Emancipation means becoming free and equal; the term can be used in various contexts:
- historically, a slave becoming free by
- being set free by the owner (manumission), voluntarily or in accordance with laws requiring it after a certain time or in certain cases, thereby becoming freedman (e.g. Emancipation Proclamation)
- abolition of slavery
- equal rights for races, as opposed to racism
- women's liberation, as opposed to sexism
- sexual liberation, as opposed to sexualism
- youth liberation, as opposed to ageism
- a minor becoming an adult in practice, usually by receiving a declaration of liberation from a court expressly for this purpose
- animal rights, as opposed to speciesism