Third Wave Feminism Essay

What does it mean to be a Feminist? Does it automatically mean you hate men or does it mean you're an activist for women's rights? Contrary to popular belief, feminism is not about establishing a superior gender. It is about fighting for equality and destroying the social, cultural and historical norms set upon women throughout the world. The Twenty-first century has brought change and growth to female empowerment. Although, in many parts of the world women are given the same rights as men, they are still treated and viewed inferior to men. G.I. Jane perfectly illustrates the struggle women have gone through, even when given “identical” opportunities as men.

This essay examines the question, “To what extent was the second wave of feminism (in the 1960’s and 1970’s) successful in achieving equality for women?” The essay is introduced by describing why the second wave of feminism developed and the aims of this second wave of feminist. The essay is broken into two parts. The first part of the essay discusses the impact of women 's rights activist on legislation. It is argued that the second wave feminist were unsuccessful in gaining equality in terms of obtaining equal wages and opportunities for women in the workplace. They however were successful in obtaining equal rights laws and reproductive laws for women. The feminist of the 1960’s and 70’s were victorious in securing for many american women the right to have easy access to contraceptives and abortion. The second part of the essay focuses on the extent that the second wave feminist were successful in changing the mindset of Americans. These feminist wanted the view of women to be one that portrayed women less as only a housewife and more as a women who can lead a life that could involve a career in any field. Success ranged in this area. On one side there was women becoming more independent and free as they embarked the sexual revolution while in other regards such as film and music women still held an inferior role to men. The second wave of feminism achieved great success in attaining equality for women however this success was not as far ranging as these mid 20th century

The definition of feminism is very elusive. Maybe because of its ever-changing historical meaning, it’s not for certain whether there is any coherence to the term feminism or if there is a definition that will live up to the movement’s variety of adherents and ideas. In the book “No Turning Back,” author Estelle Freedman gives an accurate four-part definition of the very active movement: “Feminism is a belief that women and men are inherently part of equal worth. Because most societies privilege men as a group, social movements are necessary to achieve equality between women and men, with the understanding that gender always intersects with other social hierarchies” (Freedman 7).

Decades following the Seneca Falls Convention, one of the very first advocacies for women’s rights, the Second-wave feminism in the 1960s saw itself as a movement that achieved great success in terms of women’s social, economic, and political rights. The Women’s Rights Movement that began in the sixties, in comparison to the first-wave feminism in the 19th century—whereas many activists focused on only women’s suffrage—the second-wave feminism dealt with a broader range of issues. From education, the patriarchal system, sexual rights, and the workforce, to advocating for reproductive rights and abortion, the Second-wave feminism allowed women to create more spaces for themselves. Yet, amidst the growing feminist movement, in spite of it being more inclusive to women of color and other minority groups in comparison to the first-wave, the second-wave feminism continued to see white middle-class women as the forefront of feminism. The second-wave of feminism brought both good and bad to the table. While they were able to pass things such as the Equal Pay Act and ensured protection in Title 7 of the Civil Rights Act, the movement was also flawed to the extent in which they failed to address intersectionality—an understanding of how oppressions of race, gender, class, and sexuality were issues not isolated from one another—and fell short in including the voices of minority women in movements such as the Black and Chicana feminism.

Feminism can be defined as “the advocacy of women's rights on the grounds of political, social, and economic equality to men.” It is something that is debated all throughout society today. However, the problem of whether or not women should be equal to men has been around for much longer than any of us.

Have you ever seen a slut walk? I mean women walk around naked saying that they are not asking for attention. Feminism originated in New York, 1848. “The first wave of feminism in the United States began with the Seneca Falls Convention, the first women's rights convention, held at the Wesleyan Chapel in Seneca Falls, New York, on July 19 and 20, 1848.” (Encyclopedia of Women and Religion in North America:) Third Wave Feminism started in the mid-90’s. (“Four Waves of Feminism.”) More women hate third wave feminism than men. Third Wave Feminism claims that North America is a rape culture, that women are always right, and that all men are the same. We have no need for Third Wave Feminism. Although people may claim that we need Third Wave Feminism in the United States there are many reasons to prove that we indeed do not need this cancer in our country. “Feminism is Cancer” - Milo Yiannopoulos.

