Equity feminism


Equity feminism is a form of liberal feminism that advocates the state's equal treatment of women and men, without challenging inequalities perpetuated by employers, educational and religious institutions, and other elements of society. The concept has been discussed since the 1980s. Equity feminism has been defined and classified as a kind of classically liberal or libertarian feminism, in contrast with social feminism, difference feminism, gender feminism, and equality feminism.

Overview

The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy refers to Wendy McElroy, Joan Kennedy Taylor, Cathy Young, Rita Simon, Katie Roiphe, Diana Furchtgott-Roth, Christine Stolba, and Christina Hoff Sommers as equity feminists. Camille Paglia also describes herself as an equity feminist. Christina Sommers, in particular, explored the topic of equity feminism in her book Who Stole Feminism? In this text, Sommers summarizes how the aim of equity feminism is to attain economic, educational, and political equality of opportunity.
Steven Pinker, an evolutionary and cognitive psychologist, linguist, and popular science author, identifies himself as an equity feminist, which he defines as "a moral doctrine about equal treatment that makes no commitments regarding open empirical issues in psychology or biology".
Distinctions have been made between conservative and radical forms of equity feminism. Many young conservative women have accepted equity feminism.

Theorists

Anne-Marie Kinahan claims that most American women look to a kind of feminism whose main goal is equity. Louis Schubert et al. claim "principles of equity feminism remain in the vision of the vast majority of women in the United States".