Encyclopedia of Critical Psychology

APPLIED CRIMINOLOGY 1
Applied criminology
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APPLIED CRIMINOLOGY 2
FEMINIST THEORIES
Feminism involves various political and social movements as well as ideologies that work
towards defining, establishing and achieving gender equality in political, personal, social and
economic aspects. Feminism has been a movement that has been happening for centuries aiming
to ensure that women are treated equally as men and do not face oppression due to this gap
inequality. The ideology was introduced due to society’s tendency to prioritize the point of view
given by men and in the process discriminate against women and treat them unfairly. Feminism
aims to fight gender stereotyping by establishing professional and educational opportunities that
are similar for women as those given to men. It also aims to stop female oppression through
domestic violence that is pushed forward due to inequality. There are different theories that can
be used to explain feminism, two of which include the liberal and Marxist feminist theories. Both
of them focus on different aspects of feminism and explain women offending differently
(Johnson 2017).
Liberal feminism focuses on the liberty of women. It is a feminist theory that puts emphasis
on the ability of women to maintain equality to men through their own choices and actions.
Feminists that support this theory argue that society has cultured the belief that women, by
nature, are not as intelligent or as strong as men. For one to be liberal, they need to be in control
of the conditions within which they live, and these conditions are not sufficiently present in the
lives of women. This theory explains a woman’s offending as the belief that women’s entry and
success into the public world is blocked by legal and customary restraints that have been set by
society.
The theory started becoming popular in the 19th century and evolved into the 20th century.
This was because of the increasing need that women had to become liberal as individuals, and

APPLIED CRIMINOLOGY 3
not be defined by their male counterparts. Before this, women were mainly dependent on their
husbands and fathers and were brought up in preparation to become wives and mothers.
However, due to the increasing oppression and cruelty that they faced from men, they started
becoming concerned about gaining their freedom from them and becoming their equals. Early
liberalists were focused on gaining opportunities that would make them ‘full people’, which
meant that they could support themselves without having to rely on men. It was also their
priority to ensure that women got the same opportunities as men and were included when human
rights and privileges were set. In the 19th century, women would encounter problems such as the
fact that only white men were considered to be ‘full people’. They were the only ones who were
considered citizens; thus, only they had a right to vote. Because of this, the political scene was
male dominant and women did not get representation in politics. Such laws prompted feminist
activists such as Judith Murray and Mary Wollstonecraft to advocate for women’s rights in terms
of including them when political decisions were made (Hahn 2010). After women were given the
right to vote and hold public office in the US in 1920, more feminist groups were created to
advocate for women’s rights. The groups worked to ensure that men and women were treated
equally, especially under democratic law.
Critics of liberal feminism say that although it has reduced the dependence of individual
women to individual men, feminism has still been unsuccessful because most systems in the
society are still predominantly led by men. This shows that women are still indirectly dependent
on men. Due to the individualistic assumption made by liberal feminism, people fail to see how
women are disadvantaged by patriarchal social values and structures (Baehr 2010). Other critics
view liberal feminism as a way through which women abandon their role as women and slowly
morph into men. These critics argue that it is right to fight for freedom of women and for them to