Abstract

This paper analyses the relationship between feminism and social rights. Protofeminist thought, which which arose in much of Europe after the French revolution, can be considered a precursor of social rights. During the second half of the twentieth century, however, feminist thinkers became increasingly critical of social rights position within the patrarchal structure. They believed that this model was politically unpruductive. That viewpoint was partly changed by the neoliberal ideology, which transformed it into an exceptional anti-egalitarian and even anti-feminist argument. This however should not let us lose sight of his intrinsic emancipatory.