Waves of feminism

The waves of

Feminism

What are the waves of feminism?

Not every wave has a distinct time frame, rather each wave is better defined by its goals and mechanisms than a period in time.

The waves of feminism

2nd Wave

1st Wave

1990s-2010

2012

1960

4th Wave

3rd Wave

Mid 19th century

Timeline of feminism

“Strengthen the female mind by enlarging it, and there will be an end to blind obedience.”

Mary Wollstonecraft

The 1st wave

- Primarily in Britain and the United States, and was centered around women’s suffrage — the right to vote. - In Europe, women’s enfranchisement spread quickly, starting with the British colony of New Zealand in 1893. -This wave of feminism concentrated on suffrage until the start of World War I in 1914, when many women’s rights activists shifted their support to the war effort.

Right for some women to vote in UK introduced in 1918. - Only women above age 30, who met a property qualification to vote or had a university degreeFirst-wave feminism had a fairly simple goal: have society recognize that women are humans, not property. While the leaders of 1st-wave feminism were abolitionists, their focus was on white women’s rights. - This exclusion would haunt feminism for years to come. After its passage, women’s rights receded into the background in favor of a focus on other reforms until after the end of the Second World War. Can you come up with any more?

Pros and Cons

Greer

Germaine

It built on first-wave feminism and challenged what women’s role in society should be. Inspired by the Civil Rights movement and protests against the Vietnam War, activists focused on the institutions that held women back. This meant taking a closer look at why women were oppressed. Traditional gender and family roles were questioned. Queer theory became more established. There were major victories in this era including the Equal Pay Act of 1963, Roe v. Wade in 1973, and other Supreme Court cases.

Olympe de Gouges

SECOND WAVE FEMINISM

Pros and Cons

Like first-wave feminism, the second wave was largely defined and led by educated middle-class white women who built the movement primarily around their own concerns. This created an ambivalent, if not contentious, relationship with women of other classes and races. The campaign against employment and wage discrimination helped bridge the gap between the movement and white labour union women. But the relationship of feminism to African American women always posed greater challenges.

Feminism became a river of competing eddies and currents. “Anarcho-feminists,” who found a larger audience in Europe than in the United States, resurrected Emma Goldman and said that women could not be liberated without dismantling such institutions as the family, private property, and state power.

Provoked extensive theoretical discussion about the origins of women’s oppression, the nature of gender, and the role of the family

03

02

01

As the third wave started in the 1990s, women’s rights activists longed for a movement that continued the work of their predecessors while addressing their current struggles. In addition, these women wanted to create a mainstream movement that was inclusive of the various challenges women from different races, classes, and gender identities were facing.

third wave feminsm

- It was very visible, generated a lot of awareness

- No more mens marches

Pros and cons

- characterized by a focus on the empowerment of women, through the use of internet tools, and intersectionality - think of the #metoo movement - the fourth wave seeks greater gender equality by focusing on gendered norms and marginalization of women in society. - focus on sexual harassment, body shaming, and rape culture

fourth wave

Pro and cons

Online discussion and activism is increasingly divorced from real-world conflicts

Too much of a focus on technology?

What pros can you think of?

03

02

01

How many waves do you think there will be?