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This list of feminists catalogues notable individuals who identify or have been identified as proponents of feminist political, economic, social, and personal principles for gender equality.

Early feminists

[edit]

Born before 1499.

Period (birth) Name Country Born Died Comments Source
1200–1300 Helen of Anjou Serbia 1236 1314 Serbian queen, feminist, establisher of women's schools [1][2]
1300–1400 Christine de Pizan Italy 1365 1430 Medieval court writer [3]
1300–1400 Jefimija Serbia 1349 1405 Serbian politician, poet, diplomat [4]
1400–1499 Laura Cereta Italy 1469 1499 Humanist and feminist writer [5]
1400–1499 Balaram Das India unknown unknown 15th century Odia poet; first attempt in India towards feminism [6]
1400–1499 Isabel de Villena Spain 1430 1460 Feminist nun [7][8]

16th-century feminists

[edit]

Born between 1500 and 1599.

Period (birth) Name Country Born Died Comments Source
1500–1599 India Juliana Present-day Paraguay fl. 1542 fl. 1542 Guaraní woman who lived in the newly-founded Asunción, known for killing a Spanish colonist between 1538 and 1542 and urging other indigenous women to do the same. [9][10][11][12]
1500–1599 Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa Germany 1486 1535 Male feminist, wrote Declamatio de nobilitate et praecellentia foeminei sexus (Declamation on the Nobility and Preeminence of the Female Sex), a book pronouncing the theological and moral superiority of women [13]
1500–1599 Jane Anger United Kingdom fl. 1589 fl. 1589 Protofeminist writer of Jane Anger her Protection for Women [14]
1500–1599 Marie de Gournay France 1565 1645 Protofeminist writer of Egalité des hommes et des femmes (The equality of men and women) [15]
1500–1599 Modesta di Pozzo di Forzi Italy 1501–1600 c. 1593 Protofeminist writer of The Worth of Women [16]
1500–1599 Lucrezia Marinella Italy c. 1571 1653 Italian poet, author, and an advocate of women's rights [17]
1500–1599 Izumo no Okuni Japan c. 1571 unknown Originator of kabuki theater [18]

17th-century feminists

[edit]

Born between 1600 and 1699.

Period (birth) Name Country Born Died Comments Source
1600–1699 Mary Astell United Kingdom c. 1666 1731 English feminist writer and rhetorician [17][19][20]
1600–1699 Aphra Behn United Kingdom 1640 1689 Writer and protofeminist [21]
1600–1699 Anne Bradstreet United Kingdom 1612 1672 North American colonial poet [22]
1600–1699 Sophia Elisabet Brenner Sweden 1659 1724 Writer and women's rights activist [23]
1600–1699 François Poullain de la Barre France 1647 1725 Male feminist philosopher [17]
1600–1699 Sr. Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz Mexico 1648 1695 Hieronymite nun, scholar and poet [24]
1600–1699 Ninon de l'Enclos France 1620 1795 Author, courtesan, and patron of the arts [citation needed]

18th-century feminists

[edit]

Born between 1700 and 1799.

Period (birth) Name Country Born Died Comments Source
1700–1799 Abigail Adams United States 1744 1818 Wife of John Adams and mother of John Quincy Adams [25]
1700–1799 Catharina Ahlgren Sweden 1734 1800 Female Swedish publisher and writer. [26]
1700–1799 Annestine Beyer Denmark 1795 1884 Pioneer of women's education [27]
1700–1799 Eleanor Butler Ireland 1739 1829 One of the Ladies of Llangollen [28]
1700–1799 Marquis de Condorcet France 1743 1794 [17]
1700–1799 Olympe de Gouges France 1748 1793 Playwright and political activist who wrote the Declaration of the Rights of Woman and of the Female Citizen in 1791 [19]
1700–1799 Anne-Josèphe Théroigne de Méricourt France 1762 1817 Politician [29]
1700–1799 Francisco de Miranda, Gen. Venezuela 1750 1816 Published an impassioned plea for women's education. [30]
1700–1799 Madeleine de Puisieux France 1720 1798 Writer [31]
1700–1799 Dorothea Erxleben Germany 1715 1762 First female medical doctor in Germany, argued for the right of women to study medicine and other disciplines at university [3]
1700–1799 Charles Fourier France 1772 1837 Socialist feminist; philosopher; credited with coining the (French) word "féministe" [32][33]
1700–1799 Jane Gomeldon United Kingdom c. 1720 1779 Writer and first to use the press to gain power through transparency. [34]
1700–1799 Sarah Moore Grimké United States 1792 1873 Suffragist and abolitionist [19][35]
1700–1799 Francis Hutcheson Ireland 1694 1746 Scottish-Irish philosopher, a founding father of the Scottish Enlightenment [36]
1700–1799 Christian Isobel Johnstone United Kingdom 1781 1857 Journalist and author in Scotland [37]
1700–1799 Anne Knight United Kingdom 1786 1862 Social reformer; pioneer of feminism [19]
1701–1800 Anna Maria Lenngren Sweden 1754 1817 Writer, poet, and salonist; possibly a feminist [38]
1700–1799 Lucretia Mott United States 1793 1880 Abolitionist and women's rights campaigner [39]
1700–1799 Judith Sargent Murray United States 1751 1820 Early American proponent of female equality and author of On the Equality of the Sexes [40]
1700–1799 John Neal United States 1793 1876 Writer, critic, and first American women's rights lecturer [41][42]
1700–1799 Sarah Ponsonby Ireland 1755 1831 One of the Ladies of Llangollen [28]
1700–1799 Mary Shelley United Kingdom 1797 1851 Early pioneer feminist [35]
1700–1799 Maria Engelbrecht Stokkenbech Denmark 1759 after 1806 Dressed as a man to be able to work [43]
1700–1799 Thomas Thorild Sweden 1759 1808 Male feminist, poet [44]
1700–1799 William Thompson (philosopher) Ireland 1775 1833 Pro-feminist, socialist, collaborator of Anna Wheeler, author of "Appeal of One Half the Human Race, Women, Against the Pretensions of the Other Half, Men, to Retain Them in Political, and thence in Civil and Domestic Slavery", 1825, first published appeal for equality of women [45]
1700–1799 Sojourner Truth United States c. 1797 1883 First-wave feminist; abolitionist, women's rights activist, speaker, women's rights speech "Ain't I a Woman?" [25][35]
1700–1799 Anna Wheeler Ireland 1785 1848 Feminist and socialist writer who networked Robert Owen, Charles Fourier, Henri Saint-Simon, William Thompson (philosopher) and Flora Tristan, Desiree Veret [46][45]
1700–1799 Mary Wollstonecraft United Kingdom 1759 1797 Early pioneer proto-feminist. Author of A Vindication of the Rights of Woman [25][35]
1700–1799 Frances Wright United Kingdom 1795 1852 feminist [25][35]

Early and mid 19th-century feminists

[edit]

Born between 1800 and 1874.

