Need to write a feminism essay? Be sure to check our example below. As a bonus, we have also prepared several stunning topics for your paper. 

 

10 Winning Feminism Essay Topics

You can analyze feminism from plenty of different positions: you can try criticizing it or supporting it, dig into its history, or make a brief overview. If you lack ideas, you can choose one of the topics listed below: 

  1. Waves of feminism: differences and similarities
  2. The roots of feminism
  3. Modern feminism: is it necessary?
  4. Can men be feminists? 
  5. A brief history of feminism
  6. The challenges that modern feminism faces
  7. Can women's power overcome male domination?
  8. Is gender equality actually possible?
  9. Major disagreements between different feminists

 

What is Feminism: Essay Example

Feminism is the belief that men and women should have equal rights and opportunities in the political, economic, social, and cultural spheres. Simply put, this is a movement for women's rights. This essay will provide a brief overview of feminism: its waves, movements, and ideas. 

The history of the feminist movement is described in several waves. The first wave of feminism began at the end of the 19th century with the rise of the suffragette movement. They focused on basic rights, in particular the right to vote. The second wave of feminism lasted from the 1960s to the end of the 80s. Supporting the slogans of their predecessors, second-wave feminists significantly expanded their demands. They spoke against sexism and gender stereotypes, sexual and physical violence against women, as well as sexual freedom, abortion, and the decision not to have children.

The first two waves of feminism, although they made a huge contribution to the lives of women today, were not perfect. Now we can say that the movement spoke primarily for the rights of certain women, excluding others from the narrative. It focused on the rights of the white, heterosexual, middle (and upper) class woman in Western society. The mistakes of the past representatives of the third wave of feminism, which began in the 90s, have been corrected. At this time, the concept of intersectionality appears. Third-wave feminists faced the problem that after achieving basic equality, opinions began to spread in society as if all the demands of the movement had been achieved. A campaign to discredit the movement began in the media, and a stigma appeared against the word "feminism" itself.

In the 2000s, the popularity of the feminist movement seemed to decline, but it did not disappear. That all changed in the last ten years when the feminist movement broke into the mainstream and spoke loudly about the problems that women still face. The culmination was the birth of the #MeToo movement in 2014 when women began to talk about sexual harassment in various workplaces.

Like many other social movements, feminism is not a monolith. The feminist movement develops in different countries in different ways, focusing on the most urgent problems of women. Feminists come from different backgrounds and experiences, with different interests. That is why there are different currents of feminism. Liberal feminism seeks to ensure equal rights and opportunities between the sexes, particularly in education, work, and political life. They use democratic and liberal levers, such as lobbying for laws, creating crisis centers, supporting financial funds, etc. In contrast, radical feminists place more blame on men and accuse the patriarchy of purposefully suppressing the women's movement. They are known for actionism and loud protests. The most attention in a liberal society is now paid to intersectional feminism. It consists of the belief that the struggle for certain humiliated groups of society separately from each other will not bring a real result. Therefore, in matters of feminism, attention should also be paid to racial issues, LGBT+ discrimination, social inequality, etc.

People question if feminism is necessary for modern society where equal rights are common. Feminism is still needed as equal rights are not achieved in many countries, such as African republics or the Islamic world. Even in the "liberal world" there are bans on abortion and restrictions on certain types of work, not speaking about sexual abuse and other gender-related crimes. Hence, feminism is still absolutely necessary as it has a lot to improve even nowadays.