1. First-Wave Feminism
Has its foundation in the Enlightenment doctrine of human rights, esp. as expressed in the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (1789)
Political in focus: works for political equality in areas such as voting, ownership of property, inheritance, education and ability to run for public office

2. Mary Wollstonecraft (1759-1797) A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792)
Followed up her earlier book, A Vindication of the Rights of Man
Focused on the moral demand of equality, especially in education
First attribution of gender differences to socialization

3. John Stuart Mill (1806-1873) The Subjection of Women (1869)
Focused on establishing a right to vote and to hold political office
Much of the book was dedicated to undermining popular stereotypes of women that were used to justify political exclusion

4. John Stuart Mill and Harriet Taylor (1807-1858) The Enfranchisement of Women (1851)
Originally written by Taylor, later republished with essays written by her and Mill
Also focused on arguing for political enfranchisement for women
Added essays in later additions argued for women’s right to sue for divorce

5. Second-Wave Feminism
Had its foundation in psychoanalysis and phenomenology
Picks up from First-Wave Feminism’s critique of gender differences
Primarily theoretically focused
Aims at identifying and eliminating sources of sexism and gender oppression

6. Simone de Beauvoir (1908-1986) The Second Sex (1949)
Denied that gender differences are based in biology, insisting that “One is not born, but becomes a woman.”
Focus on historical and contemporary images of womanhood

7. Betty Friedan (1921-2006) The Feminine Mystique (1963)
Identified ways in which traditional feminine gender roles stifle women’s development
Emphasized sexism as inherently dehumanizing

8. Carol Gilligan (1936-) In a Different Voice (1982)
Was a student of developmental psychologist Larry Kohlberg, who found gender differences in approaches to morality
Argued that these differences are the result of socialization, not inherent reasoning differences
Contended that neither men’s nor women’s approaches to ethics is superior; rather, both are needed for a whole moral person

9. Naomi Wolf (1962-) The Beauty Myth (1991)
Examines the ways in which beauty standards are used to both discriminate against and physically harm women
Focuses on the way in which beauty standards create double-binds—situations where both meeting and failing to meet the standard become harmful.

10. Third-Wave Feminism Has its origin in postmodernism
Extends Second-Wave Feminism’s critique of gender norms by generally denying dichotomous thinking
Works often seek to destabilize the very notion of gender or sex

11. Luce Irigaray (1932-) This Sex Which Is Not One (1977)
Emphasized the ambiguous and variable nature of ‘womanhood’ and ‘femininity’
Claims that to conceive of ‘woman’ or ‘the feminine’ at all is to engage in a masculine (and thus inherently sexist) approach to understanding these things

12. Judith Butler (1956-) Gender Trouble (1989)
Argues that “gender” is a performance, and is thus indefinitely variable
Links gender norms to language—language both creates and reinforces gender norms
Develops elements of this book further in essays recently collected in Undoing Gender