Second And Third Wave Feminism

Whereas the women’s suffrage movements focused mainly on overturning legal obstacles to equality, the feminist movements successfully addressed a broad range of other feminist issues. The first dealt primarily with voting rights and the latter dealt with inequalities such as equal pay and reproductive rights. Both movements made vast gains to the social and legal status of women. One reached its goals while the other continues to fight for women’s rights.

Women’s rights have evolved over time; beginning with being homemakers and evolving to obtaining professions, acquiring an education, and gaining the right to vote. The movement that created all these revolutionary changes was called the feminist movement. The feminist movement occurred in the twentieth century. Many people are not aware of the purpose of the feminist movement. The movement was political and social and it sought to set up equality for women. Women’s groups in the United States worked together to win women’s suffrage and later to create and support the Equal Rights Amendment. The economic boom between 1917 and the early 1960s brought many American women into the workplace. As women began to join

As the century immediately following the American Revolution, the 19th century experienced a rise in feminism as it harbored the first feminist movement in America. Although some women chose to embrace their “roots” by retaining their domestic sphere of influence, many women began to show discontent with the limited number of rights women held. Soon enough, the fight for women’s rights resulted in women gaining more prominence in society.

Second wave feminism stresses the difference of women, and challenges the centrality of masculine values – either values associated with masculinity (reason, detachment, power) or values inherently masculine (autonomy, aggression). They also stress the difference between sex and gender: sex is our biological and natural being; gender is the social and cultural interpretation of that being. Therefore there is a need to assert women's sex and challenge rigid models of gender. Whereas ‘first wave' feminism insists that sexual identity is inessential or secondary to our humanity. Feminists disagree about what sexism consists in, and what exactly ought to be done about it; they disagree about what it means to be a woman or a man and what social and political implications gender has or should have, it was obvious early on that the movement was not a unified one, with differences emerging between black feminism, lesbian feminism, liberal feminism, and social feminism. Therefore the important topics for feminist theory and politics

This is particularly so for 'second wave' feminism that emerged in the late 1960s, which was essentially feminist activism (3). This movement worked at raising awareness of different issues such as equal pay for women, which was officially established in May of 1974 (4). Furthermore, feminism played a role in the formation of political groups such as the 'women's electoral lobby' who made recommendations regarding political candidates and made submissions to government on issues affecting women. Thus, we can see the rise of women taking steps to have a voice which can affect politics

Feminism is a very popular and controversial concept in today’s world. Feminism is a range of ideologies as well as social and political movement all aiming for a common goal to define, establish and achieve equal rights and position to women legally as well as socially. The people with these ideologies are commonly known as FEMINIST. Feminism theory is not only about understanding but also to take action. Naturally people expect women to be related to the idea of feminism and be a feminist rather than men. Men have taken part as significant cultural and political responses within each wave of feminism movements.Feminist men have also argued alongside scholars that liberation of men from the socio cultural constraints of gender roles and sexism is a significant part of feminist activism and scholarship.

Women now were educated, voting, and even aiding their states during war times. In the U.S. many activists were fighting for similar issues addressed by the predecessors, however they were able to take things further, since there was a precedent. Instead of just gaining access to higher education, Second-Wavers were pushing for Women’s Studies classes and departments, and for prominent historical women to be included in academia. Women in the U.S. were also beginning the enduring battle of saving the environment. “Second-Wave feminists brought internal attention to the problems caused by violence against women and by poor environmental practices.”

The first wave of the feminist movement major achievement was securing the right to vote, yet were not able to fully succeed in their campaign for liberty and equality, because of the Great Depression and the Second World War. In the 1940s, women gained increasing employment as men left overseas to fight in the war. After the war women were expected to surrender their jobs to the returning men from the war consequently, trigger for the second wave feminist movement. The men who came back and retook their old jobs from women who were doing the same jobs during the war were given higher salaries, further highlighting inequality in the workforce. World War II showed that women could break out of their gender roles as was required yet, in the 1950s women were still searching for ways to end their domestic servitude and to see an end of socialized images of household chores as “women’s work.” And not to try to achieve the “June Cleaver ideal” that society demanded. Furthermore, wives were stuck in the suburbs without any personal transportation, living in a domestic life that suppress them while their husband went to work interacting in the workforce in the city. The organizations from The Second Wave Feminist Movement were formed to change the way women viewed

