Feminist Perspectives

Feminism encompasses those political movements that have attempted to critique and transform power structures defined by gender power in which men have traditionally held more power and women have held less power in the fundamental structures of society. In education, feminism can be seen as an ideology that moves women's experiences from the margins of educational discourse to its center by focusing on sexual oppression and sex discrimination. Feminism is enacted through a variety of perspectives, including those embedded in law, the labor market, religion, commerce, the arts, media, education, philosophy, and ecology. Feminist movements have occurred throughout human history and across the globe.

In the United States, three waves of feminism are generally recognized by historians: (1) the move between 1848 and 1920 to achieve women's suffrage, (2) the cultural and political resistance to discriminatory policies in the 1960s and 1970s, and (3) the postcolonial and poststructural wave in the 1990s through the early 2000s in which those who rejected patriarchy incorporated race and class into their advocacy and actions. The general goal of feminism is “equality for women,” and the general construct of critique is “power.” In other words, feminism promotes gender equality through a critique of power differences between men and women. As a matter of fact, conflicting conceptualizations of power became one of the strongest themes throughout feminist history; many argued that power assumed solely to be “domination” limited the analysis. Power, some claimed, can also be considered a “resource.”

The social boundaries separating the three waves of feminism are not always clear. In the early 1800s, seeds of dissension against the subjugation of women were growing across many countries in Europe and Eurasia, and in the United States. A heavy emphasis on oppression inherent in laws regulating marriage and the denial of the vote to women was growing. While this period may be identified as the first wave of feminism, historians can find evidence of the struggle for women's rights in parts of the world a few hundred years prior to the 1800s. Chronological boundary lines distinguishing the three waves of feminism are blurred. Waves of activity became prominent for a period and then retreated only to reappear at some point later. For example, discussing gendered work roles in the third wave of feminism does not mean to suggest that gender, power, and work were not a part of the resistance during earlier periods.

The following sections of this entry include an argument for its relevance in an examination of educational dissent and a discussion of the three waves of feminism in the United States, including several feminist perspectives.