Is Feminism Finished?

Kate Phelan, Holly Lawford-Smith (University of Melbourne)

Abstract

Feminism is finished. It was a project to get women the vote; women have the vote now. It was a project to get women equal legal rights and equal pay. Women have equal legal rights and equal pay now. There is no more for feminism left to do; it’s time to move on to other social justice projects. This proclamation, that feminism is finished, explains a lot. It explains why men’s rights advocates are increasingly frustrated with the focus on women’s issues when men have so many issues too. It explains why so much of what goes on under the banner of ‘feminism’ now might be more accurately described as global justice activism—not for women in particular, but for everybody. But is it really true that feminism is finished? We’ll argue that it’s not, and because we’re philosophers, we’ll make the task as hard as possible for ourselves, by not relying on any controversial assumptions about what feminism is or who it’s for, and not relying for our conclusion on countries where women still lack equal rights.

Speakers

Kate Phelan is a Lecturer in the School of Global, Urban, and Social Studies at RMIT University. Kate's first book, Feminism, Defeated, is coming out with Polity in 2025.

Holly Lawford-Smith is Associate Professor in Political Philosophy at the University of Melbourne. Holly's next book, Feminism Beyond Left and Right, is coming out with Polity in 2025.

Kate & Holly are the co-hosts of the 'Feminist Heretics' YouTube channel, and both contribute to the sex-realist feminist online journal Fairer Disputations.