...First Wave Feminism In today’s world, women are still living in a male dominant society where even when we get married, we vow to love, honor, and obey our husband. Even today we are still fighting for many rights for women, including: equal pay, the right for abortion, the end of rape, the right for contraceptives, and many other important rights that men have ( or do not need to worry about). “The movement to end sexism, sexist exploitations, and oppression . . .” (Hooks 37) is known as feminism. Today people would call us feminist, but during the 19th and 20th century that term did not exist. These women and men were known as suffragettes or suffragists. The suffragettes who fought beginning in 1848, with Seneca Falls, all the way to 1920, when women achieved the right to vote, were labeled First Wave Feminist. Two key elements of the First Wave in U.S. Feminism were how different races and class divisions affected the feminist movement (Shaw & Lee). The movement of feminism was brought about by many: men, women, upper class women, African American men, and the divisions just keep going. Yet all these people believe in the same thing, so why cant they all stand together and profess it. If only it was that simple. Race was a key element of the first wave of U.S. feminism. Presented in the Documentary “Not for Ourselves Alone” viewed in class, a famous African American is introduced. He is a great African American male journalist who supported the movement for women’s...
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...Activist Groups of the First Feminism Wave The first wave of feminism took place from 1830 to 1920 and the birth of this first wave was the Abolitionist Movement that ended slavery. During the first feminism wave, the idea of “The New Woman” took place and it implemented new thoughts about women. For example, women became self-reliant, independent, and placed a greater focus on becoming educated. The National American Women’s Suffrage Association and The Women’s Party were two activist groups that advocated for women’s rights to vote in the late 1800’s up to the mid 1900’s. These two feminist organizations took place during the first wave of feminism history and the central focus of both these activist organizations were to make it so women had the right to vote. Many first wave feminists focused on advocating for all women’s right to vote. According to Bromley, “one critically important part of the first wave of women’s movement was concerned with issues of political citizenship for women” (Bromley 134). The National American Women’s Suffrage Association focused on using institutionalized practices when advocating for women’s right to vote. Due to their institutionalized practices, the women of the NAWSA wrote letters, met with state...
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...Feminism can be defined as a series of political movements originating in the USA to abolish gender inequity and gain equal rights and opportunities for women (Ritzer and Ryan, 224). The women’s movement is broken down into three consecutive waves of feminism. The first wave of feminism began in the early eighteenth century, with it’s main objective to gain women’s suffrage (Ritzer and Ryan, 224). Much of the first wave was characterized by women breaking societal norms and roles imposed upon them and redefining the stigma attached to the perceptions of what women ought to be. As a result of the first wave, the second wave of feminism began in 1972 and provided new information about feminism, as books, such as The Feminine Mystique, began publication (Ritzer and Ryan, 225). The highlights of the second wave consisted of legislative victories over sexism in education and the right to an abortion. The second wave, however, consequently noted the interaction between race oppression and gender oppression, also known as ‘intersectionality’ (Ritzer and Ryan, 225). The third wave of feminism was influenced by the first and second, with it’s existence being debatable. Scholars argue that the movement has changed forms and has indeed continued into the twenty-first century. In actuality, this generation is educated about feminism. Their knowledge derives from the first two waves, with which they draw their own political views to live their lives by, thus the creation of...
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...Feminism in Canada has been shifting, reforming and reinventing itself since its inception in the late nineteenth century in an effort to bring a genuine sense of equality to both men and women across the country. Though feminism takes many different forms – classical feminism, liberal feminism, post-modern feminism etc. – each definition maintains commonalities which attempt to shed light on issues related specifically to the historical disadvantages of women and the goal of egalitarianism. In Canada, feminism has unfolded in three distinct stages often referred to as the three waves of feminism: (i) the first wave started in the late nineteenth century characterized by basic demands for equality via suffrage and recognition as persons; (ii) the second wave originated during World War II taking a more proactive approach to women’s workforce and reproductive rights; and (iii) the third wave began in the 1990’s challenging broader issues of equality such as racism, capitalism and colonialism. The following essay will analyse each wave based on their chronological time frame, ideological foundation and the social movements which emerged as a by product. First wave feminism started the general movement and, even though its goals and fundamental ideology may seem drastically different from second and third wave feminism, it should be credited with forming the foundation in which the fight for gender equality originated. First wave feminists were primarily driven by maternal feminism...
