Difference between revisions of "What was the Second Wave Feminist Movement?"
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== Leading up to the Second Wave == | == Leading up to the Second Wave == | ||
Women’s history in the 1920s is infamous for the suffrage movement and a push for a larger social safety net for the poor and less fortunate. What is not usually talked about in basic history text is that women did not just stop fighting for their rights after they got the right to vote. Since the 1920s there have been multiple instances of women organizing around their rights in multiple spaces and places. | Women’s history in the 1920s is infamous for the suffrage movement and a push for a larger social safety net for the poor and less fortunate. What is not usually talked about in basic history text is that women did not just stop fighting for their rights after they got the right to vote. Since the 1920s there have been multiple instances of women organizing around their rights in multiple spaces and places. | ||
| − | For example in the 1930s, women of color in the Southwest of the United States joined labor unions like ILGWU and UCCAPAW and put their bodies on the line in protest of the extremely poor wages and work environment they had to endure while also helping with their large extended families. <ref>Vicki | + | For example in the 1930s, women of color in the Southwest of the United States joined labor unions like ILGWU and UCCAPAW and put their bodies on the line in protest of the extremely poor wages and work environment they had to endure while also helping with their large extended families. <ref> |
| − | In the 1940s, women gained employment in lieu of men fighting overseas in WWII. The labor unions that had grown in the 1930s became stronger because women became more involved as they found work. It was in the 1940s that women successfully achieved maternity leave, day care, and women counselors in the factories instead of men. <ref> Kathleen A. | + | Ruíz, Vicki. Cannery Women, Cannery Lives: Mexican Women, Unionization, and the California Food Processing Industry, 1930-1950. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1987. |
| − | As the 1950s rolled around and the Cold War was in full swing, anti-communist sentiments would end most women’s organizing efforts due to red-baiting (assuming someone or something is communist in nature) and challenging anything liberal in nature. <ref> Kathleen A. | + | </ref> |
| + | In the 1940s, women gained employment in lieu of men fighting overseas in WWII. The labor unions that had grown in the 1930s became stronger because women became more involved as they found work. It was in the 1940s that women successfully achieved maternity leave, day care, and women counselors in the factories instead of men. <ref> Laughlin, Kathleen A., and Jacqueline L. Castledine. Breaking the Wave: Women, Their Organizations, and Feminism, 1945-1985. New York: Routledge, 2011, 4. </ref> The National Council of Negro Women also fought for the rights of African American women’s jobs that were to be swiftly taken away and replaced with domestic jobs as the war ended, as well as fought to gain racial and gender equality concerning larger umbrella women’s organizations. <ref> | ||
| + | Laughlin, Kathleen A., and Jacqueline L. Castledine. Breaking the Wave: Women, Their Organizations, and Feminism, 1945-1985. New York: Routledge, 2011, 80-83. </ref> As the war ended, women who began to enjoy leaving the private sphere would leave the public sphere with the expectation that they would be rewarded for their efforts in the factories. | ||
| + | As the 1950s rolled around and the Cold War was in full swing, anti-communist sentiments would end most women’s organizing efforts due to red-baiting (assuming someone or something is communist in nature) and challenging anything liberal in nature. <ref> Laughlin, Kathleen A., and Jacqueline L. Castledine. Breaking the Wave: Women, Their Organizations, and Feminism, 1945-1985. New York: Routledge, 2011, 90. </ref> The four decades in between the 1960s and the 1920s proved to be a harsh climate for women to achieve any real change across race and class lines. It was the social atmosphere of the 1960s and 1970s that would ignite women of all racial and ethnic backgrounds to become involved in the effort to gain equal rights among men. | ||
== Ideology that Shaped the Movement == | == Ideology that Shaped the Movement == | ||
