The History Of Second Wave Feminism

The women’s rights movement vast and know as one of the most notable movements. Furthermore it is split into three waves to present the difference in time and show how much it has evolved. The first wave was in the mid 19th century to early 20th century. They focused on women’s suffrage, their right to work, education rights, etc. The second wave was in the 60s; this is when they addressed broader perspectives. To include birth control, abortion, rape, pornography, etc. The third wave began in the 1990s and was a response to the second wave, as they only focused on struggles that whites middle class women faced. The third wave extended it to include race, class, gender identity, ability, etc. where focus is less on the political process but rather about individual identities. Which leads to the statement I will address through the essay; Would the third wave women’s rights movement in western countries, achieve what it sets out do, namely; extended feminism to include race, sexuality, class, ability, etc. and work towards dismantling the system that oppress some and privilege others, without the participation of collective action to build stronger, more inclusive society. Furthermore, I will attempt to answer the following questions; how does the Third Wave Women’s Rights Movement differ from the first and second? Does media play a role in the success of the third wave women’s rights movement? And lastly, should we implement Feminist Theory with our

This essay examines the question, “To what extent was the second wave of feminism (in the 1960’s and 1970’s) successful in achieving equality for women?” The essay is introduced by describing why the second wave of feminism developed and the aims of this second wave of feminist. The essay is broken into two parts. The first part of the essay discusses the impact of women 's rights activist on legislation. It is argued that the second wave feminist were unsuccessful in gaining equality in terms of obtaining equal wages and opportunities for women in the workplace. They however were successful in obtaining equal rights laws and reproductive laws for women. The feminist of the 1960’s and 70’s were victorious in securing for many american women the right to have easy access to contraceptives and abortion. The second part of the essay focuses on the extent that the second wave feminist were successful in changing the mindset of Americans. These feminist wanted the view of women to be one that portrayed women less as only a housewife and more as a women who can lead a life that could involve a career in any field. Success ranged in this area. On one side there was women becoming more independent and free as they embarked the sexual revolution while in other regards such as film and music women still held an inferior role to men. The second wave of feminism achieved great success in attaining equality for women however this success was not as far ranging as these mid 20th century

After women won the right to vote, the second wave of feminism began in the 1960s and continued on to the 90’s. This wave was highly associated with the anti-war and civil rights movement and the movement started growing conscious to a variety of minority groups all over the world. Out of three waves, the second wave’s voice was increasingly radical and theoretical as sexuality and reproductive rights were dominant issues. Protest began in Atlantic City in 1968 and 1969 against the Miss America Pageant. Many activists thought it to be a degrading “cattle parade” that reduced women to only objects produced by the patriarchy. Along with fighting against sexism in cartoons and politics, second wave feminists found their voice among other movements such as Civil Rights and the Anti-War movement. While the first wave was fought by middle class white women, the second wave invited and incorporated women of color and developing nations demonstrating that race, class, and gender oppression were all related and seeking sisterhood and solidarity (Rampton).

The Second Wave Feminist movement was to increase the rights of women in the workplace, politics, reproductive rights, and violence against women. They created the Equal rights Amendment (ERA) which did not pass and won Roe v. Wade which made abortions legal (Staggenborg 2016). Although the movement embodied issues that affected many women it was still perceived as a movement that was for a certain group of women that being White middle-class. The movement had a lot of support and in turn had a great victory in the reproductive field, with legal abortions and birth control that allowed women to be in control of their body. The ERA was not passed and that led to the decline of the movement, but because these issues are always an issue in women’s’ lives the movement continued to exist just in a less visible

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

Intersectionality underscores that it is impossible to consider gender in isolation from other forms of difference. Critically discuss the significance of this, including its implications for feminism. Refer to at least 3 readings in the unit read from weeks 1-6.

Second wave feminism in the 1960s and 1970s, in conjunction with other social movements, built a foundation for much of the activist and intellectual work that followed. However, there was an assumption of whiteness in the second wave feminist movement as well as a prominence of heteronormativity, which blinded most of the populace to activist work done by women of color and lesbians. For example, there was a whole strata of work in lesbian and gay scholarship which date from the early 1970s which came out of the gay liberation movement. Lesbians (often in association with Jewish women) led the way among white women in articulating a politic that accounted for white women’s position as both oppressed and oppressor.

“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.

Girls wanted to study on the same education level as boys, not a lower level. Girls also wanted further education, while girls living in that period were only being prepared on being a housemother. A lot of things changed and girls wanted to achieve things too in life beside being a housemother. They said to girls ‘’you can have ambition, but not too much. You should aim to be successful, but not too successful, otherwise you will threaten he man.’’ They taught girls that because they are female, they are expected to aspire to marriage. They were expected to make their life choices always keeping in mind that marriage is the most important. Aletta Jacobs played a big role in the first wave. Not only because of the fact that she was the first woman who went to university, but also because she meant a lot to women from the first wave. Because of her free consult and courses on hygiene and infant care she helped poor women with their bad life circumstances. Aletta Jacobs also pleaded for better working conditions for female shop

Our visual narrative on women of the 1980’s focused on fitness and women’s increased interest in exercise and the sexual female body. Using images from the popular women’s magazine Cosmopolitan in 1985, the visual narrative attempts to demonstrate the various aspects of the 1980’s fitness craze and emphasis on the strong, healthy, sexual female body, or the “better body,” as often noted by many Cosmopolitan articles. Seeking to provide context for the fitness craze and images shown throughout women’s magazines of the 1980’s, this narrative references the second-wave feminist movement of the 1960’s and 1970’s in the United States for an explanation. Summarizing second-wave feminism in its early years, author J. Zeitz describes the movement:

The Second Wave of feminism was interrupted with the oncoming turn of the century, the 80s. In the political sphere you see the election of President Ronald Reagan who passed policy that discriminates against the middle class, minorities and women. During his presidency, it sparked the ongoing trend of anti-feminism which we still see in politics today. At the same time you see Hollywood becoming a larger more streamlined entity that narrows its focus to broader themed movies that don’t necessarily carry important messages as well as showing shallow themes. Hollywood at this point was looking to make blockbuster films that appealed to the greatest amount of audiences, and that means abandoning any sort of heavily political rhetoric.

The origin of this philosophy is from France in the 19th century known as the first-wave feminism that focused on the rights of women to gain political power including the right to vote. The second-wave of feminism was largely concerned about workplace, education, sexuality and reproductively rights. As a response to perceived failures of the second-wave, the third-wave of feminism arose in the early 1990s and continuing to present. It seeks to challenge the second-wave’s paradigm which over-emphasises the upper-class white women and ignoring the lower-class women and minorities. Thus, the third-wave focuses on to expand feminism to include women with a diverse set of identities: colours, ethnicities, nationalities, religions and cultural

This may seem conflicting with the whole baby boom phenomenon, and although the boom of children born after World War II did occur, the divorces still occurred after the rush of a rash marriage had passed and women’s husbands had returned from war alive. An important component of the historical timeline is the change in the role of women in society. Women had experienced change during the first wave of feminism and gained suffrage, but during the second wave feminism women experienced a change that greatly altered their lives and consequently, the relationships they shared with others. The first wave of feminism was concerned about suffrage and establish rights as people and equality in regards to property law (The Famous Five and the

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.