Second wave feminism is a feminism activity began in the 1960s. (Burkett, 2015) According to the Encyclopedia Britannica second wave feminism is: “Women’s movement, diverse social movement, largely based in the United States, seeking equal rights and opportunities for women in their economic activities, their personal lives, and politics.” Marsha Weinman Lear created the term second wave. She used this term in The New York Times Magazine in her article "The Second Feminist Wave". “In short, feminism, which one might have supposed as dead as the Polish Question, is again an issue. Proponents call it the Second Feminist Wave, the first having ebbed after the glorious victory of suffrage and disappeared, finally, into the great sandbar of Togetherness.” …show more content…
She inspired from Simone de Beauvoir’s “The Second Sex”. (Hauke, 1995:33) Liberal feminist inspired from ‘The Feminine Mystique’. This book was also encouraged second wave feminism in United States. (Krolokke, 2005:11) However, in 1984 bell hooks –who is African American activist, educator, and writer- criticized Betty Friedan’s book. She complains about ignoring nonwhite women and working class women. In bell hooks book From Margin to Center, she explain Betty Friedan was only focused white, upper- and middle-class mothers and wives. (Fetters, 2013) After the book released, in October 11, 1963, The President’s Commission on the Status of Women (PCSW) published a report which name is ‘American Women’. This report shows the women discrimination and advocate major reforms -like educational, economical- for women’s life. For example, major offers of this report are paid maternity leave, unemployment insurance, tax deductions for childcare, widow’s benefits etc. (Singer More: 1-4) In June 10, 1963, John F. Kennedy signed the Equal Pay Act. This sign made equal pay for equal work for both men and women. (Pearsall, …show more content…
Johnson approved Civil Rights Act of 1964. This was another victory for women. Especially, the Title VII banned discrimination by race, sex, color, religion or national origin. This title also banned employment discrimination. (Bowen, 2015) During the second wave feminism, privacy rights expanded too. In 1965, the United States Supreme Court decided very important decision in Griswold v. Connecticut. The Supreme Court cancelled the law that birth control –like contraceptives- by married couple is illegal. After this decision, oral contraceptives were available in United States. (Ruiter, 2013) National Organization of Women (NOW) established in 1966. NOW has 49 founders including Betty Friedan and Pauli
In the 1960’s, the civil rights movement was the act inspiring the second wave of feminism. The passing of the civil rights act protected women
The 1960s cultural movement in the United States sent shockwaves through American society. Nearly every aspect of traditional life was challenged and among these was the role of women. Following in the footsteps of suffragettes during the turn of the twentieth century, a new wave of feminism was emerging in the United States that aspired to take the women's right movement beyond the realm of constitutional rights. This movement, now known as second-wave feminism, sought to bring what they viewed as true gender equality by focusing on a number of issues that negatively affected women. The second-wave accomplished much, but there is a historical consensus that it came to an end during the eighties, giving way to a third-wave of feminism in the early nineties.
Feminism is categorized into 4 main stages, known as the first-wave feminism (early 20th c, second-wave feminism (the 1960s to mid-1980s), third-wave feminism (1990s), and post-feminism (21st c). The emergence of second-wave feminism is distinguished by
The first wave was in the year of 1789 which was organised to promote women’s rights by the first group of which included a wide range of women directly after the French revolution. The revolution had been fought in the 1970s on the basis of equality and freedom for women; as a result of this many women had then formed clubs mainly in Paris and also in major cities. The main principal for these clubs was to form a meeting place for women; as a result of these meetings it caused the development of political programmes regarding many issues such as rights in education. (Quidlen, 2001) First Wave Feminist activism grew out of abolitionism, thus leading to the rise of a suffragist movement in which was to ensure that slavery was put to an end if they received the right to vote. (Giddens,
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.
