Abstract

One of the defining features of the ability of society to update, upgrade, transition from traditional to modern structure is the formation of women’s activity in different areas. Today, social and cultural equality between men and women is a matter of equality of human existence. It is known that the position of woman in society represents the valid level of civilization of the one or another social community, and unmistakably reflects the level of commitment to the principles of humanism, equality and democracy by its members. By exposing to criticizm traditional patriarchal concept of socio-cultural development of mankind, modern feminism has put forward an alternativeto it, in which woman appears as an active and equal with men the subject of social process. Feminism is focused the main attention on the abolition and identifying of discriminatory practices to women, its main task is the liberation of women from restrictions imposed by the men, and providing them with equal opportunities in society. Therefore, the increasing of public attention to the important issues of social modernization – the emancipation of the individual, consciousness by the woman of her nature and opportunities, and also lively discussions and controversial assessments of these processes actualize the research of the formation and development of feminism as a theory and practice. In this article research interest is focused directly on the development and transformation of feminist ideas, concepts and movements in the context of sociological theorizing. Feminism having the almost two centuries history, as a theory and as a practice, is still continues to develop and transform. Having arisen in the XVIII century, for today feminism has not gained clear universally accepted definition. In the twentieth century feminism from the practice of social and political movement for the equal rights for women turned into a phenomenon of general cultural scale with expanded philosophical concept. At the end of the last century feminism has advocated for the revision of relations between genders because of radical changes in the living conditions of people that occurred under the influence of such factors as globalization, the spread of education, improving women’s and men’s consciousness, strengthening the legal and financial independence of women. In the modern stage the female factor is significant and requires a rethinking of the foundations of civilization. Therefore, in the third millennium to the fore come a fundamentally new issues determining the women’s place in the modern society, without solution of which it is impossible a further human progress.