The History of Feminism

Hi! Do you know the origin of feminism? Why have it started and what have feminist engaged in? How have it changed and what is the present goal?   

Today I'm gonna show you the answers.

 

Q. What is the history of feminism? Why have it started?

There are three waves in feminism history. I'll show you those movements.



The First Wave

First wave refers to the activities during the nineteenth century and early twentieth century in the United Kingdom and the United States. The first article says, first wave of feminism originally focused on gaining equal contact and rights for women. However, as it is written on the second article, the priority of the active had changed to gaining political power including the right of women's suffrage.

 

The Second Wave

While the first article says the second wave had begun in the early 1960s, enduring until late 1980s, the second article says it came close on the heels of World War Ⅱ. WW2 ended in 1945, so we could say there is an error of about decade, but the second wave have started after the WW2 sooner or later. Women during the second wave fought for equality. They engaged in activities such as Black Civil Rights Movement, Anti-Vietnam Movement, Chicano Rights Movement, Asian-American Civil Rights Movement, Gay and Lesbian Movement, and they longed to give their voice so that the world could hear them. The slogan, “The Personal is Political”, which was created by the feminist activist and author Carol Hanisch, became the equivalent word for the second wave.



The Third Wave

The first article says the third wave have started from the 1990s and second article says it began in middle of the 1980s, so the third wave might have occurred around the 1990s. The third wave was born to the response for failure and backlash of the second wave. It protests the idea in the second wave, says the experiences of upper middle-class white women is too much exaggerated. It has focused on “micro-politics” of the gender equality.

 

Q. How have it changed? What is the present goal for feminism?

At the beginning of this feminism movement, feminist gave a try to gain political power, especially women rights to vote. But after few decades of struggling, women finally gain equal rights for voting as men. Nowadays women fight for inequality women still have and give a voice for sexual violence or rapes, and to remove gender inequality is today's goal for feminism.

As many women act as feminist and engage in many kinds of movements, we can’t say feminism or feminist in a word. There are variety of definitions, believes and movements now. All may say they are feminists, but they are big differences between each activists.




refers to question No. 4,5,8,18
YKN.Y


references
History and theory of feminism. (n.d.). Retrieved July 26, 2018, from http://gender.cawater-info.net/knowledge_base/rubricator/feminism_e.htm

Dorey-Stein, C., Dorey-SteinI, C., Agala, R., Riegl, N. T., Bangura, I., Ogando, M., & Joy, M. (2018, July 06). A Brief History: The Three Waves of Feminism. Retrieved July 26, 2018, from https://www.progressivewomensleadership.com/a-brief-history-the-three-waves-of-feminism/