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Second wave feminism essay
Gender roles of women in the 1950s
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In the 1960’s, the second wave of feminism was spreading through the country. Much like the first wave of feminism, it focused on the equality for both males and females in America. However, it now concentrated on the female gender roles in society and sought to bring justice to ensure that women were treated as equals with men. This was no easy task due to the fact that the system of patriarchy has been placed into society for such a long time not only in American history but also in many other cultures. A patriarchy is defined as “a social system in which males are the primary authority figures central to social organization, occupying roles of political leadership, moral authority, and control of property, and where fathers hold authority over women and children. It implies the institutions of male rule and privilege, and entails female subordination,” according to the collective knowledge of the Wikimedia Foundation. Although the female has the ability to change the system of patriarchy, the system has been in power for so long that it has been approved as a social normality. Before the first wave of feminism, women could not obtain property or vote in America. This was due to the unsaid law that men were placed in a higher position of authority and thus could deny an entire population from certain rights by virtue of their gender. Such obstacles that date back to the hierarchy system of kings and princes provide little room for feminism to allow its ideals to be accepted by the society around them. This also indicates that the environment around them hold true to traditional ideals in which women would rarely hold a role in society and thus limited their influence in the world around them. One French writer, Simone de Beauvo...
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...troversy. Second wave feminism was no exception to these critiques to the movement. In their article, “Feminism,” Bryant stated that “Critics argue that there is too much focus on negative aspects, and that feminists sometime ignore recent social changes . Critics claim that feminists portray women as ‘passive’ victims, as if they are unable to act against discrimination. The same critics believe that feminists focus on one specific group, ignoring women from other cultures and ethnicities (such as black feminism).” Meaning that critics of feminism stated that much of the feminist movement focused on the negatives that the feminist movement brings. The ignorance shown towards current issues and the diversity of every woman’s characteristics that were often used by the feminism movement indicated that there were still aspects in the movement that needed improvement.
Whether it is the Ancient Greece, Han China, the Enlightened Europe, or today, women have unceasingly been oppressed and regarded as the second sex. Provided that they have interminably been denied the power that men have had, very few prominent female figures like Cleopatra, the Egyptian Queen, or Jeanne d'Arc, the French heroine, have made it to history books. Veritably, it was not until 1792 when Mary Wollstonecraft’s A Vindication of the Rights of Women addressed the issues of gender equality, that some started hearkening the seemingly endless mistreatment of women. New Zealand was the first country to grant women the right to vote in 1892. The United States did not endorse this until 1920 when the 19th Amendment was ratified, which states “The right of citizens of the United States votes shall not be denied or abridged… on account of sex.” This, however, was not the end to women’s plight. For the majority of the 20th century, America’s idea of a good woman was a good mother and a good wife. In the 1960s and 1970s, a movement that would later bring fundamental changes to the American society was spreading rapidly throughout the country: The Women’s Liberation Movement. With the increasing number of educated women, gender inequality received more attention than ever before. Hundreds of women came together to fight domestic violence, lack of political and economic development, and reproductive restrictions. One of these women was an ordinary girl from Ohio named Gloria Steinem who would later become a feminist icon in the United States. Steinem contributed to the Women’s Liberation Movement by writing about feminism and issues concerning women, co-founding Ms. magazine, giving influential speeches— leading he movement along with...
The article, “Why We Still Need Feminism”, written by Casey Cavanaugh (2014), describes how women are treated and why feminism is looked at in such a negative light. She focuses on how the feminism movement doesn’t only concentrate on women and what concerns them, she also talks about how the movement can positively impact all humans. Cavanaugh explains how the treatment of women can go on for generations and how many women are simply dealing with the ill-treatment (Cavanaugh, 2014). The writer gives a few examples of how women are treated and the different ways that it can be changed for the better.
The image that is usually placed with feminism is that of a rabid, bra-burning, lesbian running around disclaiming the patriarchy. It could be that of a mid-century housewife complaining about how her only career choices are between teacher and secretary, or even of a woman with a sash and banner walking in front of the White House; preaching about her right to vote. However, this isn't necessarily the case. Ever since the rise of the internet, in the late 20th Century, feminism has had a revival causing it to grow in popularity and spread across forums everywhere. Women are joining this “third wave” movement to bring an end to the societal injustices that still plague the gender today (qtd. in Haslanger et al.). Feminism currently represents much more than it did in its infantile stage, having evolved to include relevant issues that affect every woman in today’s subordinating world. Issues such as rape culture, slut shaming, abortion and the wage gap have all been adapted into the feminist agenda with the hope that, as a united force, women could bring change to a misogynist society. The bra burning days are over, and feminism is on a rise, bringing light to issues that need to be addressed.
