Two elements of feminism. From a comment I wrote elsewhere:

Day by day, I'd say there are two things you need to be a feminist, whether you are a woman or a man.

First, you need to believe that people ought to be treated equally. Lots of people will nod their heads at that one.

Second, you need to believe that looking at gender tells you things about society that you probably wouldn't otherwise understand.

For example, a feminist is willing to consider the possibility that Senator Clinton is treated differently because she's a woman. (By the press, for example, or by her opponents.) If we aren't willing to consider that, then we're forced to conclude that whatever happens to her only happens because of who she is as an individual -- no social patterns or pressures are involved.

And if no social patterns are involved in what happens to women, then these patterns are probably not involved in what happens to other groups either. You either make it or you don't based on who you are. Poverty, for example, turns out to be what you expect to happen to poor people -- it's who they are as individuals, after all, and no social patterns or pressures are involved.

But if you believe that social patterns are involved in the outcome of women’s lives, and if you think people ought to be treated equally, then you might be a feminist. [0 & P]