ABSTRACT
This chapter examines some of the main schools or strands of theory. It discusses upon five broad types of feminism: liberal, socialist, radical, postmodern and black feminism. The chapter examines the socialist-feminist role in the campaign for the legalisation of abortion. It explains that socialist feminists are critical of the ideology of the nuclear family, which sustains capitalism. The chapter examines the interactions between law and gender. Feminists, queer theorists and other critics of the law and gender have not simply criticised and campaigned for or against specific laws. They have developed legal theories which address the assumptions law makes about gender and about women and men, femininity and masculinity, how these ought to be changed. The political theory of liberalism developed in the eighteenth century, and inspired both the American and the French revolutions. Postmodern feminism deliberately avoids association with any particular campaign.
