Feminist Political Theory

Born out of the struggles of the feminist movements of the 20th century, feminist political theory is characterized by its commitment to expanding the boundaries of the political.Feminism, as a political movement, works to fight inequality and the social, cultural, economic, and political subordination of women.The goal of feminist politics is to end the domination of women through critiquing and transforming institutions and theories that support women's subordination.Feminist political theory is a field within both feminist theory and within political theory that takes a feminist approach to traditional questions within political philosophy, contemporary and historical.In this entry, I will explore the nature of feminist political theory by asking two questions: what is feminist about feminist political theory, and what is specifically political about feminist political theory. What is 'feminist' about feminist political theory?What surprises many who are unfamiliar with feminist political theory is that it's not just about women or gender.There are no strict necessary and sufficient conditions for being 'feminist', due both to the nature of categories and to the myriad developments, orientations and approaches within feminism.Certainly, understanding and analyzing the political effects of gendered contexts is an important field of feminist political theory; however, feminist theory, and hence feminist political theory, is about more than gender.Feminist political theorists are found throughout the academy Tucker, Ericka."Feminist Political Theory," in Michael Gibbons (ed.)