ABSTRACT
Feminism Broadly defined, feminism is a set of theories and strategies for social change that takes
gender as their central focus in attempting to understand social institutions, processes,
and relationships. Feminism is both a social movement and a worldview that holds that
women suffer oppression and discrimination in a society run for men by men who have
passed laws and created customs to perpetuate their privileged position. Feminists
employ a set of theories and strategies for social change in directions that improve the lot
of women in ways consistent with these demands (Flavin, 2001). The general theoretical
stance of feminism is highly critical of the social, political, and economic status quo. The
core concepts and concerns of feminism (gender, patriarchy, oppression, etc.) have been
taken by feminist criminologists and applied to their work (Irwin & Chesney-Lind, 2008).
