First Wave Feminism (1848-1920)

Origin and Background:

 It has always been an age old stereotype that 'women are weak' and need to be
protected and guided by men. It was also believed that men are intellectually
superior to women.
 Its foundation can be traced back to the Enlightenment doctrine of human rights,
especially as expressed in the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen
(1789)
 In 18th century the liberal ideas of freedom, democracy and equality were
developed due to different enlightenment movements i.e. US and French
Revolution. Western public challenged monarchy and gradually started viewing
them as citizens.
 The concept of inferiority of women was challenged by Mary Wollstonecraft's in
her famous publication "A Vindication of the Rights of Women" (1792). She
propounded that women and men are equal and that both have the same level of
intellect. Therefore women must be given equal political rights as men. It laid the
informal foundation and initiated the first wave of feminist movement in US and
Europe.
 The First Wave Feminism emerged out of an environment of urban industrialism
and liberal, socialist politics. The wave formally began at the Seneca Falls
Convention in 1848 when three hundred men and women rallied to the cause of
equality for women where the 'declaration of the sentiment of the women' was
passed. It regarded both men and women equal and to offer women the same
political rights as men.

Definition and Introduction:

First-wave feminism refers to an extended period of feminist activity during the nineteenth
century and early twentieth century in the United Kingdom and the United States.
Originally it focused on the promotion of equal contract and property rights for women as
Olive Banks observes in his book, Becoming a Feminist: The Social Origins of "First
Wave" Feminism By the end of the nineteenth century, activism focused primarily on
gaining political power, particularly the right of women's suffrage.
Main Objectives:

 Demanded full citizenship like men ( legal & political rights) :The overall goal
was to improve the legal position for women in particular to gain right to vote;

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 Suffrage or The right to vote: The emphasis was on suffrage and feminists
believed that the root cause of plight of women was connected to suffrage.
 The main concern were education, marriage and employment and the plight of
single white middle class women.
 The goal of this wave was to open up opportunities for women, with a focus on
suffrage.
Key Features of First Wave Feminism:

1. Discrimination: The most important women issue was discrimination and

feminists focused on External Restrictions( legal and Political) to women and not
on the institutions.
2. Emancipation: Freedom from discrimination was seen as the solution.
3. Equality: First wave feminists demanded equality for women in all respects. These
feminists were also known as egalitarian feminists.
Main Contributors

 Mary Wollstonecraft: "A Vindication of the Rights of Women" (1792) in which she
propounded that women and men are equal and that both have the same level of
intellect. Therefore women must be given equal legal and political rights as men.
 Sojourner Truth: (Ain't I a Women): prominent with agitation for the rights of
colored women.
 Harriet Taylor: She had a great influence on the thinking and reformation of the
situation of women in Victorian Britain and co-wrote some articles. She also wrote
a number of works on her own such as The Enfranchisement of Women (1851).
 Susan B. Anthony: 1898 “Incident of Illegal Voting” where a group of women
violently attacked a polling station and casted their voted illegally. The group of
women got arrested and one of them Susanne B Anthony gave the speech after
arrest due to illegal voting.
 Elizabeth Cady Stanton was an abolitionist and leading figure of the early
women's movement. An eloquent writer, her Declaration of Sentiments was a
revolutionary call for women's rights.
 Virginia Woolf’s: “A Room of One's Own” in which she discussed bisexuality.
Woolf introduced the notion of female bisexuality and a unique woman’s voice and
writing,
 Simon De Beauvoir: “The Second Sex” gave a detailed analysis of women
oppression and a foundational tract of contemporary feminism. Beauvoir was
against the notion of women’s radical otherness or, rather, the cognitive and social
process of “othering” women as the second sex in patriarchal societies.