Before beginning to talk about the actual outcomes of the movement, which provided real and tangible rights for women, it is important to understand the basic ideology behind the second wave of feminism. The ideology and theory of the second wave was groundbreaking and continues to be a part of contemporary feminism today. | Before beginning to talk about the actual outcomes of the movement, which provided real and tangible rights for women, it is important to understand the basic ideology behind the second wave of feminism. The ideology and theory of the second wave was groundbreaking and continues to be a part of contemporary feminism today. | ||
| − | In 1949, Simone de Beauvoir published ‘’The Second Sex’’. In her work, Beauvoir writes, “One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman.” This quote is essential in feminism theory, which seeks to explain that gender is a social construct and learned from the social environment. <ref> | + | In 1949, Simone de Beauvoir published ‘’The Second Sex’’. In her work, Beauvoir writes, “One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman.” This quote is essential in feminism theory, which seeks to explain that gender is a social construct and learned from the social environment. <ref> |
| + | Vasilopoulou, Angeliki. "Woman by Choice:’ A Comment on Simone De Beauvoir’s Famous Phrase ‘One Is Not Born a Woman, but Becomes One'" Journal of Research in Gender Studies 4, no. 2 (2014), 489-490. </ref> The famous Betty Friedan wrote ‘’The Feminine Mystique’’ in 1963 where so questioned white, middle class femininity and the seclusion of the private sphere. In her book, Friedan includes interviews with women who were just unhappy at home when society told them that is was the only place they belonged. This book would begin to break down the private and public sphere barriers that most women subscribed to. <ref> Ryan, Barbara. Feminism and the Women's Movement: Dynamics of Change in Social Movement Ideology, and Activism. New York: Routledge, 1992, 42. </ref> In 1969, Katy Millett wrote ‘’Sexual Politics’’ and talks about the patriarchal structure, which informs sex and gender oppression, and all other types of oppression. Millets believed that before any other type of oppression existed, elite men oppressed people based on sex and gender, then it extended to race and class. <ref> LeGates, Marlene. In Their Time: A History of Feminism in Western Society. New York: Routledge, 2001, 361. </ref>Lastly, but not indefinitely, Carol Hanisch published the essay, “The Personal is Political” in 1970. In this essay Hanisch argues that everything is political, from the decision to have an abortion to the decision to go get a job as a woman in a male dominated industry. She determined that women needed to bring their ‘’private sphere problems’’ to the ‘’public sphere podium’’ in order to be heard. <ref> | ||
| + | Lee, Theresa Man Ling. "Rethinking the Personal and the Political: Feminist Activism and Civic Engagement." Hypatia: A Journal of Feminist Philosophy 22, no. 4 (2007): 163-79. doi:10.2979/hyp.2007.22.4.163. </ref> | ||
== One Movement, or two? == | == One Movement, or two? == | ||
| − | Out of the groundbreaking ideology and theory from the late 1940s into the 1970s came the actual organization of women all over the United States and even the world. What came out of that important ideology though birthed two different opinions on how women should approach gaining equal rights. The first would be simply called ‘’Equal-rights feminism’’. Here, women sought equality among men in political and social spheres through legislation and trying to break ‘’the glass ceiling’’ in the working world. <ref> | + | Out of the groundbreaking ideology and theory from the late 1940s into the 1970s came the actual organization of women all over the United States and even the world. What came out of that important ideology though birthed two different opinions on how women should approach gaining equal rights. The first would be simply called ‘’Equal-rights feminism’’. Here, women sought equality among men in political and social spheres through legislation and trying to break ‘’the glass ceiling’’ in the working world. <ref> |
| + | LeGates, Marlene. In Their Time: A History of Feminism in Western Society. New York: Routledge, 2001, 347. </ref> The other would be called ‘’Radical Feminism’’. This type of feminism would spur those that believed that the patriarchal structure of society needed to be demolished and that women’s oppression was the root of all other oppressions. <ref> | ||
