ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the multiple waves of feminist theory that have occurred in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. The respect for women’s rights, both philosophically and in political practice, is a relatively recent historical development and is the result of important thinkers and activists who have moved this progress forward. This chapter approaches the exclusion of women as a significant problem for the history of political thought, considers feminist critiques of some influential philosophers, and examines several of the contributions that feminist philosophers have made to the ongoing struggle for gender equality in political thinking, political theory, and civil society. Feminist theorists discussed in detail in the chapter include Carole Pateman, Susan Okin, Martha Nussbaum, Catherine MacKinnon, Jean Bethke Elshtain, Nancy Hartsock, Camille Paglia, Judith Butler, Nancy Fraser, and bell hooks.
