Throughout history, women have been disenfranchised by men; the aim of this article is to act as a shining light on one of the most important social movements of the modern era. Feminism is still an important movement in the life of many people; therefore, people who are ignorant of the foundation of the movement need to be educated. It can be argued that there are 3 main waves of feminism throughout the modern period, and this article will chronicle the history of their campaigns.
Figure 1: Poster
The “First wave” of feminism, named as it was the first time that women came together to campaign under one banner for large social change, was during the early 20th century. You may know the name “Suffragettes” or be familiar with the Suffragette movement. They were a group of women who campaigned for the right to vote, to own land, and to be the legal guardian of children. These campaigns caused wide-spread social change across the UK. By modern standards, the idea of a group of people being denied basic rights like the right to vote and the right to own land is wrong, yet it had been the status quo since the birth of society.
The suffragette movement mainly campaigned for political change and often used extreme methods in order to prove their dedication and garner attention. An example of this would be the efforts of Marion Wallace Dunlop. Many suffragettes were imprisoned for their activism, and they were denied political prisoner status, and as such, Marion popularised the concept of going on hunger strike, to which the authorities either attempted to force-feed them or released the women who were seen as fit to re-enter society [1].
The second wave of feminism had a fundamental advantage over the first wave: the movement was more focalised due to the changing political climate, and due to the advancements made by the suffragettes and other feminist campaigns in the previous years.
Primarily originating in the United States in the 1960’s, the second wave of feminism lasted roughly 20 years and mostly consisted of acquiring gender equality in legislation and contracts. The movement aimed to gain equality in regard to the workplace, reproductive rights, de facto inequalities, and in lawful representation [2]. Some of the ways they campaigned includes meetings, marches and strikes.
You may be asking what a “De facto inequality” is, as it isn’t a term commonly used. A de facto inequality is a type of discrimination that is not directly governed by legislation or law enforcement. An example of de facto inequality would be sexual harassment, as at the time it was almost completely free of lawful control. De facto translates to “in fact”, which refers to how these inequalities should be governed by an authoritative body.
The third wave of feminism occurred in the 21st century, which most sources contend that it mostly occurred from 2012 to 2016. This wave had access to the internet, and this allowed for much more wide-spread campaigning and awareness. The rise of social media sites contributed massively to the growth of the movement, as well as the constant stream of information and debating grew the movement. The main aim of this movement was to empower women through identity politics and to bring awareness to struggling and marginalised groups, in particular the African American / Ethnic Minority Groups and the LGBT+ groups.
An example of how the third wave of feminism used the internet to raise awareness and spread the message of feminism was with the Everyday Sexism Project [3]. This website was started by a woman called Laura Bates, who created a website for anonymous sharing of examples of sexual harassment, inequality, and discrimination through daily life. This website was started in 2012 and is still operational today, where you can see the stories of women around the world facing sexism.
This wave faced a lot of backlash, most commonly centring around the activists themselves, as the inclusion and expression of individualism created easy opportunity for attacks on the campaigners to be common. Another common critique was about the movement losing focus, becoming less about women’s rights and more about politics, with most scepticism and criticism coming from right wing and right of centre groups.
This wave of feminism can be argued to be the least important or impactful, as it wasn’t campaigning for rights or legislative changes, focussing more on individualism and identity politics. However, this wave has brought questions such as suicide, rape, and abortion rights to the forefront of discussion, rather than being treated as taboo and subsequently ignored.
To conclude, the feminist movement is seen as one of the most important movements of the modern era, and being a feminist is about more than attending marches and signing petitions, it’s about raising awareness of women’s issues and fighting for a more equal tomorrow.
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