“A feminist is merely a woman who refuses to accept the notion that women’s power must come through men.”
—Erica Jong
Feminist history can be divided into three waves. The first wave, occurring in the 19th and early 20th century, focused on women’s right to vote. The second wave, at its height in the 1960s and 1970s, refers to the movement for equal legal and social rights. The third wave, beginning in the 1990s, was a reaction to second-wave feminism.
First-wave feminism promoted equal contract and property rights for women. By the late 19th century, feminist activism focused on the right to vote. American first-wave feminism ended with passage of the 19th Amendment to the US Constitution in 1919, granting women voting rights.
Second-wave feminism of the 1960s-1980s refers to the fight for equality in public sectors of employment, education, and legal rights. Second-wave feminist activists campaigned for women’s legal rights–especially in regard to contracts, property, and voting–body autonomy, abortion and reproductive rights–including contraception and prenatal care– protection from domestic violence, sexual harassment, and rape, workplace rights– including maternity leave and equal pay–and against all forms of discrimination women encounter. In her 1963 book, The Feminine Mystique, Betty Friedan criticized the idea that women could find fulfillment only through childrearing and homemaking. Her book ignited the contemporary women’s movement.
Third-wave feminism began in the early 1990s, responding to perceived failures of the second wave, especially as it pertains to diversity. The second-wave was criticized for not considering how interconnected race, class, and gender are, especially regarding systems of discrimination or disadvantage.
Rain Dodging delves into the history of the very earliest waves of feminism– particularly as it relates to women writers.
Ride the wave with me!
https://www.monroecountynow.org/blog/2020/3/26/she-inspired-second-wave-feminism
http://www.ohiohumanities.org/betty-friedan-the-three-waves-of-feminism/ (Sally Ann Drucker. Ohio Humanities, April 27, 2018.)