Period (birth) Name Country Born Died Comments Source
1800–1874 Juliette Adam France 1836 1936 [19]
1800–1874 Jane Addams United States 1860 1935 Feminist; Women's Suffrage advocate; Major social activist, president Women's International League for Peace and Freedom [35]
1800–1874 Gertrud Adelborg Sweden 1853 1942 Teacher and suffragist [47]
1800–1874 Sophie Adlersparre Sweden 1823 1895 Publisher; one of three most notable pioneers of women's rights movement in Sweden [48]
1800–1874 Alfhild Agrell Sweden 1849 1923 [49]
1800–1874 Soteria Aliberty Greece 1847 1929 [19]
1800–1874 Jules Allix France 1818 1897 Socialist; feminist [32]
1800–1874 Elisabeth Altmann-Gottheiner Germany 1874 1930 Woman Suffrage [50]
1800–1874 Ellen Anckarsvärd Sweden 1833 1898 Co-founded the Married Woman's Property Rights Association [51]
1800–1874 Adelaide Anderson United Kingdom 1863 1936 [20]
1800–1874 Elizabeth Garrett Anderson United Kingdom 1836 1917 Feminist, suffragist; first Englishwoman to qualify as a physician and surgeon in the UK; co-founder of first hospital staffed by women [20][52]
1800–1874 Louisa Garrett Anderson United Kingdom 1873 1943 Suffragette [52]
1800–1874 Maybanke Anderson Australia 1845 1927 Suffragette [53]
1800–1874 Susan Anthony United States 1820 1906 Woman Suffrage advocate; played a pivotal role in movement to introduce women's suffrage into the United States [25]
1800–1874 Lovisa Årberg Sweden 1801 1881 First female doctor in Sweden [54]
1800–1874 Edith Archibald Canada 1854 1936 Suffragist; led the Maritime Women's Christian Temperance Union, the National Council of Women of Canada and the Local Council of Women of Halifax [55]
1800–1874 Concepción Arenal Spain 1820 1893 [17]
1800–1874 Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll United Kingdom 1848 1939 Suffragette [56]
1800–1874 Ottilie Assing Germany 1819 1884 [57]
1800–1874 Bibi Khanoom Astarabadi Iran 1859 1921 Writer [58]
1800–1874 Louise Aston Germany 1814 1871 [59]
1800–1874 Hubertine Auclert France 1848 1914 Feminist activist, suffragette [35]
1800–1874 Olympe Audouard France 1832 1890 [35]
1800–1874 Alice Constance Austin United States 1862 1955 Socialist feminist; radical feminist [60]
1800–1874 Rachel Foster Avery United States 1858 1919 First-wave feminist; suffragette [35]
1800–1874 John Goodwyn Barmby United Kingdom 1820 1881 [52]
1800–1874 Marie Bashkirtseff Ukraine 1858 1884 feminist; French feminist [35]
1800–1874 José Batlle y Ordóñez Uruguay 1856 1929 [61]
1800–1874 Anna Bayerová Czech Republic 1853 1924 [62]
1800–1874 Jean Beadle Australia 1868 1942 Feminist; social worker; political activist
1800–1874 August Bebel Germany 1840 1913 Communist; male [25]
1800–1874 Alaide Gualberta Beccari Italy 1868 1930 Socialist feminist; radical feminist
1800–1874 Lydia Becker United Kingdom 1827 1890 Suffragette [19][52]
1800–1874 Catharine Beecher United States 1800 1878 [19]
1800–1874 Alva Belmont United States 1853 1933 Suffrage leader; speaker; author [19]
1800–1874 Louie Bennett Ireland 1870 1956 Suffrage leader [19]
1800–1874 Ethel Bentham United Kingdom 1861 1931 Progressive doctor, politician and suffragette [63]
1800–1874 Victoire Léodile Béra France 1824 1900 [64]
1800–1874 Signe Bergman Sweden 1869 1960
1800–1874 Annie Besant United Kingdom 1847 1933 Socialist feminist
1800-1874 Ottilie von Bistram German Empire 1859 1931 education campaigner
1800–1874 Clementina Black United Kingdom 1853 1922 Feminist, writer, trade unionist
1800–1874 Alice Stone Blackwell United States 1857 1950 Feminist and journalist, editor of Woman's Journal, a major women's rights publication [19]
1800–1874 Antoinette Brown Blackwell United States 1825 1921 Founded American Woman Suffrage Association with Lucy Stone in 1869
1800–1874 Elizabeth Blackwell United States 1821 1910 First-wave feminist [35]
1800–1874 Henry Browne Blackwell United States 1825 1909 Businessman, abolitionist, journalist, suffrage leader and campaigner
1800–1874 Harriot Eaton Stanton Blatch United States 1856 1940 Suffragist [19][52]
1800–1874 Amelia Bloomer United States 1818 1894 Suffragist, publisher and editor of The Lily, advocated for many women's issues [19]
1800–1874 Barbara Bodichon United Kingdom 1827 1891 [19][52]
1800–1874 Laura Borden Canada 1861 1940 President of the Local Council of Women of Halifax
1800–1874 Lily Braun Germany 1865 1916 [19]
1800–1874 Fredrika Bremer Sweden 1801 1865 Writer, feminist activist and pioneer of the organized women's rights movement in Sweden [19]
1800–1874 Ursula Mellor Bright United Kingdom 1835 1915 Suffragette
1800–1874 Emilia Broomé Sweden 1866 1925
1800–1874 Lady Constance Bulwer-Lytton United Kingdom 1869 1923 Suffragette
1800–1874 Katharine Bushnell United States 1856 1946
1800–1874 Josephine Butler United Kingdom 1828 1906 [19]
1800–1874 Pancha Carrasco Costa Rica 1826 1890 [19]
1800–1874 Frances Jennings Casement United States 1840 1928 Suffragette
1800–1874 Carrie Chapman Catt United States 1859 1947 Suffrage leader, president of the National American Woman Suffrage Association, founder of League of Women Voters and the International Alliance of Women [19][25]
1800–1874 Maria Cederschiöld Sweden 1856 1935 Suffragette
1800–1874 William Henry Channing United States 1810 1884 Minister, author
1800–1874 Mary Agnes Chase United States 1869 1963 Socialist feminist; suffragist
1800–1874 Ada Nield Chew United Kingdom 1870 1945 Suffragette
1800–1874 Tennessee Celeste Claflin United States 1844 1923 suffragist [25]
1800–1874 Alice Clark United Kingdom 1874 1934
1800–1874 Helen Bright Clark United Kingdom 1840 1972 Suffragette
1800–1874 Florence Claxton United Kingdom 1840 1879
1800–1874 Francis Power Cobbe Ireland 1822 1904
1800–1874 Mary Ann Colclough New Zealand 1836 1885 Feminist; social reformer
1800–1874 Anna "Annie" Julia Cooper United States 1858 1964 Suffragist [17]
1800–1874 Marguerite Coppin Belgium 1867 1931 Woman poet laureate of Belgium and advocate of women's rights
1800–1874 Ida Crouch-Hazlett United States 1870 1941 Socialist feminist; suffragist
1800–1874 Emily Wilding Davison United Kingdom 1872 1913 Suffragist
1800–1874 Jenny d'Hericourt France 1809 1875 [19]
1800–1874 Violante Atabalipa Ximenes de Bivar e Vellasco Brazil 1817 1875 Editor and publisher of feminist journals in Brazil [65]
1800–1874 Voltairine de Cleyre United States 1866 1912 Individualist feminist; anarcha-feminist [35]
1800–1874 Isabelle Gatti de Gamond Belgian 1839 1905 Educator, feminist, suffragist, politician
1800–1874 Augustine De Rothmaler Belgian 1859 1942 Pedagogue, feminist
1800–1874 Caroline Rémy de Guebhard France 1855 1929
1800–1874 Sibylle Riqueti de Mirabeau France 1849 1932
1800–1874 Draga Dejanović Serbia 1840 1871 [66]
1800–1874 Josefina Deland Sweden 1814 1890 Writer, teacher, founded Society for Retired Female Teachers
1800–1874 Maria Deraismes France 1828 1894 [64]
1800–1874 Jeanne Deroin France 1805 1894 [19]
1800–1874 Charlotte Despard née French United Kingdom 1844 1939 Suffragette [19]
1800–1874 Wilhelmina Drucker Netherlands 1847 1925 First wave feminist, political activist and writer [67]
1800–1874 Louisa Margaret Dunkley Australia 1866 1927 Labour organizer
1800–1874 Marguerite Durand France 1864 1936 Suffragette [68]
1800–1874 Friedrich Engels Germany 1820 1895 Communist; male [25]
1800–1874 Emily Faithfull United Kingdom 1835 1895
1800–1874 Millicent Garrett Fawcett United Kingdom 1847 1929 Long-time president of the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies
1800–1874 Astrid Stampe Feddersen Denmark 1852 1930 Chaired the first Scandinavian meeting on women's rights
1800–1874 Anna Filosofova Russia 1837 1912 Early Russian woman's rights activist
1800–1874 Louise Flodin Sweden 1828 1923
1800–1874 Mary Sargant Florence United Kingdom 1857 1954 Suffragette
1800–1874 Isabella Ford United Kingdom 1855 1924 Socialist feminist; suffragette
1800–1874 Margaret Fuller United States 1810 1850 Transcendentalist, critic, advocate for women's education, author of Woman in the Nineteenth Century [25]
1800–1874 Matilda Joslyn Gage United States 1826 1898 Suffragist, editor, writer, organizer [17]
1800–1874 Marie-Louise Gagneur France 1832 1902 Feminist writer [69]
1800–1874 Eliza Gamble United States 1841 1820 Intellectual and an advocate of the Women's Movement [70]
1800–1874 William Lloyd Garrison United States 1805 1879 Abolitionist, journalist, organizer, advocate [25]
1800–1874 Edith Margaret Garrud United Kingdom 1872 1971 Trained the 'Bodyguard' unit of the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) in jujutsu self-defence techniques
1800–1874 Désirée Gay France 1810 1891 Socialist feminist [71]
1800–1874 Charlotte Perkins Gilman United States 1860 1935 Ecofeminist [25]
1800–1874 Wil van Gogh Netherlands 1862 1941
1800–1874 Emma Goldman United Kingdom 1869 1940 Individualist feminist; Russian-American campaigner for birth control and other rights [19][25][35]
1800–1874 Vida Goldstein Australia 1869 1949 Early Australian feminist politician; first woman in the British Empire to stand for election to a national parliament [19]
1800–1874 Grace Greenwood United States 1823 1904 First woman reporter on the New York Times payroll, advocate for social reform and women's rights
1800–1874 Angelina Emily Grimké United States 1805 1879 First-wave feminist; Woman Suffrage advocate [25][35]
1800–1874 Bella Guerin Australia 1858 1923 Socialist feminist; first woman to graduate from an Australian university
1800–1874 Marianne Hainisch Austria 1839 1936 Proponent of women's right to work and to receive education
1800–1874 Marion Coates Hansen United Kingdom 1870 1947 Suffragette
1800–1874 Jane Ellen Harrison United Kingdom 1850 1928
1800–1874 Anna Haslam Ireland 1829 1922 Major figure in early women's movement in Ireland, founded the Dublin Women's Suffrage Association
1800–1874 Anna Hierta-Retzius Sweden 1841 1924 Women's rights activist and philanthropist
1800–1874 Thomas Wentworth Higginson United States 1828 1911 Abolitionist, minister, author
1800–1874 Marie Hoheisel Austria 1873 1947 Women's rights activist. Chair of Austrian Mothers' Day Committee
1800–1874 Laurence Housman United Kingdom 1865 1959 Socialist feminist
1800–1874 Julia Ward Howe United States 1819 1910 Suffragist, writer, organizer
1800–1874 Louisa Hubbard United Kingdom 1836 1906
1800–1874 Aletta Jacobs Netherlands 1854 1929 [17]
1800–1874 Kang Youwei China 1858 1927 [19]
1800–1874 Abby Kelley United States 1811 1887 Suffragist and activist
1800–1874 Grace Kimmins United Kingdom 1871 1954 [citation needed]
1800–1874 Anna Kingsford United Kingdom 1846 1888 Ecofeminist
1800–1874 Toshiko Kishida Japan 1863 1901 [19]
1800–1874 Evgenia Konradi Russian Empire 1838 1898 Socialist feminist, writer, essayist [72]
1800–1874 Lotten von Kræmer Sweden 1828 1912 Baroness, writer, poet, philanthropist, founder of the literary society Samfundet De Nio
1800–1874 Marie Lacoste-Gérin-Lajoie Canada 1867 1945 Suffragette; self-taught jurist
1800–1874 Louisa Lawson Australia 1848 1920 Suffragette; radical pro-republican federalist; author and publisher [17]
1800–1874 Mary Lee Australia, Ireland 1821 1909 Reformer
1800–1874 Anna Leonowens United Kingdom, India 1831 1915 Travel writer, educator, social activist
1800–1874 Fredrika Limnell Sweden 1816 1897
1800–1874 Mary Livermore United States 1820 1905 Women's rights journalist, suffragist
1800–1874 Belva Lockwood United States 1830 1917 [19]
1800–1874 Margaret Bright Lucas United Kingdom 1818 1890 Suffragette
1800–1874 Christian Maclagan United Kingdom 1811 1901
1800–1874 Kitty Marion United Kingdom 1871 1944 Socialist feminist; suffragette
1800–1874 Harriet Martineau United Kingdom 1802 1876
1800–1874 Eleanor Marx United Kingdom 1855 1898 Socialist feminist
1800–1874 Rosa Mayreder Austria 1858 1938 [17]
1800–1874 Nellie McClung Canada 1873 1951 Feminist and suffragist; part of The Famous Five
1800–1874 Helen Priscilla McLaren United Kingdom 1851 1934
1800–1874 Louise Michel France 1830 1905 anarcha-feminist [32]
1800–1874 Harriet Taylor Mill United Kingdom 1807 1858 Early pioneer feminist [35]
1800–1874 John Stuart Mill United Kingdom 1806 1873 Early Pioneer [25][35]
1800–1874 Hannah Mitchell United Kingdom 1872 1956 Socialist feminist; suffragette
1800–1874 Katti Anker Møller Norway 1868 1945 First-wave feminist [35]
1800–1874 Agda Montelius Sweden 1850 1920 Feminist; suffragette; philanthropist, chairman of the Fredrika-Bremer-förbundet
1800–1874 Anna Maria Mozzoni Italy 1837 1920 First-wave feminist; suffragette [35]
1800–1874 Flora Murray United Kingdom 1869 1923 Suffragette
1800–1874 Clarina I. H. Nichols United States 1810 1885 First-wave feminist; suffragist [35]
1800–1874 Draga Obrenović Serbia 1864 1903 Queen consort;
1800–1874 Louise Otto-Peters Germany 1819 1895 [73][74]
1800–1874 Emmeline Pankhurst United Kingdom 1858 1928 Suffragette; one of the founders and the leader of the British suffragette movement [25]
1800–1874 Maud Wood Park United States 1871 1955 Founder College Equal Suffrage League, first president League of Women Voters
1800–1874 Madeleine Pelletier France 1874 1939 French feminist; First-wave feminist; Socialist feminist [35]
1800–1874 Gabrielle Petit France 1860 1952 feminist activist, anticlerical, libertarian socialist
1800–1874 Wendell Phillips United States 1811 1884 Abolitionist, orator, lawyer
1800–1874 Jyotiba Phule India 1827 1890 Critic of the caste system, founded a school for girls, a widow-remarriage initiative, a home for upper caste widows, and a home for infant girls to discourage female infanticide [17]
1800–1874 Eugénie Potonié-Pierre France 1844 1898 [32]
1800–1874 Eleanor Rathbone United Kingdom 1872 1946 [17]
1800–1874 Élisabeth Renaud France 1846 1932 Co-founder Groupe Feministe Socialiste [75]
1800–1874 Dorothy Richardson United Kingdom 1873 1957
1800–1874 Edith Rigby United Kingdom 1872 1948 Suffragette
1800–1874 Bessie Rischbieth Australia 1874 1967) Earliest female appointed to any court; early activist against the practice of taking Aboriginal children from their mothers
1800–1874 Eliza Ritchie Canada 1856 1933 Prominent suffragist, executive member of the Local Council of Women of Halifax
1800–1874 Harriet Hanson Robinson United States 1825 1911 [25]
1800–1874 Pauline Roland France 1805 1852 [35]
1800–1874 Rosalie Roos Sweden 1823 1898 Writer and pioneer of the organized women's rights movement in Sweden
1800–1874 Ernestine Rose United States, Russia-Poland 1810 1892 Suffragette [25]
1800–1874 Hilda Sachs Sweden 1857 1935 Journalist, writer and feminist
1800–1874 George Sand France 1804 1876 Early pioneer feminist [25][35]
1800–1874 Anna Sandström Sweden 1854 1931 Educational reformer
1800–1874 Auguste Schmidt Germany 1833 1902 [76]
1800–1874 Olive Schreiner South Africa 1855 1920
1800–1874 Rose Scott Australia 1847 1925 Suffragette
1800–1874 Anna Howard Shaw United States 1847 1919 President of National Women's Suffrage Association 1904–1915
1800–1874 Kate Sheppard New Zealand 1848 1934 Influential in winning voting rights for women in 1893 (the first country and national election in which women were allowed to vote) [17]
1800–1874 Tarabai Shinde India 1850 1910
1800–1874 Emily Anne Eliza Shirreff United Kingdom 1814 1897 Early pioneer feminist [35]
1800–1874 Eleanor Mildred Sidgwick United Kingdom 1845 1936
1800–1874 Dame Ethel Mary Smyth United Kingdom 1858 1944 Suffragette
1800–1874 Anna Garlin Spencer United States 1851 1931 [25]
1800–1874 Elizabeth Cady Stanton United States 1815 1902 Social activist, abolitionist, suffragist, organizer of the 1848  Women's Rights Convention, co-founder of the National Woman Suffrage Association and the International Council of Women [25]
1800–1874 Anna Sterky Sweden, Denmark 1856 1939 [77]
1800–1874 Helene Stöcker Germany 1869 1943 [74]
1800–1874 Milica Stojadinović-Srpkinja Serbia 1828 1878 Feminist; war correspondent; writer; poet [78]
1800–1874 Lucy Stone United States 1818 1893 Orator, organizer of the first National Women's Rights Convention, founder of the Woman's Journal, and first recorded American woman to retain her surname after marriage [25]
1800–1874 Emily Howard Stowe Canada 1831 1903 Physician, advocate for women's inclusion in the medical professional community, founder of the Canadian Women's Suffrage Association
1800–1874 Helena Swanwick United Kingdom 1864 1939 Suffragette
1800–1874 Frances Swiney United Kingdom 1847 1922 Suffragette
1800–1874 Táhirih Iran 1814/17 1852 Bábí poet, theologian, and proponent of women's rights in 19th-century Iran [17]
1800–1874 Caroline Testman Denmark 1839 1919 Co-founder of the Dansk Kvindesamfund
1800–1874 Martha Carey Thomas United States 1857 1935 [19]
1800–1874 Sybil Thomas, Viscountess Rhondda United Kingdom 1857 1941 Suffragette
1800–1874 Flora Tristan France 1803 1844 Socialist feminist [17]
1800–1874 Harriet Tubman United States 1820 1913 First-wave feminist [35]
1800–1874 Thorstein Veblen United States 1857 1929 Economist; sociologist; male [25]
1800–1874 Alice Vickery United Kingdom 1844 1929 Physician, supporter of birth control as means of emancipation of women [79]
1800–1874 Beatrice Webb United Kingdom 1858 1943 Socialist feminist
1800–1874 Ida B. Wells United States 1862 1931 Civil rights and anti-lynching activist, suffragist noted for her refusal to avoid media attention because she was African American
1800–1874 Anna Whitlock Sweden 1852 1930 Feminist, suffragette; school pioneer, journalist
1800–1874 Karolina Widerström Sweden 1856 1949 Suffragette
1800–1874 Frances Willard United States 1839 1898 Suffragist and organizer, Socialist feminist; suffragette
1800–1874 Charlotte Wilson United Kingdom 1854 1944 radical feminist
1800–1874 Victoria Woodhull United States 1838 1927 First-wave feminist; suffragist, organizer, innovator, first woman to run for U.S. presidency [25][35]
1800–1874 Frederick Douglass United States c. 1818 1895 Male suffragist [25]
1800–1874 Caroline Kauffmann France c. 1840s 1924 [19]
1800–1874 Natalie Zahle Denmark 1827 1913 Working for women's right to education. [80]
1800–1874 Puah Rakovsky Poland - Israel 1865 1955 Empowerment of women [81]

Late 19th-century and early 20th-century feminists

[edit]

Born between 1875 and 1939.

