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Equity feminism is a form of
liberal feminism Liberal feminism, also called mainstream feminism, is a main branch of feminism defined by its focus on achieving gender equality through political and legal reform within the framework of liberal democracy. It is often considered culturally ...
that advocates the
state State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * ''Our S ...
's equal treatment of women and men. Equity ensures equality between everyone without challenging inequalities perpetuated by employers, educational and religious institutions, and other elements of society. (revised 30 September 2013) The concept has been discussed since the 1980s. * ''Citing'': ** Equity feminism has been defined and classified as a kind of classically liberal or libertarian feminism, in contrast with
social feminism Social feminism is a feminist movement that advocates for social rights and special accommodations for women. It was first used to describe members of the women's suffrage movement in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries who were con ...
, difference feminism, gender feminism, and
equality feminism Equality feminism is a subset of the overall feminism movement and more specifically of the liberal feminist tradition that focuses on the basic similarities between men and women, and whose ultimate goal is the equality of the sexes in all domai ...
.


Overview

The '' Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy'' refers to
Wendy McElroy Wendy McElroy (born 1951) is a Canadian individualist feminist and voluntaryist writer. She was a co-founder along with Carl Watner and George H. Smith of ''The Voluntaryist'' magazine in 1982 and is the author of a number of books. McElroy ...
,
Joan Kennedy Taylor Joan Kennedy Taylor (December 21, 1926 – October 29, 2005) was an American journalist, author, editor, public intellectual, and political activist. She is best known for her advocacy of individualist feminism and for her role in the develo ...
, Cathy Young, Rita Simon,
Katie Roiphe Katie Roiphe (born July 13, 1968) is an American author and journalist. She is best known as the author of the non-fiction book '' The Morning After: Fear, Sex and Feminism'' (1994). She is also the author of ''Last Night in Paradise: Sex and Mora ...
, Diana Furchtgott-Roth, Christine Stolba, and
Christina Hoff Sommers Christina Marie Hoff Sommers (born 1950) is an American author and philosopher. Specializing in ethics, she is a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute.
as equity feminists.
Camille Paglia Camille Anna Paglia (; born April 2, 1947) is an American feminist academic and social critic. Paglia has been a professor at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, since 1984. She is critical of many aspects of modern cultu ...
also describes herself as an equity feminist. Christina Sommers, in particular, explored the topic of equity feminism in her book '' Who Stole Feminism?'' In this text, Sommers summarizes how the aim of equity feminism is to attain economic, educational, and political equality of opportunity. Sommers claims that feminists are separated between two categories: equity feminists and gender feminists. She states that the difference between gender feminists and equity feminists is that gender feminists aim to change, or question, traditional gender roles. Whereas equity feminists want equal treatment and rights.
Steven Pinker Steven Arthur Pinker (born September 18, 1954) is a Canadian-American cognitive psychologist, psycholinguist, popular science author, and public intellectual. He is an advocate of evolutionary psychology and the computational theory of mind. ...
, an
evolutionary Evolution is change in the heritable characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. These characteristics are the expressions of genes, which are passed on from parent to offspring during reproduction. Variation ...
and
cognitive psychologist Cognitive psychology is the scientific study of mental processes such as attention, language use, memory, perception, problem solving, creativity, and reasoning. Cognitive psychology originated in the 1960s in a break from behaviorism, which he ...
,
linguist Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Linguis ...
, and popular science author, identifies himself as an equity feminist, which he defines as "a moral doctrine about equal treatment that makes no commitments regarding open empirical issues in psychology or biology". In the United States, Alice Paul and
Crystal Eastman Crystal Catherine Eastman (June 25, 1881 – July 28, 1928) was an American lawyer, antimilitarist, feminist, socialist, and journalist. She is best remembered as a leader in the fight for women's suffrage, as a co-founder and co-editor with h ...
, two women in the
National Women's Party The National Woman's Party (NWP) was an American women's political organization formed in 1916 to fight for women's suffrage. After achieving this goal with the 1920 adoption of the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, the NW ...
, were involved in drafting the Equal Rights Amendment, with the goal of achieving "constitutional protections from discrimination" for all women. Distinctions have been made between
conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...
and radical forms of equity feminism. Many young conservative women have accepted equity feminism. The "Gender Equity Starts in the Home" article uncovers one of the many reasons equity is not being enforced in the home. Jack Koban contributes to this, as being a stay at home dad, while his wife works as a medicine physician. He mentions how him and his wife have reached a work-life balance by helping each other at work and at home. This example brings equity in the home and not only is it helping Koban and his wife successful in their relationship, but also teaches their kids equity at an early age.


Theorists

Anne-Marie Kinahan claims that most American women look to a kind of feminism whose main goal is equity. Louis Schubert ''et al.'' claims "principles of equity feminism remain in the vision of the vast majority of women in the United States".


United States

The Equal Rights Amendment was proposed originally in 1923 by the National Women's Party to congress before being approved by the U.S. House of Representatives in March 1972 that would give both women and men the constitutional right to equity. Equity in feminism is a branch of
liberal feminism Liberal feminism, also called mainstream feminism, is a main branch of feminism defined by its focus on achieving gender equality through political and legal reform within the framework of liberal democracy. It is often considered culturally ...
that creates a political stance assuring women's rights within or under the law. The battle for equity becomes political as many argue women and other groups who are considered oppressed are denied the same opportunities of cis-gender white males. Since the rejection of the ERA in 1972, the fight for equity has continued to grow in America and pushed for new laws that would protect women as it would have. Equity in feminism is important because it notes that women deserve the same rights. If there is no political push for a feminist equitable society, it would create a statement that women are lesser than men and don't deserve the same treatment regardless of education or social class. The Equal Rights Amendment guarantees equal rights for all American citizens. This would assure to dispute any distinctions between sexes.


Europe

In many respects, Europe has a more progressive stance than the United States when it comes to feminist and gender equity support. Organizations in Europe were made to promote not only equality and equity, but they also aimed to promote diversity while being an ally for women across the continent. Compared to the European Union, the lack of publicly identified feminists in the Americas poses some political challenges for the movement. Integrating feminists' methods into institutions is how European countries have been able to advance the interests of equity and feminism.


See also

*
First-wave feminism First-wave feminism was a period of feminist activity and thought that occurred during the 19th and early 20th century throughout the Western world. It focused on legal issues, primarily on securing women's right to vote. The term is often used s ...
*
Liberal feminism Liberal feminism, also called mainstream feminism, is a main branch of feminism defined by its focus on achieving gender equality through political and legal reform within the framework of liberal democracy. It is often considered culturally ...
* Libertarian feminism *
Equality feminism Equality feminism is a subset of the overall feminism movement and more specifically of the liberal feminist tradition that focuses on the basic similarities between men and women, and whose ultimate goal is the equality of the sexes in all domai ...
*
Liberal Women (Germany) Liberal Women (German language, german: Liberale Frauen) are a Germany, German Individualist feminism, individualist women's political organization that was founded in 1990 as an independent association, but has been recognized as the women's win ...


References

{{Feminism Liberal feminism Classical liberalism