Contemporary Europe and the world Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Contemporary Europe and the world - Essay Example In this context Rebecca West, once famously remarked, â€Å"‘I myself have never been able to find out precisely what feminism is. I only know that people call me feminist whenever I express sentiments that differentiate me from a doormat or a prostitute.’† (West ; Walters, 2005, p. 1) It is clear from her statement that though feminism contains certain basic structure but since last two centuries it has encompassed such a wide range of activism that both perception and approach of common people towards it has changed to a great extent. Apart from its basic elements, feminism as a theory also includes different approaches and outlook of common people towards life. Barbara Smith, in the year 1979, tried to define Feminism as, â€Å"†¦the political theory and practice to free all women; women of color, working-class women, physically challenged women, lesbians, old women, as well as white economically privileged women.† On the one hand, feminism includes racism, sexism, cast differentiation and color discrimination and on the other it encompasses social, political and cultural approaches. Thus, it can be concisely said that racism is a particular philosophical approach, which conveys the theme of women liberty from any forms of social oppression. Different people have separate approaches towards feminism and they also feel in different ways about treatment of women in the society. The European feminist intellectuals may be largely accredited with the realization of the goals of feminism in the twentieth century in Europe. Their standpoint certainly helped the European women to fight to a great extent, against all forms of social oppressions biased towards their sex. Historically, emergence of feminist ideas in Europe occurred quite a long time back. During the French revolution first wave of feminist movement can be perceived as the idea that