Even after the Civil Rights Movement happened in the United States women were still subjected to discrimination based on their sex. This was a problematic barrier that allowed gender inequality to remain and as a result fewer women were able to seek higher education and employment standards. The National Organization for Women argued that change needed to come to America and that it was time for women to be seen as complete equals to men. On behalf of the National Organization for Women (NOW) Betty Friedan wrote the document the Statement of Purpose and argued that women were human beings and therefore they ought to be treated equally and should have the same economic, social and political rights as men and not be excluded because of their
To get the answer to her question, she began to survey women of Smith College. Her findings lead to the writing of her first book, The Feminine Mystique. The book uses other women’s personal experiences along with her own experiences to describes the idea behind being a feminist. “At every step of the way, the feminists had to fight the conception that they were violating the God-given nature of woman… The image of the feminists as inhuman, fiery man-eater, whether expressed as an offense against God or in the modern terms of sexual perversion, is not unlike the stereotype of the Negro as a primitive animal or the union member as an anarchist” (86-87). That image of women that has been created by society and the same idea applies to race and how it is something that is so prone to society about things no one can change. Feminists were the ones who were able to fight for their rights even though some may believe that isn't what women are made to be but Betty Friedan did, which motivated her to fight for women’s rights in the second wave feminist movement. She was able to accomplish helping more women fight for their rights and set the ground for the women fighting
For decades now, women have been fighting to earn rights for political, social and economic equality to men. What made the diversity change many of the rights against women after decades of being treated unequally? The second wave of feminism started to evolve near the end of the second World War. More women were starting to achieve degrees to pursue a career which will provide them wealth and joy. The second movement mainly focused on gender equality such as voting rights, reproductive rights and political rights. Due to the feminism wave, women earned respect world wide by standing up to achieve legal rights and equality to men. Therefore, the second wave of feminism that took place in the United States during the 1960s helped bring equality for women in the areas of education, work and pay, reduced violence against women, and helped gain rights in their reproductive and political lives.
During the 1960’s there was a lot of major events that happened in the United States. The 1960’s was known as a decade of “culture and change”, there were lots of political and cultural changes. (Anastakis, 22) One particular movement that was important to society and the country was the Women’s Movement also called the “Feminism Movement”. The first women movement which happened a few decades before focused on gender equality and overcoming different legal problems. The 1960’s women’s movement focused more on different issues such as family, sexuality, workplace issues, and also rights of reproductively. (MacLean, 45) I chose to cover this topic because women have always been influential throughout history, and I being a woman it is important to know about our rights and who paved the way for us.
... setting up the basis for the second movement. After women began talking about the family economy during the first wave, the women were able to shift their focus to their personal careers and salaries during the second wave. Additionally, the first wave gave women the right to vote, but the second wave gave women more political power. Women distinguished themselves through their sexuality in the first wave, while the second wave helped women distinguish themselves through their strength. The achievements of the second feminist movement clearly had their roots in the first movement. Feminism is now entering its third wave. Regardless of whether the new feminists use an indirect approach, like the 1920s movement, or a direct approach, like the 1970s movement, American women will continue fighting for gender equality until the words “man” and “woman” both mean “human.”
But when the “Women’s Movement,” is referred to, one would most likely think about the strides taken during the 1960’s for equal treatment of women. The sixties started off with a bang for women, as the Food and Drug Administration approved birth control pills, President John F. Kennedy established the President's Commission on the Status of Women and appointed Eleanor Roosevelt as chairwoman, and Betty Friedan published her famous and groundbreaking book, “The Feminine Mystique” (Imbornoni). The Women’s Movement of the 1960’s was a ground-breaking part of American history because along with African-Americans another minority group stood up for equality, women were finished with being complacent, and it changed women’s lives today.
The Third Wave may have occurred as a result of Black women’s criticisms of the Second Wave as a strictly white, middle class women’s movement.(Page 64) Canada supports the idea of meritocracy, where everyone has an equal chance of success. This belief undermines the fact that racism was still very evident in the women’s movements. Also an issue that arose from the Second Wave, was the exclusion of transgendered people from the movement.
Second wave feminism took a very different focus than first wave feminism. In the 1960s, at the beginning of the second wave of feminism, two distinct groups sprouted within the movement causing a major split and forming the groups known as the "politicos" and the "feminists" (Freeman, The Feminism Memoir Project, 1998, p???). Jo Freeman, an American feminist, political scientist, and attorney, states, "[The] Politicos emphasized that capitalism was the enemy. Feminists said that women were oppressed by men, or at least by male-dominated institutions" (Freeman, The Feminism Memoir Project, 1998,p???). This is where a visible split between first wave feminism and second wave feminism can be seen. Although there was still political focus during
In just a few decades The Women’s Liberation Movement has changed typical gender roles that once were never challenged or questioned. As women, those of us who identified as feminist have rebelled against the status quo and redefined what it means to be a strong and powerful woman. But at...
Multiracial Feminism: Recasting the Chronology of Second Wave Feminism introduces ideas by Becky Thompson that contradict the “traditional” teachings of the Second Wave of feminism. She points out that the version of Second Wave feminism that gets told centers around white, middle class, US based women and the central problem being focused on and rallied against is sexism. This history of the Second Wave does not take into consideration feminist movements happening in other countries. Nor does it take into consideration the feminist activism that women of color were behind, that centered not only on sexism, but also racism, and classism as central problems as well. This is where the rise of multiracial feminism is put to the foreground and a different perspective of the Second Wave is shown.