Feminism is the belief that men and women should have equal rights. It’s about acknowledging both the genders equally, none more or less than the other. It’s about assuring that girls and women get the same opportunities that boys and men get in their lives. It’s about learning, unlearning, and relearning the basic concept associated with women’s equality. It’s not about hating men. It’s not about women’s superiority. It’s about accepting women as equals whether in a political, economic, or social context. Feminism is about fighting for equality and addressing issues faced by both genders. It is not necessary that feminists should be females, they can be of any gender. feminism in the US came out of those movements in the 1830s and continued in the movement for women to get the right to vote. Though that movement had many roots, its founding moment is seen by many as having taken place in Seneca Falls New York in 1848 where convention delegates composed and ratified a “Declaration of Sentiments” that some have called “A Declaration of the Rights of Woman”. Modelled on the 1776 “Declaration of Independence” and the 1789 “Declaration of the Rights of Man”, it argued that women were equal to men in the eyes of God and that, therefore, they were entitled to the rights to education, property, divorce, custody of their children, protection from violence at the hands of husbands, and – finally – the right to vote. It would take 72 years before they won that vote across the U.S. Feminism was present in the Civil War, where women served as nurses and volunteers in the field. When they came home, they wanted access to higher education and to various professions. After the Civil War women fought hard for the right to control their own property since by law they couldn’t control their wages or savings. The Married Women’s Property Act of 1884 gave women greater financial independence from their husbands.
Now in the 21st century, feminism has emerged as an important movement and the awareness towards it is at an all-time high.