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...women is natural matter which is unchangeable. People tried to find the reason why this belief occurred and has still endured for a long time. In addition, there is a social movement which tried to change this belief, including the condition of the inequality between men and women. This social movement is called feminism. This social phenomenon began, in 19th century, in the western side of the world, because women didn’t accept the original culture, their role in society, the inequality of gender, and the oppression of men. However, this contradiction in terms of gender has been argued up to the beginning of 20th century. Feminism has rapidly grown since the last forty years of 20th century. People become awakened to study about women in several measurements, especially in the study of the relationship between men and women, by using the idea of gender to be the equipment of the analysis. The inconsistency of gender causes the movement which people demand the equality between men and women. Moreover, there are many studies, explanations and ideas about the secondary status of women in many terms, in the last for decades. Almost explanations and ideas of feminism develop from main...
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...active in China: "One of the most striking manifestations of social change and awakening which has accompanied the Revolution in China has been the emergence of a vigorous and active Woman's Movement." Beginning in the 70s and continuing in the 80s, however, many Chinese feminists began arguing that the Communist government had been "consistently willing to treat women's liberation as something to be achieved later, after class inequalities had been taken care of."[9] Some feminists claim that part of the problem is a tendency on the government's part to interpret "equality" as sameness, and then to treat women according to an unexamined standard of male normalcy.[10] Chapter two: definition, development, and categories of feminism 1. Definition of feminism Throughout history, women have always struggled to obtain equality, respect, and the same rights as men. This has been difficult because of patriarchy, an ideology in which men are superior to women and have the right to control women. This ideology has spread...
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...The development of feminism Feminists argue that gender inequalities form the major division in society. Most feminists also see gender relationships as being based on conflict and exploitation of women by men. They believe that much of the culture has been shaped by men and neglects the contribution that women have made in society. First wave The first wave of feminism emerged in the mide-1800s aiming to change the social and legal inequalities effecting women to achieve universal female suffrage, which is the right to vote for all women. It was led by middle-class women, known as the suffragettes. As well as campaigning for the right to vote, they were also worried about the poor education opportunities available for girls they fought for better secondary education and access to high education. The suffragettes also wanted to change the law which sated that once they were married, their wealth and income became their husbands. Also, women could not divorce their husband without their husband agreeing. By the early 1900s, the first wave of feminism achieved a number of their goals, the right to vote was granted to women in 1928, in the UK. Greater access to higher education and greater access to some professions were achieved, such as medicine. These issues gave a rise to the development of the next phase of feminist activity. Second wave The second wave of feminism grew in the 1960s and 1970s, which was focused on the person problems that women would experience due to...
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...Feminism in Bangladesh: Establishing equal rights between men & women in young generation. SADMAN ANIS Students University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh ABSTRACT This is basically exploratory study and was conducted at University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh & United International University, Dhanmondi,Dhaka, Bangladesh over a period of 10 days started from 1st December, 2012 to 10th December, 2010. The main objective of this study is to describe what the condition of feminism in Bangladesh and what is the thinking of our varsity girl about feminism. Total 21 respondents were selected based on age class of 18-22. Feminism is a belief in the right of women to have political, social, and economic equality with men. It is a discourse that involves various movements, theories, and philosophies which are concerned with the issue of gender difference, advocate equality for women, and campaign for women’s rights and interests. According to some, the history of feminism can be divided into three waves. The first wave was in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the second was in the 1960s and 1970s and the third extends from the 1990s to the present. Feminist theory emerged from these feminist movements. It is manifest in a variety of disciplines such as feminist geography, feminist history and feminist literary criticism. Although feminism has emerged in nineteenth in the world, it is yet unknown to women of our country. The concept of feminism in Bangladesh has...
