History of Feminism

The history of feminism is simply the history of women striving to experience their full humanity in a world shaped by and for men.

  • Bus Conductors in London Demand Equal Opportunity
    Goals of the Feminist Movement
  • Female symbol as key to a puzzle
    Feminist Literary Criticism
  • Pro-choice rally at Love Park November 13, 2003 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
    Profile of the National Organization for Women (NOW)
  • Rally At U.S. Capitol Celebrates 40th Anniversary Of Congressional Passage Of ERA
    Liberal Feminism
  • ERA Yes signs
    1970s Feminist Activities
  • 'Free Bobby! Free Ericka!' Demonstration
    The Women's Liberation Movement
  • Crowd Marching For ERA Rally
    1970s Feminism Timeline
  • Marchers with Women's Liberation banner
    Key Events of United States Feminism During the 1960s
  • Maryland State Senator Verda Welcome, Congresswoman Yvonne Burke, and Rose Morgan vice president
    Feminist Organizations of the 1970s
  • Lavender field
    Lavender Menace: the Phrase, the Group, the Controversy
  • Cartoon of a scale with a woman on one side and a man on the other, "heavier" side
    Patriarchal Society According to Feminism
  • Two Mexican activists holding a poster with an image of an Indigenous woman in the style of Rosie the Riveter
    The Core Ideas and Beliefs of Feminism
  • Etymologically, the word “radical” means “of or relating to the root.” Radical feminists aim to dismantle the entire system of patriarchy, rather than making adjustments to the existing system through legal or social efforts.
    What Is Radical Feminism?
  • Women Strike for Peace at the Women's Strike for Equality Demonstration in New York, 1970
    Women's Strike for Equality
  • Reconstruction-era vocational school to learn sewing
    Important Black Women in American History
  • Silhouette with feminist symbol
    The Personal Is Political
  • Betty Friedan
    Top 20 Influential Modern Feminist Theorists
  • Suffragette Demonstration inLondon by Unknown Artist
    The Feminist Movement in Art
  • Silkworm cocoon on mulberry leaf
    A Chinese Empress and the Discovery of Silk-Making
  • Woman with feminist symbol
    10 Important Feminist Beliefs
  • Simone de Beauvoir, 1947
    Simone de Beauvoir and Second-Wave Feminism
  • Margaret Atwood
    A Summary of Margaret Atwood's The Edible Woman
  • Portrait of Adrienne Rich
    Adrienne Rich's 'Of Woman Born'
  • depiction of gender role reversal
    Separate Spheres Ideology
  • Feminist representation in paper dolls
    An Overview of Third-Wave Feminism
  • American Feminists Gloria Steinem, Ronnie Eldridge, and Patricia Carbine, 1970s
    Ladies' Home Journal Sit-In
  • Mary Shelley
    Feminism in the United States
  • Young man and woman walking on beach
    What Is Compulsory Heterosexuality?
  • Betty Friedan
    What Is the Feminine Mystique?
  • Feminists protest Miss America pageant in Atlantic City, 1969
    Significant Feminist Protests
  • Motherhood
    Cultural Feminism
  • Historic Poster for a Feminist Reunion of the Socialist League
    Socialist Feminism vs. Other Types of Feminism
  • Portrait of Maya Angelou in a home setting
    Feminist Poetry Movement of the 1960s
  • Quote: Womanist is to feminist as purple is to lavender. Alice Walker
    Womanist: Definition and Examples
  • Fist in female symbol for women's liberation
    Redstockings Radical Feminist Group
  • Woman with feminist symbol
    Feminist Consciousness-Raising Groups
  • Betty Friedan
    'The Feminine Mystique': Betty Friedan's Book 'Started It All'
  • Attorneys William Kuntsler and Florynce Kennedy
    Profile and History: National Black Feminist Organization (NBFO)
  • Feminist Reunion of the Socialist League Print
    Socialist Feminism Definition and Comparisons
  • Portrait of Julia Ward Howe
    Sorosis: Professional Women's Club
  • Woman With Burning Bra
    The Myth of the Bra Burning Feminists of the Sixties
  • Demonstrators Picketing Miss America Pageant
    New York Radical Women: 1960s Feminist Group
  • Maxine Hong Kingston, 1989
    Maxine Hong Kingston’s "The Woman Warrior"
  • Hillary Clinton waves in front of crowd of people waving U.S. flags
    All the Women Who Have Run for President of the US
  • Adrienne Rich, 1991
    Biography of Adrienne Rich, Feminist and Political Poet
  • Carol Gilligan, 2005
    Feminist Philosophy
  • Judy Chicago
    Womanhouse
  • Doris Lessing, 2003
    The Golden Notebook
  • Striking women machinists from the Ford plant at Dagenham are interviewed by a reporter
    The Dagenham Women’s Strike of 1968
  • Marge Piercy in 1974
    Biography of Marge Piercy, Feminist Novelist and Poet
  • Ferraro and Mondale Campaigning
    Who Was the First Woman Nominated for Vice President?
  • Close up of a woman wearing a T shirt with an empowering feminist message.
    What Is 'The Second Feminist Wave?'
  • 1950s image of a family in driveway with their Ford
    Feminism and the Nuclear Family
  • white silhouette of a woman on a black background
    Shulamith Firestone
  • Artists in Macdougall Alley, Greenwich Village: print, 1910
    What Was Heterodoxy?
  • Victorian woman with flowers
    The Cult of Domesticity: Definition and History
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