Ms . magazine run into stand for the first time in 1972 with the newspaper headline , " Wonder Woman For President , " stretched above an picture of the laughable book heroine . Thirty - seven year later , a back depictingBarack Obamain a Superman - similar pose and wear out a T - shirt that proclaimed , " This is What a Feminist look Like , " discover a chord among Ms. lector . Some applauded the clever twist , hailing Obama ’s reformist political program . Others derided the magazine for limit a feminist as a man .
That reaction among the cartridge clip ’s feminist reader demonstrated the implicit in challenge of defining what women’s lib is precisely . count on the context , you may spin the full term as a philosophy , societal movement , chronicle , badge of pureness or an affront . While feminists have made radical stride toward gender equality and discard receptive many new door for adult female , the move and ism behind it have become culturally and politically polarizing . For example , when materialistic Alaska governorSarah Palintold Katie Couric that she considers herself a feminist , shock waves burble throughout the feminist community . As an outright opposer of miscarriage and sexuality instruction in schools , how could Gov. Palin maybe outfit the feminist clay sculpture , some involve . But politics apart , a forge mother of five running forvice presidenthardly seems antifeminist .
At its core , women’s lib is the impression in equality . It seek to extinguish the social , cultural and effectual barrier between men and women . Its goal is to create a really egalitarian smart set . Beyond that , the waters grow mirky . Feminist factions disagree sometimes on what constitute equality – whether it ’s sexual freedom , career advancement or something else . Some hoi polloi who pronounce themselves feminists comprehend that battle for par as over and done with ; others still view society as rife with patriarchal restrictions . of late , a public debate has stir over whether women’s lib has become superannuated as full term and should even be used at all .
So is feminist movement today a virile force for alteration ? Or is it the " f - password , " spit out like a bitter ejaculate ? By examining its unifying philosophy and causes , as well as the schisms within the movement , we can decent value and answer those inquiry .
Origins of Feminism
The modern feminist movement commence as a result of sweeping social , political and industrial changes in Europe and the United States . Manywomenfrom disparate backgrounds and societal causes bring to its development , but the movement has ideologic root in France .
In 1610 , a Gallic noblewoman started the firstsalon(a gather for intellectual discussion or exchange of ideas ) outside of the royal court . Although beauty shop participation was reserved for members of the upper class , the ethnic institution offered the first profane outlet for train women to lease in such conversation with homo [ source : LeGates ] .
At that time , woman ’s economic value and use in fellowship was ensnare as thequerelle des femmes , or " question of women . " Thequerelleaddressed education , married couple and social mobility as it related to woman , and scholars have cite it as an example of the earliest feminist thought . Yet it would n’t be until the Enlightenment and the Age of Reason in the 18th century that social advancement began . With those raw cerebral electric current came the realisation that social and ethnical institutions are the product of man – not divine – efforts [ root : LeGates ] . This means of mentation meant that changes within those institutions , such as eliminating class and gender limitations , would n’t be an insult to God .
The Revolutionary War in 1774 and theFrench Revolutionin 1789 also encourage the concept of women ’s exemption . Both revolutionary themes focused on humanity ’s equality , although women ’s equivalence was n’t play up . Nevertheless , by mobilize more charwoman politically and build a consensus of freedom as a human right , those event set the fundament for early feminism .
Amid that turbulence , in 1792 , Mary Wollstonecraft published one of the originative work of modern feminism . The " Vindication of the Rights of Women " argued for the adequate education of women , allowing them to become whole , main masses . She reasoned that the current educational systems restrain women ’s potential to bring to the betterment of fellowship , as well as the family and home plate . Her book was one of the first to clearly and forcefully outline a need for variety , and early feminists would look to it as an enduring templet .
First-wave Feminism – The Suffrage Movement
In 1800,womenhad little ascendance over their lot in life . The average matrimonial female gave parturition to seven youngster [ source : Dicker ] . Higher education was off - limits . affluent woman could practise circumscribed authority in the domestic sphere but possess no holding rights or economic autonomy . humiliated - course of instruction woman toiled alongside men , but the same societal and legal confinement apply to this socio-economic class of guild as well .
more or less ironically , religion fueled some of the initial social advancements woman made at the beginning of the nineteenth century . The Second Great Awakening , which started in 1790 , emphasized emotional experience over dogma , allowing woman more leadership opportunities outside of the home [ source : Dicker ] . Abolition and sobriety movements that shared Protestant undercurrent activated women as well . Angelina and Sarah Grimke became well - known abolitionists who defied social usance by in public addressing the American Anti - Slavery Society . In response to the fierce criticism of their speech , Sarah Grimke penned " letter on the Equality of the Sexes " in 1838 . A year before , Oberlin College became the first higher - learning institution in the United States to allow woman .