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...Comparison of Second and Third Wave Feminism A historical Social Movement that had major implications for the future was the Feminist movement during the 1960s-1970s often referred to as the Second Wave of feminism. This movement’s peak was during these two decades although it lasted until the 1980’s. This historical social movement is interesting because it was almost immediately followed by what is referred to as the third wave of feminism, which began in the 1990’s and still exists today. Both movements focused on aspects of women’s rights although they differ in rhetoric. The emergence and decline of second wave feminism was a necessary event which led to the third wave of feminism. The term second-wave feminism refers mostly to the radical feminism of the women’s liberation movement of the late 1960s and early 1970s. Second-wave feminism grew out of leftist movements in postwar Western societies, such as student protests, the anti–Vietnam War movement, the lesbian and gay movements, and, in the United States, the civil rights and Black power movements (Krolokke, Sorensen, p. 8). During this period other movements that were critical of capitalism and imperialism focused on the interest of oppressed groups: working classes, minorities, women and homosexuals. Even during this period of social upheaval women found themselves servicing the revolution, cut off from real influence and thus, once again, exposed to sexism (p. 9). To combat this, women began to form...
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...Counter-productive New Age Feminism Luis Miguel G. Foronda English 23: Writing Across the Disciplines Melissa Anne Penaflor September 3, 2015 Feminism has played a vital role in improving the quality of life of women and its significance can be seen in the classic waves of feminism. The first wave of feminism was successful in establishing political equality among males and females with women’s suffrage being one of the milestones of that movement. It was through this movement that women and men were seen as political equals. The second wave deals more on establishing the sexual rights of women; its aim was to de-sexualize and de-objectify women and treat them as more than domesticated human beings (DuBois, 1971). But with the rise of the modern age comes the age of New Feminism, a feminism where a woman’s point of view is being emphasized (Sommers, 1994). Since the New Feminism puts an emphasis on the woman, modern feminists often disregard the standpoint of men, putting to naught the objective of Old Feminism, which is equality. Modern feminists have even reached a point of quarreling with women who don’t share their own viewpoint of feminism. The problem presents itself here because the rise of New Wave feminism is cultivating a culture of counter-productivity due to its sexist, ironic nature and its nature of anti-equality. But this idea of counter-productivity is not shared among these feminists, which is why it is important that we hear their side as well. Modern feminism, or gender...
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...Feminism is the belief that women should be treated as both potentially intellectual and socially equal to men. It embraces the thought that all people are entitled to freedom and liberty within reason; including equal civil rights and the discrimination that should not be made based on gender, sexual orientation, skin color, ethnicity, religion, or culture. Feminist movements have campaigned and continue to campaign for women's rights, including the right to vote, to hold public office, to work, to earn fair wages, to own property, education, and to have equal rights within marriage. Feminists have also worked to promote bodily independence, integrity, to protect women from rape, sexual harassment, and domestic violence. Feminism underlies five major concepts. First, we have patriarchy which is the authority of men in society and the oppression of women for men’s gain. Second, discrimination that leads to the unequal treatment that women receive. Third, we have gender stereotypes which are negative misconceptions about women. Forth, economic dependency; where women are forced to quit their job in order to take care of their household responsibilities. Fifth, emotional work; where women are predicted to do the majority of emotional care of their family. As feminism started to rise, it encountered three waves. The first wave of feminism took place in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, where it emerged out of an environment of urban industrialism and...
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...of integrity and justice, is a perfect example of a seemingly equal situation, which turns out to be anything but for women. The policies imposed in the criminal justice system affect men and women in extremely dissimilar manners. I plan to examine how gender intersects with the understanding of crime and the criminal justice system. Gender plays a significant role in understanding who commits what types of crimes, why they do so, who is most often victimized, and how the criminal justice system responds to these victims and offenders. In order to understand the current state of women and the way in which gender relates to crime and criminal justice, it is first necessary to provide a comprehensive analysis of the historical evolution of women in the criminal justice system and the affect that the different waves of feminism have had on policies and practices towards women in this system. I plan to argue that the criminal justice system is another form of patriarchal control, a sexist organization which creates conflict between the private sphere of a woman's life and the public. This control extends far beyond the just incarcerated women, it affects all women. Despite the fact that there have been changes to certain policies and prison regulations, though made with resistance, none of the changes have been for the better. By looking at past and present situations as well as the differing feminist perspectives on the justice system, I hope to offer ways and opinions on how to improve...
