Fourth-wave feminism and postfeminism: Successes and failures

Despite the proclamations of the media from the late 1980s onwards that feminism is ‘over’ and that we were living in a postfeminist era of gender equality1, many commentators argue that there has been a more recent, resurgent interest in feminism in the UK2. This ‘fourth-wave’ has been characterised by growing numbers of new feminist organisations, online communities and activist campaigns3. However, to date, there is a lack of critical work on this ‘fourth-wave’4. This article aims to address this. We consider some contemporary trends within feminist theory and activism and scrutinise some of the socio-cultural, historical and political changes that have given rise to these. We also lend our own thoughts as to whether more recent developments are something to celebrate, for example, as arguably constituting progress from previous ‘waves’, or whether these should be a cause for concern. In particular, we examine the encroachment of neo-liberal values on feminism, the role of technology, intersectionality and so-called ‘identity politics’. We conclude by considering what the major challenges and questions facing feminists now are and what the goals of the feminist movement should be.