ABSTRACT
In order to understand feminist geography we need to examine the wider political and intellectual context from which it emerged. Feminism is a movement that seeks to promote women’s liberty by dismantling unequal power relations between men and women. In doing so, feminism has challenged the modes of thought and social practices that reproduce inequality between men and women. While such unequal relations may be a timeless feature of human organisation, we can discern two phases to the feminist movement: a ‘first wave’ from the mid-19th century to the early 20th century and a ‘second wave’ lasting from the early 1960s to the early 1980s. Some commentators identify a ‘third wave’ of feminism, from the early 1990s to the present, reflecting a break in ‘second wave’ thinking in recent years. We will expand on these recent theoretical developments in feminism later in the chapter.
