First Wave to Fourth Wave Feminism

Abstract

Feminism had evolved significantly from the 19th and early 20th centuries when the first wave focused on securing legal rights like women’s suffrage. Feminist pioneers from the first wave, like Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Sojourner Truth, laid the groundwork for gender equality by challenging societal norms and ensuring the right to vote for women. Though primarily limited to white, middle-class women at the time when we now look at the fourth-wave feminism that we are currently in, it has expanded different things: the workplace of quality, sexual harassment, and the gender pay gap. We now get to experience feminism not only from a legal standpoint but also from a digital and intersectional one. The opportunity for movements like #MeTooAnd #TimesUp has allowed feminism to give people a voice who usually or would feel like they don’t have one. Feminism‘s journey reflects the ongoing struggle for equality and justice in America and worldwide.

Introduction:

Throughout time, there has been an evolution of feminism. Where feminism started in the first wave has set the tone for later waves of feminism, and how women’s activists have laid the groundwork for later ideas and feminism. The waves in the middle still hold importance. All the waves of feminism have a distinct historical and cultural prevalence, not only in America but also in other countries.

Historiography:

Andi Schwartz, Gender Politics and the Fourth Feminist Wave.

Sign from protester-

Why do we need fourth wave feminism?

Historiography Connections

Women’s History, Women’s Suffrage, Social History

Geographic Coverage

North America

Press Release

The author of this article is Andi Schwartz, she is an assistant professor of women’s and gender studies at St. Francis Xavier University. Also, Andi is a writer and feminist scholar working on different categories including: critical femininity studies, and feminist media studies in digital culture. She is a research associate with the Centre for Feminist research at York University. Andi Schwartz is current treasurer of the Sexuality Studies Association at St. Francis Xavier University.

Content

The article discusses how theorists and feminist scholars believe that there is a current fourth wave of feminism. In the article, Schwartz mentions gender politics. It talks about how even though feminism does look how it used to in the 60s but it is still just as important. A key role in this is online activism. There has been talk about how gender has been put on the back burner due to strikingly urgent issues, they give the example of how Breonna Taylor lost her life due to police brutality. The article touches on how gender analysis is necessary for every political issue, said Marageaux Feldman. Marageaux Feldman is a queer and non-binary disability activist and educator. As I stated before, social media is an aid in visibility for feminism. An example of this is the #MeToo movement. Where women would share their stories about sexual abuse, sexual harrasment, and rape. Other women and allies would show their support under this hashtag as well. Though social media is helpful for feminism, it can also be hurtful. Social media can make these gender issues seem smaller and less important. Kimberlé Crenshaw is a professor of the UCLA School of Law and Columbia Law School professor. She mentions feminism via social media needs to be taken head on, by addressing the patriarchy and systematic sexism. The article stays consistent with the points on gender being a source of oppression for women. Fourth-wave feminism is the attempt of feminist to continue to strive for complete loss in gender bias.

Ideas from Betty Friedan, writer of The Feminine Mystique.

Follow this link to a clip of Betty Friedan

Narrative

In the dawn of women’s rights, feminism emerged in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The first wave of feminism was primarily driven by the fight for women’s suffrage and legal rights—the leading activists during this time were Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Sojourner Truth. We now know that through their fight for women’s rights, women were eventually given the right to vote. These women were pioneers in the early age of feminism. They were confined to domestic roles with limited access to education and work opportunities. When we look at first-wave feminism, the main idea behind it is an emphasis on legal reforms. With the main idea, being trying to secure the right to vote for women eventually with the fight from the suffrage movement the 19th Amendment in the United States was ratified in the 1920s. Though this was an excellent step for early-age feminism, it still was not, mainly where women wanted to be, because the only women who were then able to vote were white middle-class to wealthy women. Women of color were still treated unequally compared to white women. Now moving on to fourth-wave feminism. Fourth-wave feminism began in about 2012. It is defined by its intersexual approach, emphasizing things like gender, race, class, sexuality, and disability. Different from the first wave, the fourth wave operates in a world where feminism is both a personal and a collective movement. The drive for fourth-wave feminism has been brought up significantly from social media. This was not the case in first-wave feminism, so fourth-wave has the advantage of helping more people be educated on the topic around the world, not just in your neighborhood. Though the other ways of feminism laid excellent groundwork, there are still many issues that the fourth way of feminism is here to tackle. This includes body autonomy, workplace quality, sexual harassment, and the gender pay gap. There have also been different movements that have risen from Fourway feminism, such as #MeTooAnd #TimesUp. Have brought global attention to systematic abusers. It has empowered survivors to share their stories in demand of accountability so that other women can feel encouraged to do the same. Fourth-wave feminism has also expanded to include non-binary transgender voices, recognizing that the fight for general quality must encompass all different kinds of identities. Compared to the first legal focus, the fourth wave emphasizes cultural change, addressing deeply integrated social norms.

H5P- Protestors against Woodrow Wilson

Conclusion

From the fight for suffrage to digital activism, feminism has continuously adapted to the needs of women during that time. The progress that first-wave feminism made for today’s feminism is massively important and not to be forgotten, even though feminism can look different now. Overall, the different ways of feminism can represent the ongoing struggle that women consistently feel in this world. The fight for all forms of equality and freedom is continuing.

References  

Dean, J. (2009). Who’s Afraid of Third Wave Feminism? International Feminist Journal of Politics, 11(3), 334–352. https://doi-org.proxy.ulib.csuohio.edu/10.1080/14616740903017711

“Do I need to sit beside the man to be equal to Him”? Second‐Wave Feminism and Jewish Women in Montreal, 1962–1980. (2022). Gender & History, 34(2), 339–354. https://doi-org.proxy.ulib.csuohio.edu/10.1111/1468-0424.12624

Hague, R. (2016). Between the Waves: Currents in Contemporary Feminist Thought. Political Studies Review, 14(2), 199–209. https://doi-org.proxy.ulib.csuohio.edu/10.1111/1478-9302.12047

Schwartz, Andi. 2021. “Gender Politics and the Fourth Feminist Wave.” Herizons 35 (3): 20–23. https://search-ebscohost-com.proxy.ulib.csuohio.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&A N=153087343&site=ehost-live.

Schuster, J. (2017). Why the personal remained political: comparing second and third wave perspectives on everyday feminism. Social Movement Studies, 16(6), 647–659. https://doi-org.proxy.ulib.csuohio.edu/10.1080/14742837.2017.1285223