Radical feminism is a perspective within
feminism that calls for a
radical reordering of
society in which male supremacy is eliminated in all social and economic contexts, while recognizing that women's experiences are also affected by other social divisions such as in race, class, and sexual orientation. The
ideology and movement emerged in the 1960s.
Radical feminists view
society as fundamentally a
patriarchy in which men dominate and oppress women.
Radical feminists seek to abolish the
patriarchy as one front in a struggle to liberate everyone from an unjust
society by challenging existing social norms and institutions. This struggle includes opposing the sexual objectification
… Read more of women, raising public awareness about such issues as rape and violence against women, challenging the concept of
gender roles, and challenging what
radical feminists see as a racialized and gendered capitalism that characterizes the
United States and many other countries.
Radical feminists locate the root cause of women's
oppression in patriarchal gender relations, as opposed to legal systems (as in liberal
feminism) or class
conflict (as in anarchist
feminism, socialist
feminism, and Marxist
feminism).
Mujeres Libres (Free Women) was an anarchist women's
organization that existed during the Spanish
revolution from 1936 to 1939. Founded by
Lucía Sánchez Saornil, Mercedes Comaposada, and Amparo Poch y Gascón as a small women's group in Madrid, it rapidly grew to a national federation of 30,000 members at its height in the summer of 1938. It emerged from the Spanish anarcho-
syndicalist movement, composed of three main organizations: the
CNT union, the FAI federation, and the FIJL youth wing. Many women who participated in these groups felt that their issues were being ignored by the predominantly male anarchists. As a result, the autonomous
Mujeres Libres groups were created, pursuing
… Read more both women's liberation and the anarchist social
revolution. They argued that the two objectives were equally important and should be pursued in parallel. Aiming towards the
empowerment of working-class women, they organized activities ranging from
education programs and technical classes to childcare centers and maternity care.
As participants in the anarcho-
syndicalist movement,
Mujeres Libres believed in the abolition of the state and of capitalism. Many anarchists at the time presumed that gender inequality was a product of these economic hierarchies, and that it would disappear once the social
revolution had been achieved. However, following their negative experiences within male-dominated anarchist groups, the anarchist women who founded
Mujeres Libres began to reject the idea that the struggle for
gender equality was subordinate to the wider class struggle for economic
equality.
Anarcha-
feminism combines
anarchism with
feminism. Anarcha-
feminism generally posits that
patriarchy and traditional
gender roles as manifestations of involuntary coercive
hierarchy should be replaced by decentralized free association. Anarcha-feminists believe that the struggle against
patriarchy is an essential part of class
conflict and the anarchist struggle against the state and capitalism. In essence, the philosophy sees anarchist struggle as a necessary component of
feminist struggle and vice versa. L. Susan Brown claims that "as
anarchism is a political philosophy that opposes all relationships of power, it is inherently
feminist". Anarcha-
feminism is an anti-authoritarian,
… Read more anti-capitalist, anti-oppressive philosophy, with the goal of creating an "equal ground" between the genders. Anarcha-
feminism suggests the social
freedom and liberty of women without needed dependence upon other groups or parties. Anarcha-
feminism began with late 19th and early 20th century authors and theorists such as anarchist feminists
Emma Goldman,
Voltairine de Cleyre, Milly Witkop,
Lucía Sánchez Saornil, and Lucy Parsons. In the Spanish Civil
War, an anarcha-
feminist group,
Mujeres Libres ("Free Women"), linked to the Federación Anarquista Ibérica, organized to defend both anarchist and
feminist ideas.
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