Around that time , the exclusion of women in many abolitionist organizations prompted Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott to rally together woman – and some man – to tell on grammatical gender inequalities and demand cleaning woman ’s right to vote . In 1848 , they unionise theSeneca Falls Convention , where they outlined fair sex ’s grievances and their desire for suffrage . The military press respond contemptuously to the convention , but the event lay the groundwork for the suffrage motility . Other prominent leader , includingSusan B. Anthony , Sojourner Truth and Lucy Stone , join the vote ranks as well .
Suffragists began to make headway in 1860 when New York guide the Married Women ’s Property Act . The bill legalise property possession , joint child custody and remuneration retention for women . The usage of the word " women’s lib " to describe the support for womanhood ’s rights migrate from France to the United States by 1910 [ generator : Kelly ] . But not all suffragist would refer to themselves as such ; many advocate solely for voting rightfield and not gross equality .
Forty years by and by , in 1920 , Congress ratified the19th Amendment , granting char the right to vote .
Between Feminist Waves
After the passage of the 19th Amendment , the National American Woman Suffrage Association , spearheaded by Elizabeth Cady Stanton , was disbanded . The League of Women Voters and National Women ’s Party take its place . But three eld after charwoman won the vote , suffragist and feminist factions split up over Alice Paul ’s origination of theEqual Rights Amendment(ERA ) to Congress . The purpose amendment , which understand , " equality of rights under the constabulary shall not be deny or abridged by the United States or any state on account of sex , " alienated some women who venerate that its passage would counteract legal protection granted towomenand children .
From that point in the early 1920s until the sixties , feminism seemed to stall . But that did n’t mean that insidious changes had discontinue taking place . For instance , during World War II , more women than ever join the workforce , assume industrial and military Job previously reserved for work force . Higher education had become a more viable option as well , and the figure of distaff college graduate was rising . Then , when the troops came home , American women ’s culture experienced a return to domesticity . Many women carry on to mold outside the home , but career alternative were restrictive with grammatical gender - specific business postings . Women had acquire the vote but not cultural independence .
That growing discontent surfaced in mainstream midway - class guild with the publication of two influential books . As Mary Wollstonecraft ’s " Vindication of the Rights of Women " fuel activism by vocalise her generation ’s sexual discrimination , so did Simone de Beauvoir ’s " Second Sex , " published in 1949 . De Beauvoir ’s book decried woman ’s inferior status in society , reasoning that cultural distinctions between genders only served to reinforce patriarchate and the entry of cleaning lady . In 1963 , Betty Friedan published " The Feminine Mystique , " which described the new generation of overly civilise , under - employed womanhood who gave up promising careers for the service of hearth and house .
The political science adopt notice of women ’s discontent , as well . TheKennedy administrationpassed the Equal Pay Act in 1963 and established the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission the following yr , benefit women and blacks . Yet cleaning woman realize barely half of man ’s salaries , and child care institution stay scarce . With the simmeringCivil Rights movementgaining energy at the fourth dimension , the cultural atmosphere in the United States was ripe for gyration .
Second-wave Feminism
By the belated 1960s , a new eld of activism was ushered in by student action besiege the Vietnam War and the Civil Rights crusade as well as olderwomen’sdissatisfaction with domesticated limitation and workplace discrimination . In contrast to first - undulation women’s liberation movement , the movement during the 1970s benefitted from the intimacy of far more organisation , embrace a broad spectrum of political notion and ideologies .
Groups such as the New York Radical Women ( NYRW ) , Redstockings and Women ’s International Terrorist Conspiracy from Hell ( WITCH ) , aimed to eradicate sexism by revolutionizing the relationships between men and womanhood in the boardroom and the bedroom . They practicedzap activeness , or spectacular public demonstrations that attract media care [ reference : Keetley and Pettegrew ] . One such zap action , the 1968 Miss America pageant protest by NYRW , propelled the feminist campaign into mainstream media . Within communities across the United States , fair sex depart organizing on a humble scale . The Redstockings first encouraged mathematical group of woman to gather forconsciousness - raising discourse , which call for sharing their personal experiences in the feminist struggle [ source : Buechler ] .
issue of rape , domesticated wildness , miscarriage and approach to childcare do to the forefront of the feminist platforms . Through consciousness - raising , women could distinguish vulgar struggles and invite support while feminist movement grew into a mass movement . From this form of engagement , the slogan " the personal is political " aptly summed up the goal of 2d - wave feminist movement . What were once private offspring were now in the public realm .
In 1968 , the first national woman ’s liberation league took place in Chicago , and in the seventies , feminist activists start to witness the fruit of their labors in earnest . In 1972 , Washington , D.C. , establish the first rape crisis hotline , and the Supreme Court decriminalize abortion via Roe v. Wade in 1973 . Two eld afterwards , the United States facilitated the first worldwide forum on woman ’s upshot . But as the bm spread , it also exposed fractures within feminist ideology .
