Feminist movement
Encyclopedia
The feminist movement (also known as the Women's Movement, Women's Liberation, or Women's Lib) refers to a series of campaigns for reforms on issues such as reproductive rights
, domestic violence
, maternity leave
, equal pay
, women's suffrage
, sexual harassment
and sexual violence
. The movement's priorities vary among nations and communities and range from opposition to female genital mutilation in one country or to the glass ceiling
in another.
The movement began in the western world in the late 18th century and has gone through three waves: the first wave
was oriented around the station of middle or upper-class white women, and involved suffrage and political equality. Second-wave feminism
attempted to further combat social and cultural inequalities. Third-wave feminism
(c.1980-c.1990) (cited from Open Boundaries University text book), includes renewed campaigning for women’s greater influence in politics.
The history, events, and structure of the feminist movement is closely related to the individuals at the time, specific protests that took place, and the broader transformations taking place in American culture. The feminist movement worked and continues to work against the status quo in American society. According to bell hooks
, "Feminism is a struggle against sexist oppression. Therefore, it is necessarily a struggle to eradicate the ideology of domination that permeates Western culture on various levels, as well as a commitment to reorganizing society so that the self-development of people can take precedence over imperialism, economic expansion and material desires."
refers to the feminist movement of the 18th through early 20th centuries, which dealt mainly with women's suffrage
. Writers such as Virginia Woolf
are associated with the ideas of the first wave of feminism. In her book A Room of One's Own
, Woolf "describes how men socially and psychically dominate women". The argument of the book is that "women are simultaneously victims of themselves as well as victims of men and are upholders of society by acting as mirrors to men". She recognizes the social constructs that restrict women in society and uses literature to contextualize it for other women.
The term "first-wave" was coined retrospectively after the term second-wave feminism
began to be used to describe a newer feminist movement that focused as much on fighting social and cultural inequalities as further political inequalities.
In Britain, the Suffragettes campaigned for the women's vote, which was eventually granted − to some women in 1918 and to all in 1928 − as much because of the part played by British women during the First World War
, as of the efforts of the Suffragists. In the United States leaders of this movement included Elizabeth Cady Stanton
and Susan B. Anthony
, who each campaigned for the abolition of slavery prior to championing women's right to vote. Other important leaders include Lucy Stone
, Olympia Brown
, and Helen Pitts
. American first-wave feminism involved a wide range of women, some belonging to conservative Christian groups (such as Frances Willard
and the Woman's Christian Temperance Union
), others resembling the diversity and radicalism of much of second-wave feminism
(such as Stanton, Anthony, Matilda Joslyn Gage
, and the National Woman Suffrage Association, of which Stanton was president). In the United States, first-wave feminism is considered to have ended with the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution
(1919) granting women the right to vote.
Some of the earlier forms of feminism have been criticized for being geared towards white, middle-class, educated perspectives. This led to the creation of ethnically-specific or multiculturalist forms of feminism.
(1960s-1980s) was concerned with gender inequality in laws and culture
. It built on what had been achieved in the first wave, and began adapting the ideas to America. Simone de Beauvoir
is associated with this wave because of her idea of women as "the other". This idea was touched on in the writing of Woolf, and was adapted to apply not only to the gender roles of women in the household or at work, but also their sexuality. Beauvoir set the tone for later feminist theory.
The second wave of feminist activity began in the early 1960s and lasted through the late 1980s. What helped trigger this second wave was the book written by Betty Friedan
.
During this time feminists campaigned against cultural and political inequalities, which they saw as inextricably linked. The movement encouraged women to understand aspects of their own personal lives as deeply politicized, and reflective of a sexist
structure of power. If first-wave feminism focused upon absolute rights such as suffrage, second-wave feminism was largely concerned with other issues of equality, such as the end to discrimination. The feminist activist and author Carol Hanisch
coined the slogan "The Personal is Political" which became synonymous with the second wave.
, arose in response to the perceived failures of the second wave feminism. In addition to being a response to the backlash against initiatives and movements created by second-wave feminism, the third wave was less reactive, and had a greater focus on developing the different achievements of women in America. The feminist movement as such grew during the third wave, to incorporate a greater number of women who may not have previously identified with the dynamics and goals that were established at the start of the movement. Though criticized as merely a continuation of the second wave, the third wave made its own unique contributions.
Feminist leaders rooted in the second wave like Gloria Anzaldúa, bell hooks
, Chela Sandoval, Cherríe Moraga
, Audre Lorde
, Maxine Hong Kingston
, and many other feminists of color, called for a new subjectivity in feminist voice. They sought to negotiate prominent space within feminist thought for consideration of race related subjectivities. This focus on the intersection between race and gender remained prominent through the Hill-Thomas hearings, but began to shift with the Freedom Ride 1992. This drive to register voters in poor minority communities was surrounded with rhetoric that focused on rallying young feminists. For many, the rallying of the young is the emphasis that has stuck within third wave feminism.
system: the male breadwinner/female homemaker idea that shaped government policies and employment in businesses. In the years of the movement women accomplished many of the goals they set out to do. They won protection from employment discrimination, inclusion in affirmative action, abortion law reform, greater representation in media, equal access to school athletics, congressional passage of an equal rights movement, and more.
Demographic changes started sweeping industrial society; birth rates declined, life expectancy increased, and women were entering the paid labor force in large numbers. New public policies emerged fitted to changing family forms and individual life cycles. The work of these women also changed the popular understanding of marriage and the very meaning of life; women came to want more out of their marriages and from men, education, and themselves.
The efforts and accomplishments of these women and organizations throughout the women's movement inspired many authors of that time to write about their personal experiences with feminism. Jo Freeman and Sara Evans were two such authors. Both women participated in the movement and wrote about their firsthand knowledge of feminism. Freeman, American feminist and writer, wrote several feminist articles on issues such as social movements, political parties, public policy toward women and many other important pieces about women. Evans wrote her experiences in books such as "The Roots of Women's Liberation in the Civil Right Movement and the New Left" and "Born for Liberty". Her works focused more on young women activists recognizing that the "personal is political" as well as showing how these women used discussion sessions to expand understanding of the social roots of personal problems and worked towards developing different practices to address those issues.
Part of what made feminism so successful was the way women in different situations developed their own variants and organized for the goals most important to them. All women - Native American women, working class women, Jewish women, Catholic women, sex workers, and women with disabilities - described what gender equality would mean for them and worked together to achieve it.
Although antecedents to feminism may be found far back before the 18th century, the seeds of the modern feminist movement were planted during the late part of that century. Christine de Pizan
, a late medieval writer, was possibly the earliest feminist in the western tradition. She is believed to be the first woman to make a living out of writing. Feminist thought began to take a more substantial shape during the Enlightenment with such thinkers as Lady Mary Wortley Montagu
and the Marquis de Condorcet
championing women's education. The first scientific society for women was founded in Middelburg
, a city in the south of the Dutch republic
, in 1785. Journals for women which focused on issues like science became popular during this period as well.
The women who made the first efforts towards women's suffrage came from more stable and privileged backgrounds, and were able to dedicate time and energy into making change. Initial developments for women, therefore, mainly benefited white women in the middle and upper classes. Thus, the beginning of the feminist movement in America was a specific agenda for a certain group of women.
