Feminism
The Core Ideas and Beliefs of Feminism The ongoing struggle to achieve gender equalityShare Two activists for Indigenous women at a 2018 Women's March. Karen Ducey / Getty Images By Jone Johnson Lewis Updated on August 31, 2021 Feminism is a complex set of ideologies and theories, that at its core seeks to achieve equal social, political, and economic rights for women. Although feminism benefits everyone, its aim is to achieve equality for women, because prioritizing those who are most oppressed means freeing everyone else. Since men's rights are already secured and institutionally protected, feminism does not aim to help men. The Origin of the Word "Feminism" While it is common to see the word "feminist" used for figures such as Mary Wollstonecraft (1759–1797), the terms feminist and feminism were not used in the modern sense until a century after her 1792 book " A Vindication of the Rights of Women " was published. The term first ap...