Society has long since considered women the lessor gender and one of the most highly debated topics in society through the years has been that of women’s equality. The debates began over the meaning between a man and woman’s morality and a woman’s rights and obligations in society. After the 19th Amendment was sanctioned around 1920, the ball started rolling on women’s suffrage. Modern times have brought about the union of these causes, but due to the differences between the genetic makeup and socio demographics, the battle over women’s equality issue still continues to exist. While men have always held the covenant role of the dominant sex, it was only since the end of the 19th century that the movement for women’s equality and the entitlement of women have become more prevalent. “The general consensus at the time was that men were more capable of dealing with the competitive work world they now found themselves thrust into. Women, it was assumed, were unable to handle the pressures outside of the home. They couldn’t vote, were discourages from working, and were excluded from politics. Their duty to society was raising moral children, passing on the values that were unjustly thrust upon them as society began to modernize” (America’s Job Exchange, 2013). Although there have been many improvements in the changes of women’s equality towards the lives of women’s freedom and rights in society, some liberals believe that women have a journey to go before they receive total equality. After WWII, women continued to progress in there crusade towards receiving equality in many areas such as pay and education, discrimination in employment, reproductive rights and later was followed by not only white women but women from other nationalities ...
In “Building the Third Wave” Laurie Ouellette addresses her stance on feminism by passing the audience a question as to “why so many young women have shunned feminism”. Ouellette states her response of feminism by giving reasons as to why young women are not supporting feminism. Ouellette states that one reason is because they do not have role models to reach out to young people. Another aspect of the feminism movement that struggled involved a lack of support from the economically disadvantaged and women of color due to the silence of the upper middle class white females. Also, Ouellette mentions that women do not like hearing about the past because they feel as if have been lied to in regards to feminism. Ouellette concludes the article by explaining that it is responsibility of generations past to fight to get more young women into the feminism movement.
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).
70 years after the American Revolution, white males enjoyed freedoms they viewed as their god given rights, but woman were somehow left out, they even seemed to be excluded from the constitution (“All men are created equal.”) “After so much had been done to ensure America’s freedom, it was hypocritical that woman were not allowed to vote, married woman had no property rights, and husbands possessed so much legal power they could beat or imprison their wives on a whim. Even most professions were closed to women, it would be unheard of to see a woman practicing medicine or law. The jobs that were available to women only paid a fraction of what the men were making.” [Eisenberg] This made women completely dependant on men.
The term “feminism” tends to have a negative connotation in today’s culture. Feminism is now focusing on female dominance and male disrespect. Women are fighting for equality, yet using personal bias to define equality, claiming identical rights for all will produce an equal culture. The mainstream feminist movement is using this corrupted view of equality to force rights of women. Contrary to popular belief, true feminism fights for true equality for women, as well as other people groups. The false view of feminism causes women to distort gender roles, dishonor themselves, and degrade men.
Before the beginning of the women's rights movements in the late 19th century patriarchy, or a society dominated by males, was the norm in America. Men used sex and marriage to objectify and suppress women in order to maintain a society controlled strictly by males. The foundation of patriarchy was rooted deeply in the marital roles of men and women, one dominant, and the other submissive. Sex and marriage served as a mechanisms to shape the images of men and women in society. The system of patriarchy fed into itself to keep it going generation after generation.
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.
Throughout history, women have remained subordinate to men. Subjected to the patriarchal system that favored male perspectives, women struggled against having considerably less freedom, rights, and having the burdens society placed on them that had been so ingrained the culture. This is the standpoint the feminists took, and for almost 160 years they have been challenging the “unjust distribution of power in all human relations” starting with the struggle for equality between men and women, and linking that to “struggles for social, racial, political, environmental, and economic justice”(Besel 530 and 531). Feminism, as a complex movement with many different branches, has and will continue to be incredibly influential in changing lives.
At the end of the 19th and start of the 20th centuries, a series of events occurred that would be known as the feminist movement. During this time, many women were starting to change the way they thought of themselves and wanted to change their social roles. In his views on feminist analysis Donald Hall says, “Feminist methodologies focus on gender.and explore the complex ways in which women have been denied social power and the right to various forms of self-expression. In this context the many perspectives that fall under the heading ‘feminism’ vary wildly”(Hall 199). Since women were denied social power and self-expression, they went against what society saw as acceptable, a patriarchal world.
In the researching of this paper there was a lack of scholarly works that referred to feminism in terms of “gender liberation.” One scholarly journal notes “gender liberation” verbatim but it is in the context of fathers taking on household duties, hardly a delve into the wide spectrum of gendernonconformity. (Glass 1) Another of the only two that remotely mentioned gender liberation in terms of feminism only mentions it in the equated sense of men and women in political spheres without actually speaking to nonbinary or gendernonconforming identities. (Anthias and Yuval-Davis 13) From the extensive research it is clear that the general movement to make feminism a gender liberatory one is absent or largely underground. For these reasons alone we can see that gendernonconforming issues do not get their due representation or research simply for the fact that they’re not a noticeably mainstream interjection into feminist theory.
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. 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 by the journey for equality and social justice. There has been known to be
The war of gender equality has been in existence throughout history and it is only until recently that it is being taken seriously. It was not until the 19th and 20th centuries that women have pushed to make their rights on the same level as men. Through the belief that men and women should have equal rights and opportunities, Feminism was formed around this time and those involved with it have changed history since they first started. Feminism has been through three waves, each with their own set of goals and ideas they had wished to accomplish throughout those times. In spite of this, there are those who oppose their views and feel as if the feminists have accomplished nothing. Even if discrimination of women still exists, feminists have come close to accomplishing their goal of equal rights between genders through the passing of women’s suffrage, equal education opportunities, and equal pay.