The different waves of feminism are not only reflective of the cultural evolution in America since the 1920s. It is also the way in which the feminist movement used different social movement tactics to encourage women in America to become active and motivate individuals to make change for all women in America. Although the feminist movement has spanned almost a century, there are ways in which to break down the timeline and recognize how women have framed the ways they have achieved different goals throughout history. "By rendering events or occurrences meaningful, frames function to organize experience and guide action, whether individual or collective".
The feminist movement has been an ongoing presence in American culture, and the group of women targeted at the beginning has since changed. The beginning of the feminist movement was seen as exclusive in that, according to bell hooks, "[oppressed] women... felt that our only response to white, bourgeois, hegemonic dominance of feminist movement is to trash, reject, or dismiss feminism."
The three waves of Feminism are examples of how values have been identified, shared, and transformed, and the feminist movement as a whole has worked to redefine certain standards of its agenda in order to include a broader spectrum of people. For example, the movement later included women of different races and sexual orientations. It was only in the fall of 1971 that NOW (National Organization of Women) "acknowledged, ‘the oppression of lesbians as a legitimate concern of feminism’"
The feminist movement continues to support and encourage women to pursue their goals as individuals who deserve equal opportunity. "The Foundation of future feminist struggle must be solidly based on a recognition of the need to eradicate the underlying cultural basis and causes of sexism and other forms of group oppression," according to bell hooks.
and first appeared in print in 1966. By 1968, although the term Women's Liberation Front appeared in the magazine Ramparts
, it was starting to refer to the whole women's movement. Bra-burning also became associated with the movement, although this term is a misnomer as no bras were actually burned at the Miss America protest. The term "liberation" is one that needs to be contextualized within American society. It is assuming that the oppressed are all women in America. The work of the feminist movement has had liberation as a specific goal for women but the agenda has evolved as culture has transformed and the issues being addressed by the feminist movement have increased. Keeping in mind that the "Optimism about the outcome of a collective challenge will thus enhance the probability of participation; pessimism will diminish it" allowed women who therefore achieved some sense of liberation to feel accomplished with the time and energy they were dedicating to the movement.
Participation lacked in respect to the broader spectrum of women in America, specifically women who were not white and part of the middle to upper class. The transitions made throughout history, however, helped to expand the efforts of the feminist movement to include women of different race, class, and sexual orientation. Different actions have been seen to be highlights of women's liberation, but it was a goal of the greater movement rather than one specific moment in history. One of the most vocal critics of the women's liberation movement has been the African-American feminist and intellectual Gloria Jean Watkins (who uses the pseudonym "bell hooks
"), who argues that this movement glossed over race and class and thus failed to address "the issues that divided women". She highlighted the lack of minority voices in the women's movement in her book Feminist theory from margin to center (1984).
The division between women in America has been the result of differences of race, class, and sexual orientation. It has been "Racism [that] keeps women from uniting against sexism." It is important not to view race or gender with an eye of oppression (Bhavnani 80). The origins of women's liberation in America can be identified as being part of two branches that essentially started the feminist movement and more specifically the actions towards women's liberation. The older of the two branches included the formation of organizations such as Women's Equity Action League, Human Rights of Women, and the National Organization of Women (NOW). These organizations were primarily concerned with the legal and economic obstacles facing women. Men and women worked to address issues of working women, gender roles, salary, and opportunities of women in the workforce
. The second branch identified as the younger branch included a larger number of smaller groups that focused specifically on different activities. The efforts of the younger branch was influenced by the events and actions of the Civil Rights Movement, and the motivation to create change came from groups like Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) who targeted college campus communities to get involved. By increasing awareness about women's issues individuals were motivated to educate themselves, whether it was through experience or academics.
The difference between the older and younger branches is their organization and structure. The older branch is more likely to work with the structure of society whereas the younger group tend to defy the institutionalized aspect of working with the system. The younger branch makes up many different groups which tended to form among friend circles creating challenges like diversifying the groups. These two branches are important to recognize because they allow the history of the feminist movement to be contextualized within American culture. The branches help to identify the efforts that have gone on in social circles, college campuses, and cities all over the country.
, the right to initiate divorce proceedings and "no fault" divorce, the right of women to make individual decisions regarding pregnancy (including access to contraceptives and abortion
), and the right to own property. It has also led to broad employment for women at more equitable wages, and access to university
education.
The United Nations Human Development Report 2004 estimated that when both paid employment and unpaid household tasks are accounted for, on average women work more than men. In rural areas of selected developing countries women performed an average of 20% more work than men, or 120% of men's total work- an additional 102 minutes per day. In the OECD countries surveyed, on average women performed 5% more work than men, or 105% of men's total work-an additional 20 minutes per day. However, men did up to 19 minutes more work per day than women in five out of the eighteen OECD countries surveyed: Canada, Denmark, Hungary, Israel, and The Netherlands. According to UN Women
, "Women perform 66 percent of the world’s work, produce 50 percent of the food, but earn 10 percent of the income and own 1 percent of the property."
The social climate in America has definitely evolved throughout history. The definitions of feminism, feminist, and feminist theory are no longer a monolithic term. There are multiple dimensions to the movement that encompass all different aspects of American culture. In America "most people are socialized to think in terms of opposition rather than compatibility". Social changes have not only included the right to vote, greater equality in the workforce, as well as reproductive rights, but also the recognition of injustices and the ways in which both men and women can work to change them. According to bell hooks, in order to create change it is essential to recognize that "exploited and oppressed groups of women are usually encouraged by those in power to feel that their situation is hopeless, that they can do nothing to break the pattern of domination"
" to refer to both married and unmarried women, for example, or the ironic use of the term "herstory" instead of "history". Feminists are also often proponents of using gender-inclusive language, such as "humanity" instead of "mankind", or "he or she" in place of "he" where the gender is unknown.
Gender-neutral language is a description of language usages
which are aimed at minimizing assumptions regarding the biological sex
of human referents
. The advocacy of gender-neutral language reflects, at least, two different agendas: one aims to clarify the inclusion of both sexes or genders (gender-inclusive language); the other proposes that gender, as a category, is rarely worth marking in language (gender-neutral language). Gender-neutral language is sometimes described as non-sexist language by advocates and politically-correct language by opponents.
in The Second Shift and The Time Bind presents evidence that in two-career couples, men and women, on average, spend about equal amounts of time working, but women still spend more time on housework. Feminist writer Cathy Young
responds to Hochschild's assertions by arguing that in some cases, women may prevent the equal participation of men in housework and parenting.
Feminist criticisms of men's contributions to child care and domestic labor in the Western middle class are typically centered around the idea that it is unfair for women to be expected to perform more than half of a household's domestic work and child care when both members of the relationship perform an equal share of work outside the home. Several studies provide statistical evidence that the financial income of married men does not affect their rate of attending to household duties.
In Dubious Conceptions, Kristin Luker
discusses the effect of feminism on teenage women's choices to bear children, both in and out of wedlock. She says that as childbearing out of wedlock
has become more socially acceptable, young women, especially poor young women, while not bearing children at a higher rate than in the 1950s, now see less of a reason to get married before having a child. Her explanation for this is that the economic prospects for poor men are slim, hence poor women have a low chance of finding a husband who will be able to provide reliable financial support due to the rise of unemployment from more workers on the market, from just men to women and men.