| + | LeGates, Marlene. In Their Time: A History of Feminism in Western Society. New York: Routledge, 2001, 357. </ref> Both take from the ideologies mentioned before and eventually these two types of feminism would merge and take important pieces of ideology in to the 21st century which we now call the ‘’Third Wave’’ of feminism. What separates the two different movements is the distinction between discrimination and oppression. Radical feminists would choose to focus on demolishing the patriarchal oppressive structures that they saw as over-arching all other oppressions. Another stark difference is the types of women who followed the two different ideologies. The equal-rights feminists were largely white, older in age, and most came from affluent backgrounds. Radical feminists were made up younger white affluent women, and minority women of all ages who were active in the Civil Rights movement as well. <ref> | ||
| + | LeGates, Marlene. In Their Time: A History of Feminism in Western Society. New York: Routledge, 2001, 352. </ref> | ||
== Minorities == | == Minorities == | ||
| − | Women of color, especially as the Civil Rights movement was in full swing, were finding themselves underrepresented in both racial and gender movements that were simultaneously fighting for their equality. Black, Latina/Chicana, Asian, and Native American women were all active in feminist agendas but wary of the whiteness that seemed to dominate the organizations who dedicated themselves to the destruction of patriarchal structures. All over the United States, minority women began the fight of racial and gender oppression by creating their own organizations. Some had already existed thanks to the serge of participation in the workforce during the 1940s, like the National Council of Negro Women. Others that developed during the 1960s and 1970s included the Third World Women’s Alliance, whose goal was to expose the relation between race, sex, sexuality, gender, and class oppressions, or as it is known as today, intersectionality. <ref> | + | Women of color, especially as the Civil Rights movement was in full swing, were finding themselves underrepresented in both racial and gender movements that were simultaneously fighting for their equality. Black, Latina/Chicana, Asian, and Native American women were all active in feminist agendas but wary of the whiteness that seemed to dominate the organizations who dedicated themselves to the destruction of patriarchal structures. All over the United States, minority women began the fight of racial and gender oppression by creating their own organizations. Some had already existed thanks to the serge of participation in the workforce during the 1940s, like the National Council of Negro Women. Others that developed during the 1960s and 1970s included the Third World Women’s Alliance, whose goal was to expose the relation between race, sex, sexuality, gender, and class oppressions, or as it is known as today, intersectionality. <ref> Aguilar, Marian. "Third World Women's Alliance." Encyclopedia of African-American Culture and History. Edited by Colin A. Palmer. 2nd ed. Vol. 5. Detroit: Macmillan Reference USA, 2006, 2191-2192. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 2 June 2016. </ref> What these organizations of minority women did not know was that their feminist ideology that included the freedom of all women from all types of oppression would be the major theme of the ‘’third wave’’ of feminism that exists today. Without visionaries like bell hooks, Angela Davis, Gloria Anzaldua, and Cherrie Morriega, women of color would be left out completely because of the ability for white women to use their privileges in leading organizations and holding leadership roles without women of color being a part of the conversation. |
== Conclusion == | == Conclusion == | ||
Revision as of 23:51, 2 June 2016
Today, feminism is an ideology/theory that most people acknowledge, but may not fully understand. Historians and feminist/gender scholars alike have subscribed to defining today’s feminist theory, ideology and social/political movement as the third wave of feminism. The existence of a third wave assumes that there was a first and second wave, and of course there was. The first wave was in the 1920s during the woman’s suffrage movement, and the second was during the late 1950s in to the 1980s. The purpose of this article will be to delve in to the history leading up to what historians call the ‘’second wave’’ of feminism and the movement behind it, explain the ideologies and theories that ignited it, who made up the movement, and it’s major contributions to the equality and state of women in the United States of America.
