This first major study of feminist theory, revised and updated here into its fourth edition, now takes the reader into the twenty-first century. With the renewed interest in feminism, which has been called 'the 'fourth wave' of feminism - the 'first wave' being the nineteenth-century movement, the 'second wave' the developments between 1960-80, and the 'third wave' the emergence in the 1990s of ecofeminism, global feminism, the intertwining of the women's rights and animal rights movements, and so-called postmodern feminism - people are re-engaging with the basic question, 'What is feminism? What does it mean?' Donovan's book provides a clear answer to the question, outlining the various strands of feminist theory: liberal, cultural, Marxist-socialist, Freudian, and radical. This Fourth Edition brings the discussion up-to-date, integrating the developments in feminist theory that have emerged in the last two decades and particularly since the publication of the Third Edition (2000).