Then newfound "second-wave" of feminism was responsible for looking beyond politics as a way of identifying equality amongst genders, instead feminists such as Germaine Greer and Kate Millett advocated for a much deeper look into female behavior including: sexual aspects, psychological aspects, and human personality. With a new emphasis on individual behavior and less on political behavior, feminists brought to light the importance that social and cultural factors had on gender roles.
The ideology of feminism is divided into three subcategories, or areas of belief: Liberal Feminism, Socialist Feminism, and Radical Feminism. Liberal feminism, unlike radical feminism, finds gender division to be insignificant when discussing an individual's worth. Liberal feminists fight for equal access to education, with a strong determination for equal workplace opportunities. Socialist feminists have a pessimistic outlook on genuine emancipation for women. They believe, unlike the liberal feminists, that no political disadvantage can be remedied with the introduction of equal opportunities. Socialist feminism is rooted on a belief best described in Friedrich Engels's "The Origins of the Family," Private Property and the State, when she suggests that prior to capitalist society, inheritance of property and social position were passed down the female line in the family. To elaborate, Engel, and all socialist feminists belief that capitalism has so greatly impacted the wealth that men receive in the public bubble, that the female sex is unable to compete and is left confined to domestic sphere housework.
Radical feminists believe that gender is the most fundamental of all social divisions, and plays the largest part. The concept of patriarchy is often used in feminist theory, especially amongst the radical feminists, who take its literal meaning "rule by father " and apply it to all fields of female oppression.