The Decline Of The Women's Movement By Barbara Epstein

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In order to have a better understanding of this question, this week’s class focused on a couple of different readings that analyzed movements and the reason of their downfall. In their own way, these readings show why movements have failed and the reasoning behind it. The first reading that analyzes this question is “The Decline of the Women’s Movement” by Barbara Epstein. She focuses her analysis on the first and second wave feminism and the reasons they didn’t succeed. The First Wave movement mostly consisted of white middle class and upper class women and began during the abolitionist movement where women affiliated themselves with anti-slavery and anti-racism movements. When the Civil War ended and women weren’t extended suffrage, they abandoned their alliances with the blacks. This movement was then based on women’s suffrage and the right to vote. The problem this movement faced was, “First wave feminism also moved, over the course of its history, toward a narrowness of vision that isolated it from other progressive movements” (pg.377). Even though this movement changed many views in society, the reason they failed was because they pulled back their alliances. Not long after the second wave of feminism began and sexuality became their main goal along with a broader view concerning the workplace, family, and reproductive rights. Women focused their energy on passing the Equal Rights Amendment which would guarantee them social equality and the right to have freedom in the choices they make. “Radical feminists wanted gender equality in the workplace, and most liberal feminists wanted a more egalitarian society” ( pg.379). The second wave used a more of a rebellious approach; the radical feminists viewed patriarchy ...

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...to keep their society safe and fighting towards the same goal is through nation building.
Throughout these readings we can now analyze the question as to why movements decline. Movements decline for numerous reasons and the authors of these readings used different topics to answer this question. Even though some of these movements talked about have made some change in our society, they still haven’t won their battle. The only way for a movement to stay strong and succeed is by having people on the same page that are willing to fight until the end for a common goal. In my opinion, I think the gay/lesbian movement will be the next to triumph because they are the only people in America today that aren’t accepted by society. This gives them that much motivation to fight for what they believe in and have society realize that sex isn’t the way to define a person.

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