Schisms Within Feminism
The goal of civil rights andwomen’srights share many of the same overarching themes of exemption , equality and societal jurist . During first - wave feminism , freed striver Sojourner Truth spoke out for emancipation as well as cosmopolitan suffrage . 2nd - moving ridge feminists also borrow consciousness - raising maneuver from the Civil Rights drift .
But the two movement did n’t always take advantage of their commonalities . The reactions of some prominent first - wave women’s rightist , including Elizabeth Cady Stanton , to legislation allowing black men to vote reveals saturnine undertide of racism in early feminist movements . Betty Friedan ’s " The Feminine Mystique " has been criticise since its publication for its failure to address the plight of nonage and workings - class women who did n’t have quick admission to higher education or the choice to stay at abode .
Unlike white feminists , opprobrious woman crusade a twofold battle against racism and sexism . Black feminismgrew out of 2d - waving feminism ’s failure to address that unique struggle . dark feminist author Bell Hooks dismissed the idea of a common oppressiveness among women that unify them across race and classes . Rather , Hooks wrote , pass white libber in the 1970s only reinstated classist white supremacy by not acknowledging the experience of being a bleak woman .
Indeed , some feminist constitution at that time came across roadblock to incorporate white and black fellow member . Gloria Steinem and other white-hot feminists strive unsuccessfully to coordinate a racially diverse instrument panel of the Women ’s Action Alliance in 1971 [ source : Harrison ] . Some opprobrious feminist felt marginalized in certain groups and banded together . In 1973 , as a outcome , the National Black Feminist Organization was founded .
sapphic women’s rightist encountered prejudice within the movement as well . Homosexuality stay a cultural tabu , and even some liberal - list feminists assay to distance themselves from it . The National Organization of Women ( NOW ) decline to include homosexuality as part of its chopine , and Betty Friedan allegedly refer to it as the " lilac-colored threat . " In response to that alienation , some lesbian feminists mould separatist organizations that aimed to make an alone new culture , barren of male influence .
Could the movement recover from all of these fractures and produce a third wave of feminism ? The third wave ’s universe continue up for debate , as well as the overall relevance of women’s liberation movement in today ’s society .
Feminism’s Identity Crisis
If second - wafture feminism started with the 1968 Miss America pageantry protest , the third undulation began with the 1991 Clarence Thomas Supreme Court check hearings . The proceedings pull far-flung home attention when Anita Hill alleged sexual molestation by Thomas and witnesses corroborated her claims . Thomas ' eventual confirmation enraged and re - energized feminists across the land ; in 1992 , a platter number of women won home political office . Rebecca Walker ’s essay , " Becoming the Third Wave , " issue in the January 1992 variation of Ms. magazine , voice this feminist revival .
While 2nd - wave women’s liberation movement mesh through alinement building and mass activism , third - wave women’s lib emphasized individualism . The early ' 90s concept ofpower feminismurgedwomento squeeze their sexuality and reclaim femininity in a plus light . develop from works include Camille Paglia ’s " Sexual Personae , " which situate that human race ’s fixation with distaff sexuality rendered them the fallible sex , power women’s liberation movement contrast the 2d - wave perspective of women as victim of patriarchy .
In increase , third - wave feminism undertake physical structure range of a function , transgender sexuality and sweatshop labor along with reproductive freedom and workplace equivalence . Meanwhile , due in part to a conservative backlash , the stereotype of women’s lib as militant valet - hatred had solidified in the ethnic mindset . The label became burdened with a litany of political and social agendas that alienated more conservative females who otherwise consider in gender par . Furthermore , polls have shown that untested generations of charwoman shy aside from labels in general – specially feminist ones [ source : Traister ] .
In 2005 , Lisa Jervis , editor of Bitch magazine , indite that third - wave women’s lib had reached the ending of its utility because it conjures cultural connection rather than core value that many people partake , whether self - described feminists or not [ origin : Jervis ] . That same year , The New York Times report that more Ivy League females plan to become at - home mothers after commencement [ reservoir : floor ] . Then , in 2008 , the National Center for Health Statistics announced the first decline in the age of women give children in virtually 40 age [ rootage : Shellenbarger ] .
By the same token , today ’s genesis of women obviously has n’t resist the benefits pull ahead by past feminists – they advert college and recruit the workforce in larger numbers than their predecessor . Whatever woman select , the most salient panorama is having the exemption to resolve . After all , the core of feminism is equality , not banishment . Sure , all the road auction block have n’t melt , but thanks to innumerous women ’s – andmen’s– efforts , the route is far easier to trample .
