The “first-wave feminism” occurred in the 19th and early 20th century.
Before that, British intellectual Mary Wollstonecraft wrote the first major treaty on feminism in 1792 called Vindication of the Rights of Woman. Her daughter, Mary Shelley, also brought feminine into her best known fiction, Frankenstein. Later, more and more authors started to write feminist works which finally led to the first wave of feminism. The writers wrote analysis of gender and economics, evaluating the importance of women in the economy and suggesting that women should be allowed to work.
The “first-wave feminism” began around 1848 and lasted until roughly 1960s. This affected law-making, ownership of property, legal rights for married women, divorce laws and also employment opportunities.
In 1848, Elizabeth Cady Stanton organized Seneca Convention. She planned to discuss
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Many people believed that the greatest moment of first-wave feminism was when the Twentieth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was passed because it finally gave women the right to vote.
Second-wave feminism
Second-wave feminism began after World War II from 1960s to 1970s. Since many women had gone to work during the war, they expected to be full citizens back home. The goal of Second-wave feminists was gender equality in social, political, legal and economic rights like in the first wave.
Other than legal rights, additional inequalities were also addressed. Middle-class women were facing new challenges like the baby boom and the expansion to suburban areas. Although the economies had grown a lot, the idealized families in the television still looked like the 19th century when women never had outside employment.
The second wave of feminism was not only to overturn those conventions, but also to celebrate the unique contributions of women.
Third-wave feminism
The third wave of feminism began in the early
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.
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,
Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott established the Seneca Falls Convention in New York in 1848. This conference was meant to promote American women having their own political identities.
Throughout the waves of liberal feminism, there is a new characteristic to be associated with the feminist group. In the first waves, it’s white, married, wealthy women who fit the criteria to be a feminist. The first wave begins in 1900 and ends around 1920, during the times of the Suffragettes. This wave began to introduce the inequalities between men and women, especially relating to voting and education. The second wave began to rise in 1950 which introduced reproductive rights, entitlement to sex, marriage, jobs, social lives, and politics. This wave continued to the 1970’s. It’s not until the third wave, which hits in the 1990’s, when inequalities among women are introduced to the feminist movement (FYS Class Notes).
The third wave of feminism is readopting the second wave by young women, for young women. the main goal for third wave was for women to reclaim their bodies for themselves and fighting the patriarchy.
The Feminist Movement begin in the in 1848 spearheaded by the Seneca Fall Convention (Smith & Hamon, 2012). Feminism is the reaction to many year of oppression by a male dominated society. In the Feminist Movement women like Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Canton Stanton desired rights, opportunities, and the identity that women deserved (Smith & Hamon, 2012). Osmond and Thorne (1993) stated that Feminist respond by expressing their desire to “develop knowledge that will further social change, knowledge that will help confront and end subordination of women as it related to the pattern of subordination based on social class, race, ethnicity, age, and sexual orientation” (p. 592). The “first wave” of the Feminist Movement
The Feminist Movement was divided into three waves, first characterized by Marsha Lear in the New York Times Magazine in 1968 (Henry). The First Wave of Feminist Movement occurred as early as the late 19th and early 20th century. This period was known for the rapid territorial and economic growth, landmarks in political developments, and especially social and political reforms. During this period, women were confined in household work, leaded by and politically attached to their husbands, and received no higher education. Thus, the First Movement focused on the rights of women to gain social status in these aspects and especially the right to vote. Before the 1780’s, state laws mostly only allowed Caucasian males to vote. In 1797, New Jersey was the first state to allow women to vote with a restriction to only women with cash or property (“Women’s Suffrage”). In 1860, the revised Married Women’s Property was passed, allowing women to have control over their children’s will and money a...
... 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.”
Locke, Jillian L. "Feminism (Second-Wave)." Encyclopedia of U.S. Political History. Ed. Thomas S. Langston. Vol. 6: Postwar Consensus to Social Unrest, 1946 to 1975. Washington, DC: CQ Press, 2010. 170-174. Gale Virtual Library
The origins of Third Wave feminism are highly debated, as there is no clear commonality that this wave uses to differentiate between the First and Second waves that occurred prior. Emerging during the 1990’s, Third Wave feminism sought to build upon the achievements and ideas that were accomplished during First and Second wave’s, by increasing the significance and accessibility of its ideas to a greater spectrum of people.
The late nineteenth century was a critical time in reshaping the rights of women. Commonly this era is considered to be the beginning of what is know to western feminists as “first-wave feminism.” First-wave feminism predominately fought for legal rights such as suffrage, and property rights. A major hallmark of first-wave feminism is the concept of the “New Woman.” The phrase New Woman described educated, independent, career oriented women who stood in response to the idea of the “Cult of Domesticity,” that is the idea that women are meant to be domestic and submissive (Stevens 27).
Feminism is the movement towards women’s equality. It fights for equal rights in the social, political, cultural and economical aspects for women. Feminism also fights for equal opportunity for women in employment and education. A feminist is someone who advocates their support for women’s rights but is not restricted to only women; anyone who supports women’s rights and equality are feminists, including men. Feminism is not only about the females, it fights for gender equality for all. Feminist movements, or Women’s movements, campaign for reforms in household issues with domestic violence, political issues with equal pay, employment and maternity leave, and reproduction rights. All feminism movements fight for equal rights, but it cannot be conquered or be made known all at once. First wave feminism was mostly about women’s suffrage and political equality in general. Second wave feminism went more in depth about the social and cultural inequalities.
Throughout the 19th century, feminism played a huge role in society and women’s everyday lifestyle. Women had been living in a very restrictive society, and soon became tired of being told how they could and couldn’t live their lives. Soon, they all realized that they didn’t have to take it anymore, and as a whole, they had enough power to make a change. That is when feminism started to change women’s roles in society. Before, women had little to no rights, while men, on the other hand, had all the rights.
“Women’s movement spoke of moral purity, whereas feminists emphasized rights and self-development” (Norton et al. 555). Although feminists took a more demanding and formidable approach to achieve their goals, they still held on to the gentler side of their sexuality. “Charlotte Perkins Gilman, author of Women and Economics (1898) is a major figure and one of the most influential feminists in this social evolution. She argued that roles as domestic servants have become obsolete” (Norton et al. 555). However, without the cult of domesticity, men would not have been able to attain the wealth they have. “Gilman stated that the labor of women in the house, certainly, enables men to produce more wealth that they otherwise could; and in this way women are economic factors in society” (Gilman 13). Men’s authoritative attitudes however, hinder women’s opportunity to receive economic independence. As a result, Gilman emphasized that women who are seen as property of men and obliged to perform domestic duties without getting paid for it, must be economically independent. Women and Economics gained popularity for the new term “feminism” as Gilman further called for women to earn their economic independence within the male dominated