The First-Wave Feminism

The severity of World War II directly impacted the future of American women by forcing them into positions of importance - a stark contrast to their traditional role as simple housewives. Without the jolting force of World War II shoving women into the somewhat uncomfortable position as the backbone of the nation’s labor force, traditions would have been perpetuated for decades longer. Because their wartime acts gave women nationwide a sense of self-confidence, they pushed for more rights in the proceeding decades with the rise of second-wave

In the third wave, feminists focused on challenging the second wave’s strategy. The third wave

First-wave feminism was brought on by the newly educated female population. “Women’s experiences under colonization taught them to see themselves as citizens of oppressed nations, and many entered into Nationalist politics on behalf of their beleaguered people.” (123) Women activists took an approach of social housekeepers; it was their duty as nurtures of the nation to be involved in education, social work, public health, poverty, and so on. (126) First-Wave feminists were concerned with gaining access to vote in elections and on other important matters, they were concerned with gaining access to higher education; they were concerned with temperance, since they were not well protected under the law from, drunk, abusive husbands.

The most recent and current third wave of feminism began in the mid-90’s and has destabilized many past constructs including “universal womanhood,” gender, body, hetreronormativity, and sexuality. A peculiar and important point of the latest wave that

As Third Wave feminism is currently unfolding before us, and its aims encompass a wide array of complex issues, it is often hard to describe what Third Wave feminism is. The feminist theories, mainly associated with First and Second Wave feminism attempt to describe the power imbalances that are found in society, and while doing so expose other oppressions, such as discrimination based on race or sexual orientation. As this essay attempts to place a clear definition to Third Wave feminism, feminists are concurrently trying to deconstruct old definitions and open it up for women to determine what feminism means to them. In other words, no clear definition on what is meant to be a feminist is sufficient, as the Third Wave is about

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

The culture classifies the society by a person's gender and sex, those two in which have many differences. The Feminist Movement resulted in the three waves of the women's rights movement. Additionally, the role of women was viewed differently by funtionalism, conflict theory, and feminist theory.

The second wave feminism movement got its start with the book The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan and President Kennedy’s Commission on the Status of Women. The term feminine mystique referred to the idea that women have begun to “transcend their ‘natural’ aspirations through education and other ‘masculine’ goals,” (35 W). In her book Friedan attacks the patriarchal status quo for forcing women to work inside the home but she wanted women to work both in and outside of the home (W). Kennedy’s Commission was designed to develop ideas on how to overcome discrimination in employment because of sex and ways for women to work successfully inside the house and outside the house (Article 3). These two events led to the formation of government women’s

Feminism in a nutshell solitary word is: equality- a basic human right that has been the basis of every social movement throughout history and history to come. In one way or another, every ethnicity, race, and gender has been oppressed in some form. All of the “-isms” have fought to shed light and bring about change to these “lesser” groups. Feminists are no exception. Feminism has many branches: radical feminism, cultural feminism, liberal feminism, anti-porn feminism, pro-sex feminism, third-wave feminism, womanism, and many more. However to keep this paper readable in a sitting or two, we’ll focus on first and second wave feminism including important figure heads, projects or social events, goals of each group, when they happened, and who opposed or criticized these groups.

“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.

Feminism by definition means the advocacy of women’s rights on the grounds of political, social and economic equality to men. But many a time’s people restrict the boundary of these forgetting the very important element of diversity of women living in different places and in varied situations.

The third wave that popped up in the 1990s ensured the continuity of the second feminism wave of the 1960s, in addition to reactions against its professed failures. However, the agitation for feminism or the rights of women continues to have pre-eminence in today’s societies as females’ importance in the societies hardly goes unnoticed or unmentioned. The primary emphasis of this paper

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,