Throughout history, it is common to say that there are three distinct phases of modern feminism. With this, however, there are many different versions of these three phases and very little consensus on how to characterize these three waves. While some people believe that the roots of feminism started in ancient Greece, others believe that the first real wave of feminism started in the 1830s. The second wave is popularly believed as being in the 1960s and 1980s and the third wave is believed as being in the 1990s to the present. This blog post will look through the three waves and discuss the important aspects of it.

First, it is important to understand what feminism is and what it means. The definition of feminism is “the theory of the political, economic, and social equality of the sexes” another definition is the “organized activity on behalf of women’s rights and interests.” So basically, feminism at its core is the belief that women are equal to men. It is believed that the ideals of feminism started in ancient Greece with Sappho, who was one of the first feminists who started a school for women. Even Socrates, famous Greek philosopher, also encouraged the first bases of feminism because he believed in the idea of female intellect. However, feminism took a back seat until the 1830s.

This first wave of feminism came from the emergence of an environment of urban industrialism and liberal socialist politics. The wave really began with the Seneca Falls Convention of 1848. At this convention, three hundred men and women rallied to the cause of equality for women. It was here that Elizabeth Cady Stanton drafted the Seneca Falls Declaration which outlined the new movement’s ideologies and political strategies. In this first wave, feminism was interrelated with the temperance and abolitionist movements which got even more groups of people involved in feminism. With women finally asking for rights and wanting their talents to be recognized, Victorian men and women claimed that these women were acting “un-ladylike” and, thus, challenging the “cult of domesticity.” The “cult of domesticity” was a term that Victorian men and women used of what they wanted women to be; it was an idealization of the home and family as a space of moral purity. This ideal also centered on the belief that women were responsible for the moral affairs and everyday activities of the household.  This idea then led to women’s participation in politics, discussions about the right to vote, and an examination of the differences between men and women.

During the 1890s, women took the right to vote even more seriously than ever before with the creation of the National American Woman Suffrage Association with Elizabeth Cady Stanton as the organization’s first president. After more than 30 years of fighting for the right to vote, in 1920, women were finally awarded this essential right with the ratification of the 19th Amendment.

The second wave of feminism began in the 1960s during the anti-war and civil rights movement and continued into the 1990s. This wave came right after World War II and focused on women in the workplace, sexuality, family and reproductive rights. There were so many other social movements going on during this time, like the civil rights movement and the efforts to end the war in Vietnam, so it was very easy for feminism to take a back seat during this time period. The second wave of feminism was much more theoretical than the first wave, it was based on a fusion of neo-Marxism and psychoanalytic theory which then began to associate the subjugation of women with the patriarchy, capitalism, and heterosexuality. With this, women were differentiating sex and gender with gender being biological and sex being a social construct. With this, women were becoming more and more free with their own sexuality.

The third wave of feminism began right after the second wave, in the 1990s, and still continues today. The third wave focuses on the many different types of feminists and the varying feminist outlooks, like the ego-cultural feminists, the radicals, the electoral, the academic, and so much more. One aspect of the third wave of feminism was talking about beauty again. Instead of women making themselves look good for their husbands and for men, women decided to define feminine beauty for themselves, not as objects of a sexist patriarchy.

The main issues of third wave feminism are talked about today and we are still working on answers to these issues. This new feminism is global, multi-cultural, and it does not allow for simple answers or artificial categories of identity, gender, and sexuality being proper answers anymore. For example, the wage gap and the reproductive rights of women are two issues that are hotly debated in politics and there is still no agreement to these issues. While there have been efforts to equal out the pay gap, there is still a deadlock about reproductive rights. Another issue that is especially important in the past couple months is the violence, discrimination, and harassment against women, especially in the workplace.

The fact is that women are still not equal to men, even in this 21st century society. We can not rest until we are treated as equals and with respect. We need to work together, men and women, to make this world a safe and prosperous place for everyone, no matter what a person’s gender, ethnicity, income, or sexual orientation.

If you would like to learn more about feminism, click here. It is always good to be educated before you debate or talk about something as serious as feminism!