The Battle of the Sexes

Blame PinkJenkin for this one (so direct all questions at him ). The premise is simple: a cold war where the ideologies are feminism and anti-feminism. However, rather than revolving around the feminism of today, it's based on the first wave of feminism. Of course, other forms of feminism crop up. Also, while this doesn't deal with modern politics directly, it does touch upon it, so keep it civil and all that.

Basically, World War I happens earlier because of the Russo-Japanese War and lasts much longer and involves the earlier involvement of the United States. A concurrent early AIDS outbreak leads to the deaths of more people than the Spanish Flu, leading to the British government to bring back the Contagious Diseases Acts, which fails to actually stop the disease. This leads to a call by the feminists to simply enforce chastity on men and a replacement of the male-dominated government, which has proved ineffective in dealing with the crisis and insists on continuing the war. The British government locks the feminists out, and refuses to accede to any of their demands. A concurrent socialist movement is similarly locked out, and they decide to go for violent revolution. The feminists hijack the existing socialist movement that succeeds in taking control of Britain, creating the British Matriarchy. A concurrent socialist revolution splits apart the United States, and that too is hijacked by the feminists. These ideas spread to France and their occupation zone in Western Germany and to Japan, which was devastated by the plague and, having joined the Central Powers against Russia in a backstab, also lost plenty of men in the war. 

The leaders of the British Matriarchy believe that women are naturally more chaste and moral than men, so not only should they make all of the decisions for society, but they should also restrain sexuality, particularly male sexuality. The British Matriarchy quickly imposes "chastity laws" on the country; think Victorian, feminist Taliban. While reasonable at first (laws against marital rape and such), they eventually get to all-covering unisex clothing for everybody in society and all-pervasive surveillance looking for anything "lewd." Gendered behavior and even names are banned. The British Matriarchy is a democracy in that it holds elections, but only candidates who are "sufficiently educated in feminist studies" are eligible for office. 

This hardline stance was followed by the rest of the feminist world for a few decades, until it became too much and much of the outer feminist world broke from the model. The "Anti-Purists," as they proudly called themselves, originated in the Liberated States of America, and brought in Japan and Oceania. They came to believe that the Purists, in their attempt to create a better society, were oppressing women and were trying to destroy femininity. So, instead, they restored what they considered to be "true femininity" and tried to destroy masculinity and men instead. The idea of just killing all men was quickly shelved (particularly when someone in the Liberated States Congress pointed out that, even after several decades of liberation, most of their military was still composed of conscripted men), but the idea that they be segregated into their own communities was gradually adopted. Whatever remained of the old, "patriarchal" family structure was destroyed. Men were forced to live in separate communities from women[1]; sex was only allowed for the purpose of procreation, and even then the development of artificial insemination was widely adopted[2]. The only truly supported romantic relationships were between two women; heterosexual relationships were seen as inherently patriarchal and only tolerated due to sheer societal inertia, and homosexual relationships between men forced underground and barely tolerated as an expression of pure patriarchy. The unisex stuff was done away with entirely, as were "patriarchal" aspects of femininity like makeup, bras, and the like. Further, while the Purists maintained a mixed, mostly capitalist market, the Anti-Purists took a leaf from the socialists and declared capitalism a patriarchal construct[3], and nationalized their economies entirely. They also did away with any vestiges of democracy as a patriarchal construct and a vector for Purist infiltration. 

Then, the Anti-Purists further split between the Old Wave and the New Wave. Old Wave Anti-Purists remained in control in Oceania, but they were ousted from power in the Liberated States and Japan. Seeing the flaws with the Old Wave, the New Wave hearkened back to the Purists by simply saying that gender is a social construct[4] and is just part of a series of oppressions that must all be opposed. They lifted restrictions on sex, and once again allowed for open heterosexual relationships, but marriage is not recognized by the state. Monogamy is something that can be demanded of men by women, but not the other way around. Rape has a wide statutory definition, up to and including "regretting it the morning after," requiring no burden of proof on the accuser's part. And naturally, men are policed for their microaggressions and inherent sexism. They pointed out that the Purists and Old Wavers were racist, and indeed the Purists had deported all "non-Britons" from the British Isles decades prior for being "incapable of being true feminists." To make up for this and other past injustices like slavery[5], the New Wave Anti-Purists have declared that to protect racial and ethnic minorities from white privilege, they will be granted their own "safe spaces" where whites are not allowed[6].

Of course, things aren't so happy on the other side of the Changing Room Curtain[7], as the members of the Patriarchal Alliance all hate each other, united only because they hate the feminists more. The only state (other than South Africa) approaching a democracy in the Patriarchal Alliance is the United States, which gobbled up parts of Canada after the feminist revolution, and they have restricted suffrage to men. Women have naturally asked for the vote, but Americans, fearful of feminist infiltration[8], voted in a constitutional amendment restricting suffrage to men only. The other major "republican" state, China, is in reality a one-party dictatorship under the Guomindang, and in reaction to the feminism in Japan has doubled down on traditional Chinese patriarchy. The Italian People's Republic, the only major non-feminist socialist state, is actually a rather strong ally of the other Patriarchal powers, as they seek to reclaim the revolution from the feminists and despise them most of all. The other Patriarchs might be dirty bourgeois capitalists, but kill a traitor before an enemy. 

The monarchists in the Patriarchal Alliance would break with one another, if it weren't for the fact of the feminist threat and that they dislike the Islamists more. The Russians have adopted Orthodoxy and pan-Slavic nationalism with zeal, clashing with the Catholicism and absolutism adopted by their former Austrian foes. Both monarchists are obsessed with retaking Europe and opposing the British Matriarchy, putting friction between them and the Americans, who naturally want to focus on destroying the Liberated States and reuniting the Union. The South Africans, home of the Windsor family, want to retake their homeland. While ironically ruled by a Queen, the all-white, majority-British Parliament[9] has made it its mission to destroy the British Matriarchy and to restore the British Empire. 

The Islamic Caliphate, founded by a man claiming to be the new Mahdi in the wake of the Great War, is considering making a break from the rest of the Patriarchs and spreading its form of fundamentalist Islam worldwide, but it sees the feminists as a softer target and the Russians and Austrians as powerful rivals that need to be kept on their side, for now. They also risk losing the support of Iran, which is only in their sphere because of the feminist threat. 

[1] The military didn't mind, they already lived in a sex-segregated community and didn't really care if now other men had to do it too. 
[2] The same thing occurred in the British Matriarchy. 
[3] Never mind that there's a communist great power in the Patriarchal Alliance.
[4] Of course, when people began asking what purpose feminism would have in a world where male and female had no inherent meaning, they were shipped off to "reeducation spaces." 
[5] Never mind that all of the states in the Liberated States fought on the side of the Union and had abolished slavery decades before the current United States.
[6] Anyone pointing out that this is remarkably similar to the segregation practiced in the United States is sent to a reeducation space. 
[7] The official term, coined by American president Herbert Hoover pertaining to the divide in the former United States. The term stuck. 
[8] Suffrage groups were almost invariably affiliated with the British Matriarchy and/or the Liberated States, so these fears were not entirely unfounded. 
[9] All British citizens who have remained loyal to the Crown (and their descendants) have the vote, no matter where they live, while South Africans who do not have British citizenship do not. After all, this is a "temporary measure." South Africans vote in the South African Parliament, which allows only whites to vote. 

>14 comments before the description is even posted
wew lad