 Dear learners, welcome to this video. In this video, we shall discuss one very important concept that is feminism and its evolution. This topic is included in BA's second semester course in political science. I am Jahanabhi Debi, assistant professor, discipline of political science, Krishna Kanta Handik, State of an University. In social sciences, the concept of feminism occupies a very important position. Feminism basically refers to a movement which seeks to establish equality between man and woman and other gender. In many societies, we can see that woman and other gender are treated as inferior in comparison to the male members of the society. They have to face discrimination and injustice in every step of their life. The feminist thinkers take up all these issues of inequality and discrimination against women and the main objective of feminism is to eliminate inequalities that exist between man and woman. The word feminism is derived from Friend's term Feministe. So what does it mean? The term Feministe was used to support equal rights for women and men. So feminism refers to a socio-political, cultural and economic movement that aims at establishing equality between man, woman and other gender of the society. The feminist movement emerges out of discrimination which is done to women in all spheres of life whether it is private life or public life. The most important concept associated with the term of feminism are gender and patriarchy. So what is gender? Gender is a socially constructed concept. It is socially and culturally constructed one. Gender refers to the socially constructed roles, behaviour, activities, attributes that a particular society considers appropriate for men and women. The socially and culturally constructed distinct roles and behaviour may give rise to gender discrimination and gender inequalities that systematically favour one group and ultimately it leads to the oppression and suppression of women in every sphere of life. Another important concept associated with feminism is patriarchy. In fact, the feminist thinkers consider patriarchal system to be one of the main factors which is responsible for discrimination and injustice against women. The term patriarchy literally means rule of the father. So patriarchy means a system in which male members of the society receive a preferential treatment in comparison to the female counterpart. It indicates a social system in which male are primary authority figures and control all aspects of private as well as public life. In other words, we can say that patriarchy refers to male domination or power relationship by which men dominate women and it indicates a system whereby women are always kept in a subordinate position in comparison to the men. Now we shall discuss the evolution of feminism. While discussing the evolution of feminism as a movement we can refer to three waves. These three waves are first wave of feminism, then second wave of feminism and third wave of feminism. So what is first wave of feminism? The first wave of feminism refers to the feminist movement that started during 19th century and continued till early 20th century. During this phase the feminist movement focus on the voting rights of women and political equality between men and women. So basically this first phase of this first wave of feminism emphasizes on political rights of women. During this period emphasis was also given on working condition, then educational rights, reproductive rights as well as marriage and property rights of women. The first women's right convention was held in Newark in the year 1848. At this convention a declaration of sentiment was signed which outlined the grievances of women and set the agenda for women's right movement. First like Virginia Woolf was associated with the first wave of feminism. The second wave of feminism was started in 1960s. The period between 1960s to 1980s is considered as the second wave of feminism. The second wave of feminism begun in USA and spread to the other western countries. So this second wave and first wave of feminism was basically limited or confined to the western countries. During the second wave of feminism the feminist movement emphasized on gender equality in laws and regulation. Feminist movement during this period raised awareness about sexism and patriarchy, gender waste violence, then domestic abuse and marital rape. It also stressed on legalizing abortion and birth control. The feminist associated with the second wave of feminism explored various dimension of female subordination. They emphasized on various factors which are associated with female subordination like control of men over reproductive technologies, then social practices that always keep women in a subordinate position in a private life. One very famous feminist associated with the second wave of feminism was C1D Weaver. In this period another feminist Karol Haneats coined the slogan the personal is politics which was related to the liberation of women. Now we shall discuss the third wave of feminism. The second wave of feminism failed to solve or address women's issues and this failure of the second wave of feminism led to the emergence of third wave of feminism in the early 1990s. During this wave debate arose regarding distinction between sex and gender whether sex is equivalent to gender. The main theme of this third wave of feminism was the debate between the distinction between sex and gender. It was argued that sex is biological while gender is a socially constructed concept. During this wave the feminist analyzed various issues from the perspective of intersectionality. She refers to interconnected nature of various social categories like race, class, caste, gender etc. which may lead to the advantages or disadvantages of a particular group of people. This wave of feminism also focused on stereotype concerning of women, then media portrayal representation of women and the use of language to define a distinct woman. In fact, this wave of feminism always emphasized on discussing women's issues by encompassing all the diversities in different socio-cultural, political and economic situation. So these were the three waves of feminism that emerged till 1990s. However, apart from all these three waves, the fourth wave of feminism began from 2012 and still continues. During this period, the feminist movement has focused upon the empowerment of women in socio-political, economic, cultural and all other fields. The feminist emphasized upon the empowerment of women through the use of information technology. In the fourth wave of feminism, scholars raised issues of intersectionality of various factors that lead to marginalization of women in different fields. The feminists during this period have strongly demanded adequate representation of women in politics and business justice for women against assault and harassment, then equal pay for equal work for both men and women, freedom and autonomy of autonomy for women over their body and over their spirit. So this fourth wave of feminism basically emphasizes upon freedom or autonomy of women as an individual. These thinkers always emphasized upon the fact that women must be considered as an individual, an individual with full of potentialities and society have to recognize the potentialities of women. So we can say that the feminist movement is the outcome of all the discriminations and oppressions which have been done to women. The feminists want to eradicate all the discrimination against women and achieve the prime goal of equality between men and women. The main trust area of the feminist movement is that the subordinate role and position of women must be questioned, challenged and overcome. The main emphasis of the feminist movement is to establish a gender-just society. Thank you.