Period (birth) Name Country Born Died Comments Source
1875–1939 Bella Abzug United States 1920 1998 Second-wave feminist [19]
1875–1939 Ángela Acuña Braun Costa Rica 1888 1983 [19]
1875–1939 Madeleine Albright United States, Czechoslovakia 1937 2022 64th United States Secretary of State, and at the time, the highest ranking woman in US history. She is a staunch supporter of the feminist cause.
1875–1939 Wim Hora Adema Netherlands 1914 1998 Second-wave feminist; radical feminist [82]
1875–1939 Anna Caspari Agerholt Norway 1892 1943 Educator on women's rights with Norwegian National Women's Council, women's movement historian [83]
1875–1939 Alan Alda United States 1936 – [84]
1875–1939 Dolores Alexander United States 1931 2008 Anti-pornography feminist [85]
1875–1939 Maya Angelou United States 1928 2014 Civil rights activist [19]
1875–1939 Margery Corbett Ashby United Kingdom 1882 1981 Suffragette [20]
1875–1939 Ksenija Atanasijević Serbia 1894 1981 Suffragette; philosopher; first PhD in a Serbian university
1875–1939 Ti-Grace Atkinson United States 1938 – Second-wave feminist [19][35][85]
1875–1939 Margaret Atwood Canada 1939 – Third-wave feminist [19][35]
1875–1939 Helene Aylon United States 1931 2020 Ecofeminist [35][85]
1875–1939 Eva Bacon Australia 1909 1994 Feminist and Socialist
1875–1939 Margot Badran Australia 1936 - Writer on Islamic feminism [86]
1875–1939 Faith Bandler Australia 1918 2015 Feminist and civil rights activist
1875–1939 Lois W. Banner United States 1939 –
1875–1939 Thelma Bate Australia 1904 1984 Community leader, advocate for inclusion of Aboriginal women in Country Women's Association
1875–1939 Rosalyn Baxandall United States 1939 2015 Second-wave feminist; radical feminist; New York Radical Women
1875–1939 Mary Ritter Beard United States 1876 1958 Feminist; historian [19][25]
1875–1939 Joan Beauchamp United Kingdom 1890 1964 Suffragette
1875–1939 Kay Beauchamp United Kingdom 1899 1992
1875–1939 Simone de Beauvoir France 1908 1986 Second-wave feminist; philosopher; writer [19][35]
1875–1939 Helen Bentwich United Kingdom 1892 1972 [87]
1875–1939 Ione Biggs United States 1916 2005 Advocate for human rights and world peace [88]
1875–1939 Rosa May Billinghurst United Kingdom 1875 1953 Suffragette [52]
1875–1939 Teresa Billington-Greig United Kingdom 1877 1964 Suffragette [52]
1875–1939 Dorothy Lee Bolden United States 1923 2002 Trade unionist
1875–1939 Dulce María Borrero Cuba 1883 1945 Poet and journalist, described as "one of the leading feminists of her day" [89]
1865–1964 Jeanne Bouvier France 1865 1964 Feminist; trade unionist [90]
1875–1939 Elsie Bowerman United Kingdom 1889 1973 Suffragette [52]
1875–1939 Helen Gurley Brown United States 1922 2012 Author of Sex and the Single Girl, long-time editor of Cosmopolitan
1875–1939 Stella Browne Canada 1880 1955 Socialist feminist
1875–1939 Susan Brownmiller United States 1935 2025 Second-wave feminist; anti-pornography feminist; radical feminist [35][85]
1875–1939 Katherine Burdekin United Kingdom 1896 1963
1875–1939 Lucy Burns United States 1879 1966 Suffragette; suffragist and women's rights activist
1875–1939 Karlyn Kohrs Campbell United States 1937 2024 [19]
1875–1939 Clara Campoamor Spain 1888 1972 Suffragette, politician [19][91][92]
1875–1939 Luisa Capetillo Puerto Rico 1879 1922 Puerto Rican labor union suffragette; jailed for wearing pants in public [19]
1875–1939 Liz Carpenter United States 1920 2010
1875–1939 Elvia Carrillo Puerto Mexico 1878 1967 [19]
1875–1939 Florence Fernet-Martel Canada 1892 1986 Second-wave feminist; suffragette; educator, mostly active in Quebec [93]
1875–1939 Thérèse Casgrain Canada 1896 1981 Second-wave feminist; suffragette; politician and senator, mostly active in Quebec [19][35]
1875–1939 Jacqueline Ceballos United States 1925 – Founder of Veteran Feminists of America [85]
1875–1939 Enid Charles United Kingdom 1894 1972 Radical feminist
1875–1939 Shirley St Hill Chisholm United States 1924 2005 Second-wave feminist [19]
1875–1939 Hélène Cixous France 1937 – [19][35]
1875–1939 Margaret "Gretta" Cousins Ireland 1878 1954 Irish-Indian suffragist, established All India Women's Conference, co-founded Irish Women's Franchise League
1875–1939 Eva Cox Australia 1938 – Sociologist; long-time member of the Women's Electoral Lobby
1875–1939 Jill Craigie United Kingdom 1911 1999 Socialist feminist
1875–1939 Minnie Fisher Cunningham United States 1882 1964
1875–1939 Thelma Dailey-Stout United States 1918 2005 Civil rights activist and organizer
1875–1939 Hamid Dalwai India 1932 1977 Socialist feminist
1875–1939 Mary Daly United States 1928 2010 Second-wave feminist; Ecofeminist [35]
1875-1939 Hedy d'Ancona Netherlands 1937 - Second-wave feminist, co-founder of Man Vrouw Maatschappij, sociologist, Minister of Health, Welfare and Culture (1989-1994), senator
1875–1939 Sonja Davies New Zealand 1923 2005 Second-wave feminist
1875–1939 Alicia Moreau de Justo Argentina 1885 1986 Socialist feminist [94]
1875–1939 Agnes de Silva Sri Lanka 1885 1961 Pioneered women's suffrage issues in Sri Lanka. [19]
1875–1939 Ana María Pérez del Campo Spain 1936 Lawyer, feminist and writer, divorce law [17]
1875–1939 Barbara Deming United States 1917 1984
1875–1939 Ezlynn Deraniyagala Sri Lanka 1908 1973 [19]
1875–1948 Zoraida Díaz Panama 1881 1948 Poet, educator, founding member of Panama's first feminist organization [95]
1875–1939 Betty Dodson United States 1929 2020 Third-wave feminist; sex-positive feminist [85]
1875–1939 Sediqeh Dowlatabadi Iran 1882 1962 Journalist and women's rights activist
1875–1939 Carol Downer United States 1933 2025 Second-wave feminist; founder of women's self-help movement, feminist, author, health activist, attorney [35]
1875–1939 Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz United States 1938 – Radical feminist
1875–1939 Crystal Eastman United States 1881 1928 Socialist feminist
1875–1939 Françoise d'Eaubonne France 1920 2005 Ecofeminist [96]
1875–1939 Esther Eillam Israel 1939 2023 Second-wave feminist, Mizrahi feminist, major founder of Israel's feminist movement
1875–1939 Norah Elam United Kingdom, Ireland 1878 1961 Radical feminist; suffragette
1875–1939 Cynthia Enloe United States 1938 – Second-wave feminist
1875–1939 Mohtaram Eskandari Iran 1895 1924 Woman's rights activist, founder of "Jam'iat e nesvan e vatan-khah" (Society of Patriotic Women
1875–1939 Vilma Espín Cuba 1930 2007 [19]
1875–1939 Elizabeth Evatt Australia 1933 – Legal reformist and juror; first Australian to be elected to the United Nations Human Rights Committee
1875–1939 Myrlie Evers-Williams United States 1933 – Second-wave feminist
1875–1939 Leonora Eyles United Kingdom 1889 1960 Author, "agony aunt"
1875–1939 Lidia Falcón Spain 1935 – [19]
1875–1939 Frances Farrer United Kingdom 1895 1977
1875–1939 Geraldine Ferraro United States 1935 2011 [19]
1875–1939 Ana Figuero Chile 1908 1970 [19]
1875–1939 Marianne Githens United States 1936 2018 Political scientist, author [97]
1875–1939 Elizabeth Gurley Flynn United States 1890 1964 Socialist feminist; suffragette
1875–1939 Elizabeth "Betty" Bloomer Ford United States 1918 2011 Second-wave feminist
1875–1939 Gerald Ford United States 1913 2006 Second-wave feminist
1875–1939 Miles Franklin Australia 1879 1954 Feminist; writer
1875–1939 Clara Fraser United States 1923 1998 Second-wave feminist; radical feminist
1875–1939 Elisabeth Freeman United States 1876 1942 Suffragist and civil rights activist, participated in the Suffrage Hikes
1875–1939 Marilyn French United States 1929 2009 Second-wave feminist; radical feminist [35]
1875–1939 Betty Friedan United States 1921 2006 Second-wave feminist; writer [35]
1875–1939 Carol Gilligan United States 1936 – Second-wave feminist [35]
1875–1939 Françoise Giroud France 1916 2003 Journalist, writer, politician [citation needed]
1875–1939 Judy Goldsmith United States 1938 – President of the National Organization for Women (NOW) from 1982 to 1985
1875–1939 Jane Goodall United Kingdom 1934 2025
1875–1939 Vivian Gornick United States 1935 – Radical feminist [85]
1875–1939 Lois Gould United States 1931 2002
1875–1939 Jane Grant United States 1892 1972
1875–1939 Germaine Greer Australia 1939 – Second-wave feminist, author of The Female Eunuch
1875–1939 Colette Guillaumin France 1934 2017
1875–1939 Tahar Haddad Tunisia 1897 1935 Muslim feminist
1875–1939 Lizzy Lind af Hageby Sweden 1878 1963
1875–1939 Charlotte Haldane United Kingdom 1894 1969
1875–1939 Gisèle Halimi France 1927 2020
1875–1939 Zaib-un-Nissa Hamidullah India 1921 2000 Muslim feminist
1875–1939 Bertha Harris United States 1937 2005 Second-wave feminist
1875–1939 Caroline Haslett United Kingdom 1895 1957
1875–1939 He Xiangning China 1878 1972 Revolutionary, feminist
1875–1939 Dorothy Hewett Australia 1923 2002 Second-wave feminist
1875–1939 Nicole Hollander United States 1939 –
1875–1939 Pak Hon-yong South Korea 1900 1956
1875–1939 Mary Howell United States 1932 1998
1875–1939 Edith How-Martyn United Kingdom 1875 1954 Suffragette
1875–1939 Fatima Ahmed Ibrahim Sudan 1933 2017 Muslim feminist
1875–1939 Fusae Ichikawa Japan 1893 1981 [19]
1875–1939 Luce Irigaray France 1930 – [35]
1875–1939 Josephine Irwin United States 1890 1984 Suffragist and educator [98]
1875–1939 Selma James United States, United Kingdom 1930 – Social activist, co-founder of International Wages for Housework Campaign
1875–1939 Sonia Johnson United States 1936 –
1875–1939 Jill Johnston United States 1929 2010
1875–1939 Claudia Jones United Kingdom, United States, Trinidad and Tobago 1915 1964 Marxist feminist
1875–1939 Rosalie Gardiner Jones United States 1883 1978 Suffragette. Organizer of the Suffrage Hikes
1875–1939 Alice Jouenne France 1873 1954 First-wave feminist [99]
1875–1939 Marie Juchacz Germany 1879 1956 [100]
1875–1939 Raden Adjeng Kartini Indonesia 1879 1904 Muslim feminist; Javanese advocate for native Indonesian women, critic of polygamous marriages and lack of education opportunities for women [19]
1875–1939 Shidzue Katō Japan 1897 2001 Second-wave feminist [19]
1875–1939 Joséphine Nyssens Keelhoff Belgium 1833 1917 Feminist, women's rights activist [101]
1875–1939 Aoua Kéita Mali 1912 1980
1875–1939 Florynce Kennedy United States 1916 2000 Second-wave feminist
1875–1939 Annie Kenney United Kingdom 1879 1953 Suffragette
1875–1939 Yamakawa Kikue Japan 1890 1980 Socialist feminist; anti-prostitution feminist
1875–1939 Coretta Scott King United States 1927 2006 Second-wave feminist
1875–1939 Mabel Ping-Hua Lee United States 1896 1966 Suffragist; first Chinese woman to earn a PhD from Columbia University
1875–1939 Gerda Lerner Austria 1920 2013
1875–1939 Audre Lorde United States 1934 1992 Third-wave feminist [19]
1875–1939 Mina Loy United Kingdom 1882 1966
1875–1939 Rae Luckock Canada 1893 1972 Socialist feminist
1875–1939 Margaret Mackworth, 2nd Viscountess Rhondda United Kingdom 1883 1958 Suffragette
1875–1939 Agnes Macphail Canada 1890 1954
1875–1939 Dora Marsden United Kingdom 1882 1960
1875–1939 Elizabeth Holloway Marston United Kingdom 1893 1993
1875–1939 William Moulton Marston United States 1893 1947
1875–1939 Nicole-Claude Mathieu France 1937 2014 Empress French feminist; material feminist [35]
1875–1939 Else Mayer Germany 1891 1962 First-wave feminist [citation needed]
1875–1939 Antonia Maymón Spain 1881 1959
1875–1939 Carolyn Merchant United States 1936 – Ecofeminist
1875–1939 Maria Mies Germany 1931 2023 Ecofeminist; professor of sociology and author [102]
1875–1939 Inez Milholland United States 1886 1916 Key participant in the National Woman's Party and the Woman Suffrage Parade of 1913
1875–1939 Kate Millett United States 1934 2017 Second-wave feminist [35]
1875–1939 Laure Moghaizel Lebanon 1929 1997 Lebanese lawyer and women's rights advocate
1875–1939 Florence Nagle United Kingdom 1894 1988 Feminist; first woman in Britain to officially train racehorses. [103]
1875–1939 Diane Nash United States 1938 – 1960s Civil Rights Movement leader and organizer, voting rights proponent
1875–1939 Malak Hifni Nasif Egypt 1886 1918 Feminist writer [104]
1875–1939 Anaïs Nin United States, France 1903 1977
1875–1939 Helena Normanton United Kingdom 1882 1957
1875–1939 Alexis Nour Romania 1877 1940
1875–1939 Yoko Ono United States, Japan 1933 –
1875–1939 Alicia Ostriker United States 1937 – Third-wave feminist
1875–1939 Grace Paley United States 1922 2007
1875–1939 Adela Pankhurst United Kingdom 1885 1961
1875–1939 Christabel Pankhurst United Kingdom 1880 1958 Suffragette; co-founder and leader of the Women's Social and Political Union
1875–1939 Sylvia Pankhurst United Kingdom 1882 1960 Suffragette
1875–1939 Frances Parker United Kingdom 1875 1924
1875–1939 Alice Paul United States 1885 1977 One of the leaders of the 1910s Women's Voting Rights Movement for the 19th Amendment; founder of National Woman's Party, initiator of the Silent Sentinels and the 1913 Women's Suffrage Parade, author of the proposed Equal Rights Amendment
1875–1939 Eva Perón Argentina 1919 1952 [17]
1875–1939 Frédérique Petrides United States, Belgium 1903 1983 Feminist; pioneering orchestral conductor, activist and editor of Women in Music, a series of periodicals chronicling the activities of women in music
1875–1939 Marion Phillips United Kingdom 1881 1932 Suffragette
1875–1939 Sylvia Plath United States 1932 1963
1875–1939 Val Plumwood Australia 1939 2008 Ecofeminism [105]
1875–1939 Letty Cottin Pogrebin United States 1939 –
1875–1939 Eileen Powell Australia 1913 1997 Trade unionist, women's activist and important contributor to the Equal Pay for Equal Work decision
1875–1939 Millicent Preston-Stanley Australia 1883 1955 First female member of the NSW Legislative Assembly; campaigned for the custodial rights of mothers in divorce and women's healthcare
1875–1939 Lorine Livingston Pruette United States 1896 1977
1875–1939 Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti Nigeria 1900 1978 Foremost Nigerian women's rights activist
1875–1939 Claire Rayner United Kingdom 1931 2010
1875–1939 Adrienne Rich United States 1929 2012
1875–1939 Mary Richardson United Kingdom 1889 1961 Suffragette
1875–1939 Léa Roback Canada 1903 2000 Feminist; workers' union activist tied with the communist party
1875–1939 Hilary Rose United Kingdom 1935 –
1875–1939 Agnes Maude Royden United Kingdom 1876 1956 Suffragette
1875–1939 Florence Rush United States 1918 2008
1875–1939 Joanna Russ United States 1937 2011 Second-wave feminist
1875–1939 Diana E. H. Russell South Africa 1938 2020 Second-wave feminist; radical feminist;anti-pornography feminist
1875–1939 Dora Russell United Kingdom 1894 1986 Feminist; progressive campaigner, advocate of marriage reform, birth control and female emancipation
1875–1939 Manuel Sacristán Spain 1925 1985 Socialist feminist
1875–1939 Nawal el-Sadaawi Egypt 1931 2021 [19]
1875–1939 Idola Saint-Jean Canada 1880 1945 Suffragette; journalist
1875–1939 Celia Sánchez Cuba 1920 1980 Early pioneer feminist [35]
1875–1939 Ellen Sandelin Sweden 1862 1907 Physician, lecturer
1875–1939 Flora Sandes United Kingdom 1876 1956 Feminist Sgt. Major in Serbian Army
1875–1939 Margaret Sanger United States 1879 1966 Socialist feminist; Founder of American Birth Control League; co-founder and long-time president of Planned Parenthood; writer, nurse [25]
1875–1939 Milunka Savić Serbia 1888 1973 First European combatant, soldier, feminist
1875–1939 Rosika Schwimmer Hungary 1877 1948 Pacifist, feminist, suffragist and diplomat
1875–1939 Barbara Seaman United States 1935 2008
1875–1939 Baroness Seear United Kingdom 1913 1997
1875–1939 Huda Shaarawi Egypt 1879 1947 Muslim feminist; organizer for the Mubarrat Muhammad Ali (women's social service organization), the Union of Educated Egyptian Women and the Wafdist Women's Central Committee, founder and first president of the Egyptian Feminist Union
1875–1939 Alix Kates Shulman United States 1932 – Radical feminist
1875–1939 Ruth Simpson United States 1926 2008
1875–1939 Monica Sjöö Sweden 1938 2005 Ecofeminist
1875–1939 Eleanor Smeal United States 1939 – Second-wave feminist; organizer, initiator, president of NOW, founder and president of the Feminist Majority Foundation
1875-1939 Joke Smit Netherlands 1933 1981 Second-wave feminist; activist, seminal writer, co-founder of Man Vrouw Maatschappij
1875–1939 Valerie Solanas United States 1936 1988 Radical feminist
1875–1939 Jo Spence United Kingdom 1934 1992
1875–1939 Gloria Steinem United States 1934 – Second-wave feminist; Socialist feminist; radical feminist; anti-pornography feminist; writer
1875–1939 Doris Stevens United States 1892 1963 Organizer for National American Women Suffrage Association and the National Woman's Party, prominent Silent Sentinels participant, author Jailed for Freedom
1875–1939 Sandy Stone United States 1936 – Transfeminist; Second-wave feminist; Theorist, author, and performance artist
1875–1939 Marie Stopes United Kingdom 1880 1958
1875–1939 Mary Stott United Kingdom 1907 2002
1875–1939 Jessie Street Australia 1889 1970 Suffragette, feminist; human rights campaigner; influential in labour rights and early days of UN
1875–1939 Louisa Strittmater United States 1896 1944 Feminist whose division of her estate to the National Woman's Party as listed in her will was controversially contested. [106]
1875–1939 Edith Summerskill, Baroness Summerskill United Kingdom 1901 1980
1875–1939 Maya Surduts France 1937 2016 Human rights activist, feminist and reproductive rights campaigner [107]
1875–1939 Maria Svolou Greece 1890s 1976 Socialist feminist [108]
1875–1939 Elisabeth Tamm Sweden 1880 1958
1875–1939 Mavis Tate United Kingdom 1893 1947
1875–1939 Joan Kennedy Taylor United States 1926 2005
1875–1939 Renee Taylor New Zealand 1929 2023 Socialist feminist
1875–1939 Tcheng Yu-hsiu China 1891 1959 Revolutionary
1875–1939 Rini Templeton United States 1935 1986 Socialist feminist
1875–1939 Dorothy Thompson United States 1893 1961 Buffalo and New York suffragist, later an influential journalist and radio broadcaster
1875–1939 J. Ann Tickner United States 1937 –
1875–1939 Winifred Todhunter United Kingdom 1877 1961
1875–1939 Jill Tweedie United Kingdom 1936 1993
1875–1939 Mabel Vernon United States 1883 1975 Suffragist, principal member of the Congressional Union for Women Suffrage, major organizer for the Silent Sentinels
1875–1939 Roosje Vos The Netherlands 1876 1961 Trade unionist, suffragist and politician [109]
1875–1939 Harriet Shaw Weaver United Kingdom 1860 1932 Suffragette
1875–1939 Nesta Helen Webster United Kingdom 1876 1960
1875–1939 Louise Weiss France 1893 1983 Journalist, writer, politician [110]
1875–1939 Trude Weiss-Rosmarin United States, Germany 1908 1989
1875–1939 Clara Wichmann Netherlands, Germany, 1885 1922 Radical feminist
1875–1939 Audrey Wise United Kingdom 1935 2000
1875–1939 Monique Wittig France 1935 2003 [111]
1875–1939 Nellie Wong United States 1934 – Socialist feminist
1875–1939 Virginia Woolf United Kingdom 1882 1941 First-wave feminist [25][35]
1875-1939 Sylvia Wynter Jamaica, United States 1928 – Black feminist
1875–1939 Molly Yard United States 1912 2005 Second-wave feminist
1875–1939 Adelina Zendejas Mexico 1909 1993 Socialist feminist [112]
1875–1939 Llibertat Ródenas Rodriguez Spain 1892 1970 Anarcho-syndicalist and feminist activist and militant, member of the Mujeres Libres group [113]
1875–1939 Amparo Poch y Gascón Spain 1902 1968 Doctor by profession and an anarchist, pacifist and feminist activist, one of the co-founders of the Mujeres Libres group [114]
1875–1939 Mercè Comaposada Spain 1901 1994 Lawyer and pedagogue by profession and an anarcho-feminist, one of the co-founders of the Mujeres Libres group [115]
1875–1939 Lucía Sánchez Saornil Spain 1895 1970 Anarcho-syndicalist and feminist activist, poet and one of the co-founders of the Mujeres Libres group [116]

