Critical Perspectives on Postfeminist Discourses

Synonyms

Feminism; Postfeminism; Gender; Race; Class; Intersectionality

Introduction

Postfeminist discourses emerging in the political economic sphere in the early twenty-first century frame gender equality as nonthreatening to the status quo. Such discourses appeal to the next generation of young people by making requirements for enhancing gender equality seem simple, practical, and typically noncombative. In the political domain, the United Nations He-For-She initiative (UN Women 2016) asks people to take basic individual actions to promote and express personal commitment to gender equality around the world, for the benefit of both men and women. Sheryl Sandberg’s Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead (2013) encourages women to succeed more equally with men in workplaces, by literally and figuratively leaning forward, at the meeting table and within the larger workplace community. Such perspectives have provided fertile ground in the new feminist or postfeminist landscape,...