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Leading Activists’ of the First Wave Feminism:

In the United States, leaders of First Wave Feminism activism/movement included

Lucretia Mott, Lucy Stone and E. W. Harper, who agitated for the rights of women of
colour. Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Sojourner Truth and Susan B. Anthony, campaigned for
the abolition of slavery prior to championing women's right to vote.
Theoretical Orientation: The Liberal Feminists
Major contributors during First Wave Feminism associated themselves with Liberal
Feminists school of thought. One of the earliest manifestations of liberal first wave
feminism in Europe, Mary Wollstonecraft’s A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792),
was written in the wake of the French Revolution and is still read as a seminal text. Virginia
Woolf’s A Room of One’s Own (1929) and Simone de Beauvoir’s The Second Sex (1949)
are central to the canon as well.
Organisation and Movement by Feminists during First Wave

 Women's organizations were beginning to flourish generally. In 1848 the “Seneca

Falls convention” was organized, where 300 men and women discussed the issue
of women rights.
 In United States of America; The National Women's Suffrage Association was
established in 1869 to demand and safeguard Women's legal political rights i.e.
the right to vote.
 Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA) groups were organized in several
Eastern cities in the 1860s, and the formidable Women's Christian Temperance
Union (WCTU), led by Frances Willard, was founded in 1874.
 The forerunner of the American Association of University Women (AAUW) was
launched in 1882.The General Federation of Women's Clubs was organized in
1890, and the National Association of Coloured Women was founded in 1896
under the leadership of Mary Church Terrell.
 Unity between the AWSA and the NWSA was finally forged with the
encouragement of Alice Stone Blackwell, and the two groups merged into the
National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) in 1890. Elizabeth
Cady Stanton was chosen as its first president.
 In UK- John Stuart Mill placed a proposal in House of Commons for giving women
the right to vote but was defeated. Women's Social and Political Union was
established in 1903 in UK to achieve the objectives of feminist movement.
 These Feminists were classified into two groups; one took the streets to promote
awareness and the other (Wolstonecraft, Simon de Beauvoir, Virginia Wolf)
provided theoretical foundations of the first wave feminist movement.
Successes and Achievements of First Wave Feminism:

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This wave laid the foundation for future generations and provided women with self-belief.
It basically emerged out of an environment of urban industrialism and liberal, social
politics. It emphasized on the agenda of opening up opportunities for women.

 The First Suffrage (right to vote) was given to women in New Zealand in 1893
and in the USA in 1920 with 19th Constitutional Amendment Act (movement
ended here).
 In Britain the Suffragettes and, possibly more effectively, the Suffragists
campaigned for the women's vote. In 1918 the Representation of the People
Act 1918 was passed granting the right to vote to women
 The opportunity to gain higher education opened up for women, along with
reforms in girls secondary school system. It was followed by an extensive
expansion of professions and participation was allowed in formal national
examination.
 Married women’s property right was recognized in the Married Women Property
Act of 1870.
Limitations and Criticism:

 Confined to middle class women.

 Focused specifically on right to vote and education
 Issues of differences among women from different race and class were ignored.
 Limited influence after gaining rights.
 The first wave was unfortunately sidelined after a short period by other progressive
movements.
Conclusion:
Throughout the era of First Wave feminism, women fought for and won the right to
execute wills, the right to choose their professions and own property in their name, the
legalization of divorce, the right to be granted custody of their children in a divorce,
educational access, and the right to vote in an education setting. This was one of the
foundation stone for gender equality; the movement achieved all its aims for political,
economic and social rights. The liberty enjoyed by women today is owed to the efforts
of this first wave movement as viewed by Susan Magarey in her publication, Passions
of the First Wave Feminists. This movement also defined the future course of action
for the second and third waves in the coming decades. The movement laid the
foundation for gender equality and achieved aims of political, social and economic
rights.

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 Second Wave Feminism 1960-1990
“The Personal Is Political”
Origin and Background
 First wave feminists believed that acquiring legal and political rights would gradually
provide social, educational and economic equality. They achieved the right to vote but
couldn't get equality in social and economic arena.
 Employment opportunity for females was limited. They were considered to be caring
and nurturing so they were given roles in nursing and teaching. Women were provided
with access to education. Women schools and colleges were opened but the subjects
for them were limited.
 As the women were not treated as equals in the social, educational and economic
opportunities, so, the need of another movement was felt. As a result second wave of
feminism started.

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Introduction and Definition

Second-wave feminism is a period of feminist activity that first began in the early 1960s
in the United States, and eventually spread throughout the Western world and beyond. It
gave women great impetus in the battle against patriarchy as observed by Jane Gerhard
in the book, In the United States the movement lasted through the early 1980s. It later
became a worldwide movement that was strong in Europe and parts of Asia, such as
Turkey and Israel, where it began in the 1980s, and as it did in other countries.

