Feminism, Existentialism, and Gender Equality: Key Concepts

This essay delves into the intricate relationship between feminism and existentialism, focusing on the concept of gender equality. It examines how existentialist principles, such as individual freedom and the significance of personal experiences, are applied within a feminist framework. The essay highlights the contributions of key feminist writers like Simone de Beauvoir, Kate Chopin, and others who explore gender roles and women's lived experiences. It also discusses the significance of existential feminism, the separation of individual experiences from the mass conformity, and the perspectives of writers like Carol Gilligan, who focused on the experiences of women and girls. Furthermore, the essay references the works of scholars like Jo-Ann Pilardi and Julian Murphy, to explore the evolution of existentialism and gender equality in the light of previous literature.

Feminism and Gender
Equality
Feminism is the belief of gender equality in terms of political, social and economic rights.
Its relation with existentialism can be connected by the individual experiences and the
quest to understand human existence (Helm et al., 2018). The existentialist feminists have
put an effort to understand the concepts of individual freedom, interpersonal relationships,
and the entire experience of living altogether in a human body.

Purpose
 The significant works related to it is majorly dedicated to expose the
gender roles and cultural construct which prompts the women to live
their life in its entirety (Inglehart 2018).
 The anxiety, lack of self-determination and other aspects are looked
at in the feminist existentialism.
 Gender equality in this perspective can be seen from another lens
where the experiences of existentialism in women do not align with
that faced by males.

Purpose
 Existentialism is gender neutral in one sense. It is the separation of
individual experience from the mass conformity, which can be
experienced both by males and females irrespectively. Simon De
Beauvoir was the first existentialism writer who was also one of the
primary founders of second wave feminism.

Writers and Existentialism
 The feminist writers in whose novels existentialism can be found are
Kate Chopin, Margaret Atwood, Doris Lessing, Margaret Drabble, and
Joan Didion (Kaufmann, 2016). The characters depicted in their novels
are about the self-exploration and the experiences they face while
surviving.

Existentialism
 The importance of experiences faced by women is emphasized in
equality of existentialism which helps the readers to connect with the
works written by significant male writers like Jean-Paul Sartre.

Writers
 Caron Gilligan specially focused on the experience lived by girls and
women. She used the rationale saying this particular aspect would
expand the understanding about the gender which was left out for
many decades. It would also help in correlating it with the theories of
human development.

Study related to Gender and
existentialism
 Many feminist writers like Jo- Ann Pilardi and Julian Murphy have
extended their study with the help of previous literature based on
existentialism and gender equality. The existential feminism is one of
the significant field of studies to be explored.

References
 Kaufmann, W. (2016). Existentialism from Dostoevsky to Sartre. Pickle Partners
Publishing.
 Helm, P. J., Rothschild, L. G., Greenberg, J., & Croft, A. (2018). Explaining sex
differences in existential isolation research. Personality and Individual
Differences, 134, 283-288.
 Inglehart, R. F. (2018). Modernization, existential security, and cultural
change. Handbook of advances in culture and psychology, 7.