declaration of women's rights and the female citizen

There have been many extraordinary women who have played an important role in local or world history, but not all of these have necessarily been advocates of women’s issues. Women’s movements and the history of feminism

In general, feminism can be seen as a movement to put an end to sexism, sexist exploitation, and oppression and to achieve full gender equality in law and in practice. The concept of feminism reflects a history of different struggles, and the term has been interpreted in fuller and more complex ways as understanding has developed. In fact, being a feminist is not something particular to any sex or gender: there are women and men who consider themselves feminists, some are gay or lesbian, some heterosexual, bisexual or transgender - and some may identify differently. Jokes about feminism and stereotypes about feminists persist, and many of these are also homophobic and assume that being lesbian is something ‘bad’. Women continue to receive lower pay for the same work as men in all parts of the world there are still countries that do not have laws against marital rape and still allow child brides, and practices such as 'honour' killings and female genital mutilation still exist. However, on other issues there has been little or no progress: for example, there have been insignificant reductions in cases of violence against women. It is true that in some areas and on certain issues, there have been improvements: for example, in Saudi Arabia women were allowed, for the first time, to vote and run for office in 2015(!). Women have struggled for equality and against oppression for centuries, and although some battles have been partly won - such as the right to vote and equal access to education – women are still disproportionally affected by all forms of violence and by discrimination in every aspect of life. There are people who believe that we do not need feminism today, but nothing could be further from the truth.

Declaration of women's rights and the female citizen