Introduction

The term feminism is used to describe a movement aimed at establishing equal rights and protection for women. The idea revolves around gender differences and strongly advocates gender equality. The terms "feminism" and "feminist" did not arise until the 1970's, however, they were already being used publicly much earlier on. For example, in the film "Woman of the Year,” Katherine Hepburn speaks of the "feminist movement." According to Maggie Humm and Rebecca Walker, the history of feminism can be divided into three different waves. The first feminist wave occurred in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and mainly pertained to women’s suffrage.  The second wave occurred during the 1960s and 1970s and was associated with the women’s liberation movement, which campaigned for legal and social rights for women. The third extends from the 1990s to present and is concerned with the continuation of the second wave. Feminist criticism emerged from these three main feminist movements and is seen all throughout our society today.

Major Feminist Scholars:
•Mary Wollstonecraft - A Vindication of the Rights of Women, 1792
•Simone de Beauvoir - Le deuxième sexe, 1972
•Julia Kristeva - About Chinese Women, 1977
•Elaine Showalter - A Literature of Their Own, 1977; "Toward a Feminist Poetics," 1979
•Deborah E. McDowell - "New Directions for Black Feminist Criticism," 1980
•Alice Walker - In Search of Our Mother's Gardens, 1988
•Lillian S. Robinson - "Treason out Text: Feminist Challenges to the Literary Canon," 1983
•Camile Paglia - Sexual Personae: The Androgyne in Literature and Art, 1990

https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/722/11/

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