Mid to late 20th-century feminists

[edit]

Born between 1940 and 1999.

Period (birth) Name Country Born Died Comments Source
1940–1999 Zsuzsanna Budapest Hungary 1940 – Founder of the female-only tradition of the Dianic Wicca religion [117][118]
1940–1999 Lesley Abdela United Kingdom 1945 – Expert on women's rights and representation [19]
1940–1999 Patricia Monaghan United States 1946 2012 Proponent of the American Goddess movement [119]
1940–1999 Brooke Ackerly United States 1966 – Expert on feminist theory, feminist international relations, and scholar activism [120][121][122]
1940–1999 Carol J. Adams United States 1951 – Ecofeminist [123]
1940–1999 Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Nigeria & United States 1977 – Writer, social commentator, feminist author
1940–1999 Haleh Afshar, Baroness Afshar United Kingdom 1944 2022 Muslim feminist, professor of politics and women's studies, member of the British House of Lords [124]
1940–1999 Leila Ahmed Egypt 1940 – Writer on Islamic feminism [125]
1940–1999 Sara Ahmed United Kingdom 1969 – British-Australian academic working at the intersection of feminist theory, queer theory, critical race theory and postcolonialism
1940–1999 Widad Akrawi Denmark 1969 – Writer and doctor, advocate for gender equality and women's empowerment and participation in peace building and post-conflict governance [126]
1940–1999 Linda Martín Alcoff United States 1955 – Philosopher at the City University of New York [127]
1940–1999 Ayaan Hirsi Ali United States, Netherlands, Somalia, 1969 – Somali-Dutch feminist and atheist activist, writer and politician [128]
1940–1999 Pam Allen United States 1943 – A founder of New York Radical Women [129]
1940–1999 Isabel Allende Chile, United States 1942 – Writer [130]
1940–1999 Jane Alpert United States 1947 – Radical feminist [131]
1940–1999 Tori Amos United States 1963 – Third-wave feminist
1940–1999 Gloria E. Anzaldúa United States 1942 2004 Third-wave feminist [35]
1940–1999 Maria Arbatova USSR 1957 –
1940–1999 Parvin Ardalan Iran 1967 – Women's rights activist
1940–1999 Judith Astelarra Argentina 1943 – Sociologist specializing in gender studies
1940–1999 Élisabeth Badinter France 1944 – Dissident [132][133]
1940–1999 Raquel Olea Chile 1944 – prominent figure of feminism in Chile [134]
1940–1999 Judi Bari United States 1949 1997 Ecofeminist [35]
1940–1999 Kathleen Barry United States 1941 – Anti-prostitution feminist
1940–1999 Benedetta Barzini Italy 1943 – Radical feminist
1940–1999 Jennifer Baumgardner United States 1970 – Third-wave feminist
1940–1999 Alison Bechdel United States 1960 – Cartoonist, author; creator of the Bechdel test
1940–1999 Melissa Benn United Kingdom 1957 – Third-wave feminist [35]
1940–1999 Julie Bindel United Kingdom 1962 – Anti-pornography feminist
1940–1999 Kat Blaque United States 1990 – Transfeminist, Third-wave feminist, Vlogger
1940–1999 Rosie Boycott United Kingdom 1951 –
1940–1999 Dionne Brand Canada 1953 –
1940–1999 Giannina Braschi Puerto Rico 1953 – Third-wave feminist
1940–1999 Johanna Brenner United States 1942 – Socialist feminist
1940–1999 Susie Bright United States 1958 – Third-wave feminist; sex-positive feminism [35]
1940–1999 Flora Brovina Kosovo 1949 –
1940–1999 Rita Mae Brown United States 1944 – Second-wave feminist; radical feminist; Redstockings [85]
1940–1999 Carrie Brownstein United States 1974 – Third-wave feminist
1940–1999 Tammy Bruce United States 1962 – Dissident feminist [35]
1940–1999 Charlotte Bunch United States 1944 – Second-wave feminist
1940–1999 Louise Burfitt-Dons United Kingdom 1953 – Conservative feminist
1940–1999 Judith Butler United States 1956 – Third-wave feminist [19][35]
1940–1999 Octavia Butler United States 1947 2006
1940–1999 Lydia Cacho Mexico 1963 –
1940–1999 Beatrix Campbell United Kingdom 1947 – Second-wave feminist
1940–1999 Angela Carter United Kingdom 1940 1992 Socialist feminist [19]
1940–1999 Ana Castillo United States 1953 –
1940–1999 Phyllis Chesler United States 1940 – Feminist author, professor [85]
1940–1999 Margaret Cho United States 1968 – Third-wave feminist [35]
1940–1999 Nancy Chodorow United States 1944 2025 [19]
1940–1999 Mary Clark-Glass United Kingdom 1944 –
1940–1999 Adele Clarke United States 1940 2024 Feminist sociologist [135]
1940–1999 Hillary Clinton United States 1947 –
1940–1999 Kurt Cobain United States 1967 1994 Feminist musician
1940–1999 Susan G. Cole Canada 1952 – Anti-pornography feminist
1940–1999 Patricia Hill Collins United States 1948 – Third-wave feminist; Black feminist
1940–1999 Sandra Coney New Zealand 1944 – Second-wave feminist
1940–1999 Noreen Connell United States 1947 – radical feminist
1940–1999 Jeanne Córdova United States 1948 2016 Second-wave feminist; lesbian and gay rights activist
1940–1999 Rosalind Coward United Kingdom 1952 –
1940–1999 Laverne Cox United States 1972 – Transfeminist [136]
1940–1999 Bernadette Cozart United States 1949 2009 Ecofeminist [35]
1940–1999 Nikki Craft United States 1949 – Radical feminist; anti-pornography feminist; suffragist; one of the main organizers of the Suffrage Hikes [35]
1940–1999 Jean Curthoys Australia 1947 – Dissident [35]
1940–1999 Kimberly Dark United States 1968 – Third-wave feminist
1940–1999 Françoise David Canada 1948 – Feminist; politician
1940–1999 Angela Davis United States 1944 – Second-wave feminist; Black feminist [35]
1940–1999 Geena Davis United States 1956 – Actor, founder of Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media [137]
1940–1999 Martha Davis United States 1957 – Third-wave feminist
1940–1999 Marie-Laure Sauty de Chalon France 1962 – Third-wave feminist [citation needed]
1940–1999 Christine Delphy France 1941 – Socialist feminist; material feminist [138]
1940–1999 Julie Delpy France 1969 – [citation needed]
1940–1999 Mark Dery United States 1959 – Third-wave feminist; cyberfeminist
1940–1999 Ani DiFranco United States 1970 – Third-wave feminist [35]
1940–1999 Gail Dines United Kingdom 1958 – Anti-pornography feminist
1940–1999 Unity Dow Botswana 1959 – Judge and writer; plaintiff in a case that allowed children of Motswana women and foreign men to be considered Batswana
1940–1999 Carol Ann Duffy United Kingdom 1955 –
1940–1999 Andrea Dworkin United States 1946 2005 Radical feminist; anti-prostitution feminist; anti-pornography feminist [35][139]
1940–1999 Shirin Ebadi Iran 1947 – Muslim feminist; activist, Nobel Peace Prize winner for her efforts for the rights of women and children
1940–1999 Barbara Ehrenreich United States 1941 2022 Socialist feminist
1940–1999 Beth Elliott United States 1950 – Transfeminist, Second-wave feminist, folk-singer, activist, and writer
1940-1999 Lindsay Ellis United States 1984 – Video Essayist
1940–1999 Misako Enoki Japan 1945 – Second-wave feminist [140]
1940–1999 Susan Faludi United States 1959 – Second-wave feminist [35]
1940–1999 Fadia Faqir United Kingdom, Jordan 1956 –
1940–1999 Melissa Farley United States 1942 – Second-wave feminist; radical feminist; anti-pornography feminist [35]
1940–1999 Johanna Fateman United States 1974 – Third-wave feminist
1940–1999 Kathy Ferguson United States 1950 – Individualist feminist [35]
1940–1999 Shulamith Firestone Canada 1945 2012 Second-wave feminist; radical feminist; Redstockings; New York Radical Feminists; New York Radical Women [35]
1940–1999 Deborah Frances-White Australia and Great Britain 1967 – Stand-up comedian; Feminist in the community of Ex-Jehovah's Witnesses [141]
1940–1999 Estelle Freedman United States 1947 – Second-wave feminist
1940–1999 Jo Freeman United States 1945 – Second-wave feminist [35]
1940–1999 Juliette Fretté United States 1983 – Sex-positive feminist
1940–1999 Marilyn Frye United States 1941 –
1940–1999 Antonella Gambotto-Burke Australia and Great Britain 1965 – Fourth-wave feminist
1940–1999 Lindsey German United Kingdom 1951 –
1940–1999 Tavi Gevinson United States 1996 – Third-wave feminist
1940–1999 Lois Marie Gibbs United States 1951 – Ecofeminist
1940–1999 Stan Goff United States 1951 – Socialist feminist
1940–1999 Lucy Goodison United Kingdom c. 1940s –
1940–1999 Heide Göttner-Abendroth Germany 1941 – Second-wave feminist [142]
1940–1999 John Green United States 1977 – [143]
1940–1999 Susan Griffin United States 1943 2025 Ecofeminist; anti-pornography feminist
1940–1999 Miss Major Griffin-Gracy United States 1940 2025 Transfeminist
1940–1999 Emily Haines Canada 1974 – Third-wave feminist
1940–1999 Daphne Hampson United Kingdom 1944 –
1940–1999 Carol Hanisch United States 1942 – Second-wave feminist; radical feminist; Redstockings; New York Radical Women [35]
1940–1999 Kathleen Hanna United States 1968 – Third-wave feminist; riot grrrl
1940–1999 Donna Haraway United States 1944 – Second-wave feminist; Socialist feminist [35]
1940–1999 Nancy Hartsock United States 1943 2015 Second-wave feminist
1940–1999 Rosemary Hennessy United States 1950 – Material feminist
1940–1999 Shere Hite Germany 1942 2020
1940–1999 Sarah Hoagland United States 1945 – Anti-pornography feminist [144]
1940–1999 Risa Hontiveros-Baraquel Philippines 1966 – Filipina women's right activist Philippines
1940–1999 Gillian Howie United Kingdom 1955 2013
1940–1999 Donna M. Hughes United States 1954 – Third-wave feminist; cyberfeminist; anti-pornography feminist
1940–1999 Holly Hunter United States 1958 – Third-wave feminist
1940–1999 Anna Hutsol UKR 1984 – FEMEN
1940–1999 Stevi Jackson United Kingdom 1951 – Material feminist
1940–1999 Karla Jay United States 1947 –
1940–1999 Kirthi Jayakumar India 1987 – Intersectional Feminist [145]
1940–1999 Sheila Jeffreys Australia 1948 – Second-wave feminist; anti-pornography feminist
1940–1999 Robert Jensen United States 1958 – Anti-pornography feminist
1940–1999 Joan Jett United States 1958 – Third-wave feminist
1940–1999 Claire Johnston United Kingdom 1940 1987
1940–1999 Miranda July United States 1974 – Third-wave feminist
1940–1999 Mohja Kahf Syria 1967 – Muslim feminist
1940–1999 Sheema Kalbasi Iran 1972 – Writer and advocate for human rights and gender equality
1940–1999 Wendy Kaminer United States 1949 – Sex-positive feminist
1940–1999 Marcelle Karp United States 1964 – Third-wave feminist; sex-positive feminist
1940–1999 Roz Kaveney United Kingdom 1949 – Transfeminist; Writer, critic, and poet
1940–1999 Jamie Lauren Keiles United States 1992 – Third-wave feminist
1940–1999 Lierre Keith United States 1964 – Anti-pornography feminist; Radical feminist
1940–1999 Petra Kelly Germany 1947 1992 Ecofeminist [19]
1940–1999 Jean Kilbourne United States 1943 – Third-wave feminist
1940–1999 Grace Ji-Sun Kim United States, South Korea 1969 – Third-wave feminist
1940–1999 Sirje Kingsepp Estonia 1969 – Socialist feminist
1940–1999 Barbara Kingsolver United States 1955 – Third-wave feminist
1940–1999 Anne Klein Germany 1941 2011 Berlin Senator for women, youth and family
1940–1999 Bonnie Sherr Klein United States 1941 – Anti-pornography feminist
1940–1999 Naomi Klein Canada 1970 – Socialist feminist
1940–1999 Anne Koedt United States 1941 – Second-wave feminist; radical feminist; Redstockings; New York Radical Feminists; New York Radical Women
1940–1999 Elaheh Koulaei Iran 1956 – Muslim feminist
1940–1999 Sunitha Krishnan India 1972 – Indian social activist and chief functionary and co-founder of Prajwala, an institution that assists trafficked women, girls and transgender people in finding shelter, giving education and employment
1940–1999 Julia Kristeva France, Bulgaria 1941 – [35]
1940–1999 Winona LaDuke United States 1959 – Ecofeminist [17]
1940–1999 Laura Lederer United States 1951 – Anti-pornography feminist