Although research suggests that, to an extent, both women and men perceive feminism to be in conflict with romance, studies of undergraduates and older adults have shown that feminism has positive impacts on relationship health for women and sexual satisfaction for men, and found no support for negative stereotypes of feminists.
is a movement that reconsiders the traditions, practices, scriptures, and theologies of religions from a feminist perspective. Some of the goals of feminist theology include increasing the role of women among the clergy and religious authorities, reinterpreting male-dominated imagery and language about God, determining the place of women in relation to career and motherhood, and studying images of women in the religion's sacred texts.
The feminist movement has affected religion
and theology
in profound ways. In liberal branches of Protestant Christianity, women are now allowed to be ordained as clergy
, and in Reform
, Conservative
and Reconstructionist
Judaism
, women are now allowed to be ordained as rabbi
s and cantor
s. In some of these groups, some women are gradually obtaining positions of power that were formerly only held by men, and their perspectives are now sought out in developing new statements of belief. These trends, however, have been resisted within most sects of Islam
, Roman Catholicism, and Orthodox Christianity
.
Christian feminism
is a branch of feminist theology which seeks to reinterpret and understand Christianity
in light of the equality of women and men. While there is no standard set of beliefs among Christian feminists, most agree that God does not discriminate on the basis of biologically determined characteristics such as sex. Their major issues are the ordination of women
, male dominance in Christian marriage, and claims of moral deficiency and inferiority of abilities compared to men. They also are concerned with the balance of parenting between mothers and fathers, and the overall treatment of women in the church.
Early feminists such as Elizabeth Cady Stanton
concentrated almost solely on "making women equal to men". However, the Christian feminist movement chose to concentrate on the language of religion because they viewed the historic gendering of God as male as a result of the pervasive influence of patriarchy. Rosemary Radford Ruether
provided a systematic critique of Christian theology from a feminist and theist point of view.
Islamic feminism
is concerned with the role of women in Islam and aims for the full equality of all Muslims, regardless of gender, in public and private life. Although rooted in Islam, the movement's pioneers have also utilized secular and Western feminist discourses. Advocates of the movement seek to highlight the deeply rooted teachings of equality in the Quran and encourage a questioning of the patriarchal interpretation of Islamic teaching through the Quran, hadith
(sayings of Muhammad
), and sharia
(law) towards the creation of a more equal and just society.
Jewish feminism
seeks to improve the religious, legal, and social status of women within Judaism
and to open up new opportunities for religious experience and leadership for Jewish women. In its modern form, the movement can be traced to the early 1970s in the United States. According to Judith Plaskow
, who has focused on feminism in Reform Judaism
, the main issues for early Jewish feminists in these movements were the exclusion from the all-male prayer group or minyan
, the exemption from positive time-bound mitzvot
, and women's inability to function as witnesses and to initiate divorce.
Reproductive rights
Reproductive rights are legal rights and freedoms relating to reproduction and reproductive health. The World Health Organization defines reproductive rights as follows:...
, domestic violence
Domestic violence
Domestic violence, also known as domestic abuse, spousal abuse, battering, family violence, and intimate partner violence , is broadly defined as a pattern of abusive behaviors by one or both partners in an intimate relationship such as marriage, dating, family, or cohabitation...
, maternity leave
Parental leave
Parental leave is an employee benefit that provides paid or unpaid time off work to care for a child or make arrangements for the child's welfare. Often, the term parental leave includes maternity, paternity, and adoption leave...
, equal pay
Equal pay for women
Equal pay for women is an issue regarding pay inequality between men and women. It is often introduced into domestic politics in many first world countries as an economic problem that needs governmental intervention via regulation...
, women's suffrage
Women's suffrage
Women's suffrage or woman suffrage is the right of women to vote and to run for office. The expression is also used for the economic and political reform movement aimed at extending these rights to women and without any restrictions or qualifications such as property ownership, payment of tax, or...
, sexual harassment
Sexual harassment
Sexual harassment, is intimidation, bullying or coercion of a sexual nature, or the unwelcome or inappropriate promise of rewards in exchange for sexual favors. In some contexts or circumstances, sexual harassment is illegal. It includes a range of behavior from seemingly mild transgressions and...
and sexual violence
Sexual violence
Sexual violence occurs throughout the world, although in most countries there has been little research conducted on the problem. Due to the private nature of sexual violence, estimating the extent of the problem is difficult...
. The movement's priorities vary among nations and communities and range from opposition to female genital mutilation in one country or to the glass ceiling
Glass ceiling
In economics, the term glass ceiling refers to "the unseen, yet unbreachable barrier that keeps minorities and women from rising to the upper rungs of the corporate ladder, regardless of their qualifications or achievements." Initially, the metaphor applied to barriers in the careers of women but...
in another.
The movement began in the western world in the late 18th century and has gone through three waves: the first wave
First-wave feminism
First-wave feminism refers to a period of feminist activity during the 19th and early twentieth century in the United Kingdom, Canada, and the United States. It focused on de jure inequalities, primarily on gaining women's suffrage .The term first-wave was coined retroactively in the 1970s...
was oriented around the station of middle or upper-class white women, and involved suffrage and political equality. Second-wave feminism
Second-wave feminism
The Feminist Movement, or the Women's Liberation Movement in the United States refers to a period of feminist activity which began during the early 1960s and lasted through the early 1990s....
attempted to further combat social and cultural inequalities. Third-wave feminism
Third-wave feminism
Third-wave feminism is a term identified with several diverse strains of feminist activity and study whose exact boundaries in the historiography of feminism are a subject of debate, but often marked as beginning in the 1980s and continuing to the present...
(c.1980-c.1990) (cited from Open Boundaries University text book), includes renewed campaigning for women’s greater influence in politics.
History
The history of feminist movements has been divided into three "waves" by feminist scholars. Each deals with different aspects of the same feminist issues.The history, events, and structure of the feminist movement is closely related to the individuals at the time, specific protests that took place, and the broader transformations taking place in American culture. The feminist movement worked and continues to work against the status quo in American society. According to bell hooks
Bell hooks
Gloria Jean Watkins , better known by her pen name bell hooks, is an American author, feminist, and social activist....
, "Feminism is a struggle against sexist oppression. Therefore, it is necessarily a struggle to eradicate the ideology of domination that permeates Western culture on various levels, as well as a commitment to reorganizing society so that the self-development of people can take precedence over imperialism, economic expansion and material desires."
First wave
The first waveFirst-wave feminism
First-wave feminism refers to a period of feminist activity during the 19th and early twentieth century in the United Kingdom, Canada, and the United States. It focused on de jure inequalities, primarily on gaining women's suffrage .The term first-wave was coined retroactively in the 1970s...
refers to the feminist movement of the 18th through early 20th centuries, which dealt mainly with women's suffrage
Women's suffrage
Women's suffrage or woman suffrage is the right of women to vote and to run for office. The expression is also used for the economic and political reform movement aimed at extending these rights to women and without any restrictions or qualifications such as property ownership, payment of tax, or...
