Question

Three waves of feminism. Please describe for me the essential components of each wave, comparing and contrasting their achievements.

Answer 1

The world has seen enough discrimination in the hands of few white males throughout history and they made others suffer including men from other races. Women were not exemptions from their cruel self. Even an animal, when threatened fights back, so women fought for their rights with little result but it all became stronger in the 19^th century. The three waves of feminism starting from 1930s till date are very important landmarks in history.All these three movements fought for different rights.

First wave feminism (1930s - 1950s) – It all started with political right to vote and being part of the politics. Women were neglected and only white men, especially someone who owned lands were able to vote. They also fought for economic equality, where the first glimpses of equal pay rights took off. They also fought for sexual equality and reproductive rights but that was just the beginning. The major achievement was right to vote.

Second wave feminism (1960s – 1980s) – There was a gap between1900till 1950 because of the two world wars that prevented most movements and economic recession threatened almost every nation. Second wave feminism focused on workplace equality where they demanded equal wage, sexuality to choose their orientations, family rights and controlling reproduction rights. They almost achieved everything and they were becoming more powerful by the end of 80s, at least in the developed countries. There were other issues about women’s rights. It focused on the rights of only white women but other ethnic women such as, Black, Hispanic and Asian were fighting for their rights in their own way. Educational institutions started accepting women and schools were already becoming co-education.

Third wave (1990s – till date) – Women have achieved almost all the rights today and work in almost all the fields. The word feminism today has gone from macro level to micro level. They have started working for gender equality in a micro level thus working in all spheres of life. Today, to speak the truth women have more freedom and opportunities than men but the sexual harassment at workplace and violence at home still continues but unlike theold times, women have the choice today to choose to live with it or get out of it.