Key Difference: Liberal Feminists argue against the fact that society tends to have the false belief that women, by nature, less intellectually and physically capable than men. Radical Feminism believes that society is rule by patriarchy, one that has built it by oppressing women.

The core belief of feminism is that men and women should be treated as equal, in all regards. No matter what one believes, they cannot deny that in society women tend to have less rights and powers than men. In some countries, women still don’t have the right to vote or right to drive for that matter. Whereas in others, even developed countries, women do not have equal representation in government or even equal pay. Hence, the feminist movement is still around.

While the feminist movement has been around since the beginning of time, in some form or another, the modern feminist movement can be traced back to late 19^th century and has since been defined by waves. The first wave dealt with the Suffragette Movements of the 19^th and 20^th centuries. In addition to dealing with women’s rights to vote, they also focused on the promotion of equal contract, marriage, parenting, and property rights for women.

The second wave is attributed to starting in the 1960s, and was primarily associated with the ideas and actions of the women's liberation movement beginning in the 1960s. They also champions women’s rights to vote in some countries, as well as their right to work, and for equal pay. They also fought for changes in marital law that gave men power over their wives, and to repeal the exception of marital rape. The third wave started in the early 1990s and deal primarily with the failure of the second wave.

While most people think that feminism is a ‘for the women, by the women’ kind of movement, that isn’t exactly true. Anyone can be feminist, and is if they believe in equal right for men and women, even if they don’t call themselves that. Many people treat feminism as a bad word, claiming that feminists want to put men down, or rule men, however that is not the case. Feminism at its core just asks for equal rights for women.

Feminism is divided into many different movements and ideologies, each having their own ideas and ways to combat the system for equal rights for women. However, two movements often stand out from the rest due to their popularity and the media attention they get. These are Radical Feminism and Liberal Feminism, and these are often compared together as their ideas are often in contrast.

Liberal Feminism focuses on the individual’s right to fight for their own rights rather than fight as a collective of women. According to Liberal Feminism, each woman is an individual and each has the right and ability to fight for her own equal rights via her own actions and choices.

Liberal Feminists argue against the fact that society tends to have the false belief that women, by nature, less intellectually and physically capable than men. Hence, they discriminate against women on the basis that she cannot so as much as her male counterpart, which is why she is discouraged from playing sports, from working in certain fields, such as policemen, firemen, and construction. This is also the reason why she is paid less in the same company, working in the same position, and doing the same thing.  

Liberal Feminism wants women to fight for their social rights by demanding change thorough legal and political channels. They should fight for bills to be passed and laws to be made that would provide equal rights to women.

A Radical Feminist also believes and wants the same things, however, they tend to take it a step further. Radical Feminism believes that society is rule by patriarchy, one that has built it by oppressing women. They feel that the only way for women to get equal rights is to defeat the oppressing patriarchy and rebuild the system from the ground up. They also believe that patriarchy is not only oppressing women, but men as well, as they are restricted in traditional masculine roles and deviating from those roles leads to social stigma.

Some radical feminists may also believe that it would be better if women ruled the world, not literally, but rather that there were more women as leaders, as heads of state, as CEOs and upper management, etc.  They feel that women may do a better job than men traditionally have, which is also one of the reasons why men have oppressed women, because they are scared of them. Though radical feminism opposes patriarchy, and not men, some women may take their anger against the patriarchy out on average men. Though this is just a small, i.e. a very small percentage of women’s thoughts, these are the ones that get the most attention in the media, hence, incorrectly making most people believe that this is what feminism is all about. Thus giving feminism a bad name, which is also why many people hesitate to label themselves as feminists.

Comparison between Radical Feminism and Liberal Feminism:

Reference: Wikipedia (Feminism, Radical Feminism and Liberal Feminism), 
A Pakistani Notebook, TFC, Caragillis
Image Courtesy: radfemcol.tumblr.com, study.com