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...How does contemporary ‘post-feminism’ or ‘third wave feminism’ contribute to the furtherance of women’s rights and gender equality? Research and discuss There is a good deal of controversy over the role of so-called Third Wave feminism in the quest for gender equality. Third Wave feminism emerged in the late 1980’s and 1990’s among a cohort of women who had grown up taking for granted the gains made in the first wave of feminism (suffrage) and the second wave (the 1970’s emergence of feminist activism) (Arneil, 1999; Henry, 2004). These are young women who experience feminism almost like “’flouride. We scarcely notice that we have it—it’s simply in the water” (Henry, 2004: 70, quoting Baumgardner and Richards). The controversy stems not so much from their tacit reliance on previous gains, but on the focus of Third Wave feminism, which is undeniably on self-expression, freedom of experience, and sexual flexibility. Henry (2004) writes about the American television series Sex and the City as emblematic of Third Wave feminist sensibilities. This might be a bitter pill to swallow for those who identify feminism with more stalwart causes, including combating idealised and sexualised images of women in the media and embracing women’s diversity. After all, the four heroines of Sex and the City are all white, wealthy, thin, glamorous, obsessed with fashion and arguably obsessed with men. Nevertheless there are story lines and sensibilities in Sex and the City which reveal feminist...
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...Aviva Hurvitz 24 November 2015 Feminism and the Media Representation of Women in the 1970’s Major social change happens when enough people strongly believe in it. The media influences public opinion and thus has the ability to support or destroy these social change movements. In the 1970’s, the second wave feminist movement was attempting to create wide spread social change. Its leading organization, the National Organization for Women (NOW), was focused on dismantling workplace inequality, such as denial of access to better jobs and salary inequity, and protecting women’s rights, such as stopping domestic violence. They attempted to do this through creating legislation and changing public opinion. The media’s representation of women overall at this time counteracted these goals. By creating a derogatory picture of the “feminist”, the media made her unsympathetic to the public. Rather than creating support for the core goals of the feminist movement, the media focused on more controversial topics, specifically gay rights. This negative media coverage of the women’s movement hurt its ability to implement meaningful legislation, such as the Equal Rights Amendment. The way in which print media degraded women, demonized feminists, and connected feminism to controversial topics damaged the progress of second wave feminism in the 1970’s. The definition of a feminist is a person who believes in the social, economic, and political equality of the sexes (Miriam Webster...
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...How has feminism attempted to achieve women’s liberation, and has the battle been won? This essay aims to outline how feminism has and continues its attempt to achieve women’s liberation.This essay will reflect the current situation in Europe. The essay begins by describing the first and second wave of feminism, providing an overview of the ideas of some important feminist thinkers and activists. It then introduces the third wave, modern feminism and concludes with some remarks regarding the development of feminism insofar as it affects modern organizations willing to tackle gender inequality. The concept defined as the ‘first wave of feminism’ finds it origins in the mid-nineteenth century, with the ‘suffragettes’—as those pioneers were called—and their struggle to achieve equal political rights. These women’s central aim was to obtain the right to vote, even if that meant they had to protest through various hunger strikes, as they did in London. The ‘second wave of feminism’ focused on ending all forms of sexism, and it fought both psychological and sexual oppression towards women. Among others, Betty Friedan realized that women felt frustrated due to the oppression that came from their perceived role in society, namely that of staying at home. The patriarchal culture started to be criticized by many radical feminists. This second wave was very marked by Simone De Beauvoir and her work, The Second Sex. She believed “one is not born a woman, one becomes one”. Eva Figes wrote...
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