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Second wave of feminism essay
Essays about second wave feminism
Second wave of feminism essay
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Like any important political movement, goals change based on situational urgency. In the 1920’s through the 1930’s, feminist women were suffragettes who fought for their right to vote. Alongside voting rights, feminists at this time were advocating for a shift in perspective, specifically a shift in the perspective of women’s roles in society. This ideological shift was as follows: “Women could be both a happy wife and mother and a successful contributor to the household economy”(Nicholson, 53). This ideological shift was necessary because America needed a female workforce while the males fought World War II. This period is known as first wave feminism, or as I will refer to it “first storm feminism”. Later on, feminist’s strived for more
“Feminism is both an intellectual commitment and a political movement that seeks justice for women and the end of sexism in all forms” (Baptiste). Just as in the past, feminism continues to act as a controversial issue among men and women. In the 1960’s, women finally addressed workplace inequity and created woman organizations to achieve equality. In the early 1960’s, the Equal Pay Act and the Civil Rights Act set a milestone for women’s progression towards work equality. Though women have made great leaps towards true equality, women still face many challenges and continue to be categorized as the subservient gender.
Decades ago, the women did not have a voice in any matter, may it be about the family, work or even your lifestyle. In this generation, countless women have fought so that other women can freely express themselves unlike back in the old days. Many feminist activists (from generations ago and in this generation) are fighting so that women can have more voice just as the men do. For example, in the 1960s-70s feminist movement many women joined in movement so they fight for job equality and eradicate the discrimination towards women. In the article The 1960s-70s American Feminist Movement: Breaking Down Barriers For Women it stated that "In 1964, Representative Howard Smith of Virginia proposed to add a prohibition on gender discrimination into the Civil Rights Act that was under consideration. He was greeted by laughter from the other Congressmen..." (Tavaana, P4). This means that many other good people had tried to give rights to women, but now that the society has changed a little. Women now have a voice meaning, they can choose what job, their career and how they would want their life to be. Just because that is how that past is, that does not mean that the future cannot change. The past will always stay as the past, but the future can change to how the actions, you caused can either affect you or other people around
In the early 1900’s, women who were married main jobs were to care for her family, manage their houses, and do housework. That is where the word housewife was come from. During the 1940's, women's roles and expectations in society were changing quickly and a lot. Before, women had very limited say in society. Since unemployment was so high during the Great Depression, most people were against women working because they saw it as women taking jobs from men that needed to work. Women were often stereotyped to stay home, have babies, and to be a good wife and mother. Advertisements often targeted women, showing them in the kitchen, talking with children, serving dinner, cleaning, and them with the joy of a clean house or the latest kitchen appliance.
Women in the 1930 were a significant part of everyday life, they just did not get credit for it. Women were not recognized for all that they did because men were put on a pesistool. The inequality in this time period affected everything women did. Women were important in American history because of their family roles, careers, and wages.
Feminism today has not changed that much since the twentieth century. Some women choose to flaunt their bodies and have lots of sex while others conserve themselves and think an active sex life is slutty. Some women think having long hair makes them more of a feminist then women with short hair. Feminism is characterized more by what someone is doing and not what they believe. The feminist movement has constantly been a way for women to get their opinion out publicly in rational and sometimes irrational ways. Overall, modern day feminism is not about how women shouldn’t do this or that but about what women can do to be perceived as equal to men.
Whereas the women’s suffrage movements focused mainly on overturning legal obstacles to equality, the feminist movements successfully addressed a broad range of other feminist issues. The first dealt primarily with voting rights and the latter dealt with inequalities such as equal pay and reproductive rights. Both movements made vast gains to the social and legal status of women. One reached its goals while the other continues to fight for women’s rights.
“It is time that we all see gender as a spectrum instead of two sets of opposing ideals. We should stop defining each other by what we are not and start defining ourselves by who we are” (Emma Watson). Since the beginning of time, Eve was portrayed as the first sinner and this could be the reason why women are still paying for her sins to this day, from either education to jobs and look to stereotypes. Though now women are crawling out of the hole of inequality faster than before and soon women will be able to reach the light they have been waiting to grasp.
The 1920s in American history had been a decade of drastic changes. It was the time when the traditional culture translated into the more modern practices.United States experienced super changes after the Great War had ended. During this decade, more people are moving to big cities and away from the suburbs to work in industrialized factories. Cars such as Ford were mass produced. Advertisement was first created in the age of consumerism. The 1920s, often known in America as the “Roaring Twenties”, is considered as the first modern era in which many advancements and improvements have been made.
In the 1930’s, most women didn’t have jobs. Everyone was poor and racism was still prevalent. Disabled and blind people were treated almost like children. Mr. Will wasn’t treated as much of an efficient adult as he was, merely because he was blind. Today, the blind can receive as much help as they may need, but there are more things that exist to help them in their daily lives, and are seen more as people than a burden to a family than they were in the 30’s. Mrs. Spalding was expected to let her family split apart and move out of her house after her husband dies because they no longer had any source of income and there was no way she could do it alone, with her being a woman in the 1930’s. Women today are expected to have jobs, just like men
The term feminist is seen with a negative connotation because people use it as an insult against women in an effort to make them seem irrational and unfair, but in reality it is the exact opposite of that. Feminism is defined as the “belief in or advocacy of women’s social, political, and economic rights, especially with regard to equality of the sexes.” (Feminism). There is no reason that there should be a negative connotation to this belief or participation in advancing this belief, yet there is. This battle and struggle for equal rights has been going on for a very long time, but it really took off in the 1920s. The 19th amendment and The New Woman really helps to show how quickly women and their rights progressed in the United States. Many
Feminism has growth over the decades, first they explain who they are fought for us (women), now they are fighting for themselves.
During the 1930s women is not treated equally and they are very different in many way. Women were less likely to get jobs than men. Fashion is also very different. Women wore plain dresses while men wore blue denim jackets. Women during the Great Depression are actually depressed because they can not get jobs and their wages are half as much as men. Men get good jobs and amazing wages, but at least both still have their fashion.
also managed to prove that they could do the jobs just as well as men
Before the 1920s men and women were thought to have two separate roles in life. People believed women should be concerned with their children, home, and religion, while men took care of business and politics. In 1920 there were significant changes for women in politics, the home, and the workplace. When the 19th amendment passed it gave women the right to vote. “Though slowly to use their newly won voting rights, by the end of the decade women were represented local, state, and national political committees and were influencing the political agenda of the federal government.” Now a days it’s normal for women to be involved in politics and it’s normal for women to vote. Another drastic change
The feminist movement helped earn women the right to vote, but even then, it wasn’t enough to get accepted into the workforce. They were given the strength to fight the journey for equality and social justice. There has been known to be three waves of feminism, each wave fighting for a different issue concerning women’s rights. Laws protecting sexual assault and alimony would be enacted, and women were now allowed custody of their children in divorce cases.