Towards the end of the twentieth century, feminist women in America faced an underlying conflict to find their purpose and true meaning in life. “Is this all?” was often a question whose answer was sought after by numerous women reaching deeper into their minds and souls to find what was missing from their life. The ideal second-wave feminist was defined as a women who puts all of her time into cleaning her home, loving her husband, and caring for her children, but such a belief caused these women to not only lose their identity within her family but society as well. The emotions that feminist women were feeling at this time was the internal conflict that caused for social steps to be taken in hopes of

“First wave” of feminism in 1920 advocated women’s suffrage, whereas the “Second wave” targets the societal issues that women in the 21st century are facing. Betty Friedan wrote The Feminists Mystique after World War II exposing female repression and later founded the National Organization for Women (NOW) which ignited the second wave of the feminist movement. Consequently, it became noticeable that women were in multiple wars, as a result branches of feminists were formed (i.e. Liberalist, Marxist, and Socialist). Misogyny’s evolution has its own significant role in the feminist movement, stirring conversations today that affect feminist ideologies. However, in order to fully comprehend what affects second wave feminism along with the tactics utilized by feminists, one must first become acquainted with the many forms.

Late 1906s and early 70s was the next wave in the feminist movement. Taking social views and gender roles head on. The role of women was being redefined within America. After en forcing women to be domestic, the stigma of a woman in the workplace was being pushed. During the 1960s, women were determined to seek equal opportunities, in pay and work within society. Women began to speak out and be respected as they challenged traditions. Finally in the 1980s, the biggest battles were won. Women were accepted into colleges and in the workplace, all of which were reflected in media.

When we trace the history of feminism in regard to Nationalism, we see some basic phases of it known as First Wave, Second Wave and Third Wave of Feminism. The First Wave of Feminism was the initial spark of awareness in the women and people all over the global about the condition of female class in society. Even though the words ‘Feminism’ and ‘Feminist’ existed since a long time, they gained wide spread usage in 1970s. The First Wave of Feminism was about bringing into notice issues of women which lasted from nineteenth century to early twentieth century. The Second Wave of Feminism was about working in a direction to remove the issues of First wave and getting rights for women and it began in 1960s. The Third wave of Feminism was a continuation of the Second Wave from 1990s as a reaction to failure of the previous efforts.

When referring to the history of feminism in the manner of the first, second, or third wave, one is undermining the experiences that were ongoing during, in middle of, and before those waves that history defines. What ideologies of oppression were being spoken of to raise awareness and whose experience was being excluded/diminished? The articulation of feminism in using the metaphor of waves to describe how the ideologies peaked and rescinded, is incorrect because it focuses only on the voices of those who were able to bring their problems to the surface and excludes those who had a different experience or may have brought awareness in a quieter manner. There are many feminisms and each interpretation is defined by the collective oppression, rather than looking at the situation in an individual perception, which is what creates disagreements and division between feminists. Many definitions of feminism, feminisms, exist simultaneously because it is evolving as fast (or, well, as slow) as the world is changing and if one group of people are to speak of others experience of oppression (or lack of) in place of them, the result can be the glossing over of experiences and therefore, undermine experiences of others.

The idea of women being equal to men has been debated for a very long time. Even when civilizations were just starting, most women were treated very differently from men. When women started fighting against this oppression they were called feminists. Feminism can be separated into three waves. The first wave of feminism was from the mid 1800s to the early 1900s. The second wave was from the 1960s to the 1980s. The third wave of feminism started in the 1990s, but its end is unclear. Some people believe it has ended and the fourth wave of feminism has started, but others believe it continues today. The different waves have been very different in some aspects, but very similar in others. The main differences between the first and third wave of feminism are what they fought for, how they protested, and society’s reaction to their cause.

In 1776, the then First Lady of the United States was the first to raise her about women’s rights, telling her husband to “remember the ladies” in his drafting of new laws, yet it took more than 100 years for men like John Adams to actually do so. With the help of half a dozen determined, and in this case white upper-middle-class, women the first-wave feminism, which spans from the 19th century to the early 20th century, finally led to their goal after 72 years of protesting. The Nineteenth Amendment, which secured the rights for women to vote finally passed in 1920. This grand victory brought other reforms along, including reforms in the educational system,