. Writers such as Virginia Woolf
Virginia Woolf
Adeline Virginia Woolf was an English author, essayist, publisher, and writer of short stories, regarded as one of the foremost modernist literary figures of the twentieth century....
are associated with the ideas of the first wave of feminism. In her book A Room of One's Own
A Room of One's Own
A Room of One's Own is an extended essay by Virginia Woolf. First published on 24 October 1929, the essay was based on a series of lectures she delivered at Newnham College and Girton College, two women's colleges at Cambridge University in October 1928...
, Woolf "describes how men socially and psychically dominate women". The argument of the book is that "women are simultaneously victims of themselves as well as victims of men and are upholders of society by acting as mirrors to men". She recognizes the social constructs that restrict women in society and uses literature to contextualize it for other women.
The term "first-wave" was coined retrospectively after the term second-wave feminism
Second-wave feminism
The Feminist Movement, or the Women's Liberation Movement in the United States refers to a period of feminist activity which began during the early 1960s and lasted through the early 1990s....
began to be used to describe a newer feminist movement that focused as much on fighting social and cultural inequalities as further political inequalities.
In Britain, the Suffragettes campaigned for the women's vote, which was eventually granted − to some women in 1918 and to all in 1928 − as much because of the part played by British women during the First World War
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, as of the efforts of the Suffragists. In the United States leaders of this movement included Elizabeth Cady Stanton
Elizabeth Cady Stanton
Elizabeth Cady Stanton was an American social activist, abolitionist, and leading figure of the early woman's movement...
and Susan B. Anthony
Susan B. Anthony
Susan Brownell Anthony was a prominent American civil rights leader who played a pivotal role in the 19th century women's rights movement to introduce women's suffrage into the United States. She was co-founder of the first Women's Temperance Movement with Elizabeth Cady Stanton as President...
, who each campaigned for the abolition of slavery prior to championing women's right to vote. Other important leaders include Lucy Stone
Lucy Stone
Lucy Stone was a prominent American abolitionist and suffragist, and a vocal advocate and organizer promoting rights for women. In 1847, Stone was the first woman from Massachusetts to earn a college degree. She spoke out for women's rights and against slavery at a time when women were discouraged...
, Olympia Brown
Olympia Brown
Olympia Brown was an American suffragist. She is regarded as the first woman to graduate from a theological school, as well as becoming the first full time ordained minister...
, and Helen Pitts
Helen Pitts
Helen Pitts was an American suffragist and the second wife of Frederick Douglass. She also created the Frederick Douglass Memorial and Historical Association.-Early life:She was born in Honeoye, New York...
. American first-wave feminism involved a wide range of women, some belonging to conservative Christian groups (such as Frances Willard
Frances Willard (suffragist)
Frances Elizabeth Caroline Willard was an American educator, temperance reformer, and women's suffragist. Her influence was instrumental in the passage of the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution...
and the Woman's Christian Temperance Union
Woman's Christian Temperance Union
The Woman's Christian Temperance Union was the first mass organization among women devoted to social reform with a program that "linked the religious and the secular through concerted and far-reaching reform strategies based on applied Christianity." Originally organized on December 23, 1873, in...
), others resembling the diversity and radicalism of much of second-wave feminism
Second-wave feminism
The Feminist Movement, or the Women's Liberation Movement in the United States refers to a period of feminist activity which began during the early 1960s and lasted through the early 1990s....
(such as Stanton, Anthony, Matilda Joslyn Gage
Matilda Joslyn Gage
Matilda Electa Joslyn Gage was a suffragist, a Native American activist, an abolitionist, a freethinker, and a prolific author, who was "born with a hatred of oppression".-Early activities:...
, and the National Woman Suffrage Association, of which Stanton was president). In the United States, first-wave feminism is considered to have ended with the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution
Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution
The Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution prohibits any United States citizen to be denied the right to vote based on sex. It was ratified on August 18, 1920....
(1919) granting women the right to vote.
Some of the earlier forms of feminism have been criticized for being geared towards white, middle-class, educated perspectives. This led to the creation of ethnically-specific or multiculturalist forms of feminism.
Second wave
The second waveSecond-wave feminism
The Feminist Movement, or the Women's Liberation Movement in the United States refers to a period of feminist activity which began during the early 1960s and lasted through the early 1990s....
(1960s-1980s) was concerned with gender inequality in laws and culture
Culture
Culture is a term that has many different inter-related meanings. For example, in 1952, Alfred Kroeber and Clyde Kluckhohn compiled a list of 164 definitions of "culture" in Culture: A Critical Review of Concepts and Definitions...
. It built on what had been achieved in the first wave, and began adapting the ideas to America. Simone de Beauvoir
Simone de Beauvoir
Simone-Ernestine-Lucie-Marie Bertrand de Beauvoir, often shortened to Simone de Beauvoir , was a French existentialist philosopher, public intellectual, and social theorist. She wrote novels, essays, biographies, an autobiography in several volumes, and monographs on philosophy, politics, and...
is associated with this wave because of her idea of women as "the other". This idea was touched on in the writing of Woolf, and was adapted to apply not only to the gender roles of women in the household or at work, but also their sexuality. Beauvoir set the tone for later feminist theory.
The second wave of feminist activity began in the early 1960s and lasted through the late 1980s. What helped trigger this second wave was the book written by Betty Friedan
Betty Friedan
Betty Friedan was an American writer, activist, and feminist.A leading figure in the Women's Movement in the United States, her 1963 book The Feminine Mystique is often credited with sparking the "second wave" of American feminism in the twentieth century...
.
"The key event that marked the reemergence of this movement in the postwar era was the surprise popularity of Betty Friedan's 1963 book The Feminine MystiqueThe Feminine MystiqueThe Feminine Mystique, published February 19, 1963, by W.W. Norton and Co., is a nonfiction book written by Betty Friedan. It is widely credited with sparking the beginning of second-wave feminism in the United States....
. Writing as a housewife and mother (though she had had a long story of political activism, as well), Friedan described the problem with no name the dissatisfaction of educated, middle class wives and mothers like herself who, looking at their nice homes and families, wondered guiltily if that was all there was to life was not new; the vague sense of dissatifaction plaguing housewives was a staple topic for women's magazines in the 1950s. But Friedan, instead of blaming individual women for failing to adapt to women's proper role, blamed the role itself and the society that created it" (Norton, Mary Beth, A people A Nation pg 865. 2005 Houghton Mifflin Company New York.)
During this time feminists campaigned against cultural and political inequalities, which they saw as inextricably linked. The movement encouraged women to understand aspects of their own personal lives as deeply politicized, and reflective of a sexist
Sexism
Sexism, also known as gender discrimination or sex discrimination, is the application of the belief or attitude that there are characteristics implicit to one's gender that indirectly affect one's abilities in unrelated areas...
structure of power. If first-wave feminism focused upon absolute rights such as suffrage, second-wave feminism was largely concerned with other issues of equality, such as the end to discrimination. The feminist activist and author Carol Hanisch
Carol Hanisch
Carol Hanisch is a radical feminist and was an important member of New York Radical Women and Redstockings. She is best known for popularizing the phrase "The Personal is Political" in a 1969 essay of the same name. She was a leader of the feminist movement that protested the Miss America Pageant...
coined the slogan "The Personal is Political" which became synonymous with the second wave.
