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It then highlights influential theorists including Virginia Woolf and Simone de Beauvoir, followed by second-wave developments from the 1960s to 1980s and Kate Millett’s concept of sexual politics.",{"@graph":14,"@context":73},[15,34,56],{"@type":16,"itemListElement":17},"BreadcrumbList",[18,23,27,31],{"item":19,"name":20,"@type":21,"position":22},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",1,{"item":24,"name":25,"@type":21,"position":26},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",2,{"item":28,"name":29,"@type":21,"position":30},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/literature/","Literature",3,{"item":32,"name":10,"@type":21,"position":33},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/feminist-literary-criticism-feminism-history-and-major-theorists/318633/",4,{"url":32,"name":10,"@type":35,"image":36,"author":41,"headline":10,"publisher":44,"fileFormat":47,"inLanguage":8,"description":12,"dateModified":48,"datePublished":49,"encodingFormat":47,"isAccessibleForFree":50,"interactionStatistic":51},"DigitalDocument",{"url":37,"@type":38,"width":39,"height":40},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/feminist-literary-criticism-feminism-history-and-major-theorists/318633.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":42,"@type":43},"Maeve","Person",{"url":19,"name":45,"@type":46},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-10-28","2026-09-20",true,{"@type":52,"interactionType":53,"userInteractionCount":55},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":54},"ViewAction",10,{"@type":57,"mainEntity":58},"FAQPage",[59,65,69],{"name":60,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":62},"How does the text define feminism in relation to patriarchy?","Question",{"text":63,"@type":64},"The text presents feminism as affirming women’s equality with men while rejecting patriarchy, described as a social system with sexual hierarchy placing men above women.","Answer",{"name":66,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":67},"What key issues characterize first-wave feminism?",{"text":68,"@type":64},"First-wave activism focuses on equal contract and property rights, opposition to chattel marriage, and campaigns for women’s suffrage, including specific legislative steps in Britain.",{"name":70,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":71},"What is Kate Millett’s main argument in Sexual Politics?",{"text":72,"@type":64},"Millett argues that the oppression of women is driven by ideology, with patriarchy treating females as universally inferior and establishing domination in both public and private life.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":32,"og:type":75,"og:title":10,"og:site_name":45,"og:description":12},"article",{"robots":77,"canonical":32},"index,follow",{"doc_id":79,"site_id":7},318633,1790012512,{"code":4,"msg":82,"data":83},"success",[84,88,91,95,100,105,110,115,120,123,126],{"id":22,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":85,"show_sort_weight":86,"slug":87},"Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":26,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":29,"show_sort_weight":89,"slug":90},80,"literature",{"id":33,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":92,"show_sort_weight":93,"slug":94},"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":96,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":97,"show_sort_weight":98,"slug":99},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":101,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":102,"show_sort_weight":103,"slug":104},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":106,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":107,"show_sort_weight":108,"slug":109},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":111,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":112,"show_sort_weight":113,"slug":114},8,"Research & Report",30,"research-report",{"id":116,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":117,"show_sort_weight":118,"slug":119},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":118,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":121,"show_sort_weight":118,"slug":122},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":55,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":124,"show_sort_weight":55,"slug":125},"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":127,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":128,"show_sort_weight":96,"slug":129},19,"General","general",{"code":4,"msg":82,"data":131},{"doc_id":79,"user_id":132,"nickname":42,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":26,"category_name":29,"doc_title":10,"doc_description":12,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":55,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":22,"is_downloadable":22,"audit_status":22,"page_count":139,"language":140,"language_code":8,"site_id":7,"html_lang":8,"table_of_contents":141,"faqs":142,"seo_title":143,"seo_description":12,"update_tm":144,"read_time":145},5909877438554,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/avatar/5600025385ad2bf12a7?_k=1778553567797529272","Feminist Literary Criticism  \nWhat is Feminism?  \nThe term ‘feminism’ has many different uses and its meanings are often contested. For example, some writers use the term ‘feminism’ to refer to a historically specific political movement in the US and Europe; other writers use it to refer to the belief that there is a list of injustices against women; although this list is unspecified. Feminism came first as a reaction to patriarchy as a doctrine in the western societies. Patriarchy as \"a social system based on sexual hierarchy\" puts men at the top and women below; Feminism as an ideology \"opposes the political, economic and cultural relegation of women to positions of inferiority\". Simply put, Feminism affirms women's equality with men, and rejects patriarchy.  \nHistorical background of Feminism  \nWhen we try to look at the history of Feminism, we face the problematic of based on which perspective we are going to approach its history? Is it from a political eye focusing on white women's contribution to Feminism in Europe and U.S.A? Or from a more universalistic eye regarding \" the ongoing resistance to male domination between the 1920's and 1960's and the resistance outside mainstream politics, particularly by women of color and working class women.\" (Cott 1987) Therefore, I opt to deal with the issue from a historical perspective giving much importance to those women who in a way or another gave birth to Feminism.  \nWaves of Feminism  \nFirst wave Feminism in U.K and U.S.A: 19th and early 20th century  \nThe first wave was more focused on the promotion of equal contract and property rights for women, the opposition to chattel marriage and ownership of married women (and their children) by their husbands. By the end of the 19th century, activism focused primarily on gaining political power meaning the right of women's suffrage. Feminists such as Voltairine de Cleyre and Margaret Sanger were still active in compaining for women's sexual, reproductive and economic rights. In Britain, in 1918 the Representation of the People act was passed granting the vote to women over the age of 30, who owned houses. In 1928, this was extended to all women over 21. American first-wave Feminism involved a wide range of women. One of them is Frances Willand, who belonged to the conservative Christian groups such as the Woman's Christian Temperance Union.  \nVirginia Woolf (1882–1941)  \nApart from her novels, Virginia Woolf also wrote two works which contributed to feminist theory: A Room with a View (1927), and Three Guineas (1938) . In the former, Woolf considered especially the social situation of women as writers and, in the latter, she explored the dominance of the major professions by men. In the first work she argued that women’s writing should  \nexplore female experience and not just draw comparisons with the situation in society of men. Woolf was also one of the earliest writers to stress that gender is not predetermined but is a social construct and, as such, can be changed. However, she did not want to encourage a direct confrontation between female and male concerns and preferred to try to find some kind of balance of power between the two. If women were to develop their artistic abilities to the full, she felt it was necessary to establish social and economic equality with men.  \nSimone de Beauvoir (1908–1986)  \nSimone de Beauvoir is famous not only as a feminist but as the life-long partner of the French philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre. She was a very active fighter for women’s rights and a supporter of abortion. Her most influential book is, without doubt, The Second Sex (1949) . In this work, she outlined the differences between the interests of men and women and attacked various forms of male dominance over women. Already in the Bible and throughout history Woman was always regarded as the ‘Other’. Man dominated in all influential cultural fields, including law, religion, philosophy, science, literature and the other arts. She also cle","cbCailjSzrjg9dVh","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCailjSzrjg9dVh","pdf",183639,12,"English","# What is Feminism?\n## Historical background of Feminism\n## Waves of Feminism\n# Virginia Woolf (1882–1941)\n# Simone de Beauvoir (1908–1986)\n# Second wave Feminism: 1960s to 1980s\n## Kate Millett (1934–)","[{\"question\":\"How does the text define feminism in relation to patriarchy?\",\"answer\":\"The text presents feminism as affirming women’s equality with men while rejecting patriarchy, described as a social system with sexual hierarchy placing men above women.\"},{\"question\":\"What key issues characterize first-wave feminism?\",\"answer\":\"First-wave activism focuses on equal contract and property rights, opposition to chattel marriage, and campaigns for women’s suffrage, including specific legislative steps in Britain.\"},{\"question\":\"What is Kate Millett’s main argument in Sexual Politics?\",\"answer\":\"Millett argues that the oppression of women is driven by ideology, with patriarchy treating females as universally inferior and establishing domination in both public and private life.\"}]","Feminist Literary Criticism - Feminism, History, and Major Theorists | PDF",1789940814,18]