Waves of Feminism

Today where men and women share equal rights and respect in nearly all aspects of life, there was a time when women were deprived of basic rights, like the right to vote, right of freedom, right of contract and many more. Hence feminism, a revolutionary movement served as a stepping stone to help women gain that respect, freedom and rights of which they were deprived.

Feminism basically refers to political, cultural, and economic activities or movements that intended to form greater rights and interests for women. It is a movement which includes many sociological theories and philosophies focusing on the importance of gender equality and the discrimination between the two genders. Hence, feminism and its activities have earlier campaigned and are still working for promoting women's legal rights like voting rights, property rights, etc. along with rights associated to bodily integrity and autonomy, abortion and reproduction. It also includes economic movements that fight for women's working rights, equal pay and various other matters against gender discrimination against women.

Waves of Feminism

Feminists and scholars have divided the history of feminism into three successful waves of feminism. The first of three feminist waves started in the nineteenth and early twentieth century, the second wave transpired during 1960s and 1970s and the third wave started in 1990s and is present even now. The ideas and actions associated with each wave are explained below.

First Wave of Feminism: The first wave of feminism that started in the nineteenth and early twentieth century included activities that initially aimed on the promotion of fair and equal property rights for women and protest against chattel marriage and ownership of married women (and their children) by their husbands. Later at the end of nineteenth century, the activism revolved mainly on acquiring political power, specifically the right of women's suffrage (right to vote). As a result in 1918, the Representation of the People Act 1918 was passed, granting the right to vote to women who were above the age of 30 years and owned houses. However, later in 1928, this right was further extended to all women above the age of 21 years. In the United States, the main Feminist activists included Lucretia Mott, Lucy Stone, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Susan B. Anthony, who before establishing women's right to vote, campaigned for the abolition of slavery. Henc,e during this time, the inequality between men and women was the major concern felt by most feminists.

Second Wave of Feminism: The second wave typically started from 1960s and continued till 1990s, and mainly focused on making women's position better in the working class society. Activists like Gloria Steinem and Betty Friedan were the prime members of this wave of feminism who not only aimed at a range of social opportunities open to women but also focused on women's issues related to reproduction, sexuality and cultural representation in order to change women's domestic and personal lives. It involved event such as the strike of women workers at the Ford car plant in Britain for equal pay during 1968, which held the slogan 'the personal is political'. Hence, it not only made an impact upon western societies, but also continued to motivate the struggle and fight for women's rights across the world.

Third Wave of Feminism: The third wave of feminism which was coined by Rebecca Walker mainly shared many of the interests of the first two waves, i.e. the empowerment of women, but it also attributed to the desire of young women to find a voice of their own and to include various diverse groups like women of color, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered women, and low income women in the fold of feminist thoughts. It began in early 1990s as a response to the perceived failures of the second wave and also as a backlash or counterattack against initiatives and activities created by the second wave.

To conclude, we can say, that whether it was the waves of feminism in Canada, America, etc., it has a common goal to empower the women in the society and fight for their equality worldwide. Hence, these three waves were incredibly essential to shape or create women's unique place in the society.