Feminism is broad, and tackling the issue can be daunting. We all know, or at least should know, that it is about equality of women and men. But feminism, with all of the theories and upsurges throughout our history, is much more.

Feminism came in three waves: the 19th and early 20th centuries, the 1960s through 1970s, and the 1990s to the present. During these waves the ideologies that feminists tackled, including suffrage, birth control, power structures, and ideas of femininity, have constantly evolved, and feminist theories developed accordingly. Here, a few theories will be broken down. There are many other feminist theories out there, so don’t be afraid to explore them on your own.

Liberal Feminism

Liberal feminism began in the 18th century, but gained popularity with the abolition and women’s suffrage movements during the Civil War. Liberal feminism stresses women’s ability to assert equality through their own behavior—choices, actions and involvement—thus concentrating on the role of the individual.

“They’re reformists,” says SF State Women’s Studies Professor Deborah Cohler. “They want to reform the current system rather than radically transform it.”

Since laws and ideas can change, liberal feminists emphasize removing sex discrimination in the legal system and in education so future generations won’t live under a gender-oppressive system. Government intervention in women’s lives is considered obtrusive, though liberal feminism believes in the protection of civil liberties and government programs like Social Security and school loans to correct social inequalities.

Mary Wollstonecraft, an early liberal feminist, believed that women’s treatment by society, and not nature, is the cause of stereotypical female traits like over-sensitivity and self-indulgence. Other prominent liberal feminists include Betty Friedan and Naomi Wolf.

Radical Feminism

Radical feminists believe that in order to free women from oppression, our entire system must be overthrown and restructured. The capitalist system under which we now live, they say, inherently dominates women. Radical feminism does not believe in reform as Liberal feminists do. Instead, they support radical social changes to undermine and transform patriarchal structures.

Separatist feminism, a branch of radical feminism, does not condone heterosexual relationships because of perceived gender and sexual disparities between men and women. Therefore, some separatists live in celibacy or lesbian relationships, though this is thought of as a first step towards personal growth and the relationships or celibacy are not necessarily permanent. Separatists believe that men cannot make positive contributions to the feminist movement because all men represent the perspective of patriarchy.

“[Radical feminism] assumes that gender is the single most dominating factor in social oppression,” Cohler explains. “It tends to ignore the differences among women because of its stress on the differences between men and women.” Prominent radical feminists include Ellen Willis, Susan Brownmiller and Mary Daly.

Ecofeminism

Ecofeminism joins feminism with ecology. Karen J. Warren, a prominent ecofeminist, suggests in her article “The Power and Promise of Ecological Feminism” that all feminists must be ecologists and vice versa. Why? Because women and nature are both oppressed by a system of male domination. Ecofeminists believe that the root of our present ecological crisis lies in gender inequality.

Warren and many ecofeminists argue that because women are historically tied to nature, and because women across the world use the land to provide for their families, the destruction of nature becomes a feminist issue. The subjugation of land and animals by men is accepted without argument in our society. If women are tied to nature, because of household structures, childrearing, etc, then they too can be subjugated. Prominent ecofeminists include Vandana Shiva, Carol J. Adams and Starhawk.

Black Feminism

Black feminism, a theory that acknowledges an inherent link between feminism and racism, also came in three waves—the abolitionist movement, the modern civil rights movement, and the post-civil rights era. Black feminists promote the idea that feminists who ignore race while trying to overcome sexist and classist societal structures cannot succeed. “A lot of black feminists call themselves Womanists,” Cohler says. “The feminism movements often excluded race, and [womanism] marked a specifically African American centered theory.”

Black feminists including Sojourner Truth and Harriet Tubman worked to end slavery and gender oppression during the abolitionist movement. The leaders of this movement often used religion and the Bible to encourage fellow women to fight for racial and sexual equality as well as freedom from slavery.

In 1973, during the era of modern civil rights, the National Black Feminist Organization (NBFO) was born. This organization was created to combat black women’s sexist oppression by black men in the Black Liberation Movement and racist oppression by white women in the Woman’s Movement.

Today, black feminism seeks to draw attention to white male supremacy and society’s lack of attention to women of color. Other prominent black feminists include Angela Davis and Bell Hooks.