Third wave
In the early 1990s, a movement, now termed the third wave of feminismThird-wave feminism
Third-wave feminism is a term identified with several diverse strains of feminist activity and study whose exact boundaries in the historiography of feminism are a subject of debate, but often marked as beginning in the 1980s and continuing to the present...
, arose in response to the perceived failures of the second wave feminism. In addition to being a response to the backlash against initiatives and movements created by second-wave feminism, the third wave was less reactive, and had a greater focus on developing the different achievements of women in America. The feminist movement as such grew during the third wave, to incorporate a greater number of women who may not have previously identified with the dynamics and goals that were established at the start of the movement. Though criticized as merely a continuation of the second wave, the third wave made its own unique contributions.
Feminist leaders rooted in the second wave like Gloria Anzaldúa, bell hooks
Bell hooks
Gloria Jean Watkins , better known by her pen name bell hooks, is an American author, feminist, and social activist....
, Chela Sandoval, Cherríe Moraga
Cherríe Moraga
Cherríe L. Moraga is a Chicana writer, feminist activist, poet, essayist, and playwright.-Biography:Moraga was born in Whittier, California. She earned her Bachelor's degree from Immaculate Heart College in Los Angeles, California and her Master's from San Francisco State University in 1980...
, Audre Lorde
Audre Lorde
Audre Lorde was a Caribbean-American writer, poet and activist.-Life:...
, Maxine Hong Kingston
Maxine Hong Kingston
Maxine Hong Kingston is a Chinese American author and Professor Emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley, where she graduated with a BA in English in 1962. Kingston has written three novels and several works of non-fiction about the experiences of Chinese immigrants living in the United...
, and many other feminists of color, called for a new subjectivity in feminist voice. They sought to negotiate prominent space within feminist thought for consideration of race related subjectivities. This focus on the intersection between race and gender remained prominent through the Hill-Thomas hearings, but began to shift with the Freedom Ride 1992. This drive to register voters in poor minority communities was surrounded with rhetoric that focused on rallying young feminists. For many, the rallying of the young is the emphasis that has stuck within third wave feminism.
Scope
As a movement, these women produced the deepest transformation in American society and enlisted the largest number of participants. Underlying the specific conflicts in political economy and culture made gender issues matter like never before to activists on all sides of the issue and to millions of other ordinary citizens. Historian Nancy Cott wrote "feminism was an impulse that was impossible to translate into a program without centrifugal results" about the first wave of the movement. What made a change in gender order feel necessary to so much of society was the fate of the family wageFamily wage
A family wage is a wage that is sufficient to raise a family on. This contrasts with a living wage, which is generally taken to mean a wage sufficient for a single individual to live on, but not necessarily sufficient to also support a family...
system: the male breadwinner/female homemaker idea that shaped government policies and employment in businesses. In the years of the movement women accomplished many of the goals they set out to do. They won protection from employment discrimination, inclusion in affirmative action, abortion law reform, greater representation in media, equal access to school athletics, congressional passage of an equal rights movement, and more.
Demographic changes started sweeping industrial society; birth rates declined, life expectancy increased, and women were entering the paid labor force in large numbers. New public policies emerged fitted to changing family forms and individual life cycles. The work of these women also changed the popular understanding of marriage and the very meaning of life; women came to want more out of their marriages and from men, education, and themselves.
The efforts and accomplishments of these women and organizations throughout the women's movement inspired many authors of that time to write about their personal experiences with feminism. Jo Freeman and Sara Evans were two such authors. Both women participated in the movement and wrote about their firsthand knowledge of feminism. Freeman, American feminist and writer, wrote several feminist articles on issues such as social movements, political parties, public policy toward women and many other important pieces about women. Evans wrote her experiences in books such as "The Roots of Women's Liberation in the Civil Right Movement and the New Left" and "Born for Liberty". Her works focused more on young women activists recognizing that the "personal is political" as well as showing how these women used discussion sessions to expand understanding of the social roots of personal problems and worked towards developing different practices to address those issues.
Part of what made feminism so successful was the way women in different situations developed their own variants and organized for the goals most important to them. All women - Native American women, working class women, Jewish women, Catholic women, sex workers, and women with disabilities - described what gender equality would mean for them and worked together to achieve it.
Cultural dynamics
The feminist movement's agenda includes acting as a counter to the putatively patriarchal strands in the dominant culture. While differing during the progression of waves, it is a movement that has sought to challenge the political structure, power holders, and cultural beliefs or practices.Although antecedents to feminism may be found far back before the 18th century, the seeds of the modern feminist movement were planted during the late part of that century. Christine de Pizan
Christine de Pizan
Christine de Pizan was a Venetian-born late medieval author who challenged misogyny and stereotypes prevalent in the male-dominated medieval culture. As a poet, she was well known and highly regarded in her own day; she completed 41 works during her 30 year career , and can be regarded as...
, a late medieval writer, was possibly the earliest feminist in the western tradition. She is believed to be the first woman to make a living out of writing. Feminist thought began to take a more substantial shape during the Enlightenment with such thinkers as Lady Mary Wortley Montagu
Lady Mary Wortley Montagu
The Lady Mary Wortley Montagu was an English aristocrat and writer. Montagu is today chiefly remembered for her letters, particularly her letters from Turkey, as wife to the British ambassador, which have been described by Billie Melman as “the very first example of a secular work by a woman about...
and the Marquis de Condorcet
Marquis de Condorcet
Marie Jean Antoine Nicolas de Caritat, marquis de Condorcet , known as Nicolas de Condorcet, was a French philosopher, mathematician, and early political scientist whose Condorcet method in voting tally selects the candidate who would beat each of the other candidates in a run-off election...
championing women's education. The first scientific society for women was founded in Middelburg
Middelburg
Middelburg is a municipality and a city in the south-western Netherlands and the capital of the province of Zeeland. It is situated in the Midden-Zeeland region. It has a population of about 48,000.- History of Middelburg :...
, a city in the south of the Dutch republic
Dutch Republic
The Dutch Republic — officially known as the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands , the Republic of the United Netherlands, or the Republic of the Seven United Provinces — was a republic in Europe existing from 1581 to 1795, preceding the Batavian Republic and ultimately...
, in 1785. Journals for women which focused on issues like science became popular during this period as well.
The women who made the first efforts towards women's suffrage came from more stable and privileged backgrounds, and were able to dedicate time and energy into making change. Initial developments for women, therefore, mainly benefited white women in the middle and upper classes. Thus, the beginning of the feminist movement in America was a specific agenda for a certain group of women.
The different waves of feminism are not only reflective of the cultural evolution in America since the 1920s. It is also the way in which the feminist movement used different social movement tactics to encourage women in America to become active and motivate individuals to make change for all women in America. Although the feminist movement has spanned almost a century, there are ways in which to break down the timeline and recognize how women have framed the ways they have achieved different goals throughout history. "By rendering events or occurrences meaningful, frames function to organize experience and guide action, whether individual or collective".
The feminist movement has been an ongoing presence in American culture, and the group of women targeted at the beginning has since changed. The beginning of the feminist movement was seen as exclusive in that, according to bell hooks, "[oppressed] women... felt that our only response to white, bourgeois, hegemonic dominance of feminist movement is to trash, reject, or dismiss feminism."
