During the last years feminism is confronting different discourses about goals, strategies and definitions within the movement. The division relies on various approaches such as liberal, radical, intersectional, decolonial, ecofeminism, marxist, cultural, etc. Up to now, 21 different feminisms have been described which prioritize different methods, reforms and structural transformation.
The confrontation of these discourses often involves fight and polarization of actions that hinder the advances and undermine feminism achievements and goals to be met, and finally harm women and other minorities. Key areas of confrontation include the following:
- Intersectionality vs Universalism: including tensions between the “white” Western-centric feminism and movements that center race, class, and colonial history, such as decolonial and intersectional feminism.
- Internal Ideological Debates: different views as the cause of discrimination from radical, liberal or postfeminism movements.
- External Challenges and Anti-feminism: discourse challenged by anti-feminist, far-right narratives and anti-gender narratives.
- Digital Discourse and Polarisation: due to Online platforms increasing fake information, generational gaps and censorship.
Parallel to this, is the increasing antifeminism that emerges and appears in social attitudes and in political discourses that disseminate that women in democracies have achieved equality so there is no need to empower them or debates about the convenience of gender equality.
Overcoming this situation requires an effort to dismantle the polarization and antifeminism discourses and raising awareness about the importance of gender equality through education, fostering diversity and inclusion, promoting intersectionality and engaging all feminist movements and citizens in a common action.
It would be advisable to follow the example of the bees that work in a coordinate manner in the hives where the queen bee, the worker bees, and even the drones work all together in a single direction, managing to maintain the hive, produce honey and, above all, for the survival of the planet and humanity.
“There are more things that unite us than divide us, and one of them is a common goal that it is about achieving equal opportunities” (María-Trinidad Herrero Ezquerdo, 2026)
Professor of Medical Microbiology at the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), director of the Laboratory of Antibiotics and Molecular Bacteriology.