00:00It began not as a movement, but as a question. A quiet, persistent question. Why are women not
00:08seen as equals? Why is power reserved for one gender? Across continents and centuries,
00:16this question echoed through the minds of rebels, writers, mothers, workers, and leaders.
00:22And from it emerged one of the most transformative and most misunderstood movements in human history,
00:29feminism. Feminism has shaped laws, upended traditions, and opened doors that once seemed
00:36permanently locked. But it has also sparked fierce debate, backlash, and deep divisions,
00:43even among women themselves. This is not just a history of protests or policies.
00:49It is the story of identity, freedom, and the long, unfinished battle for equality.
00:59To understand feminism today, we must go back to where it began. Not with social media hashtags,
01:11but with handwritten manifestos, courtrooms, and revolutions.
01:15Pre-1700s. Foundations before the word feminism. Long before feminism had a name, women questioned
01:23their place in the world. In ancient civilizations, women played powerful roles as priestesses in
01:30Mesopotamia, pharaohs in Egypt, poets in Greece, and warriors in Africa. Yet, in most recorded history,
01:39they were sidelined, often treated as property, their value tied to childbirth or dowry. Medieval and
01:46early modern thinkers, like Hildegard of Bingen, Christine de Pizan, and Aisha Bint Abu Bakr,
01:53wrote letters, sermons, and stories that quietly challenged male-dominated systems. But society was
02:00not ready to listen. Yet.
02:041792. The Spark. Mary Wollstonecraft's A Vindication of the Rights of Woman.
02:09In Enlightenment-Era Europe, reason, liberty, and individual rights were in the air. But these ideals
02:17applied only to men. Mary Wollstonecraft, a British philosopher, asked, why not women? In 1792,
02:25she published A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, one of the first modern feminist texts.
02:31I do not wish women to have power over men, but over themselves.
02:35The first wave, 1800s to 1920s, the right to be heard. The first wave of feminism focused on legal
02:46rights, especially the right to vote, own property, and access education. Leaders emerged. Sojourner
02:53Truth, a formerly enslaved black woman, declared, ain't I a woman? Connecting race and gender injustice.
03:01Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton led marches across America. In Britain,
03:07Emmeline Pankhurst led hunger strikes and bold demonstrations. We are here not because we are
03:13lawbreakers. We are here in our efforts to become lawmakers. Pankhurst. By the 1920s, many women in the
03:22US, UK, and parts of Europe had won the right to vote. A monumental, hard-fought victory. But feminism
03:31had only just begun. The second wave, 1960s to 1980s, the right to control one's life. Personal is
03:40political. This wave erupted in the wake of World War II. Women had entered the workforce, served in war
03:48efforts, and then were told to return to the kitchen. Feminists, like Betty Friedan, challenged
03:54these limits. Her book, The Feminine Mystique, 1963, exposed the dissatisfaction of countless housewives
04:02trapped in a life they didn't choose. Demands now went beyond the ballot box. Workplace equality,
04:09equal pay, access to contraception and abortion, protection from domestic violence and sexual
04:15harassment. Laws began to change. Title IX, Roe v. Wade, and the Equal Pay Act transformed lives.
04:24But tensions grew between white, middle-class feminists and women of color, working-class women
04:30and LGBTQ plus voices who felt excluded from the mainstream movement. The third wave, 1990s, 2000s,
04:40identity and intersectionality. There's no one way to be a woman. In the 1990s, a younger generation
04:48questioned the boundaries of the movement. They embraced individual empowerment, diversity,
04:54and cultural feminism. Coined by scholar KimberlƩ Crenshaw, the term intersectionality described how
05:02race, gender, sexuality, and class overlap to shape a woman's experience of oppression.
05:08Feminism became more global, more inclusive, and more decentralized.
05:14The fourth wave, 2010s to present. Digital feminism and global voices. Speak your truth. Social media
05:22revolutionized activism. Movements like Me Too, Hashtag Times Up, and Hashtag HeForShe exposed harassment,
05:31gender violence, and systemic inequality. Online platforms gave a voice to survivors,
05:37but also created echo chambers, cancel culture, and new forms of cyber misogyny.
05:43Meanwhile, feminist movements surged worldwide. Iran. Women protesting mandatory hijab laws.
05:50India. Campaigns against rape culture. Africa. Movements against female genital mutilation.
05:57FGM. Latin America. Women demanding protection against femicide. Feminism today is global,
06:04fractured, powerful, and more debated than ever. Feminism is not one idea. It's a galaxy of beliefs.
06:15Types of feminism. Liberal feminism. Equality through law and policy reform. Radical feminism.
06:24Systemic overhaul of patriarchy. Marxist slash socialist feminism. Linking capitalism to gender
06:31oppression. Cultural feminism. Celebrating traditionally feminine values. Eco-feminism. Connecting
06:39environmental and gender justice. Intersectional feminism. Recognizing layered oppression based on
06:46race, sexuality, ability, and more. Controversies. Trans inclusion. Who counts as a woman. Sex work.
06:56Empowerment versus exploitation. Men's rights. Is feminism listening to male struggles. Cancel culture.
07:03Is online feminism silencing discussion. These are not just intellectual debates. They're real
07:10questions shaping policy, identity, and culture every day.
07:16Has feminism failed or simply evolved? Feminism has educated millions of girls, challenged child
07:24marriage, elevated women into politics and science, reformed marriage, labor, and family laws,
07:30shifted global consciousness about power and gender. But around the world, women still earn less than
07:37men. Face violence and online abuse. Fight for reproductive rights. Struggle for representation
07:44in leadership. Feminism's work is far from over. And its definition is still being rewritten.
07:52Feminism is not a war against men. It is a centuries-long dialogue about fairness, dignity, and freedom.
08:00Feminism. Some call it dangerous. Others call it salvation. But, wherever there is inequality,
08:07feminism rises, questioned, reshaped, and carried forward by new voices. This is not the end of the
08:15story. This is only the beginning.
08:30Sudden of laughed. Alright.
08:31Durden himself, it is quite a whole. He is entirely in the end of the story. This is not the end of the world.
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