The three waves of Feminism are examples of how values have been identified, shared, and transformed, and the feminist movement as a whole has worked to redefine certain standards of its agenda in order to include a broader spectrum of people. For example, the movement later included women of different races and sexual orientations. It was only in the fall of 1971 that NOW (National Organization of Women) "acknowledged, ‘the oppression of lesbians as a legitimate concern of feminism’"
The feminist movement continues to support and encourage women to pursue their goals as individuals who deserve equal opportunity. "The Foundation of future feminist struggle must be solidly based on a recognition of the need to eradicate the underlying cultural basis and causes of sexism and other forms of group oppression," according to bell hooks.
Liberation in the U.S.
The phrase "Women's Liberation" was first used in the United States in 1964,and first appeared in print in 1966. By 1968, although the term Women's Liberation Front appeared in the magazine Ramparts
Ramparts (magazine)
Ramparts was an American political and literary magazine, published from 1962 through 1975.-History:Founded by Edward M. Keating as a Catholic literary quarterly, the magazine became closely associated with the New Left after executive editor Warren Hinckle hired Robert Scheer as managing editor...
, it was starting to refer to the whole women's movement. Bra-burning also became associated with the movement, although this term is a misnomer as no bras were actually burned at the Miss America protest. The term "liberation" is one that needs to be contextualized within American society. It is assuming that the oppressed are all women in America. The work of the feminist movement has had liberation as a specific goal for women but the agenda has evolved as culture has transformed and the issues being addressed by the feminist movement have increased. Keeping in mind that the "Optimism about the outcome of a collective challenge will thus enhance the probability of participation; pessimism will diminish it" allowed women who therefore achieved some sense of liberation to feel accomplished with the time and energy they were dedicating to the movement.
Participation lacked in respect to the broader spectrum of women in America, specifically women who were not white and part of the middle to upper class. The transitions made throughout history, however, helped to expand the efforts of the feminist movement to include women of different race, class, and sexual orientation. Different actions have been seen to be highlights of women's liberation, but it was a goal of the greater movement rather than one specific moment in history. One of the most vocal critics of the women's liberation movement has been the African-American feminist and intellectual Gloria Jean Watkins (who uses the pseudonym "bell hooks
Bell hooks
Gloria Jean Watkins , better known by her pen name bell hooks, is an American author, feminist, and social activist....
"), who argues that this movement glossed over race and class and thus failed to address "the issues that divided women". She highlighted the lack of minority voices in the women's movement in her book Feminist theory from margin to center (1984).
The division between women in America has been the result of differences of race, class, and sexual orientation. It has been "Racism [that] keeps women from uniting against sexism." It is important not to view race or gender with an eye of oppression (Bhavnani 80). The origins of women's liberation in America can be identified as being part of two branches that essentially started the feminist movement and more specifically the actions towards women's liberation. The older of the two branches included the formation of organizations such as Women's Equity Action League, Human Rights of Women, and the National Organization of Women (NOW). These organizations were primarily concerned with the legal and economic obstacles facing women. Men and women worked to address issues of working women, gender roles, salary, and opportunities of women in the workforce
Women in the workforce
Until modern industrialized times, legal and cultural practices, combined with the inertia of longstanding religious and educational traditions, had restricted women's entry and participation in the workforce. Economic dependency upon men, and consequently the poor socio-economic status of women...
. The second branch identified as the younger branch included a larger number of smaller groups that focused specifically on different activities. The efforts of the younger branch was influenced by the events and actions of the Civil Rights Movement, and the motivation to create change came from groups like Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) who targeted college campus communities to get involved. By increasing awareness about women's issues individuals were motivated to educate themselves, whether it was through experience or academics.
The difference between the older and younger branches is their organization and structure. The older branch is more likely to work with the structure of society whereas the younger group tend to defy the institutionalized aspect of working with the system. The younger branch makes up many different groups which tended to form among friend circles creating challenges like diversifying the groups. These two branches are important to recognize because they allow the history of the feminist movement to be contextualized within American culture. The branches help to identify the efforts that have gone on in social circles, college campuses, and cities all over the country.
Social changes
The feminist movement effected change in Western society, including women's suffrageWomen's suffrage
Women's suffrage or woman suffrage is the right of women to vote and to run for office. The expression is also used for the economic and political reform movement aimed at extending these rights to women and without any restrictions or qualifications such as property ownership, payment of tax, or...
, the right to initiate divorce proceedings and "no fault" divorce, the right of women to make individual decisions regarding pregnancy (including access to contraceptives and abortion
Abortion
Abortion is defined as the termination of pregnancy by the removal or expulsion from the uterus of a fetus or embryo prior to viability. An abortion can occur spontaneously, in which case it is usually called a miscarriage, or it can be purposely induced...
), and the right to own property. It has also led to broad employment for women at more equitable wages, and access to university
University
A university is an institution of higher education and research, which grants academic degrees in a variety of subjects. A university is an organisation that provides both undergraduate education and postgraduate education...
education.
The United Nations Human Development Report 2004 estimated that when both paid employment and unpaid household tasks are accounted for, on average women work more than men. In rural areas of selected developing countries women performed an average of 20% more work than men, or 120% of men's total work- an additional 102 minutes per day. In the OECD countries surveyed, on average women performed 5% more work than men, or 105% of men's total work-an additional 20 minutes per day. However, men did up to 19 minutes more work per day than women in five out of the eighteen OECD countries surveyed: Canada, Denmark, Hungary, Israel, and The Netherlands. According to UN Women
UN Women
The United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women, also known as UN Women, is a United Nations entity working for the empowerment of women and girls....
, "Women perform 66 percent of the world’s work, produce 50 percent of the food, but earn 10 percent of the income and own 1 percent of the property."
The social climate in America has definitely evolved throughout history. The definitions of feminism, feminist, and feminist theory are no longer a monolithic term. There are multiple dimensions to the movement that encompass all different aspects of American culture. In America "most people are socialized to think in terms of opposition rather than compatibility". Social changes have not only included the right to vote, greater equality in the workforce, as well as reproductive rights, but also the recognition of injustices and the ways in which both men and women can work to change them. According to bell hooks, in order to create change it is essential to recognize that "exploited and oppressed groups of women are usually encouraged by those in power to feel that their situation is hopeless, that they can do nothing to break the pattern of domination"
Language
Feminists are often proponents of using non-sexist language, using "Ms.Ms.
Ms. or Ms is an English honorific used with the last name or full name of a woman. According to The Emily Post Institute, Ms...
" to refer to both married and unmarried women, for example, or the ironic use of the term "herstory" instead of "history". Feminists are also often proponents of using gender-inclusive language, such as "humanity" instead of "mankind", or "he or she" in place of "he" where the gender is unknown.
Gender-neutral language is a description of language usages
Word usage
Word usage is how a word, phrase, or concept is used in a language. Lexicographers gather samples of written or spoken instances where a word is used and analyze them to determine patterns of regional or social usage as well as meaning...
which are aimed at minimizing assumptions regarding the biological sex
Sex
In biology, sex is a process of combining and mixing genetic traits, often resulting in the specialization of organisms into a male or female variety . Sexual reproduction involves combining specialized cells to form offspring that inherit traits from both parents...
of human referents
Reference
Reference is derived from Middle English referren, from Middle French rèférer, from Latin referre, "to carry back", formed from the prefix re- and ferre, "to bear"...
