Some researchers think that the roots of feminism started from ancient Greece with Sappho (d. c. 570 BCE), or the medieval world with Hildegard of Bingen (d. 1179) or Christine de Pisan (d. 1434). Also, some recognize Olympes de Gouge (d. 1791), Mary Wollstonecraft (d. 1797) and Jane Austen (d. 1817) as the foremothers of the modern women’s movements. However, most recognize the movement by the three waves of feminism.
The first wave (1830’s – early 1900’s) was a period of feminist activity throughout the world that focused on legal issues, primarily on gaining women's right to vote. Most first-wave feminists were more moderate and conservative than radical or revolutionary, using more traditional strategies like lobbying, delivering speeches, applying political pressure and gathering signatures for petitions.
The most famous leaders and activists of the feminist movement in the United States were Lucretia Coffin Mott, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucy Stone, Susan B. Anthony, Victoria Woodhull, Matilda Joslyn Gage, Sarah and Angelina Grimké, Carrie Chapman Catt, Alice Paul, Sojourner Truth, Ida B. Wells, Margaret Sanger and Lucy Burns. Because of the effort of this people in 1860, New York passed Married Women's Property Act which gave women shared ownership of their children. In 1920 The United States adopted The Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution granting women the right to vote.
The term “first-wave feminism” was named by Martha Lear in The New York Times Magazine (March 1968). She also at the same time used the term "second-wave feminism". The second wave began in the 1960s in the United States and continued into the 80s. It focused on the workplace, sexuality, family and reproductive rights, de facto and official legal inequalities. Many feminist activists were also part of the Black Civil Rights Movement, Anti Vietnam Movement, Chicano Rights Movement, Asian-American Civil Rights Movement, Gay and Lesbian Movement and many other groups fighting for equality. The Victories of second wave of feminist are : Title VII of the Civil Rights Act(1964), Title IX(1972), Women's Educational Equity Act (1974), Title X (1970), the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (1974), the Pregnancy Discrimination Act (1978), the outlawing of marital rape and the legalization of no-fault divorce. The early 1980s marked the end of the second wave and the beginning of the feminist sex wars that were overlapped by third-wave feminism in the early 1990s.
The third wave of feminism began in the early 90’s and continue until today. It began as a response to failures of the second wave. Third-wave feminists believed that there needs to be further changes in stereotypes, media portrayals, and language to define women. Also, Gender violence has become an issue. Activists want to transform the traditional notions of sexuality and embrace "an exploration of women's feelings about sexuality that included vagina-centred topics as diverse as orgasm, birth, and rape."( Brunell, L. 2008) I think the remaining task for the modern feminist is to finally get an equal pay for women, and eliminate labels and stereotypes such as the notion of how a woman “should” act, dress, or express her sexuality. These are all forms of self-expression which everyone should be afforded the right to.
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