The utopian socialist Charles Fourier coined the word féminisme in 1837; as early as 1808, he had argued that the extension of women's rights was the general principle of all social progress. The organized movement was dated from the first women's rights convention at Seneca Falls, New York, in 1848. In 1869, John Stuart Mill published The Subjection of Women to demonstrate that "the legal subordination of one sex to the other is wrong...and...one of the chief hindrances to human improvement."

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Many countries began to grant women the vote in the early years of the 20th century, especially in the final years of the First World War and the first years after the war. The reasons for this varied, but included a desire to recognise the contributions of women during the war, and were also influenced by rhetoric used by both sides at the time to justify their war efforts. For example, since Woodrow Wilson's Fourteen Pointsrecognised self determination as a vital component of society, the hypocrisy of denying half the population of modern nations the vote became difficult for men to ignore. (See: Women's suffrage)

Feminism in many forms

Some forms of feminist theory question basic assumptions about gender, gender difference, and sexuality, including the category of "woman" itself as a holistic concept, further some are interested in questioning the male/female binary completely (offering instead a multiplicity of genders). Other forms of feminist theory take for granted the concept of "woman" and provide specific analyses and critiques of gender inequality, and most feminist social movements promote women's rights, interests, and issues. Feminism is not a single ideology. Over-time several sub-types of feminist ideology have developed. Early feminists and primary feminist movements are often called the first-wave feminists, and feminists after about 1960 the second-wave feminists. More recently, a new generation of feminists have started third-wave feminism. Whether this will be a lasting evolution remains to be seen as the second-wave has by no means ended nor has it ceded to the third-wave feminists.

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Moreover, some commentators have asserted that the silent majority of modern feminists have more in common ideologically with the first-wave feminists than the second-wave. For example, many of the ideas arising from Radical feminism and Gender feminism (prominent second-wave movements) have yet to gain traction within the broader community and outside of Gender Studies departments within the academy.

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For example, Radical feminism argues that there exists an oppressive patriarchy that is the root cause of the most serious social problems. Violence and oppression of women, because they are women, is more fundamental than oppressions related to class, ethnicity, religion, etc. Radical feminisms have been very vocal and active in influencing attitudes and state-wide school curriculum standards. Thus, it is not unusual for feminism to be equated with the ideas proposed by Radical feminism. Some find that the prioritization of oppression and the universalization of the idea of "Woman," which was part of traditional Radical feminist thinking, too generic, and that women in other countries would never experience the same experience of being "woman" than women in Western countries did.

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Some radical feminists advocate separatism—a complete separation of male and female in society and culture—while others question not only the relationship between men and women, but the very meaning of "man" and "woman" as well (see Queer theory). Some argue that gender roles, gender identity, and sexuality are themselves social constructs (see also heteronormativity). For these feminists, feminism is a primary means to human liberation (i.e., the liberation of men as well as women, and men and women from other social problems).

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Other feminists believe that there may be social problems separate from or prior to patriarchy (e.g., racism or class divisions); they see feminism as one movement of liberation among many, each affecting the others.

Relationship to other movements

Most feminists take a holistic approach to politics, believing the saying of Martin Luther King Jr., "A threat to justice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere". In that belief, some feminists usually support other movements such as the civil rights movement, the gay rights movement and, more recently fathers' rights. At the same time many black feminists such as bell hooks criticise the movement for being dominated by white women. Feminist claims about the disadvantages women face in Western society are often less relevant to the lives of black women. This idea is the key in postcolonial feminism. Many black feminist women prefer the term womanism for their views.

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However, feminists are sometimes wary of the transgender movement because it challenges the distinctions between men and women. Transgender and transsexual women are excluded from some "women-only" gatherings and events and are rejected by some feminists who say that no one born male can fully understand the oppression that women face, also citing the sexism inherent in the notion that femaleness is a default gender that one can enter after shedding externally recognizable male traits. This exclusion is criticized as transphobic by transwomen who assert that the discrimination and various struggles (such as that for legal recognitions) that they face due to asserting their gender identity is closely linked to many feminist efforts, and that discrimination against gender-variant people is another face of heterosexism and patriarchy. See transfeminism and gender studies.

Effects of feminism in the West

Some feminists would argue that there is still much to be done on these fronts, while third-wave feminists would disagree and claim that the battle has basically been won.

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Effects on civil rights

Feminism has effected many changes in Western society, including women's suffrage; broad employment for women at more equitable wages ("equal pay for equal work"); the right to initiate divorce proceedings and the introduction of "no fault" divorce; the right of women in almost all countries to exercise a degree of control over their own bodies and medical decisions, including obtaining contraception and safe abortions; and many others.