1940–1999 Ellie Levenson United Kingdom 1978 –
1940–1999 Ariel Levy United States 1974 – Third-wave feminist; anti-pornography feminist
1940–1999 Olga Lipovskaya Russia 1954 2021 [19]
1940–1999 Jacqueline Livingston United States 1943 2013 Second-wave feminist
1940–1999 Sara Hlupekile Longwe Zambia c. 1950 – radical feminist
1940–1999 Linda Lovelace United States 1949 2002 Anti-pornography feminist
1940–1999 Wangari Maathai Kenya 1940 2011 Ecofeminist
1940–1999 Catharine MacKinnon United States 1946 – Anti-pornography feminist
1940–1999 Madonna United States 1958 – sex-positive feminist
1940–1999 Patricia Mainardi United States 1942 – Second-wave feminist; radical feminist; Redstockings; New York Radical Women [19]
1940–1999 Sara Maitland United Kingdom 1950 –
1940–1999 Catherine Malabou France 1959 –
1940–1999 Irshad Manji Canada 1968 – Muslim feminist
1940–1999 Soe Tjen Marching Indonesia 1971 –
1940–1999 Amanda Marcotte United States 1977 –
1940–1999 Mirjana Marković Serbia 1942 2019 Politician; writer
1940–1999 Angela Mason United Kingdom 1944 – Second-wave feminist
1940–1999 Joanna Maycock Belgium and Great Britain 1971 – European women's rights campaigner [146]
1940–1999 Liza Maza Philippines 1957 – Socialist feminist
1940–1999 Susan McClary United States 1946 –
1940–1999 Deirdre McCloskey United States 1942 – Feminist economist [147]
1940–1999 Wendy McElroy Canada 1951 –
1940–1999 Patricia McFadden Swaziland 1952 – Radical feminist
1940–1999 Angela McRobbie United Kingdom 1951 –
1940–1999 Rigoberta Menchú Guatemala 1959 – [19]
1940–1999 Fatima Mernissi Morocco 1940 2015 Muslim feminist
1940–1999 Juliet Mitchell United Kingdom 1940 – Socialist feminist
1940–1999 Hayao Miyazaki Japan 1941 – Socialist feminist
1940–1999 Tracey Moberly United Kingdom 1964 –
1940–1999 Janet Mock United States 1983 – Transfeminist [148]
1940–1999 Chandra Talpade Mohanty India 1955 – Postcolonial and Transnational feminism theorist
1940–1999 Maxine Molyneux United Kingdom 1948 –
1940–1999 Honor Moore United States 1945 –
1940–1999 Cherríe Moraga United States 1952 –
1940–1999 Caitlin Moran United Kingdom 1975 –
1940–1999 Robin Morgan United States 1941 – Second-wave feminist; radical feminist; anti-pornography feminist; New York Radical Women [139]
1940–1999 Bonnie J. Morris United States 1961 – Feminist scholar, author; women's movement, lesbian culture, and women's music historian
1940–1999 Laura Mulvey United Kingdom 1941 –
1940–1999 Sally Rowena Munt United Kingdom 1960 – Feminist academic and lesbian theorist, author of Heroic Desire: Lesbian Identity and Cultural Space (1998)
1940–1999 Jenni Murray United Kingdom 1950 –
1940–1999 Inga Muscio United States c. 1966 – Third-wave feminist
1940–1999 Kathy Najimy United States 1957 – Third-wave feminist
1940–1999 Suniti Namjoshi India 1941 – Third-wave feminist; cyberfeminist
1940–1999 Uma Narayan United States 1958 – Postcolonial feminist
1940–1999 Taslima Nasrin Bangladesh 1962 – Feminist of Muslim origin
1940–1999 Asra Nomani India 1965 – Muslim feminist
1940–1999 Isa Noyola United States 1978 – Transfeminist, Latina transgender activist and national leader in the LGBT immigrant rights movement
1940–1999 Martha Nussbaum United States 1947 –
1940–1999 Ann Oakley United Kingdom 1944 – Second-wave feminist
1940–1999 Sandra Oh Canada, United States 1971 – Third-wave feminist
1940–1999 Lars Ohly Sweden 1957 – Socialist feminist
1940–1999 Terry O'Neill United States c. 1953 –
1940–1999 Elliot Page Canada 1987 – Third-wave feminist
1940–1999 Camille Paglia United States 1947 – Dissident feminist, academic, author of Sexual Personae: Art and Decadence from Nefertiti to Emily Dickinson (1990) [35]
1940–1999 Amanda Palmer United States 1976 – Third-wave feminist
1940–1999 Carole Pateman United Kingdom 1940 –
1940–1999 Nancy Paterson (artist) United States 1953 2010 Third-wave feminist; cyberfeminist
1940–1999 Peaches Canada 1966 – Third-wave feminist
1940–1999 Sue Perlgut United States – Second-wave feminist; poet
1940–1999 Vesna Pešić Serbia 1940 – Feminist; diplomat; politician
1940–1999 Irene Peslikis United States 1943 2002 Second-wave feminist; radical feminist; Redstockings; New York Radical Women
1940–1999 Liz Phair United States 1967 – Third-wave feminist
1940–1999 Mary Pipher United States 1947 – Second-wave feminist
1940–1999 Katha Pollitt United States 1949 –
1940–1999 Griselda Pollock Canada 1949 – Second-wave feminist
1940–1999 Soraya Post Sweden 1956 –
1940–1999 Anastasia Powell Australia 1982 – Third-wave feminist
1940–1999 Manasi Pradhan India 1962 –
1940–1999 Sharon Presley United States 1943 2022 Individualist feminist [35]
1940–1999 Maria Raha United States 1972 – Third-wave feminist
1940–1999 Janice Raymond United States 1943 – Second-wave feminist; anti-prostitution feminist
1940–1999 Bernice Johnson Reagon United States 1942 2024 Second-wave feminist
1940–1999 Helen Reddy United States, Australia, 1941 2020 Second-wave feminist
1940–1999 Tucker Reed United States 1989 – Student leader in the Title IX and campus rape awareness movement, founder of the national organization Student Coalition Against Rape; author of books notable for their realistic depiction of characters with social development disorders
1940–1999 Elizabeth Anne Reid Australia 1942 – World's first advisor on women's affairs to a head of state (Labor Prime Minister Gough Whitlam and active on women's development for the UN; also prominent in HIV activism
1940–1999 Abby Rockefeller United States 1943 – Radical feminist
1940–1999 Ninotchka Rosca Philippines 1946 – Socialist feminist
1940–1999 Jacqueline Rose United Kingdom 1949 –
1940–1999 Sheila Rowbotham United Kingdom 1943 – Second-wave feminist
1940–1999 Gayle Rubin United States 1949 – Sex-positive feminist; Queer theorist
1940–1999 Kathy Rudy United States 1956 – Ecofeminist
1940–1999 Alzira Rufino Brazil 1949 2023 Feminist and activist associated with the Black Movement
1940–1999 Shadi Sadr Iran 1975 – Women's rights activist
1940–1999 Gita Sahgal United Kingdom, India 1956/7 –
1940–1999 Sarojini Sahoo India 1956 –
1940–1999 JD Samson United States 1978 – Third-wave feminist
1940–1999 Michael Sandel United States 1953 –
1940–1999 Justin Sane United States, Ireland 1973 – Socialist feminist
1940–1999 Thomas Sankara Burkina Faso 1949 1987
1940–1999 Kathie Sarachild United States 1943 – Second-wave feminist; radical feminist; Redstockings; New York Radical Women
1940–1999 Anita Sarkeesian United States, Canada 1983 –
1940–1999 Marjane Satrapi France, Iran 1969 – Muslim feminist [149]
1940–1999 John Scalzi United States 1969 – [150]
1940–1999 Alice Schwarzer Germany 1942 – Second-wave feminist; anti-pornography feminist; journalist and publisher of the magazine Emma
1940–1999 Gudrun Schyman Sweden 1948 – Third-wave feminist
1940–1999 Lynne Segal Australia 1944 – Second-wave feminist; Socialist feminist
1940–1999 Julia Serano United States 1967 – Transfeminist [151]
1940–1999 Shamima Shaikh South Africa 1960 1998 South African activist, member of the Muslim Youth Movement of South Africa, proponent of Islamic gender equality
1940–1999 Shahla Sherkat Iran 1956 – Muslim feminist; journalist
1940–1999 Vicki Shiran Israel 1947 2004 Mizrahi feminist
1940–1999 Vandana Shiva India 1952 – Ecofeminist
1940–1999 Elaine Showalter United States 1941 –
1940–1999 Ann Simonton United States 1952 – Second-wave feminist; radical feminist; anti-pornography feminist
1940–1999 Carol Smart United Kingdom 1948 –
1940–1999 Barbara Smith United States 1946 –
1940–1999 Joan Smith United Kingdom 1953 – Third-wave feminist
1940–1999 Valerie Smith Canada 1956 – Anti-pornography feminist
1940–1999 Kate Smurthwaite United Kingdom 1975 –
1940–1999 Cornelia Sollfrank Germany 1960 – Third-wave feminist; cyberfeminist
1940–1999 Patricia Soltysik United States 1950 1974 Radical feminist
1940–1999 Christina Hoff Sommers United States 1950 – Dissident [35]
1940–1999 Kate Soper United Kingdom 1943 –
1940–1999 Donita Sparks United States 1963 – Third-wave feminist; Riot grrrl
1940–1999 Dale Spender Australia 1943 2023 Second-wave feminist
1940–1999 Charlene Spretnak United States 1946 – Ecofeminist
1940–1999 Annie Sprinkle United States 1954 – Third-wave feminist; Sex-positive feminist
1940–1999 Starhawk United States 1951 – Ecofeminist
1940–1999 Patrick Stewart United Kingdom 1940 – Socialist feminist
1940–1999 John Stoltenberg United States 1944 – Second-wave feminist; radical feminist; anti-pornography feminist
1940–1999 Nadine Strossen United States 1950 – Third-wave feminist
1940–1999 Anne Summers Australia 1945 – Women's rights activist; women's advisor to Labor Prime Minister Paul Keating and editor of Ms. magazine (New York)
1940–1999 Cathy Harkin Northern Ireland 1942 1985 Women's refuge
1940–1999 Karlina Leksono Supelli Indonesia 1958 –
1940–1999 Kazimiera Szczuka Poland 1966 –
1940–1999 Lili Taylor United States 1967 – Third-wave feminist [35]
1940-1999 Twie Tjoa Netherlands 1943 - Women's rights activist for black, migrant and refugee women, high Suriname civil servant, sociologist and author
1940–1999 Roya Toloui Iran 1966 – Women's rights activist
1940–1999 Corin Tucker United States 1972 – Third-wave feminist [35]
1940–1999 Robin Tunney United States 1972 – Third-wave feminist
1940–1999 Urvashi Vaid United States, India 1958 2022
1940–1999 Tobi Vail United States 1969 – Third-wave feminist; Riot grrrl
1940–1999 Jessica Valenti United States 1978 – Third-wave feminist
1940–1999 Virginia Vargas Peru 1945 – [152]
1940–1999 Norah Vincent United States 1968 2022 Dissident feminist [35]
1940–1999 Hilary Wainwright United Kingdom 1949 – Second-wave feminist; Socialist feminist
1940–1999 Alice Walker United States 1944 – radical feminist; Black feminist
1940–1999 Rebecca Walker United States 1969 – Third-wave feminist
1940–1999 Michele Wallace United States 1952 – Second-wave feminist
1940–1999 Natasha Walter United Kingdom 1967 – Third-wave feminist
1940–1999 Peng Wan-ru Taiwan 1949 1996
1940–1999 Betsy Warrior United States 1940 – Founding member of the Boston-area women's liberation group Cell 16 [153]
1940–1999 Gloria Jean Watkins United States 1952 2021 Third-wave feminist; Socialist feminist; Black feminist [35]
1940–1999 Emma Watson England 1990 – Actor, feminist, United Nations Women Goodwill Ambassador [154]
1940–1999 Joss Whedon United States 1964 – Previously listed as a male feminist, he generated a toxic work environment for many women in his shows [155][156]
1940–1999 Faith Wilding United States, Paraguay 1943 – Third-wave feminist; cyberfeminist
1940–1999 Ellen Willis United States 1941 2006 Second-wave feminist; radical feminist; sex-positive feminist; Redstockings; New York Radical Women
1940–1999 Kaia Wilson United States 1974 – Third-wave feminist
1940–1999 Oprah Winfrey United States 1954 – Second-wave feminist [35]
1940–1999 Valerie Wise United Kingdom 1955 –
1940–1999 Naomi Wolf United States 1962 – Dissident feminist; Third-wave feminist [35]
1940–1999 Allison Wolfe United States 1969 – Third-wave feminist [157]
1940–1999 Elizabeth Wurtzel United States 1967 2020
1940–1999 Cathy Young United States, Russia 1963 – [158]
1940–1999 Malala Yousafzai Pakistan 1997 – Pakistani feminist activist for female education [159]
1940–1999 Stasa Zajovic Serbia 1953 – Co-founder and coordinator of Women in Black [160]
1940–1999 Julie Zeilinger United States 1993 – Third-wave feminist [161]
1980-1996 Vigdís Finnbogadóttir Iceland 1980 1996 First democratically elected woman president[162]
1940–1999 Itziar Ziga Spain 1974 -

