What Was The Impact Of The Feminist Movement

Feminism is not exactly a new force in politics; even though it has not gained its a mass attention until the recent decades, it has tremendous impact on society, culture, political systems, education and economic systems. It addresses the inequalities in various institutions and seeks to improve the position of women within it. Feminist thought, when carry out right, can make a significant impact in redefining politics and social roles. In practices, feminist thought has installed awareness women regarding their rights and potentials to improve their lives. Feminist movements also increased women’s participation in political and social reforms that ultimately increase women’s confidence in the ownership of their body and mind. Women’s groups

Historically, female slaves were properties of slave-owners and the slave-owners have full authority over them. Women were considered as subjects of men, so rights and individualism were irrelevant. This assumption derived from slavery and sustained it through out the years. When the United States government was found on that “all men are created equal”, women were still neglected in such equality. However, it is the exclusion of women’s access to human rights that encourages the emergence of social movements. Despite barricades, feminism managed to thrives and expand. There no longer exist a hegemonic definition or single objective of feminism. It now encompasses the anti-discrimination of LGBTQ community, freedom to express self-identities that were once deviant, and aspirations for better communities for all. Today, feminism has become more than movements, it is a mentality, belief, and mainstay for many movements to be fostered. The waves that have carried feminist far beyond its original and moderate intent in pursuing equality for women has redefined and consequently changed laws, transformed views, and make the world a better

In Robert Dahl’s work How Democratic Is the American Constitution?, he characterizes the unconstitutional elements of the construction of the American Constitution and the democratic changes that have been made to the Constitution to address the inequalities that the original document has created. One of the undemocratic elements that Dahl addresses is suffrage, in which he argues that the constitution failed to “guarantee the right of suffrage, leaving the qualifications of suffrage to the states, [which] implicitly left in place the exclusion of half the population-women-as African Americans, and Native” (Dahl 2003, 16) According to the Political Opportunity Theory, political structure creates incentives for the emergence of social movements. This undemocratic feature of the original Constitution encouraged of the first and most impactful feminist movement in the history, which changed the political status of women and influence further feminist