6th SEM, ENGLISH
HONOURS
CEH 14: WOMEN’S WRITING
TOPIC: FEMINISM
A Short
History of Feminism
Women have been fighting for equality for well over 100 years now. The
history of this struggle is often described as in the context of ‘waves’. The
following is a very brief sense of the key elements in these waves of activism:
First Wave Feminists focused their
struggles primarily on gaining legal rights such as the right to vote (women’s
suffrage) and property rights. The first known publications by women that
referred to a demand for equality between men and women were published in the 15th
century, but what is referred to as first wave feminism really began in the
late 1800’s and early 1900’s. This wave of feminism ended when women made some
legal gains in North America (rights to have a say with regards to their
children, the right to own property and inherit property) and when some women
won the right to vote between 1917 and 1920. In Canada, Aboriginal women living
on reserves would not win the right to vote until 1960.
Second Wave Feminists focused on a
broad range of issues in the 1960’s, 70’s and early 80’s including
discrimination in workplaces and in broader society. Some of the key struggles
were around affirmative action, pay equity, rape, domestic violence, pornography
and sexism in the media, and reproductive choice. The fight for reproductive choice
included a fight to have information about, and access to, birth control
(selling or promoting birth control was illegal in Canada until 1969) as well
as the struggle to decriminalize abortion. In 1988 the Supreme Court of Canada
struck down Canada’s abortion law noting that it fundamentally violated a
women’s right to ‘liberty and personal autonomy’ as guaranteed in Canada’s
Charter of Rights and Freedoms. A subsequent attempt one year later to
introduce a new abortion law failed in the Senate due to a tie vote. During
this time frame both the United States (in 1963) and Canada (in 1967) launched
investigations into the status of women and through the subsequent reports made
public the depth and breadth of the inequalities experienced by women.
The National Action Committee on the Status of Women was set up following the
Canadian Royal Commission on the Status of Women to advocate for women’s
equality and became an important focal point for feminist action in Canada
during the 1970’s and 80’s.
Third Wave Feminism emerged in the 1990’s in
part as a response to the backlash from the gains 2nd wave feminists had made
in the 1970’s and 80’s. While women made significant gains during the second
wave of feminism, equality was still a distant dream. Race and Class became
important issues for reflection and action within the movement – a movement
that had been dominated by white, mostly middle-class, women. This wave of feminism
is not galvanized around one or two key struggles, such as the right to vote or
reproductive choice, as was the case in both the 1st and 2nd wave. Even the
term feminist is not universally adopted but often rejected by new activists.
While the movement seems less galvanized in this current wave there is
no doubt that the fight for women’s equality is far from over. Mobilizing and
organizing across age, race, class and our differences as women remains our
challenge in continuing the fight for equality for women.
Important points to be noted.
The Three Waves of the Feminist Movement
First Wave 1848-mid-1920s
Claims:
• Suffrage
• Creation of social and child-labor laws
• Start of campaign for legalized birth control
• Equal Rights Amendment (1923) is drafted
Second Wave rises out of anti-war and civil-rights movements
Claims:
• predominately white, middle class American-based, educated women;
eventually moves into the
academy (National Women’s Studies Association)
• organization of women’s liberation groups in major US cities
• activist activities: consciousness-raising (CR) groups and speak-outs
occur in major cities across the US
• women step into male-dominated political arenas
• ERA moves to Congress (loses by three votes)
• successful passing of Title IV (equal funding for boys and girls
activities in educational settings that are
federally funded)
• women’s health issues are recognized: Our Bodies, Ourselves,
1971
• legal and social recognition of: domestic violence, sexual harassment,
sexual assault, child sexual
abuse, women in the workplace, women in the military, women’s
reproductive rights, rape, pornography, homophobia
Third Wave late 1980s to present
Claims:
• broader inclusion of recognition: women of color, sexual diversity,
age (recognition of young girls and
older women), and men
• inclusion becomes more trans global; activist activities becomes a
fight for all women everywhere, beyond
US borders (Transnational/Global Feminism)
• volunteerism is new force for activist activities
• CR groups form through new texts: the ‘zine movement gives way to the
use of writing, new technologies
(Internet, film making, music)
• women begin stepping into male-dominated cultural arenas
• women’s health issues are recognized through activist activities: reproductive
health rights marches on DC in 1989, 1992 and 2004
• legal and social recognition of: date rape, sexual identity issues
(custody battles, gender reassignment, marriage rights), reclamation of
language (bitch, slut), objectification (body image is major issue)
• shifting of Second Wave ideals on “proper” feminism: marriage,
pornography
• voter registration among women becomes driving force
for many activist activities