The Success of the first wave had given Feminists a belief that they could achieve their
agenda through protests and public awareness. It was initiated in the 1960’s in U.S and
almost instantly spread throughout the western world. Women realized that getting equal
opportunity is not making them equal to men since they are still deprived of their basic
rights.
Development of 2nd Wave:

Equality had not been achieved by enfranchisement and it was time to reflect on life
beyond the public sphere. Women became a part of the ongoing protests and provided
their own agenda. In 1963 Betty Friedan wrote a famous book “Feminine Mystique”.
She explicitly objected to how women were depicted in the mainstream media and how
their potential was wasted at home.
Coining the Term 2nd Wave:
In 1968 an article was published in “New York Times” by Marta Lear in which, she wrote
that till now it was first wave of feminism but now the second wave of feminism had begun.

Theoretical approaches to problems of women:

Second wave feminist were divided in their approaches into two main groups.
1. Liberal Feminist Approach
2. Radical Feminist Approach

1. Liberal Approach:
 Revival of first wave liberal thoughts but with a widen concept.
 Liberal feminists demanded social, educational and economic equality and
focused on external restrictions (i.e. law and constitution).
 Betty Friedan’s landmark book “The Feminist Mystique “in 1963 laid foundations
of liberal approach to feminism.

A. Concerns of Liberal Feminists

 Women have no participation in public life.

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 Society assumes that women enjoy domestic family life therefore they cannot have
public life. Betty called this assumption a myth and explained that women are
mostly unhappy and dissatisfied in their role of a mother and wife.
 Women have no independent existence (a relative life). Women are seen as
mothers, wives or daughters.

B. Demands of Liberal Feminists

 Discrimination on basis of sex, in the field of public space and education must be
removed.
 Equal public space for equal competition.
 Equal educational and economic opportunities.

C. Liberal feminist organisations

Betty established National Organisation for Women (NOW) to end discrimination
on the basis of sex. This organisation ran a movement to pass “Equal Right
Amendment (ERA)” in the US constitution.

2. Radical Approach: 1968-1980s

 Adopted a more radical approach to end the Oppression. Shift in focus from
discrimination to oppression. Women are not only discriminated but also
oppressed.
 Radical Feminists approached to remove internal restrictions (tradition, culture,
mind set and societal culture that undermines women and suppresses them)
 This system of culture, belief and mind-sets needed to be changed and for this
purpose a radical revival of society or a revolution was needed.
 New theories and tools of explanation were introduced (Patriarchy, Gender-Sex
distinction, Public-Private Divide) and academic study of Feminism started.

A. Concerns and demands of Radical Feminists in Second Wave:

 Eliminate Objectification of Women.
 Aims at identifying and eliminating sources of sexism and gender oppression
 Characterized by struggles for equal pay, equal rights at work and better
representation in public bodies such as parliament.
B. Activism during Second Wave:
 Raising consciousness about patriarchy.
 Legalizing birth control and abortion.
 Attaining equal rights in education and political realms.
 Gaining liberation from domination by men.
 Equality both in the homes and workplace.

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 Gave the slogan ‘Personal is Political’ implying that domestic violence is a social
problem and not a private matter. The slogan “the personal is political” sums up
the way in which second wave of feminism strived to extend the social
opportunities for women. They saw women’s cultural and political inequalities as
inextricably linked and encouraged women to understand aspects of their personal
life as deeply politicized.
 Famous slogans like “Miss America Pageants”, “No more Miss America” and
“Boring Jobs women wanted and low pay jobs women wanted”. Activists
protested against the Miss America event classifying it as degrading to human
beings.
 The Red Stockings, the New York radical feminists and other significant feminist
groups joined the 1969 protest to show how women in pageant competitions were
paraded like cattle. It was obvious early on that the movement was not a united
one, with differences emerging between black feminism, lesbian feminism, liberal
feminism and social feminism
Key Features of Second Wave Feminism

1. Oppression:
Women all over the World experience male dominance and Oppression. On the
basis of shared experience of oppression Women Constitute a “United Group” or
“Social Class” or Sisterhood”.