. The advocacy of gender-neutral language reflects, at least, two different agendas: one aims to clarify the inclusion of both sexes or genders (gender-inclusive language); the other proposes that gender, as a category, is rarely worth marking in language (gender-neutral language). Gender-neutral language is sometimes described as non-sexist language by advocates and politically-correct language by opponents.
Heterosexual relationships
The increased entry of women into the workplace beginning in the 20th century has affected gender roles and the division of labor within households. Sociologist Arlie Russell HochschildArlie Russell Hochschild
Arlie Russell Hochschild is a professor of sociology at the University of California, Berkeley. She is the author of several prize-winning books and numerous articles on the balancing acts of modern two-job couples at home and at work...
in The Second Shift and The Time Bind presents evidence that in two-career couples, men and women, on average, spend about equal amounts of time working, but women still spend more time on housework. Feminist writer Cathy Young
Cathy Young
Cathy Young is a Russian American journalist and writer whose books and articles, as well as columns which appear in the libertarian monthly Reason, and also weekly in The Boston Globe, primarily espouse equality feminism and libertarianism.-Life and Career:Born in Moscow, the capital of what was...
responds to Hochschild's assertions by arguing that in some cases, women may prevent the equal participation of men in housework and parenting.
Feminist criticisms of men's contributions to child care and domestic labor in the Western middle class are typically centered around the idea that it is unfair for women to be expected to perform more than half of a household's domestic work and child care when both members of the relationship perform an equal share of work outside the home. Several studies provide statistical evidence that the financial income of married men does not affect their rate of attending to household duties.
In Dubious Conceptions, Kristin Luker
Kristin Luker
Kristin Luker is Elizabeth Josselyn Boalt Professor of Law in the Jurisprudence and Social Policy Program and Professor of Sociology at the University of California, Berkeley...
discusses the effect of feminism on teenage women's choices to bear children, both in and out of wedlock. She says that as childbearing out of wedlock
Legitimacy (law)
At common law, legitimacy is the status of a child who is born to parents who are legally married to one another; and of a child who is born shortly after the parents' divorce. In canon and in civil law, the offspring of putative marriages have been considered legitimate children...
has become more socially acceptable, young women, especially poor young women, while not bearing children at a higher rate than in the 1950s, now see less of a reason to get married before having a child. Her explanation for this is that the economic prospects for poor men are slim, hence poor women have a low chance of finding a husband who will be able to provide reliable financial support due to the rise of unemployment from more workers on the market, from just men to women and men.
Although research suggests that, to an extent, both women and men perceive feminism to be in conflict with romance, studies of undergraduates and older adults have shown that feminism has positive impacts on relationship health for women and sexual satisfaction for men, and found no support for negative stereotypes of feminists.
Religion
Feminist theologyFeminist theology
Feminist theology is a movement found in several religions, including Buddhism, Christianity, Judaism, and New Thought, to reconsider the traditions, practices, scriptures, and theologies of those religions from a feminist perspective...
is a movement that reconsiders the traditions, practices, scriptures, and theologies of religions from a feminist perspective. Some of the goals of feminist theology include increasing the role of women among the clergy and religious authorities, reinterpreting male-dominated imagery and language about God, determining the place of women in relation to career and motherhood, and studying images of women in the religion's sacred texts.
The feminist movement has affected religion
Religion
Religion is a collection of cultural systems, belief systems, and worldviews that establishes symbols that relate humanity to spirituality and, sometimes, to moral values. Many religions have narratives, symbols, traditions and sacred histories that are intended to give meaning to life or to...
and theology
Theology
Theology is the systematic and rational study of religion and its influences and of the nature of religious truths, or the learned profession acquired by completing specialized training in religious studies, usually at a university or school of divinity or seminary.-Definition:Augustine of Hippo...
in profound ways. In liberal branches of Protestant Christianity, women are now allowed to be ordained as clergy
Clergy
Clergy is the generic term used to describe the formal religious leadership within a given religion. A clergyman, churchman or cleric is a member of the clergy, especially one who is a priest, preacher, pastor, or other religious professional....
, and in Reform
Reform Judaism
Reform Judaism refers to various beliefs, practices and organizations associated with the Reform Jewish movement in North America, the United Kingdom and elsewhere. In general, it maintains that Judaism and Jewish traditions should be modernized and should be compatible with participation in the...
, Conservative
Conservative Judaism
Conservative Judaism is a modern stream of Judaism that arose out of intellectual currents in Germany in the mid-19th century and took institutional form in the United States in the early 1900s.Conservative Judaism has its roots in the school of thought known as Positive-Historical Judaism,...
and Reconstructionist
Reconstructionist Judaism
Reconstructionist Judaism is a modern American-based Jewish movement based on the ideas of Mordecai Kaplan . The movement views Judaism as a progressively evolving civilization. It originated as a branch of Conservative Judaism, before it splintered...
Judaism
Judaism
Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...
, women are now allowed to be ordained as rabbi
Rabbi
In Judaism, a rabbi is a teacher of Torah. This title derives from the Hebrew word רבי , meaning "My Master" , which is the way a student would address a master of Torah...
s and cantor
Hazzan
A hazzan or chazzan is a Jewish cantor, a musician trained in the vocal arts who helps lead the congregation in songful prayer.There are many rules relating to how a cantor should lead services, but the idea of a cantor as a paid professional does not exist in classical rabbinic sources...
s. In some of these groups, some women are gradually obtaining positions of power that were formerly only held by men, and their perspectives are now sought out in developing new statements of belief. These trends, however, have been resisted within most sects of Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
, Roman Catholicism, and Orthodox Christianity
Orthodox Christianity
The term Orthodox Christianity may refer to:* the Eastern Orthodox Church and its various geographical subdivisions...
.
Christian feminism
Christian feminism
Christian feminism is an aspect of feminist theology which seeks to advance and understand the equality of men and women morally, socially, spiritually, and in leadership from a Christian perspective. Christian feminists argue that contributions by women in that direction are necessary for a...
is a branch of feminist theology which seeks to reinterpret and understand Christianity
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
in light of the equality of women and men. While there is no standard set of beliefs among Christian feminists, most agree that God does not discriminate on the basis of biologically determined characteristics such as sex. Their major issues are the ordination of women
Ordination of women
Ordination in general religious usage is the process by which a person is consecrated . The ordination of women is a regular practice among some major religious groups, as it was of several religions of antiquity...
, male dominance in Christian marriage, and claims of moral deficiency and inferiority of abilities compared to men. They also are concerned with the balance of parenting between mothers and fathers, and the overall treatment of women in the church.
Early feminists such as Elizabeth Cady Stanton
Elizabeth Cady Stanton
Elizabeth Cady Stanton was an American social activist, abolitionist, and leading figure of the early woman's movement...
concentrated almost solely on "making women equal to men". However, the Christian feminist movement chose to concentrate on the language of religion because they viewed the historic gendering of God as male as a result of the pervasive influence of patriarchy. Rosemary Radford Ruether
Rosemary Radford Ruether
Rosemary Radford Ruether is an American feminist scholar and theologian.-Biography:Ruether was born in 1936 in Georgetown, Texas, to a Roman Catholic mother and Episcopal father. She has reportedly described her upbringing as free-thinking and humanistic as opposed to oppressive...
provided a systematic critique of Christian theology from a feminist and theist point of view.