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As Western society has become increasingly accepting of feminist principles, many of these issues, perceived as radical in the 19th century, are now part of mainstream political thought, such as the right of women to vote, own land, and choose their own marital partners, or decide not to marry. Almost no one in Western societies today questions these rights.

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Effect on language

English-speaking feminists are often proponents of using non-sexist language, using "Ms." to refer to both married and unmarried women, for example, or the ironic use of the term "herstory" instead of "history". Feminists are also often proponents of using gender-inclusive language, such as "humanity" instead of "mankind", or "he or she" in place of "he" where the gender is unknown. Feminists in most cases advance their desired use of language either to promote an equal and respectful treatment of women or to affect the tone of political discourse. This can be seen as a move to change language which has been viewed by some feminists as imbued with sexism - providing for example the case in the English language the word for the general pronoun is "he" or "his" (The child should have his paper and pencils), which is the same as the masculine pronoun (The boy and his truck). These feminists purport that language then directly affects perception of reality (compare Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis). However, to take a postcolonial analysis of this point, many languages other than English may not have such a gendered pronoun instance and thus changing language may not be as important to some feminists as others. Yet, English is becoming more and more universal, and the issue of language may be seen to be of growing importance.

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On the other hand, quite a different tendency can be seen in French. Gender, as a grammatical concept, is much more pervasive in French than in English, and as a result, it has been virtually impossible to create inclusive language. Instead, nouns that originally had only a masculine form have had feminine counterparts created for them. "Professeur" ("teacher"), once always masculine regardless of the teacher's sex, now has a parallel feminine form "Professeure". In cases where separate masculine and feminine forms have always existed, it was once standard practice for a group containing both men and women to be referred to using the masculine plural, but nowadays, forms such as "Toutes les Canadiennes et tous les Canadiens" ("all Canadians", or literally "all the female Canadians and all the male Canadians") are becoming more common.

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Effect on heterosexual relationships

The feminist movements have certainly affected the nature of heterosexual relationships in Western and other societies affected by feminism. While these effects have generally been seen as positive, there have been some consequences that can be catalogued as negative from the traditional point of view on morals.

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In some of these relationships, there has been a change in the power relationship between men and women. In these circumstances, women and men have had to adapt to relatively new situations, sometimes causing confusions about role and identity. Women can now avail themselves more to new opportunities, but some have suffered with the demands of trying to live up to the so-called "superwomen" identity, and have struggled to 'have it all', i.e. manage to happily balance a career and family. In response to the family issue, many socialist feminists blame this on the lack of state-provided child-care facilities. Others have advocated instead that the onus of child-care not rest solely on the female, but rather that men partake in the responsibility of managing family matters.

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There have been changes also in attitudes towards sexual morality and behaviour with the onset of second wave feminism and "the Pill": women are then more in control of their bodies, and are able to experience sex with more freedom than was previously socially accepted for them. This sexual revolution that women were then able to experience was seen as positive (especially by sex-positive feminists) as it enabled women and men to experience sex in a free and equal manner. However, some feminists felt that the results of the sexual revolution only was beneficial to men.Whether marriage is an institution that oppresses women and men, or not, has generated discussion. Those that do view it as oppressive sometimes opt for cohabitation or more recently to live independently reverting to casual sex to fulfill their sexual needs.

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Effect on religion

Feminism has had a great effect on many aspects of religion. In liberal branches of Protestant Christianity, women are now ordained as clergy, and in Reform, Conservative and Reconstructionist Judaism, women are now ordained as rabbis and cantors. Within these Christian and Jewish groups, women have gradually become more nearly equal to men by obtaining positions of power; their perspectives are now sought out in developing new statements of belief. In Islam women have historically contributed to all aspects of Islamic life, from religious edicts to aid on the battlefield. Around half of the sayings of Muhammad are taken from his wife Aisha, whom men often consulted on religious matters. In this day you will often see many women scholars on Arabic satellite television answering Islam-related questions, asked by both genders. One matter remains debatable nowadays, which is whether or not a woman can lead men in prayers. These trends, however, have been resisted within Roman Catholicism. Roman Catholicism has historically excluded women from entering priesthood and other positions in clergy, allowing women to hold positions as nuns or as laypeople.

