Abstract
In the two last Centuries, French women and Chinese ones have realized, little by little, their emancipation. What are the matrixes which have participated to the positive evolution of the condition of the Chinese and French women? Under which form has it taken place, and at which moments in the history? Have they been a success or a failure? What are the differences between France and China in the way to the women's emancipation? First of all, it is necessary to recall the definition of feminism: The term itself appeared in 1874 in France, when Charles FOURIER, a French socialist philosopher used it for the first time. But actually, the feminist movement was born before that that is to say during the French Revolution.
Feminism is a movement which claims the recognition and the extension of women rights in the society. It is derived from sociological theories (birth of « Gender Studies » in the U.S), political movements (such as socialism especially) and from moral philosophies concerning the situation of women in their political, economical and social context. As a social movement, feminism has got as main purposes the struggle against the sexual discrimination, the promotion of women rights in the civil society and the defense of their interests.
We can notice that both gender studies and feminism movements have always been lead by and for women principally, which is not by chance. Feminists demand the recognition of women as real individuals, independent and able to manage their own lives by themselves. In short, feminism can be sum up in the famous sentence of Simone de Beauvoir.
