Feminism does not have a simple fundamental and simple definition. The definition of feminism varies with the beliefs of a person. The best way for me to describe feminism is it refers to the belief in the social, political, and economic equality of women. Before I even entered this class, I had never really heard of feminism or the issues behind it. I did not know if I was considered to be a feminist or not. I remember the first day of class and Dr. Pendley asked what five questions we wanted to get answered out of this class by the end of the semester. I remember my first question being “what is feminism?” I kind of felt retarded for writing that since the whole entire class was mainly about feminism and the history behind it. Another question that I asked on that sheet of paper is “was I a feminist?” There seemed to have been students in the class who knew much about feminism and felt strongly about their feminist beliefs. Since I had no idea of the main topic that was being talked about in the class this is what made it very interesting for me. With the help of all our class discussions, videos, and articles I do have to say at the end of the semester both of my questions were answered over a period of time and I was able to grasp the true concepts of feminism and meaning of being a feminist. Our textbooks for the class also helped me read more about feminism and what it meant.
Feminism went through three different ways to get equality for women. The first wave was for the right to vote. During this time women were not considered part of the legal document that women could vote. Many of women saw this as inequality and believed that they were citizens and should have the option to choose and pick their certain representatives. Many of men did not want women to have to choice to vote because they did not believe that they were smart enough and did not know the right reasons to be choosing a person to represent them. The first women rights convention was held in 1848 in Seneca Falls, New York. It was led by two women Elizabeth Cady and Lucretia Mott’s. The suffragist fought for the right to vote, but the Fifteenth Amendment was ratified in 1970, and did not grant voting rights to women. Despite this downfall, this did not stop other woman who still believed that women should be considered trued citizens and have the right to vote. Another woman Alice Paul rose and was the founder of the National Women’s Party. She was able to organize a party of ten thousand women at the inauguration of President Woodrow. These women protested in allowing women to vote. Finally all their hard work paid off and in 1920 the Nineteenth Amendment was passed and ratified and American women voted for the first time in their presidential election. This voted did not come easy, but it paved the way for women to start speaking out and getting their voices heard. The movie that we watched in class depicted the first wave tremendously. The film was called Iron Jawed Angles that displayed the scenes and events that happened while women were fighting to get the vote passed. The film also help me better understand the first wave and what actually occurred during it. The right to vote was not all that involved in the first wave it also consisted of getting contraceptives available for women. Even allowing them to buy condoms was an issue. A main one that is still a problem today was abortion, was still the talk back in the first wave also. Even though it seemed that a lot was conquered during the first wave, there was still a long ways to go before there would be changes.
The second wave focused a wide range of issues. Mainly like official legal inequalities, sexuality, family, reproductive rights, electoral advocacy, and many other issues that women wanted to address. The second wave started around the 1960’s and it consisted of a new generation of women. Many women wanted to liberate themselves from the traditional roles of being a stay-at-home mother and wife. Women wanted to get back in the workplace and be offered the same opportunities that the males were. While second-wave women fought for fundamental rights, the movement did not go without criticism—and not only from misogynists. Many allege that the second wave represented mainly the concerns of middles-and upper- class white women, and did not focus on the voices, and many of the issues, of women of color and lower-income women. Often the fact that white middle- and upper- class women frequently faced very different daily struggles than women of color and poor women was not even acknowledged (Rowe-Finkbeiner, 26). The second wave crashed with the defeat of the Equal Rights of Amendments in the 1970.
The third wave of feminism consists of the women today. Our generation is what makes up the third wave. It goes to show how this movement do not stop, but is continuous. The third wave brings together the second wave’s fight for women to have professional career opportunities and the idea that “traditional” gender roles and actions do not need to be thrown
out the window. A new culture of open-mindedness is emerging in the third wave: there are many ways to be a woman (Rowe-Finkbeiner, 31). I did not even know we were still considered to be in a movement. The term post- feminism began to rise during this wave, which was to describe a backlash against the second-wave feminism. Women in this wave seemed to be more involved in work now and not in the feminist movement.
We have seen a loft of documentaries of feminism that helped describe and explain feminism to its fullest. With every documentary that we watched online, not one person had the same definition of what a feminist is considered to be. In one film, some people did not see themselves as being feminist, but after being asked questions on certain topics they soon came to realize that maybe he or she is a feminist. Certain things that I did not think would apply you as being a feminist I soon to realize that it could. The class of Women’s Studies intersects with feminism because it looked from different aspects of how feminism could be defined. I did not know anything from the beginning so every word that was said was taken in by me. Not only did the Women Studies class focus just on feminism, but we were able to learn a little anthropology things from Dr. Pendley. Belle Hooks book was also a good reading that helped explain the issues that women have been fighting for. Her book bring up numerous of issues that I do not agree with also, but she still makes good points that I was not aware of before.
AM I A FEMINIST?
In the beginning, I did not know I could classify myself as a feminist. I never looked at things as me being discriminated because I was a female. I always thought maybe that person had problems or just did not know what they were missing. I never like to play the “I am a female” card and because of this I did not get that job, a raise, promotion, or treated a certain way. Now that I have realized that this really does exist its makes me second guess myself. I do believe that I am a feminist because I do want equal rights for men and women. I do not believe in treating people differently because of the gender. Gender should have nothing to really do with anyone’s situation. Just like I have said numerous of times women are just as capable to do any job or do anything if not as good as a man but better. Even though society tries to make it seem like things are getting better for women, there is still much that need to be improved definitely in the United States. They can start by giving mothers more pay maternity leave and more job security after having a child.
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