Islamic feminism
Islamic feminism
Islamic feminism is a form of feminism concerned with the role of women in Islam. It aims for the full equality of all Muslims, regardless of gender, in public and private life. Islamic feminists advocate women's rights, gender equality, and social justice grounded in an Islamic framework...
is concerned with the role of women in Islam and aims for the full equality of all Muslims, regardless of gender, in public and private life. Although rooted in Islam, the movement's pioneers have also utilized secular and Western feminist discourses. Advocates of the movement seek to highlight the deeply rooted teachings of equality in the Quran and encourage a questioning of the patriarchal interpretation of Islamic teaching through the Quran, hadith
Hadith
The term Hadīth is used to denote a saying or an act or tacit approval or criticism ascribed either validly or invalidly to the Islamic prophet Muhammad....
(sayings of Muhammad
Muhammad
Muhammad |ligature]] at U+FDF4 ;Arabic pronunciation varies regionally; the first vowel ranges from ~~; the second and the last vowel: ~~~. There are dialects which have no stress. In Egypt, it is pronounced not in religious contexts...
), and sharia
Sharia
Sharia law, is the moral code and religious law of Islam. Sharia is derived from two primary sources of Islamic law: the precepts set forth in the Quran, and the example set by the Islamic prophet Muhammad in the Sunnah. Fiqh jurisprudence interprets and extends the application of sharia to...
(law) towards the creation of a more equal and just society.
Jewish feminism
Jewish feminism
Jewish feminism is a movement that seeks to improve the religious, legal, and social status of women within Judaism and to open up new opportunities for religious experience and leadership for Jewish women...
seeks to improve the religious, legal, and social status of women within Judaism
Judaism
Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...
and to open up new opportunities for religious experience and leadership for Jewish women. In its modern form, the movement can be traced to the early 1970s in the United States. According to Judith Plaskow
Judith Plaskow
Dr. Judith Plaskow is Professor of Religious Studies at Manhattan College. Her scholarly interests focus on contemporary religious thought with a specialization in feminist theology. Dr. Plaskow has lectured widely on feminist theology in the United States and Europe. She co-founded The Journal...
, who has focused on feminism in Reform Judaism
Reform Judaism
Reform Judaism refers to various beliefs, practices and organizations associated with the Reform Jewish movement in North America, the United Kingdom and elsewhere. In general, it maintains that Judaism and Jewish traditions should be modernized and should be compatible with participation in the...
, the main issues for early Jewish feminists in these movements were the exclusion from the all-male prayer group or minyan
Minyan
A minyan in Judaism refers to the quorum of ten Jewish adults required for certain religious obligations. According to many non-Orthodox streams of Judaism adult females count in the minyan....
, the exemption from positive time-bound mitzvot
Mitzvah
The primary meaning of the Hebrew word refers to precepts and commandments as commanded by God...
, and women's inability to function as witnesses and to initiate divorce.
See also
- Equity feminism
- Feminism in 1950s BritainFeminism in 1950s Britain1950s Britain has traditionally been regarded as a bleak period for feminism. In the aftermath of World War II, a new emphasis was placed on the nuclear family as a foundation of the new British welfare state...
- Feminist Art MovementFeminist art movementThe feminist art movement refers to the efforts and accomplishments of feminists internationally to make art that reflects women's lives and experiences, as well as to change the foundation for the production and reception of contemporary art. It also sought to bring more visibility to women within...
- Feminist Majority FoundationFeminist Majority FoundationThe Feminist Majority Foundation is a non-profit organization in the United States dedicated to Women's Equality, Reproductive Health and Non-Violence, headquartered in Arlington County, Virginia. The name Feminist Majority comes from a 1986 Newsweek/Gallup public opinion poll in which 56 percent...
- Feminists For LifeFeminists for LifeFeminists for Life of America is a non-profit, pro-life feminist, non-governmental organization . Established in 1972 and now based in Alexandria, Virginia, the organization describes itself as "shaped by the core feminist values of justice, nondiscrimination, and nonviolence." FFL is dedicated...
- Independent Women's ForumIndependent Women's ForumThe Independent Women's Forum is an American conservative, non-profit, non-partisan research and educational institution focused on domestic and foreign policy issues of concern to women...
- Individualist feminismIndividualist feminismIndividualist feminism is a term for feminist ideas which seek to celebrate or protect the individual woman....
- Jewish feminismJewish feminismJewish feminism is a movement that seeks to improve the religious, legal, and social status of women within Judaism and to open up new opportunities for religious experience and leadership for Jewish women...
- Material feminismMaterial feminismMaterial feminism examines the "material conditions under which social arrangements, including those of gender hierarchy, develop" It argues that "material conditions of all sorts play a vital role in the social production of gender"....
- Marxist feminismMarxist feminismMarxist feminism is a sub-type of feminist theory which focuses on the dismantling of capitalism as a way of liberating women. Marxist feminism states that private property, which gives rise to economic inequality, dependence, political confusion, and ultimately unhealthy social relations between...
- NARAL Pro-Choice AmericaNARAL Pro-Choice AmericaNARAL Pro-Choice America , formerly the National Association for the Repeal of Abortion Laws, then National Abortion Rights Action League, and later National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League, is an organization in the United States that engages in political action to oppose...
- National Organization for WomenNational Organization for WomenThe National Organization for Women is the largest feminist organization in the United States. It was founded in 1966 and has a membership of 500,000 contributing members. The organization consists of 550 chapters in all 50 U.S...
- New ThoughtNew ThoughtNew Thought promotes the ideas that "Infinite Intelligence" or "God" is ubiquitous, spirit is the totality of real things, true human selfhood is divine, divine thought is a force for good, sickness originates in the mind, and "right thinking" has a healing effect.Although New Thought is neither...
- Planned ParenthoodPlanned ParenthoodPlanned Parenthood Federation of America , commonly shortened to Planned Parenthood, is the U.S. affiliate of the International Planned Parenthood Federation and one of its larger members. PPFA is a non-profit organization providing reproductive health and maternal and child health services. The...
- Radical WomenRadical WomenRadical Women is a socialist feminist, grassroots activist organization that provides a radical voice within the feminist movement, a feminist voice within the Left, and trains women to be leaders in the movements for social and economic justice...
- Roe V. WadeRoe v. WadeRoe v. Wade, , was a controversial landmark decision by the United States Supreme Court on the issue of abortion. The Court decided that a right to privacy under the due process clause in the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution extends to a woman's decision to have an abortion,...
- Woman's Peace PartyWoman's Peace PartyThe Woman's Peace Party was an American pacifist organization formally established in January 1915 in response to World War I. The organization is remembered as the first American peace organization to make use of direct action tactics such as public demonstration...
- Women's Peace UnionWomen's Peace UnionWomen's Peace Union was organized by Caroline Lenox Babcock and Elinor Byrns in 1921 with the outset to work within the United States political system to outlaw war...
Sources
- Humm, Maggie. 1978. The Dictionary of Feminist Theory. Columbus: Ohio State University Press.
- Humm, Maggie (ed). 1992. Modern Feminisms. New York: Columbia University Press.