MODERN FEMINISM
The efforts of women's rights activists during the 19th century inspired new groups and leaders to continue their unanswered campaigns for equality into the 20th century. These campaigns encapsulate American feminism, and are largely possible due to the efforts of activists during the Reconstruction era and First Wave feminists.
SECOND WAVE FEMINISM
The Second World War gave women new opportunities in the workforce, which eventually gave women a new sense of purpose and self within society. After gaining exposure to a life outside of homemaking, more and more women began to question society’s expectations for them. Gradually, this grew into what would become Second Wave Feminism, and peaked in the 1960s and 70s. (1) Betty Friedan's The Feminine Mystique energized women to bring an end to workplace and economic discrimination, as well as outdated societal expectations. (2)
The early efforts of the feminists helped pass important anti-discrimination laws, like the Civil Rights Act of 1964 which, under Title IX, ensures women access to equal opportunities and facilities as men in both the workplace and education. (3) Unlike their First Wave mothers, these early modern feminists pushed for universal equalities across all races and ethnicities, and worked closely with the African American Civil Rights Movement. (4) Energized by these gains, the feminist movement expanded their goals and began to focus on more radical objectives. One of these more radical goals was a controversial Equal Rights Amendment, while the Amendment was never passed, it gained mass support nationally which indicated the magnitude of the Feminist Movement. A new group, the Women’s Liberation Movement, rapidly grew and worked to end “women’s oppression in society.” (5) Gloria Steinem helped give direction to the Feminist Movement through her involvement in the National Organization for Women (NOW), and her publications urging women to become more involved in politics. (6)
Along with economic and opportunal discriminations, the feminists during the 60s and 70s also pushed for more control over their own bodies. The Liberation Movement brought attention to sexual violence that had been ignored for so long; and with the help of the government, they were able to create new government resources for rape and sexual abuse victims. (7) In 1973, the historic Supreme Court ruling on the abortion case Roe v. Wade was delivered, which granted women the freedom and autonomy to have an abortion during the first trimester of pregnancy. This ruling was seen as a major victory for the feminists, and is still a controversial topic today.
THIRD WAVE FEMINISM
Made up of Generation Xs and Millennials, Third Wave Feminism is most prevalent to society today. Third Wave Feminism mobilized in the 90s over a dissatisfaction with lack of minority representation, both racial and sexual, in feminist interest groups. (8) The movement has since evolved, and is now attacking sexual assault, the gender pay gap, and more. Campaigns like Me Too, which has been made in an effort to give a voice to silenced sexual assault victims, the annual Women’s Marches, and social media are the twenty-first century feminist’s tools. Social media has helped amplify the feminist message, as well as outspoken female celebrities like Beyoncé, Emma Watson, and Meryl Streep.
Works Cited
"Women's Movement," in International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences, ed. William A. Darity, Jr., 2nd ed. (Macmillan Reference USA, 2008), http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/CX3045302985.
Ibid.
Sara M. Evans, "Second Wave Feminism," in Encyclopedia of American Culture and Intellectual History, ed. Mary Kupiec Cayton and Peter W. Williams (n.p.: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2001), http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/BT2350030124.
"'Women's Movement"
Evans, "Second Wave Feminism"
Ibid.
Ibid.
"Women's Rights Movement Update," in Gale U.S. History in Context (n.p.: Gale, 2017), http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/KQKYRX674126468.
Photo Credits:
Second Wave Feminism photo: Demonstration for the Equal Rights Amendment, 1970, photograph, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/EJ2210017105.
Third Wave Feminism photo: Stephanie Keith, Women's March 2019 Protest, photograph, The Cut, https://www.thecut.com/2019/01/