Any attempt to “introduce feminism” invariably faces numerous challenges. Where to start, who to include, what to leave out and when to stop are all important considerations. This book provides an overview of the development of feminist activism in the Anglo-speaking world. It specifically outlines feminist thought in Britain and the US, although it refers to international contexts where relevant.

The book acknowledges and intends to celebrate the variety of feminist perspectives which have developed throughout women’s history, taking as its premise bell hooks’ famous definition.

Introducing Feminism traces the historical and social development of this struggle.

One starting point for thinking about feminist activity is coming to a consensus about what the term “patriarchy” means. A useful definition is provided by Chris Weedon.

The term “feminism” came into English usage around the 1890s, but women’s conscious struggle to resist discrimination and sexist oppression goes much further back.

As early as the 4th century BC, Aristotle (384–322 BC) declared that “women were women by virtue of a certain lack of qualities”. His predecessor the Greek historian and army general Thucydides (c. 460–400 BC) had some advice for women.

Early thinking about the difference between women and men was based on essentialist ideas about gender which maintained that women’s and men’s differences are a result of biology. The belief that biology is destiny suggests that, in comparable situations, men exhibit “masculine” psychological traits such as aggressiveness, rationality and assertiveness, whereas women will exhibit “feminine” traits such as gentleness, intuitiveness and sensitivity. These differences, it was believed, translated into particular patterns of thought, feeling and behaviour specific to each gender.

Essentialism sees men as able to think logically, abstractly and analytically, while women are mainly emotional, compassionate and nurturing creatures.

Essentialist thinking had repercussions on women’s private and public lives. In private, essentialist ideas were translated into rule sof conduct for the woman as wife, mother and daughter. In public, it was believed that women’s participation should be limited and strictly controlled by a masculine representative of authority such as husband, father, the clergy, the law.

Essentialist ideas about women permeated Western thought for centuries and proposed that there is a natural, biologically determined essence of the feminine that is universal and unchangeable.

Feminists have long fought to dispel such myths about gender.

Early Modern (1550–1700) English society was founded on the rule of the father.

Women had no formal rights and were not represented in the law. Even if some women were able to receive a higher education, they were not allowed to receive the degree for which they studied. In marriage, the woman’s body belonged to her husband, who was also the only legal guardian of the children.

Early Modern feminist activity aimed at challenging the prevalent social view that women are weak and irrational creatures who should be controlled by men. There were a number of political events which supported such efforts, in particular Queen Elizabeth I’s accession to the throne in 1558 and her long and successful reign as a single female.

Writing on women’s issues in the late 16th century began to proliferate, with a number of essays challenging the ideal of the female as “chaste, silent and obedient”. In 1589, Jane Anger’s Her Protection for Women reinterpreted Genesis.

Rachel Speght’s A Muzzle for Melastomus (1617) questioned the story of Adam’s fall from the Garden of Eden, taking issue with the underlying assumption that Adam had been seduced by Eve to eat the apple: “If Adam has not approved of that deed which Eve has done, and been willing to tread the steps which she had gone, he being her head would have reproved her.”

The gender of authors such as Jane Anger, Rachel Speght, Esther Sowernam and Sarah Egerton remains debatable. Some crit...