The Feminist Movement in History
I interviewed my mother for the Oral History project. I did not know
the extent of her involvement with the feminist movement nor did I
know if she had even strong feelings about the issues involved.
However I thought given her age she made her a rather ideal narrator
for the period of second wave feminism whether or not she was deeply
involved. If anything I knew she could provide a unique view that
might vary from the typical views of the time.
I asked her the basic biographical information before starting and
these are the answers she gave.
Birthplace: Rockville Centre, NY
Birth date: 6/24/50
Gender: Female
Education: 2 years Niagara University
Marital status: Married
Occupation: Staff secretary Newton-Wellesley Hospital
Religious Affiliation: Irish Catholic
Political Party: Democrat
I knew prior to the interview that my mother was not deeply involved
in the feminist movement of the 1960s and 1970s. However she grew up
in a very liberal atmosphere that I thought would put her closer to
the movement than a good majority of the public. I soon learned that
this was really not the case. My mother was quick to tell me how
little she thought the feminist movement actually affected her, her
routine or her values. She was firm in this explanation and she seemed
to take some pride in this fact. That she was this adamant about her
distance from the organized movement is an interested detail of the
interview that I will cover later.
Early into the interview my questions quicker became broader and
broader as I realized the detachment from the feminist movement my mom
...
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... her hours and awaiting change.
Looking back today my mother is undoubtedly grateful for the people
who devoted their lives to the fight for gender equality. But the
interview concerned her views on the movement as it happened and she
was clear on how she felt at the time. Distinguishing the movement
from the faces that my mom saw as the representation of the organized
effort is a crucial step. Living what is supposed to be the youthful
prime of one's life, a concerted effort was need to protest the
Vietnam War and my mother saw no need for someone to tell her freedom
was something being held from her when she had grow up learning the
exact opposite from her own mother. My feeling is that had my mother
grown up in a different family atmosphere her involvement in the
feminist movement would have probably been heavier.
After many years of battling for equality among the sexes, people today have no idea of the trails that women went through so that women of future generations could have the same privileges and treatment as men. Several generations have come since the women’s rights movement and the women of these generations have different opportunities in family life, religion, government, employment, and education that women fought for. The Women’s Rights Movement began with a small group of people that questioned why human lives, especially those of women, were unfairly confined. Many women, like Sojourner Truth and Fanny Fern, worked consciously to create a better world by bringing awareness to these inequalities. Sojourner Truth, prominent slave and advocate
Decades ago, the women did not have a voice in any matter, may it be about the family, work or even your lifestyle. In this generation, countless women have fought so that other women can freely express themselves unlike back in the old days. Many feminist activists (from generations ago and in this generation) are fighting so that women can have more voice just as the men do. For example, in the 1960s-70s feminist movement many women joined in movement so they fight for job equality and eradicate the discrimination towards women. In the article The 1960s-70s American Feminist Movement: Breaking Down Barriers For Women it stated that "In 1964, Representative Howard Smith of Virginia proposed to add a prohibition on gender discrimination into the Civil Rights Act that was under consideration. He was greeted by laughter from the other Congressmen..." (Tavaana, P4). This means that many other good people had tried to give rights to women, but now that the society has changed a little. Women now have a voice meaning, they can choose what job, their career and how they would want their life to be. Just because that is how that past is, that does not mean that the future cannot change. The past will always stay as the past, but the future can change to how the actions, you caused can either affect you or other people around
In the United States there have been three waves of women’s rights movements. The first movement was called the women’s right movement. This movement was mainly focused on white women and their right to vote as well as hold office. (Wood, p.62) The second movement was the women’s liberation movement, also known as radical feminism. This movement mainly impacted college students because college campuses were a great place for radical feminism to emerge. The radical feminists protested the Vietnam War and fought for civil rights. The women in this movement risked their lives and physical abuse just like the males did. (Wood, p.64) The third wave of feminism in the United States was known as third- wave feminism. In this movement woman with different ethnicities, abilities, disabilities, classes, appearances, sexual orientation and gender identities came together to fight for their rights as women. (Wood, p.74)
Every citizen of the United State was grant the right to vote since their birth in the United State or when they passed
“Imagine living in a world where there is no domination, where females and males are not alike or even always equal, but where a vision of mutuality is the ethos shaping our interaction. Imagine living in a world where we can all be who we are, a world of peace and possibility.” (Feminism is for everybody, page 8). This particular quote from the assigned reading really spoke to me. How amazing would it be to live in a world where no one group dominates another, or more importantly no one group discriminates one another. Obviously, just as bell hooks’ said following this quote, the feminist movement cannot do all of this alone. There are so many other things going on in the world that need attention as well, such as racism, class exclusivity, and imperialism. Over the past few years I have become more informed on the feminist movement and the assigned reading only heightened my
This movement had great leaders who were willing to deal with the ridicule and the disrespect that came along with being a woman. At that time they were fighting for what they thought to be true and realistic. Some of the great women who were willing to deal with those things were Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucretia Mott, Jane Hunt, Mary McClintock, and Martha C. Wright. These women gave this movement, its spark by conduction the first ever women 's right’s convention. This convention was held in a church in Seneca Falls in 1848. At this convection they expressed their problems with how they were treated, as being less than a man. These women offered solutions to the problem by drafting the Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions. They cleverly based the document after the Declaration of Independence. The opening line of their document was “We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men and women are created equal” (Shi & Mayer 361). In this declaration they discuss the history of how women have been treated and how men have denied them rights, which go against everything they believe in. This convention was the spark that really
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).
