FEMINISM

What is it and its core beliefs?

 The advocacy of women's rights on the ground of the equality of the sexes,
consisting of a range of political and social movements or ideologies. The
movements aim to define, establish and achieve political, economic, personal and
social equality of the sexes including educational and professional opportunities for
women that are equal to those for men.
How did the movement begin?

 The Suffragists; in 1897 various women’s suffrage societies formed the National
Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies (NUWSS) under the leadership of Millicent
Fawcett, their aim was to get the vote for middle class property-owning women and
they believed they would achieve this using peaceful, non-violent tactics such as
petitions, demonstrations and lobbying of MP’s.
 The movement recognised that although they were almost entirely made up of
middle class women, they needed to get the support of working class women, this
drew women of different backgrounds and gave them a shared identity they had not
had before.
 The Suffragette’s; the name was given to this group by the Daily Mail, were born out
of the Suffragist’s as Emmeline Pankhurst became fed up with the middle class,
respectable and gradualist tactics of the NUWSS and decided to break off and form
the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU). Mrs Pankhurst believed that the
movement needed a working class base to draw attention to the cause. Their motto
was ‘deeds not words’.
 The first statue of a woman in Parliament Square will be unveiled soon and it is of
Millicent Fawcett holding a sign saying ‘courage calls to courage everywhere’, a line
from a speech she gave after the death of fellow suffragist Emily Wilding Davison at
the 1913 Epsom Derby.
Key activists;
 Simone De Beauvoir – a novelist, her most famous work is ‘The Second Sex’
which highlighted women’s inequality in society, the book was called
pornography and forbidden by the Vatican. Published in 1949, the book held
concepts that no one at the time dared to say.
 Malala Yousafzai – she is the youngest winner of the Nobel Peace Prize and
became known after she was shot in the head by the Taliban in her town for
advocating education for girls.
 Gloria Steinem – a leader of the women’s liberation movement in the 60’s and
70’s and still today, Gloria is referred to as the ‘Mother of Feminism’. She has
been honoured with a Presidential medal for her work.
  Yoko Ono - Most known for her peaceful protests with John Lennon, Ono has
also been a voice for gender equality. Her 1972 essay, "The Feminization of
Society" helped mark the female revolution of the '70s.
In the news;

 The BBC has been under scrutiny recently, for unequal pay for men and women,
China Editor on BBC news, Carrie Gracie quit after she found out that two male
international editors earn at least 50% more than their female counterparts. This
came around the time of the news that 2/3 of people within the BBC earning more
than £150,000 are men.