Notable 20th and 21st-century feminists

[edit]

Birth years for the following entries are currently unavailable.

Period (birth) Name Country Born Died Comments Source
1940–2026 Gia Abrassart Belgium 20th century – Decolonial journalist and feminist owner of literary cafe [163]
1940–2026 Lorraine Bethel United States 20th century – Second-wave feminist [35]
1940–2026 Lauran Bethell United States 20th century – Anti-prostitution feminist
1940–2026 D. A. Clarke United States 20th century – Radical feminist; anti-pornography feminist [35]
1940–2026 Carol Cohn United States 20th century – Gender and armed conflict
1940–2026 Donna Dresch United States 20th century – Third-wave feminist; Riot grrrl
1940–2026 Gunilla Ekberg Sweden 20th century – Anti-prostitution feminist
1940–2026 Mary Flanagan United States 20th century – Third-wave feminist; cyberfeminist
1940–2026 Luzviminda Ilagan Philippines 20th century – Socialist feminist
1940–2026 Noushin Ahmadi Khorasani Iran 20th century – Muslim feminist
1940–2026 Andrew Kooman Canada 20th century – Anti-prostitution feminist; anti-pornography feminist
1940–2026 Peggy Kornegger United States 20th century –
1940–2026 Donna Laframboise Canada 20th century – Dissident feminist [35]
1940–2026 Paris Lees United Kingdom 20th century – Transfeminist, journalist, presenter, and transgender rights activist [164]
1940–2026 Dorchen Leidholdt United States 20th century – Anti-pornography feminist
1940–2026 Kristin Lems United States 20th century – Activist, singer/songwriter [165][166]
1940–2026 Jamie McIntosh Canada 20th century – Lawyer and women's rights activist
1940–2026 Page Mellish United States 20th century – Anti-pornography feminist
1940–2026 Meghan Murphy Canada 20th century – Journalist; radical feminist; anti-sex industry feminist
1940-2026 Nalini Nayak India 20th century —
1940–2026 Benjamin Nolot United States 20th century – Anti-prostitution feminist
1940–2026 Jerilynn Prior Canada 20th century –
1940–2026 Debbie Stoller United States 20th century – Third-wave feminist; sex-positive feminist
1940–2026 Lucy Suchman United Kingdom 20th century – Third-wave feminist; cyberfeminist
1940–2026 Helen Sworn United Kingdom 20th century – Anti-prostitution feminist
1940–2026 Kajsa Wahlberg Sweden 20th century – Anti-prostitution feminist; Sweden's national rapporteur on human trafficking opposition activities
1940–2026 Warcry United States 20th century – Radical feminist
1940–2026 Alice Wolfson United States 20th century –
1940–2026 Sande Zeig United States 20th century – [167]

See also

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References

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[edit]
Revisions and contributorsEdit on WikipediaRead on Wikipedia

List of feminists

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from Grokipedia
A list of feminists enumerates individuals who have self-identified as such or whose intellectual and activist contributions have been recognized as advancing , understood as a socio-political and movement seeking the social, political, and economic equality of the sexes. Such compilations typically prioritize figures whose work demonstrably influenced legal reforms, cultural shifts, or theoretical frameworks related to sex-based disparities, drawing from empirical historical records rather than subjective acclaim. Prominent entries often highlight first-wave advocates like suffragists who secured women's voting rights through organized campaigns and legislative pressure, alongside second-wave proponents who expanded efforts to workplace equity and reproductive autonomy via empirical advocacy against documented barriers. Later inclusions reflect diverse ideological branches, including liberal emphases on individual rights and radical critiques of systemic power structures, though causal analyses reveal varying degrees of alignment with verifiable equality outcomes versus unsubstantiated claims of pervasive . Controversies in these lists frequently stem from disputes over essential criteria—such as whether biological sex differences undermine blanket equality assertions—or exclusions of figures whose actions contradicted stated principles, underscoring the movement's internal tensions between empirical realism and ideological purity.

