f in the need to organize separately from men. Materialist (socialist) feminism is critical of the essentialism implicit in radical feminism and the ahistorical approach to patriarchy. Materialist feminism has its roots in MARXISM and prioritizes SOCIAL CLASS as the factor determining the situation of women within CAPITALISM. This approach is therefore concerned with the interaction between the dialectic of class and GENDER. Not without theoretical problems, Hartmann (1979) has characterized the ‘marriage’ between Marxism and feminism as an unhappy one. The division between radical feminists, who wish to organize separately from men, and materialist feminists who seek solidarity with 'S upportive’ men, continues unresolved.
Academic feminism has made an impact on the teaching and research carried out in many academic institutions. WOMEN'S STUDIES courses have been concerned with revising and challenging a wide variety of academic disciplines including sociology, history and English literature. Academic feminism has been concerned to criticize the ‘sex-blind’ nature of academic knowledge. Within sociology there has been a growing literature on the position of women in society and the development of a specifically feminist research methodology (Stanley and Wise, 1983).
Whilst there is no single ideological position uniting all feminists, most would accept that the subordination of women to men is the result of socioeconomic factors and not the effect of biological determinism. Hence, there is a commonly held belief that major social change culminating in women's liberation is possible. At present, feminism remains a vital and visible social movement, particularly successful in the area of cultural creativity Despite media references to the Post-Feminist Era, the continuing social inequality of women and its eradication remains at the core of feminism in all its forms. See also MATRIARCHY.
a women’s movement to obtain equal rights with men within bourgeois society. It arose in the 18th century, first in North America during the War of Independence (1775–83) and then in France during the French Revolution. Feminist organizations appeared in several countries in the second half of the 19th century and in the early 20th century. In 1888 the International Council of Women was created, and in 1904, the International Women Suffrage Alliance (now the International Alliance of Women—Equal Rights—Equal Responsibilities). The All-Russian Union for Women’s Equality (founded 1905) subsequently joined the International Women Suffrage Alliance.
During World War I (1914–18) feminists everywhere ceased their activities, resuming them after the war. The Joint Standing Committee of Women’s International Organizations was founded in 1925 (renamed the Liaison Committee of Women’s International Organisations in 1934). In the 1920’s the movement for equal rights for women spread to a number of Asian countries, including Turkey and China. During World War II (1939–45) many feminist organizations ceased to exist and did not become reestablished until 1946 or later. After the war, national feminist organizations appeared in Africa as well.
Feminist organizations generally do not concern themselves with pressing problems of the day, limiting their efforts to women’s emancipation. Since World War II they have been increasingly concerned with the implementation of laws dealing with women’s right to vote and other political rights, as well as with the elimination of existing discrimination. Some feminist groups do concern themselves with general social problems. The aim of the Women’s International Democratic Federation and its national branches is to work together with all women’s organizations, including the feminist ones, that seek to protect the rights of women and children and eliminate the threat of war, fascism, and reaction.