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Feminism also has had an important role in embracing new forms of religion. Neopaganreligions especially tend to emphasise the importance of Goddess spirituality, and question what they regard as traditional religion's hostility to women and the sacred feminine. In particular Dianic Wicca is a religion whose origins lie within radical feminism. Among traditional religions, feminism has led to self examination, with reclaimed positive Christian and Islamic views and ideals of Mary, Islamic views of Fatima Zahra, and especially to the Catholic belief in the Coredemptrix, as counterexamples. However, criticism of these efforts as unable to salvage corrupt church structures and philosophies continues. Some argue that Mary, with her status as mother and virgin, and as traditionally the main role model for women, sets women up to aspire to an impossible ideal and also thus has negative consequences on human sense of identity and sexuality.

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There is a separate article on God and gender; it discusses how monotheistic religions reconcile their theologies with contemporary gender issues, and how modern feminism has influenced the theology of many religions.

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Effect on moral education

Opponents of feminism claim that women's quest for external power, as opposed to the internal power to affect other people's ethics and values, has left a vacuum in the area of moral training, where women formerly held sway. Some feminists reply that the education, including the moral education, of children has never been, and should not be, seen as the exclusive responsibility of women. Paradoxically, it is also held by others that the moral education of children at home in the form of homeschooling is itself a women's movement. Such arguments are entangled within the larger disagreements of the Culture Wars, as well as within feminist (and anti-feminist) ideas regarding custodianship of societal morals and compassion.

Worldwide statistics

The following is a sampling of statistics related to the relative status of women worldwide.

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Worldwide, women work more than men, when both paid employment and unpaid household tasks are accounted for, according to the United Nations Human Development Report 2004: Section 28, Gender, Work Burden, and Time Allocation. In rural areas of the developing countries surveyed, women perform an average of 20% more work than men, or an additional 98 minutes per day. In the OECD countries surveyed, on average women performed 5% more work than men, or 18 minutes per day.

Women own only 1 percent of the world's wealth, and earn 10 percent of the world's income, despite making up 51 percent of the population.

Women are underrepresented in all of the world's major legislative bodies (see Women in National Parliaments, November 2004). In 1985, Finland had the largest percentage of women in national legislature at approximately 32 percent (P. Norris, Women's Legislative Participation in Western Europe, West European Politics). Currently,Sweden has the highest number of women at 45 percent. The United States has just 14 percent. The world average is just 9 percent. In contrast, half of the members of the recently established Welsh Assembly Government are women.

Perspective: the nature of the modern movement

Most feminists believe discrimination against women still exists in North American and European nations, as well as worldwide. But there are many ideas within the movement regarding the severity of current problems, what the problems are, and how to confront them.

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Extremes on the one hand include some radical feminists such as Mary Daly who argues that the world would be better off with dramatically fewer men. There are also dissidents, such as Christina Hoff Sommers or Camille Paglia, who identify themselves as feminist but who accuse the movement of anti-male prejudices.

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On the other hand, many feminists question the use of the term feminist to groups or people who fail to recognize a fundamental equality between the sexes. Some feminists, like Katha Pollitt (see her book Reasonable Creatures) or Nadine Strossen(President of the ACLU and author of Defending Pornography ), consider feminism to be, solely, the view that "women are people." Views that separate the sexes rather than unite them are considered by these people to be sexist rather than feminist.

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There are also debates between difference feminists such as Carol Gilligan on the one hand, who believe that there are important differences between the sexes (which may or may not be inherent, but which cannot be ignored), and those who believe that there are no essential differences between the sexes, and that the roles observed in society are due to conditioning. Modern scientists sometimes disagree on whether inborn differences exist between men and women (other than physical differences such as anatomy, chromosomes, and hormones).

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In Marilyn French's seminal works analysing patriarchy and its effects on the world at large--including women, men and children--she defines patriarchy as a system that values power over life, control over pleasure, and dominance over happiness. According to French, "it is not enough either to devise a morality that will allow the human race simply to survive. Survival is an evil when it entails existing in a state of wretchedness. Intrinsic to survival and continuation is felicity, pleasure. Pleasure has been much maligned, diminished by philosophers and conquerors as a value for the timid, the small-minded, the self-indulgent. "Virtue" involves the renunciation of pleasure in the name of some higher purpose, a purpose that involves power (for men) or sacrifice (for women). Pleasure is described as shallow and frivolous in a world of high-minded, serious purpose. But pleasure does not exclude serious pursuits or intentions, indeed, it is found in them, and it is the only real reason for staying alive" Beyond Power This philosophy is what French offers as a replacement to the current structure where power has the highest value--and it is this feminism to which many (women and men) subscribe.