The document provides an overview of the history and key aspects of feminism. It discusses feminism as comprising social, cultural, and political movements for gender equality and women's rights. It outlines the three waves of western feminist movements - first wave in the late 19th century focused on suffrage, second wave from the 1960s-1980s on legal and social rights, and third wave from the 1980s-2000s on representation of women in government. Key figures and ideas that shaped each wave are also mentioned such as Simone de Beauvoir's The Second Sex influencing second wave feminism.