--------------------Aditya Mongra @ Professors Classes-------------------Feminism

The term feminism refers to an intense awareness of identity as a woman

and interest in feminine problems. Feminist movement aims at understanding the
power structures in the society, male domination, social practices and social
institutions, which are instrumental in assigning a marginalized position to women.
Feminist theory aims at devising strategies to transform the social structures, which
can help in womens emancipation.
Women have been fighting for equality for well over 100 years now. The
history of this struggle is often described as in the context of waves. The following
is a very brief sense of the key elements in these waves of activism:
First Wave Feminism (1860s to 1920s) Liberal Feminism
First wave feminism refers to a period of feminist activity during the 19th
and early 20th century in the UK, Canada, Netherlands and USA. It emerged out of
an environment of urban industrialism and liberal, socialist politics. The wave
formally began at the Seneca Falls Convention (New York) in 1848 when 300 men
and women rallied to the cause of equality for women. It focused on de jure (as per
law; legal) inequalities. It primarily emphasized on gaining political and legal
rights such as womens right to vote and property rights.
Mary Wollstonecraft is regarded as the Mother of British Feminism, and
her ideas largely shaped the thinking of first wave feminists. In her work, A
Vindication of the Rights of Women (1792) she advocated the social and moral
equality of the sexes. The majority of the first wave feminists were more moderate
and conservative than radical or revolutionary.
Second Wave Feminism (1960s to 1990s) Socialist-Marxist Feminism
The second wave feminism began in 1960s and continued into 1990s. This
wave unfolded in the context of the anti-Vietnam War and Civil Rights Movement
and the growing self conscious of a variety of minority groups around the world.
Since the resurgence of feminism in the late 1960s and 1970s, Marxism provided a
framework for major theoretical debates.
The New-Left was on the rise and the voice of the second wave was
increasingly radical. Second wave feminists focused on broad range of issues
including discrimination in work place and in broader society. In this phase
sexuality and reproductive rights were dominant issues. Their main objective was
to have womens control over their bodies especially the right to abortion. The
1

--------------------Aditya Mongra @ Professors Classes-------------------fight for reproductive choices included a fight to have information about, and
access to, birth control as well as the struggle to decriminalize abortion. The other
issues included removal of sexual division of labour and equal co-operation of
men in bringing up of children, demands of the rights of lesbians to raise children,
affirmative action, pay equity, domestic violence, sexual harassment, pornography
and sexism in the media.
This phase began with protests against the Miss America pageant in Atlantic
City in 1968 and 1969. Feminists parodied or disapproved what they held to be
degrading cattle parade that reduced women to objects of beauty, dominated by a
patriarchy that sought to keep them in the home or in dull, low paying jobs.
Feminists founded several women only organizations such as National
Organization for Women (NOW) and various consciousness raising groups to
advocate their ideology.
The second wave was increasingly theoretical, based on a fusion of neoMarxism and psycho-analytic theory and began to associate the subjugation of
women with broader critiques of patriarchy, capitalism, normative sexuality and
the womens role as wife and mother. Sex and gender were differentiated, the
former being biological and the latter being a social construct that varies from
culture to culture and over time.
Second wave of feminism saw a more radical edge in feminist movement,
than was present in theories of earlier period. Radical feminists not only demanded
equal rights but asserted superiority of women over men. Instead of a redistribution
of rights and resources, they proposed a revolutionary political shake up of
society. They considered sexist subordination of women as the fundamental form
of oppression. They argued that the concept of family was a central means of
oppression through sexual slavery and forced motherhood.
Third Wave Feminism (1990s to present)
The third phase of feminism began in mid-1990s and is informed by postcolonial and post-modern thinking. The third wave feminism is a term identified
with several diverse strings of feminist activity and study. The movement arose as
a response to the perceived failures and backlash against initiatives and the
movement created by second wave of feminism during 1960s to 1980s and the
realization that women are of many colours, ethnicities, nationalities, religions and
cultural background. The third wave embraces diversity and change. In this wave,
there is no all-encompassing single feminist idea. In this phase, many constructs
have been destabilized, including the notions of universal womanhood, body,
2

--------------------Aditya Mongra @ Professors Classes-------------------gender and sexuality. The movement of third wave feminism focuses less on laws
and political processes and more on individual identity.
Where feminism will go from here is unclear, but the point is that feminism,
by whatever name, is alive and well established both in academia and outside of it.