This feminism movement occurred at the same time as the Civil Rights movement and both had an impact on each other. The Civil Rights movement fought for equality of African Americans. Many of the feminism activist and the feminism organizations also rallied support for the Civil Rights movement. It was with this support that the feminism movement was able to piggy back off its success. The original Civil Rights Act had no protection against discrimination based on sex, only based on race, but feminists lobbied vigorously for this addition to the act (Article 4). Many male African Americans feared that this addition to the bill would kill it entirely but women like Pauli Murray, who “coined the term Jane Crow to describe her own experience of
“The history of the past is but one long struggle upward to equality,” this was stated by Elizabeth Cady Stanton, a very crucial women’s suffragist. Over time, women’s history has evolved due to the fact that women were pushing for equal rights. Women were treated as less than men. They had little to no rights. The Women’s Rights Movement in the 1800’s lead up to the change in women’s rights today. This movement began in 1848 with the Seneca Falls Convention. For the next 72 years, women continually fought for equal rights. In 1920, they gained the right to vote which ended the movement and opened the opportunity for more change in women’s lives. Because of the Women’s Rights Movement, women today are able to vote, receive
Amelia Bloomer:Amelia Bloomer was born in Cortland County, New York, in 1818. She received an education in schools of the State and became a teacher in public schools, then as a private tutor. She married in 1840 to Dexter C. Bloomer, of Seneca Falls, New York. Dexter C. Bloomer was editor of a county newspaper, and Mrs. Bloomer began to write for the paper. She was one of the editors of the Water Bucket, a temperance paper published during Washingtonian revival. Mr. Bloomer lived in Seneca Falls in 1848, but did not participate in the Women’s Rights Convention. In 1849, Bloomer began work with a monthly temperance paper called The Lily. It was devoted to women’s rights and interests, as it became a place for women advocates to express their opinions. The paper initiated a widespread change in women’s dress. The long, heavy skirts were replaced with shorter skirts and knee-high trousers or undergarments. Bloomer’s name soon became associated with to this new dress, and the trousers became known as Bloomers. She continued to new dress and continued advocating for women’s rights in her paper. In 1854, Mrs. Bloomer began giving numerous speeches and continued to fight for equal justice for women.
What does the word ‘feminist’ mean to you? For some, it is the striking image of the Famous Five, a group of suffragettes who garnered the right to vote for Canadian women. Nellie McClung, along with four other passionate women, helped bring recognition to women’s rights. To begin with, she scarcely received 6 years of education, but she managed to shape Canada’s future when she moved to Winnipeg in her late 30’s. It began with her and four other women who pursued the case for women to be recognized as ‘persons’ under Canadian law. Today, her legacy is recognized, and the parks and schools in her name are proof of that. Nellie McClung was brave and strategic and she shaped the lives of Canadians and Albertans.
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.
In “Feminism: A Movement to End Sexist Oppression”, Bell Hooks asserts, in being unable to arrive at an agreement over the true definition of feminism, feminism itself no longer has a base for the movement to develop from. Without this foundation, no new ideas can be created or engaged with. It is a sign there has been an amounting lack of interest in feminism as a radical sociopolitical movement, and this fact is not funny.
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...
The feminist movement helped earn women the right to vote, but even then, it wasn’t enough to get accepted into the workforce. They were given the strength to fight the journey for equality and social justice. There has been known to be three waves of feminism, each wave fighting for a different issue concerning women’s rights. Laws protecting sexual assault and alimony would be enacted, and women were now allowed custody of their children in divorce cases.