Betty Friedan, feminist author of The Feminine Mystique, wrote, "The problem lay buried, unspoken for many years in the minds of…women. It was a strange stirring, a sense of dissatisfaction, a yearning that women suffered in the middle of the twentieth century… Each suburban housewife struggled with it alone… she was afraid to even ask of herself the silent question – ‘Is this all?’” Authors such as Betty Friedan wrote about their struggles in novels and articles in the early 1960s which were popularized in the late 1960s which led to the start of a new revolution – the second wave of feminism. The Canadian second wave of feminism started in 1967, with many feminists rising up and forming groups and organizations to bring awareness to their issues. This caused a huge uproar within society, women all over the nation found a voice and spoke up about their issues, leading to wide-media coverage and to changes in society, politics, the economy, and much more. The suffragist movement led to huge changes within society in the 1980s, thus changed life for women and changed life for the rest of Canada by reshaping the social structure.

Sexism, that word has almost lost its meaning with the rise of third-wave feminism. However, this in no way suggests that it doesn’t exist. I don’t identify as a feminist, however they do have a point that sexism is a problem in 21st-century society. This issue isn’t contained to one particular group, I’m only focusing on the Reformed community because it’s the community I’m a part of and heavily identify with.

For years, women have been announcing that they are feminists, but some are taking it a little too far. The definition of feminism according to oxford dictionary is “The advocacy of women's rights on the ground of the equality of the sexes”. Sarah Miller writes that what seems to be happening in our society is that women are taking a whole new meaning for feminism. They are trying to convey that women deserve even more rights than men and that these men are somehow the enemy, even though feminists should be fighting for equal rights.

The end of the third-wave brings post-feminist, which describes a range of reactions to feminism. Post-feminism is not “anti-feminism”, post-feminists believe that women have achieved their goals during the second-wave; and were being critical during the third-wave. The terms post-feminism was first used in the 1980s to describe the backlash against second-wave feminism. From this point on there has been a huge debate on whether or not feminism is still needed during our modern times. To draw a conclusion on whether feminism is still needed in Canada please see Appendix one. This graph shows average hourly wages for both men and women during November 2014 and November of 2015. During the year 2014 women were being paid on average $22.88 an

Beyoncé Knowles, multi-platinum Grammy award winning artist first made her debut as lead vocalist of award winning R&B group Destiny’s Child in the late 90’s. The group went through several breakups and makeups with different members in the group until they were able to establish perfect harmony with lasting members Beyoncé Knowles, Kelly Rowland and Michelle Williams. The group went on to make Billboard 100 charts with number 1 songs like “Bug a Boo” & “Bills, bills, bills”. In 2002 Michelle Williams went to produce her first gospel album, Kelly Rowland produced her own R&B album and Beyoncé Knowles hit the big screen playing opposite of Mike Meyers in the Austin Powers film, Goldmember. The group got back together and produced

feminism started in the mid to late 1980s and focused on issues of patriarchy. The basic contention of this movement was that men inherently seek to dominate and exploit women. While third-wave feminists all desired to overcome the systematic subjugation of women, the women’s movement had grown to encompass a wide variety of different and often conflicting subgroups of membership. Although feminists disagreed on many issues, they did share in the work of many projects, including work to support freedom in decisions pertaining to sex and sexuality, access to abortion services (particularly the right for women to choose), and the development of battered women’s shelters (Jurik

The closest working definition feminism holds states: feminism is a social and political movement that seeks equality of opportunity for all people, regardless of gender; and when there is no equality of outcome, feminists wonder why. However, not everyone is aware of

Feminism has been defined as the advocacy of social equality for men and women, in opposition to patriarchy and sexism.

In 1776, the then First Lady of the United States was the first to raise her about women’s rights, telling her husband to “remember the ladies” in his drafting of new laws, yet it took more than 100 years for men like John Adams to actually do so. With the help of half a dozen determined, and in this case white upper-middle-class, women the first-wave feminism, which spans from the 19th century to the early 20th century, finally led to their goal after 72 years of protesting. The Nineteenth Amendment, which secured the rights for women to vote finally passed in 1920. This grand victory brought other reforms along, including reforms in the educational system,