Contents
Leading up to the Second Wave
Women’s history in the 1920s is infamous for the suffrage movement and a push for a larger social safety net for the poor and less fortunate. What is not usually talked about in basic history text is that women did not just stop fighting for their rights after they got the right to vote. Since the 1920s there have been multiple instances of women organizing around their rights in multiple spaces and places. For example in the 1930s, women of color in the Southwest of the United States joined labor unions like ILGWU and UCCAPAW and put their bodies on the line in protest of the extremely poor wages and work environment they had to endure while also helping with their large extended families. [1] In the 1940s, women gained employment in lieu of men fighting overseas in WWII. The labor unions that had grown in the 1930s became stronger because women became more involved as they found work. It was in the 1940s that women successfully achieved maternity leave, day care, and women counselors in the factories instead of men. [2] The National Council of Negro Women also fought for the rights of African American women’s jobs that were to be swiftly taken away and replaced with domestic jobs as the war ended, as well as fought to gain racial and gender equality concerning larger umbrella women’s organizations. [3] As the war ended, women who began to enjoy leaving the private sphere would leave the public sphere with the expectation that they would be rewarded for their efforts in the factories. As the 1950s rolled around and the Cold War was in full swing, anti-communist sentiments would end most women’s organizing efforts due to red-baiting (assuming someone or something is communist in nature) and challenging anything liberal in nature. [4] The four decades in between the 1960s and the 1920s proved to be a harsh climate for women to achieve any real change across race and class lines. It was the social atmosphere of the 1960s and 1970s that would ignite women of all racial and ethnic backgrounds to become involved in the effort to gain equal rights among men.
Ideology that Shaped the Movement
Before beginning to talk about the actual outcomes of the movement, which provided real and tangible rights for women, it is important to understand the basic ideology behind the second wave of feminism. The ideology and theory of the second wave was groundbreaking and continues to be a part of contemporary feminism today. In 1949, Simone de Beauvoir published ‘’The Second Sex’’. In her work, Beauvoir writes, “One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman.” This quote is essential in feminism theory, which seeks to explain that gender is a social construct and learned from the social environment. [5] The famous Betty Friedan wrote ‘’The Feminine Mystique’’ in 1963 where so questioned white, middle class femininity and the seclusion of the private sphere. In her book, Friedan includes interviews with women who were just unhappy at home when society told them that is was the only place they belonged. This book would begin to break down the private and public sphere barriers that most women subscribed to. [6] In 1969, Katy Millett wrote ‘’Sexual Politics’’ and talks about the patriarchal structure, which informs sex and gender oppression, and all other types of oppression. Millets believed that before any other type of oppression existed, elite men oppressed people based on sex and gender, then it extended to race and class. [7]Lastly, but not indefinitely, Carol Hanisch published the essay, “The Personal is Political” in 1970. In this essay Hanisch argues that everything is political, from the decision to have an abortion to the decision to go get a job as a woman in a male dominated industry. She determined that women needed to bring their ‘’private sphere problems’’ to the ‘’public sphere podium’’ in order to be heard. [8]
One Movement, or two?
Out of the groundbreaking ideology and theory from the late 1940s into the 1970s came the actual organization of women all over the United States and even the world. What came out of that important ideology though birthed two different opinions on how women should approach gaining equal rights. The first would be simply called ‘’Equal-rights feminism’’. Here, women sought equality among men in political and social spheres through legislation and trying to break ‘’the glass ceiling’’ in the working world. [9] The other would be called ‘’Radical Feminism’’. This type of feminism would spur those that believed that the patriarchal structure of society needed to be demolished and that women’s oppression was the root of all other oppressions. [10] Both take from the ideologies mentioned before and eventually these two types of feminism would merge and take important pieces of ideology in to the 21st century which we now call the ‘’Third Wave’’ of feminism. What separates the two different movements is the distinction between discrimination and oppression. Radical feminists would choose to focus on demolishing the patriarchal oppressive structures that they saw as over-arching all other oppressions. Another stark difference is the types of women who followed the two different ideologies. The equal-rights feminists were largely white, older in age, and most came from affluent backgrounds. Radical feminists were made up younger white affluent women, and minority women of all ages who were active in the Civil Rights movement as well. [11]
Minorities
Women of color, especially as the Civil Rights movement was in full swing, were finding themselves underrepresented in both racial and gender movements that were simultaneously fighting for their equality. Black, Latina/Chicana, Asian, and Native American women were all active in feminist agendas but wary of the whiteness that seemed to dominate the organizations who dedicated themselves to the destruction of patriarchal structures. All over the United States, minority women began the fight of racial and gender oppression by creating their own organizations. Some had already existed thanks to the serge of participation in the workforce during the 1940s, like the National Council of Negro Women. Others that developed during the 1960s and 1970s included the Third World Women’s Alliance, whose goal was to expose the relation between race, sex, sexuality, gender, and class oppressions, or as it is known as today, intersectionality. [12] What these organizations of minority women did not know was that their feminist ideology that included the freedom of all women from all types of oppression would be the major theme of the ‘’third wave’’ of feminism that exists today. Without visionaries like bell hooks, Angela Davis, Gloria Anzaldua, and Cherrie Morriega, women of color would be left out completely because of the ability for white women to use their privileges in leading organizations and holding leadership roles without women of color being a part of the conversation.
