Women, women’s rights and feminist movements

This article contends that feminist movements are victims of social cryptomnesia: while women’s rights are nowadays largely approved, the role of feminist movements in obtaining these rights is not recognized, and feminist groups are still stigmatized. This social cryptomnesia is believed to hinder further progress towards equality between men and women. Indeed, although women’s rights are officially protected, men–women differences in status still exist; however, the potential of feminist movements to achieve real equality is blocked by social cryptomnesia, which describes feminists as extremists who do not realize that women’s rights have already changed. We review some of the achievements of two waves of feminist movements in obtaining women’s rights; the obstacles to a third wave of movements claiming real equality are discussed in relation to the social cryptomnesia phenomenon.