When looking back on the waves of feminism, although it seems a little confusing at times, I can also see why it has been in waves and hasn’t been linear. As we’ve been learning, there are so many layers to oppression and when you’re underneath them all it seems impossible to sort through to find out what is the root cause.
I can see how initially Feminism got traction through identifiable goals like legal rights the suffrage movement. Kind of like the low hanging fruit, not to say these were at all easy, just much more obvious than the nuances that came later.
In fact I was shocked to find out how hard it has been to make these changes. In the article, Virginia Just Became the 38th State to Pass the Equal Rights Amendment. Here’s What to Know About the History of the ERA by Tara Law for TIME Magazine, Law reveals that although the fight for the vote and equal rights act began a century ago, there are still loose ends. And, it wasn’t until 1965 when there was full voting rights for African Americans.
This goes to show that although movements that can change can start with just one person and grow into something that inspires for centuries to come, it has to start and it might be a long road ahead.
The second and third wave seem to touch more on the abstract than the concrete. Sexism, cultural inequalities, gender norms, and the role of women in society. Oppression runs deep and it can take a lot of time and constant change to chip away at what has held it together. I assume this is why the second wave was criticized by the third wave, and so on. It’s a long process to understand how to deal with issues that are so deeply woven into fabric of life.
I agree, progress rarely seems to happen quickly or at a steady pace. It seems that as any movement sets and achieves its immediate goals those on the peripherally of the movement might naturally fall off, feeling what they were seeking had been achieved. But those central to the movement will keep pushing setting new priorities and seeking to address the issues they had either set aside or new issues that have arisen. There will be a natural ebb and flow of the movement. I don’t know that it’s helpful, at least in the case of feminism, to separate it into separate movements. There have been feminists pushing the movement forward continuously, the “waves” merely represent the moments at which they’ve managed to gather a groundswell of support. I feel like separating it into different movements weakens the overall movement and diminishes the achievements of those who have continually worked for progress.
Hi Clare,
Thank you for sharing, I enjoyed reading your response. I also agree that the second and third wave touches more on the abstract than the concrete. While studying the three waves of feminism I realized the oppression has and still runs deep throughout the waves. Throughout this third wave we are currently in I can see that in different ways we still are oppressed.
Thank you for sharing, Clare. I agree with feminism being a bit confusing because I never honestly looked into what it meant—the second and third waves are abstract and not concrete. Many things need to change. The current wave, the third, is very much oppressed but not seen as clear as the first and second. Society has set eyes on other things and not moved forward in helping make changes to equal pay for women.