Proto-Feminists

Pre-19th Century Thinkers

(c. 1364–c. 1430), an Italian-born French author, produced The Book of the City of Ladies around 1405 as a defense against misogynistic portrayals of women in works like Giovanni Boccaccio's The Fall of the Famous Men and the Famous Women. In this allegorical text, she envisioned a metaphorical city inhabited by exemplary women from , mythology, and the to demonstrate their intellectual and moral capabilities, directly challenging clerical and literary authorities who denied women's rationality and virtue. Her arguments drew on empirical examples of women's achievements in governance, scholarship, and piety, emphasizing education as a means to refute claims of innate female inferiority. Moderata Fonte (1555–1592), born Modesta Pozzo in , authored The Worth of Women: Wherein Is Clearly Revealed Their Nobility and Their Superiority to Men, completed before her death and published in 1600. This dialogue features seven women debating gender differences, with participants arguing that women possess equal or greater natural talents, patience, and ethical fortitude than men, often citing historical and biblical instances of female excellence in , sciences, and . Fonte advocated for women's access to and independent , critiquing marriage customs that subordinated wives economically and legally, while grounding her case in observations of contemporary Venetian society rather than abstract ideals. Lucrezia Marinella (1571–1653), a Venetian contemporary of Fonte, wrote The Nobility and Excellence of Women and the Defects and Vices of Men in 1600, responding to Giuseppe Passi's treatise denigrating women by compiling evidence from , scripture, and to affirm women's superior piety, chastity, and intellectual acuity. Marinella highlighted women's roles in , , and , attributing male dominance to cultural biases rather than , and urged recognition of women's contributions to refute systemic undervaluation.

Enlightenment and Early Advocates

Mary Astell (1666–1731), an English intellectual, advocated for women's intellectual development through dedicated educational institutions, proposing in her 1694 work A Serious Proposal to the Ladies the establishment of a women's modeled on religious retreats to foster rational inquiry and piety without marriage as the sole option. She argued from rationalist premises that women possessed equal capacity for reason as men, critiquing societal customs that prioritized superficial accomplishments over substantive learning, and aimed to equip women for independent rather than dependence on male authority. Astell's proposals influenced later discussions on female academies but faced resistance amid prevailing views of women's domestic roles, with no such institutions realized in her lifetime. Mary Wollstonecraft (1759–1797), in her 1792 treatise A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, contended that women's apparent inferiority stemmed not from innate differences but from deficient , which perpetuated dependency and undermined rational faculties essential for . She called for systematic enabling women to fulfill roles as rational mothers and citizens, emphasizing moral equality under and decrying chivalric ideals as mechanisms that infantilized women by treating them as ornamental rather than autonomous agents. Wollstonecraft's arguments, grounded in Enlightenment , linked women's to societal stability, positing that uneducated women produced weak families and states, though her work provoked backlash for challenging patriarchal norms without proposing immediate political upheaval. Olympe de Gouges (1748–1793), amid the French Revolution's emphasis on universal rights, published the Declaration of the Rights of Woman and the Female Citizen in 1791 as a direct counterpart to the 1789 Declaration of the Rights of Man, asserting women's equal entitlement to , , and public participation on rational grounds of human equality. She highlighted the exclusion of women from revolutionary reforms, demanding legal parity in inheritance, divorce, and political voice, while critiquing the hypocrisy of granting women the right to the scaffold (execution) without the rostrum (public speech). De Gouges's pamphlet spurred debates on gender in constitutional assemblies but led to her guillotining in 1793 for perceived counter-revolutionary stance, underscoring tensions between abstract rational equality and revolutionary that prioritized male citizenship.

First-Wave Feminists

Suffrage and Voting Rights Campaigners

(1815–1902) and (1820–1906) co-organized the on July 19–20, 1848, in New York, where the Declaration of Sentiments was drafted, demanding as a core right modeled on the Declaration of Independence. authored the document, which passed resolutions asserting that "it is the duty of the women of this country to secure to themselves their sacred right to the elective franchise," marking the launch of organized U.S. efforts. , initially focused on temperance and abolition, allied with in 1851 to prioritize constitutional amendments for voting rights, founding the in 1869 to lobby for a federal amendment. These leaders drew from abolitionist networks, where women like Stanton had advocated against , viewing as an extension of equal citizenship principles without conflating it with later economic demands. Temperance groups, such as the formed in 1874, supported campaigns, arguing that enfranchised women could curb alcohol-related social harms through voting influence. By 1890, and Stanton's efforts merged into the , which secured state-level victories in places like (1869) while pressing for national change amid opposition from those fearing expanded voting blocs. In the , (1858–1928) founded the in 1903, adopting militant tactics including window-smashing, arson, and hunger strikes to force parliamentary attention to after peaceful petitions failed. These actions, peaking from 1912–1914, led to over 1,000 arrests and heightened public debate, though Pankhurst suspended militancy in 1914 to support efforts, aiding the government's eventual concession. The Representation of the People Act 1918 enfranchised women over 30 meeting property qualifications, extending the electorate from 7.7 million to 21.7 million voters. U.S. campaigns culminated in the 19th Amendment, passed by on June 4, 1919, and ratified by on August 18, 1920—the 36th state needed—prohibiting denial of voting rights on sex, fully enfranchising women nationwide after 72 years of agitation from Seneca Falls. This legal victory, driven by state referenda and congressional lobbying, increased female voter registration to match men's by the , empirically demonstrating suffrage's causal role in political inclusion without immediate shifts in other domains like property laws. Caroline Norton (1808–1877) campaigned vigorously in Britain against the legal doctrine of coverture, which subsumed a married woman's identity and property under her husband's control, rendering her unable to sue or own assets independently. Following her own separation from an abusive husband who denied her access to their children, Norton published pamphlets such as A Plain Letter to the Lord Chancellor on the Infant Custody Bill (1839), arguing from principles of natural parental rights and evidentiary fairness that mothers of young children deserved custody consideration absent proven unfitness. Her advocacy directly influenced the Custody of Infants Act 1839, which for the first time permitted separated mothers to petition courts for custody of children under seven, with presumptions favoring maternal care for infants—a pragmatic reform grounded in observed child welfare outcomes rather than abstract marital indissolubility. Norton's efforts extended to property rights, contributing to the Matrimonial Causes Act 1857, which established civil divorce courts and allowed separated wives to retain earnings, and the Married Women's Property Act 1870, enabling wives to own and bequeath property as if unmarried, thereby dismantling key barriers to economic autonomy. These acts marked empirical progress in treating women as contractual parties capable of independent agency, predating broader suffrage campaigns and demonstrating targeted legislative leverage against inherited common-law precedents. In the United States, Ernestine Rose (1810–1892), a Polish-born freethinker and abolitionist, focused on rectifying married women's property disabilities through state-level petitions in the 1830s and 1840s, emphasizing that effectively rendered wives legal non-entities without title to premarital or inherited assets. Arriving in in 1836, Rose canvassed door-to-door in for signatures on petitions drafted by Judge Thomas Herttell, securing thousands of supporters despite widespread derision as a "foreign radical." Her persistent before the New York legislature culminated in the Married Women's Property Act of 1848, which granted wives separate ownership of real and personal property acquired before or during marriage, the right to execute contracts, and control over their earnings—reforms that empirically enabled and reduced vulnerability to desertion or spousal mismanagement. Rose's approach, rooted in rational appeals to equity and precedent from English reforms, influenced similar statutes in other states like (1848) and (1850), establishing pre-suffrage precedents for recognizing women's contractual capacity without reliance on electoral enfranchisement. These victories underscored the causal efficacy of isolating as a foundational lever for autonomy, as evidenced by subsequent rises in women's business ventures and litigation success rates.

Second-Wave Feminists

Liberal Equity Advocates

Liberal equity advocates within emphasized reforms to secure equal access to , , and legal protections, aiming for measurable parity in opportunities without challenging traditional structures as the of fulfillment for many women. These figures prioritized institutional changes through and courts, focusing on data-driven outcomes like increased participation and reduced legal barriers, while critiquing narratives that overlooked individual choices in career and family decisions. Their efforts contributed to policies such as expanded educational access and anti-discrimination laws, which empirical studies link to women's rising labor force involvement from 43% in 1970 to over 57% by 1990. Betty Friedan (1921–2006) catalyzed this strand with her 1963 book The Feminine Mystique, which documented the "problem that has no name"—widespread discontent among educated, middle-class housewives limited to domestic roles despite postwar economic prosperity. Friedan argued that such confinement stifled women's potential, advocating instead for options beyond homemaking while affirming marriage and motherhood as valid paths when chosen freely. In response to stalled progress at the 1966 Third National Conference of the Commission on the Status of Women, she co-founded the National Organization for Women (NOW) on June 30, 1966, drafting its statement of purpose to demand equal opportunity in jobs, education, and public life without upending familial norms. Under her leadership as NOW's first president until 1970, the group lobbied for enforcement of existing laws like the Equal Pay Act of 1963, achieving tangible gains in workplace equity. Ruth Bader Ginsburg (1933–2020) advanced legal parity through strategic litigation as co-founder and director of the ACLU's Women's Rights Project starting in 1972. Her breakthrough came in (1971), where she successfully argued before the that an statute automatically preferring males over equally qualified females for estate administration violated the of the Fourteenth Amendment—the first such invalidation of a sex-based classification. This ruling established heightened scrutiny for gender distinctions, paving the way for subsequent decisions and statutes. Ginsburg's approach emphasized formal equality under law, influencing the 1972 enactment of , which banned sex discrimination in federally funded education programs and led to a near tripling of women's collegiate athletic participation from 30,000 in 1972 to over 200,000 by 2000. These advocates' focus on verifiable reforms aligned with empirical analyses of disparities, such as the gender wage gap, where studies using longitudinal data like the Panel Study of Income Dynamics attribute much of the raw 20–30% differential in the 1970s–1980s to women's selections in flexible hours, part-time work, and family-related breaks rather than alone. For instance, after controlling for occupation, , and hours, the unexplained gap shrinks to 5–10%, underscoring choices over in outcomes. This causal emphasis distinguished liberal equity efforts from broader cultural critiques, prioritizing market and legal access to enable women's agency within existing social frameworks.

Radical Social Reformers

Radical feminists during the second wave aimed to overthrow entrenched patriarchal institutions, including and traditional structures, viewing them as fundamental sources of women's oppression. Figures like argued in (1970) for the abolition of biological reproduction and the , proposing technological alternatives such as cybernetic wombs to sever women's dependency on men and enable a complete . This perspective framed units not as neutral social arrangements but as mechanisms perpetuating class and sex divisions, with Firestone synthesizing Marxist analysis and Freudian insights to advocate for their total restructuring. Kate Millett's (1970) extended this critique by dissecting literary works from authors like and to expose patriarchal dominance in cultural narratives, asserting that heterosexual relations inherently reinforced male power and required systemic dismantling. Millett's analysis influenced the establishment of programs in academia, where was theorized as a totalizing embedded in and institutions, though critics noted its reliance on selective interpretations that overlooked biological and evolutionary factors in human relations. Andrea Dworkin advanced radical positions on sexuality, campaigning against in the and as a civil violation that directly incited and , collaborating with Catharine MacKinnon to propose ordinances treating pornographic materials as discriminatory speech. Dworkin (1946–2005) portrayed intercourse under as indistinguishable from violation, urging a rejection of conventional sexual norms to liberate women from subsumption to male desire. These reformers contributed to advocacy for laws, which proliferated across U.S. states in the , facilitating easier marital dissolution without proving fault like or . Coinciding with this shift, U.S. divorce rates surged from 2.2 per 1,000 in 1960 to 5.3 per 1,000 by 1981, with approximately 50% of marriages from the cohort ending in —far exceeding the under 20% rate for 1950s marriages—correlating with heightened family fragmentation and disruptions. Empirical assessments of reveal a " of declining female happiness": despite expanded opportunities, women's self-reported happiness in (GSS) data fell both absolutely and relative to men's from the onward, with women in cohorts reporting lower than in prior decades, potentially tied to intensified work-family conflicts and eroded relational stability following cultural upheavals. Economists and documented this trend using consistent GSS metrics, attributing it not to measurement artifacts but to trade-offs in autonomy versus communal supports dismantled by radical critiques of family norms. Such outcomes underscore causal tensions between pursued liberation and observed declines in subjective welfare, as stable pairings historically buffered against isolation despite imperfections.