2. Liberation:
Women oppression will end only through their liberation. No laws and social
reforms can work and only a revolution can resolve women’s issues. Second wave
therefore, turns into Women’s Liberation Movement demanding end of patriarchal
values and institutions.

3. Difference:
Unlike the equality approach in first wave, here radical feminist stress on difference
approach which has two dimensions. First, women cannot be accommodated in a
society which is based on principles made by men. Women need a different set of
theories, philosophies and concepts to explain their condition. Secondly, Women
are different from men in terms of qualities and nature which are superior to men’s.
Women should be celebrating their distinct nature than abandoning it.
Contributors and Organizations:

 The two theorists who became the driving force behind this movement were Betty
Freidan and Simone de Beauvoir.

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  Betty Freidan’s book “Feminine Mystique” in 1963 criticized the idea that
women could only find fulfillment through childbearing and homemaking. The book
was comprised of interview material with women that buttressed the facts reported
by commission report.
 The other influential book by Simone de Beauvoir’s “Second Sex” published
initially in 1949 in French and then in English in 1953. She highlighted the
oppression against women. Mary Wollstonecraft considered men to be made ideal
towards which women should aspire. Simone de Beauvoir argues that for feminism
to move forward, this attitude must be changed.
 Two organizations “National Conference of New Politics” and “Chicago Women
Liberation Union” played their part in this movement by promoting their cause and
providing a formidable platform that could approach legal institutions and the
government. Frustrated by what they saw as a blatant disregard for spirit of law,
The National Organization for Women (NOW) was formed in 1966. It’s function
was to perform as a legal “watchdog” for women.
Legal Victories:

 Betty Freidan’s book impressed J.F.Kennedy and he ordered a Presidential

Commission on the status of women. A “Civil Rights Act” was passed in 1964 which
made it illegal to prohibit employment on basis of gender, race and religion.
 In 1972 “Title IX in Education Code” forbade discrimination and contributed to
equal provision for women in sports and activism. While “Equal Pay Act” was
passed in 1963 and an “Equal Credit Opportunity Act” was approved in 1973.
Milestone Achievements:

The Second wave of Feminism grew in its intensity and scope with time and resulted in
some important milestones, which have become the pillars of this modern society.

 The non-traditional professions such as scientific research, engineering, and

architecture were never open for women. This movement focused on this issue
and successfully opened the door for females to enter these fields of professions.
 More specifically women were recruited to institutions like the U.S Army and
N.A.S.A such as Katherine Johnson, an African-American mathematician whose
calculations of orbital mechanics as a NASA employee were critical to the success
of the first and subsequent U.S. manned spaceflights. Similarly women who were
allowed in Universities led to a change in the attitude towards women education
and professionalism. Another dimension related to Education was Co-Education
in schools and colleges.
Criticism:

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 The historiography of the U.S second wave feminism is criticized for failing to
acknowledge and analyze the multiple sites of feminist insurgencies of women of color,
silencing and ignoring the diverse pre-political and political developments that occurred
during this time. It disregarded the experience and contributions of women of color,
working class and lower class of women. Many feminist scholars see the generational
division of the second wave as problematic. Baby boomers were the followers, while post
World War II generations were leaders resulting in ideological differences.

There is also criticism that as feminism becomes increasingly an academic

discipline it loses the ability to connect to the lives of the average woman in language,
accessibility, and content. “Mainstream” feminism is that popular culture area of the media
that claims to speak for these women.
Conclusion:
Second-wave feminism is not one, but many. As expressed by feminist
communication scholar Julia Wood (1994), the question may not be whether you are a
feminist, but which kind of feminist. This question is multiplied by the emergence of third-
wave feminism. But before we turn to emergent feminisms, let us conclude that second-
wave feminisms have been highly theoretical and consequently have had strong
affiliations with the academy. Starting in the 1970s, second-wave feminisms have
generated an explosion of research and teaching on women’s issues, which has now
grown into a diverse disciplinary field of women’s, gender, or feminist studies.
Gender studies as a discipline in academia was developed during Second Wave
Feminism and led to founding of Gender studies centers in various colleges and
universities.

