• Preeti M Menghani
• Sanket Gandhi

ABSTRACT-The moment we hear the word ‘Feminism,’ a variety of images come to our mind, wherein women coming on the streets to fight for their rights emerges. One could imagine a staunch feminist woman arguing for their rights without listening to anyone around. A bit scary and a bit funny image arises. But to my surprise, I don’t understand why women have to fight for their rights? Do men have to fight for their rights, then why do women have to fight for their rights? Although there is no specific definition of the term ‘Feminism,’ Dictionary calls it - the advocacy of women’s rights on the ground of the equality of sexes. The movement started in the late 19th century, and even in the 21st century, we are still fighting. In this paper, we will be discussing the three Waves of Feminism and the need for the Fourth Wave of Feminism. Also, the paper would specifically focus on women of India as we have enough variety in terms of different societies, cultural backgrounds & even economic backgrounds. We are thus covering all the aspects of Feminism, along with a bit of black Feminism. We all tend to imagine an image of a multitasking mother who has 8-10 hands who takes care of her children, husband, family, work, household chores, and whatnot. But society has somewhere deep down in our minds cultivated this idea where a woman is always taking care of everyone, and a man will always go out and work for someone who goes out and earns. The question arises, Is it a reality, don’t women fail? Don’t they get tired? Is the image of women as ‘Devi’ as we call it in India a reality? I feel a woman should be accepted as a human being; she is not a Devi – she is a woman, a human who can make mistakes and learns from her mistakes just as any other man does. These stereotypes tend to put women on a pedestal from where it is not easy to be a human.

Feminism, Fourth Wave of Feminism, Stereotypes, Black Feminism

"FEMINISM IN 21st CENTURY", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.9, Issue 3, page no.d671-d674, March-2022, Available :http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIR2203383.pdf

"FEMINISM IN 21st CENTURY", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org | UGC and issn Approved), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.9, Issue 3, page no. ppd671-d674, March-2022, Available at : http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIR2203383.pdf