Conclusion
The ‘’second wave’’ was an extremely important time for women who no longer wanted to subscribe to the traditional public and private spheres of society. They no longer accepted the housewife role as mandatory, they fought for the right to do what they wanted with their bodies, they fought to end sexual and gender oppression, and some began to fight against racism within the feminist movement itself. The contribution to feminist theory and ideology is enormous, and the concept of intersectionality is now one of the most important key terms when learning about feminism today. Ultimately, the ‘’ second wave’’ gave women the opportunity to start conversations about how to fight against inequality and begin to think about gender, identity, sexuality, race, and class as all equally important factors. The ‘’third wave’’ is now informed by and constantly rethinking and dismantling some of the ‘’second wave rhetoric, but is undeniably grateful to the fight the ‘’second wave’’ continued.
References
<references>- ↑ Ruíz, Vicki. Cannery Women, Cannery Lives: Mexican Women, Unionization, and the California Food Processing Industry, 1930-1950. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1987.
- ↑ Laughlin, Kathleen A., and Jacqueline L. Castledine. Breaking the Wave: Women, Their Organizations, and Feminism, 1945-1985. New York: Routledge, 2011, 4.
- ↑ Laughlin, Kathleen A., and Jacqueline L. Castledine. Breaking the Wave: Women, Their Organizations, and Feminism, 1945-1985. New York: Routledge, 2011, 80-83.
- ↑ Laughlin, Kathleen A., and Jacqueline L. Castledine. Breaking the Wave: Women, Their Organizations, and Feminism, 1945-1985. New York: Routledge, 2011, 90.
- ↑ Vasilopoulou, Angeliki. "Woman by Choice:’ A Comment on Simone De Beauvoir’s Famous Phrase ‘One Is Not Born a Woman, but Becomes One'" Journal of Research in Gender Studies 4, no. 2 (2014), 489-490.
- ↑ Ryan, Barbara. Feminism and the Women's Movement: Dynamics of Change in Social Movement Ideology, and Activism. New York: Routledge, 1992, 42.
- ↑ LeGates, Marlene. In Their Time: A History of Feminism in Western Society. New York: Routledge, 2001, 361.
- ↑ Lee, Theresa Man Ling. "Rethinking the Personal and the Political: Feminist Activism and Civic Engagement." Hypatia: A Journal of Feminist Philosophy 22, no. 4 (2007): 163-79. doi:10.2979/hyp.2007.22.4.163.
- ↑ LeGates, Marlene. In Their Time: A History of Feminism in Western Society. New York: Routledge, 2001, 347.
- ↑ LeGates, Marlene. In Their Time: A History of Feminism in Western Society. New York: Routledge, 2001, 357.
- ↑ LeGates, Marlene. In Their Time: A History of Feminism in Western Society. New York: Routledge, 2001, 352.
- ↑ Aguilar, Marian. "Third World Women's Alliance." Encyclopedia of African-American Culture and History. Edited by Colin A. Palmer. 2nd ed. Vol. 5. Detroit: Macmillan Reference USA, 2006, 2191-2192. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 2 June 2016.