Riding the Waves of Feminism Since the founding of the United States in 1776, the separation of people has always been present, however, women have been segregated since the beginning preceding to the 21st century. From this oppression emerged the term feminism, a fight for the equality of genders, which has been a progressing success. Feminism has been categorized into three waves, each detailing its own advancements. To fully understand the developmental waves of feminism, we must overview its history, focus on movements/organizations and address current issues to conclude that modern day feminism has in fact been a success.
Although the United States was established on July 4th 1776, the term feminism originated in France around 1890 …show more content…
Second wave feminism according to 2016’s New World Encyclopedia explains that “Second-wave feminism was largely concerned with other issues of equality, such as the end to gender discrimination in society, in education and in the workplace”. Second wave feminism began to shine a light on the discrimination that women faced in society and led to many organizations and movements. The women’s liberation front, dedicated to total liberation of women in the united states, first began its crusade in 1968. Their unity encouraged women to ban together by protesting their inequalities through the burning of bras and other feminine products. With second wave feminism aligning their cause with the civil rights movement, a measure to have equality for all genders and races in the 1960s, accomplishments such as the equal employment opportunity commission and the ERA (Equal Rights Amendment) both designed for equal rights for women and men was created. Jessica Valenti, American blogger and feminist writer penned that “If feminism wasn't powerful, if feminism wasn't influential, people wouldn't spend so much time putting it down” (Feministing.com). Had the efforts of first and second wave feminism not been successful, women would not have the same equal rights as men to vote, gain higher forms of education, and not have introduced third and fourth wave …show more content…
Women now having equal opportunities in various areas such as education and work, still needed to gain an equal platform. For example, the unwomans organization states that “Worldwide, women only make 77 cents for every dollar earned by men…at the current rate of progress, equal pay for both gender will not be parallel until 2069” (1). Even though women had access to the same opportunities, this shows how they were still treated unequal. Third wave feminism started to shift its focus to individual movements and reshape what it means to be a feminist. The change in the individual movements would begin by the upbringing of children, and how the individual’s perspective on gender would aid to the goal of gender equality and make modern day feminism successful. Adichie states that “Gender as it functions today is a grave injustice…and this is how to start. We must raise our daughters and sons differently. We do a great disservice to boys in how we raise them…we define masculinity in a very narrow way…we teach boys to be afraid of weakness, of vulnerability” (We Should All Be Feminist). Adichie here challenges that the obstacles of feminism could simply be overcome if children are raised with the ideology that gender equality is equality for all. For example, allowing children to play with gender based toys, but teaching them that toys can be gender neutral would be
Although the United States was established on July 4th 1776, the term feminism originated in France around 1890 …show more content…
Second wave feminism according to 2016’s New World Encyclopedia explains that “Second-wave feminism was largely concerned with other issues of equality, such as the end to gender discrimination in society, in education and in the workplace”. Second wave feminism began to shine a light on the discrimination that women faced in society and led to many organizations and movements. The women’s liberation front, dedicated to total liberation of women in the united states, first began its crusade in 1968. Their unity encouraged women to ban together by protesting their inequalities through the burning of bras and other feminine products. With second wave feminism aligning their cause with the civil rights movement, a measure to have equality for all genders and races in the 1960s, accomplishments such as the equal employment opportunity commission and the ERA (Equal Rights Amendment) both designed for equal rights for women and men was created. Jessica Valenti, American blogger and feminist writer penned that “If feminism wasn't powerful, if feminism wasn't influential, people wouldn't spend so much time putting it down” (Feministing.com). Had the efforts of first and second wave feminism not been successful, women would not have the same equal rights as men to vote, gain higher forms of education, and not have introduced third and fourth wave …show more content…
Women now having equal opportunities in various areas such as education and work, still needed to gain an equal platform. For example, the unwomans organization states that “Worldwide, women only make 77 cents for every dollar earned by men…at the current rate of progress, equal pay for both gender will not be parallel until 2069” (1). Even though women had access to the same opportunities, this shows how they were still treated unequal. Third wave feminism started to shift its focus to individual movements and reshape what it means to be a feminist. The change in the individual movements would begin by the upbringing of children, and how the individual’s perspective on gender would aid to the goal of gender equality and make modern day feminism successful. Adichie states that “Gender as it functions today is a grave injustice…and this is how to start. We must raise our daughters and sons differently. We do a great disservice to boys in how we raise them…we define masculinity in a very narrow way…we teach boys to be afraid of weakness, of vulnerability” (We Should All Be Feminist). Adichie here challenges that the obstacles of feminism could simply be overcome if children are raised with the ideology that gender equality is equality for all. For example, allowing children to play with gender based toys, but teaching them that toys can be gender neutral would be