Third-Wave Feminists

Intersectional and Cultural Critics

Intersectional and cultural critics within , emerging prominently in the , shifted focus from second-wave emphases on as a singular axis of to the compounded effects of race, class, sexuality, and on women's experiences. This approach critiqued earlier feminist for centering white, middle-class perspectives, arguing that such frameworks obscured unique disadvantages faced by women of color and working-class women. Proponents drew on empirical disparities, such as U.S. earnings data showing earning approximately 64% of white men's wages in raw terms during the , compared to 77% for white women, to illustrate non-additive intersections of . However, subsequent analyses indicate that behavioral factors like occupational choices, work hours, and explain much of these gaps, with controlled wage differentials shrinking to 18% or less across occupations, challenging attributions solely to systemic intersectional bias. Kimberlé Crenshaw, born May 5, 1959, formalized "" in her 1989 essay "Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex," analyzing how failed Black women by treating race and gender claims as mutually exclusive, as seen in cases like DeGraffenreid v. where Black female plaintiffs were dismissed for not fitting single-category precedents. Crenshaw's framework, rooted in legal critique, posited that oppressions converge to produce experiences irreducible to their parts, influencing third-wave cultural analyses of media and policy that overlooked minority women. While empirically applied to highlight disparities in of color—who face homicide rates 1.5 times higher than white women per CDC data—critics note its extension into broader often resists quantification, with studies finding intersectional effects vary by context rather than universally compounding disadvantages. bell hooks, born Gloria Jean Watkins on September 25, 1952, and deceased December 15, 2021, advanced intersectional critique in her 1984 book Feminist Theory: From Margin to Center, urging to incorporate Black women's lived realities marginalized by white-centric narratives, emphasizing class and race as co-constitutive of gender oppression. Hooks critiqued cultural commodification of , arguing it perpetuated exclusion; for instance, she highlighted how 1980s media representations ignored working-class women's labor realities, where comprised 12% of the but faced rates double those of women. Her work influenced third-wave cultural examinations of patriarchy's racial inflections, though empirical tests of such theories reveal mixed support, with socioeconomic mobility showing agency and policy interventions often outweighing predicted intersectional barriers. Other figures like extended this tradition through "," outlined in her 1990 book, positing knowledge production from interlocking oppressions, applied to cultural domains like where minority girls' dropout rates exceeded 20% in urban U.S. districts during the 1990s, attributed partly to culturally insensitive curricula. Yet, longitudinal studies attribute such outcomes more to family structure and community factors than purely intersectional dynamics, underscoring causal complexities beyond identity-based models. These critics prioritized deconstructing over legislative gains, fostering third-wave skepticism of monolithic sisterhood amid evident outcome divergences by demographic.

Individualist and Choice-Oriented Figures

Rebecca Walker (born November 17, 1969) articulated the emergence of third-wave feminism in her 1992 essay "Becoming the Third Wave," published in Ms. magazine, where she declared personal commitment to feminist principles amid the Anita Hill-Clarence Thomas hearings, emphasizing individual agency over collective victimhood. Walker's framework prioritized women's self-determination in navigating sexuality and career, viewing second-wave feminism's rigid structures as insufficient for diverse, postmodern identities, while advocating market-driven choices like entrepreneurship and sexual exploration as paths to empowerment. Camille Paglia (born April 2, 1947), an academic and cultural critic, advanced individualist perspectives through (1990), arguing that Western art and history reveal innate sexual dynamics where women wield biological power via allure and procreation, challenging feminist denials of evolutionary drives. Paglia critiqued academic for suppressing these archetypes in favor of politically correct abstractions, insisting that true liberation requires acknowledging risks in sexual freedom rather than idealizing it, as evidenced by her opposition to "women's studies" programs she deemed ideologically diluted. The movement, originating in early 1990s Olympia, , exemplified choice-oriented through punk DIY ethics, with figures like of promoting personal expression in music and zines to reclaim agency from patriarchal norms without prescribed collective oppressions. This subculture rejected second-wave prudery on sex work and , favoring sex-positivity as voluntary empowerment, yet empirical studies on —prevalent in third-wave rhetoric—reveal correlations with declines, including higher depressive symptoms and negative affect among women engaging in casual encounters compared to men. Such data underscores a realist critique within : while personal choice merits defense, disregarding biological and psychological risks, as in unexamined promotion of uncommitted sex, can yield causal harms like emotional regret, with longitudinal research showing short-term drops in post-casual experiences.

Fourth-Wave and Contemporary Feminists

Digital and Anti-Harassment Activists

, born in 1973, founded the "me too." movement in 2006 to support survivors of , particularly young women of color from low-wealth communities, through workshops promoting and . The phrase gained viral traction in October 2017 when actress tweeted on October 15, urging those who had experienced or assault to reply with "me too," which amplified Burke's concept and sparked global online sharing, leading to over 12 million posts on within 24 hours. This digital surge facilitated rapid accountability, exemplified by the ouster and 2020 conviction of on charges of rape and criminal sexual act stemming from allegations dating to 2013, marking a landmark outcome tied to #MeToo disclosures. Fourth-wave feminism's emphasis on online platforms enabled swift mobilization against , with showing increased reporting to police by up to 10-15% in the U.S. post-2017 and corresponding rises in arrests, though overall conviction rates remained low at around 2-3% of reported cases, reflecting persistent evidentiary challenges rather than systemic resolution. However, the movement's virality has drawn criticism for eroding , as public accusations often preceded legal scrutiny, presuming guilt and causing reputational harm before trials; studies and reports highlight instances of leading to professional fallout, with rates estimated at 2-10% in cases based on prosecutorial data. A prominent example is the 2022 v. trial, where a Virginia jury on June 1 found Heard liable for defaming Depp through false abuse allegations in a 2018 , awarding him $10 million in compensatory damages (later settled), underscoring risks of weaponized narratives in digital activism. Globally, digital campaigns extended anti-harassment efforts, such as India's #WhyLoiter, launched around 2014-2015 by feminists including Shilpa Phadke, advocating women's right to occupy spaces without purpose—loitering as resistance to restrictions framing presence as inherently risky or sexualized. This hashtag challenged urban norms in and beyond, promoting visibility through to contest patriarchal controls on mobility, though it faced backlash for overlooking safety data showing higher violence risks in unsupervised areas. Unlike third-wave cultural critiques, these initiatives leveraged technology's speed for real-time accountability, yet causal analyses reveal mixed outcomes: heightened awareness reduced tolerance for overt harassment in workplaces (e.g., policy changes at 20-30% of firms post-#MeToo), balanced against lapses where virality outpaced verification.

Global and Non-Western Proponents

Malala Yousafzai, born July 12, 1997, in Mingora, Pakistan, emerged as a prominent advocate for girls' education in regions dominated by Islamist restrictions. Following the Taliban's 2008 takeover of the Swat Valley, which led to the destruction of girls' schools and bans on female education beyond primary levels, Yousafzai began blogging anonymously for BBC Urdu at age 11, documenting the denial of schooling as a violation of basic human potential rather than a cultural norm. On October 9, 2012, she was shot in the head by a Taliban gunman for her defiance; her survival and subsequent global platform amplified calls for universal education access, culminating in her receipt of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014 as the youngest laureate. Through the Malala Fund, established in 2013, she has directed investments toward secondary education programs in Pakistan and other countries, contributing to initiatives that have supported schooling for thousands of girls amid persistent barriers like conflict and low aid allocation—only 0.22% of international aid targets girls' education specifically. Her efforts underscore causal links between targeted advocacy and incremental policy shifts, such as increased donor commitments totaling $7 billion for girls' education globally, challenging narratives that subordinate female learning to tribal or religious customs. Fatema Mernissi (1940–2015), a Moroccan sociologist, advanced Islamic feminism by reinterpreting Quranic texts and hadiths to argue against patriarchal distortions, positing that early Islamic sources supported gender equity rather than veiling or seclusion as inherent mandates. In works like Beyond the Veil (1975), she contended that practices restricting women stemmed from post-prophetic cultural accretions, not divine prescription, thereby providing intellectual groundwork for reforms within Muslim frameworks. Her scholarship influenced early 1980s Moroccan feminist academics and groups, fostering debates that pressured authorities toward legal changes. This culminated in the 2004 Moudawana family code overhaul, which raised the minimum marriage age to 18, granted women equal rights in divorce and child custody, and required spousal consent for polygamy—reforms framed in Islamic terms to counter conservative resistance and relativist defenses of pre-modern norms. Mernissi's approach demonstrated how textual analysis could yield enforceable gains, with the code's implementation correlating to reduced child marriages and improved female legal agency in Morocco, despite uneven rural enforcement. Shirin Ebadi, born in 1947 in Hamedan, , exemplifies advocacy for under theocratic governance as Iran's first female judge before the 1979 revolution demoted her to secretary, prompting her return to law in 1992. Awarded the in 2003 for efforts promoting democracy and —particularly for women, children, and refugees—she defended cases against honor killings, , and discriminatory inheritance laws, arguing for compatibility between Islamic principles and equal protections without Western imposition. Ebadi co-founded the in 2001, which documented gender-based abuses and pushed for reforms like abolishing gender apartheid in public spaces, achieving partial successes such as Iran's 2002 ratification of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Against Women (with reservations). Her work highlights causal realism in navigating authoritarian contexts, where litigation and public pressure yielded precedents against practices justified as culturally inviolable, though ongoing repression has limited broader implementation.

Equity and Conservative Feminists

Biology-Aware and Family-Focused Advocates

, born in 1950, articulated the distinction between , which seeks equal legal and economic opportunities without denying biological sex differences, and gender , which pursues outcome equality often at the expense of empirical realities, in her 1994 book Who Stole ? How Women Have Betrayed Women. Sommers argues that equity feminists advocate for policies respecting innate differences, such as tailored for boys and girls based on divergent and interests, evidenced by data showing boys' higher rates of disciplinary issues and lower academic performance when subjected to female-centric schooling models. She critiques mainstream 's overemphasis on victimhood, which she claims ignores women's relational and familial strengths, and supports family structures that allow women to prioritize motherhood without career penalties, citing studies on maternal employment's mixed effects on child outcomes. Warren Farrell, born in 1943, complements this perspective in The Myth of Male Power (1993), contending that societal narratives of male privilege overlook men's biological vulnerabilities, such as 93% of workplace fatalities and 80% of suicides being male, which mainstream dismisses. Farrell, who initially supported the women's movement in the , advocates for family-focused reforms like post-divorce to mitigate biases in custody decisions that disadvantage fathers, arguing these preserve family stability and address male disposability rooted in evolutionary roles like provider and protector. His work underscores equity by highlighting how ignoring sex differences in contributes to , correlating with higher rates (up to 85% in single-mother homes per longitudinal studies). Empirical data on sex differences bolsters these advocates' calls for biology-aware policies, such as maintaining sex-segregated to ensure fairness, given males' 10-30% advantages in strength, speed, power, and endurance due to higher testosterone levels, muscle mass, and . For instance, elite male runners outperform elite females by 10-12% on average, a gap widening to 50% in events like , rooted in pubertal dimorphism rather than training alone. These disparities necessitate separate categories to prevent and demotivation, as co-ed integration has led to documented cases of female athletes losing opportunities. In family policy, recognizing women's higher investment in —evidenced by 9-month and —supports incentives like tailored to maternal bonding, which studies link to improved attachment and long-term family cohesion over gender-neutral mandates.

Critics of Mainstream Gender Ideology

(born July 31, 1965) emerged as a prominent critic of mainstream gender ideology through her advocacy for sex-based rights, particularly after a series of public statements in 2020. In a detailed published on her on June 10, 2020, she contended that the substitution of "" for biological sex in law and policy erodes protections for women, citing risks in areas like shelters, prisons, and sports where physical differences between sexes confer advantages to males. emphasized empirical realities of male-pattern violence, arguing that self-identification allows predatory males to access female spaces, as evidenced by cases like the 2018 incident where trans-identified prisoner , a convicted , sexually assaulted four female inmates after transfer to a women's facility. Her tweets, including mockery of phrases like "people who menstruate" as euphemisms denying sex differences, provoked widespread backlash, including death threats and professional ostracism, yet she maintained that such ideology prioritizes subjective feelings over women's safety and sex-specific experiences. Helen Joyce (born 1968), a British and former staff writer, critiques the institutional capture by activism in her 2021 book Trans: When Ideology Meets Reality, arguing that self-identification policies ignore biological sex differences and enable male-pattern criminality in female domains. Joyce documents how trans women (biological males) in prisons exhibit offense profiles akin to males, with data from a 2019 Scottish review showing that of 17 trans prisoners in female jails, over half had convictions for sexual offenses—rates far exceeding those of female prisoners (3%) but aligning with male averages (around 17-20%). She highlights policy failures post-self-ID reforms, such as increased assaults in facilities like Canada's, where biological males self-identifying as women have perpetrated rapes on female inmates, attributing these to causal persistence of sex-based violence patterns rather than identity claims. Joyce, identifying as a feminist, warns that such undermines second-wave gains by redefining "" away from material reality, leading to empirical harms like the erasure of sex-segregated protections. Other feminists, such as philosopher (born 1972), have similarly challenged gender ideology's drift from biology, resigning her university post in amid threats for arguing that trans inclusion in women's spaces disregards evidence of male physical advantages and violence risks. Stock's work underscores how institutional biases, including in academia, suppress dissent by framing sex-realism as bigotry, despite data showing trans women's sex offense convictions mirroring males' at 48% in some cohorts versus 17% for cis women. These critics collectively prioritize causal evidence—such as unchanged testosterone-driven aggression post-transition—over ideological assertions, advocating policies grounded in verifiable sex differences to safeguard women's and .

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