A movement that started as a small portion of the overall societal reforms ended with
substantial amount of achievements as viewed by Barbara Molony in her book Women’s
Activism and "Second Wave" Feminism: Transnational Histories. This wave of feminism
gave women the much needed impetus and belief to come at par with the men.

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 Third Wave Feminism
Transversal Politics
Historical Background

Beginning in the 1990s, after the end of second-wave feminism and the Feminist Sex
Wars, third-wave feminism began with a mixture of disgruntled and unsure feminists and
feminists born into a world where feminism had always existed. Third Wave feminism has
its roots in the disappointments and conflicts which brought the Second Wave to a halt.

The movement of third-wave feminism focused less on laws and the political process and
more on individual identity as viewed by S.Gillis in Third Wave Feminism: A Critical
Exploration. The movement of third-wave feminism is said to have arisen out of the

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realization that women are of many colors, ethnicities, nationalities, religions and cultural
backgrounds.
Introduction and Definition
Third-wave feminism is also inspired by and bound to a generation of the new global world
order characterized by the fall of communism, new threats of religious and ethnic
fundamentalism. The common American term for third-wave feminism is “Riot grrl” and in
Europe it is known as “new feminism.” This “new” feminism is characterized by local,
national, and transnational activism, in areas such as violence against women, trafficking,
body surgery, self-mutilation, and the overall “pornofication” of the media.
Third wave feminism has numerous definitions, but perhaps is best described in the most
general terms as the feminism of a younger generation of women who acknowledge the
legacy of second wave feminism, but also identify what they see as its limitations. These
perceived limitations would include their sense that it remained too exclusively white and
middle class that it became a prescriptive movement which alienated ordinary women by
making them feel guilty about enjoying aspects of individual self-expression such as
cosmetics and fashion, but also sexuality – especially heterosexuality and its trappings,
such as pornography.
New concept in Third Wave ?

The problem with second wave was that Woman as a group didn’t represent the
common interest of all women as women of different race; caste and color were
experiencing different kind of problems on the basis of their context. Thus, focus on
Universal Category of 'Women' became undemocratic. Women were not only
discriminated and oppressed on the basis of gender alone but race, color, caste and class
were also crucial in this respect.

Consequently, if only one of categories of women was focused then these

experiences of women would become invisible or marginalized. Third wave feminism
began with the influence of postmodernism.
Theoretical Foundations: The Postmodern Approach

 Third-wave feminism is tied up with the effects of globalization and the complex
redistribution of power, which challenge feminist theory and politics. It also mirrors
the diversification of women’s interests and perspectives and the breakdown of
master stories of oppression and liberation.
 Rejection of modernism i.e. No Generalization and no Universal Categories.
Modernism tries to explain a problem or issue with a single phenomenon.
Contrarily, postmodernism searches for multiple explanations and problems may
vary from situation to situation.

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  Third Wave Feminism has two immediate intellectual ancestors within Feminist
theory; the first of these ancestors is Radical Feminism. Radical Feminism is
characterized by a rejection of gender essentialism.
 The second parent to Third Wave Feminism is the Cultural Feminism .This kind of
Feminism is based on the idea that there are “masculine qualities” and “feminine
qualities” and that we live in a society which promotes discrimination based on
these qualities.
Objectives:

1. Third-wave feminists are motivated by the need to develop a feminist theory and
politics that honor contradictory experiences to deconstruct categorical thinking. In To Be
Real: Telling the Truth and Changing the Face of Feminism, editor Rebecca Walker
described the difficulty that younger feminists experience when forced to think in
categories, which divide people into “Us” and “Them,” or when forced to inhabit particular
identities as women or feminists .

2. Third-wave feminists want to avoid stepping into mutually oppressive static

categories, and they call for acceptance of a chaotic world, while simultaneously
embracing ambiguity and forming new alliances. Thus, third-wave feminisms are defined
not by common theoretical and political standpoint(s), but rather by the use of
performance, mimicry, and subversion as rhetorical strategies.
Issues Addressed:

 Focus on individual empowerment of women and less on activism.

 It celebrated the multiple and contradictory identity of women- accepting diversity
among women. Dealt with issues that limited or oppressed women’s participation
in social, economic and political life.
 Advocated the need to change stereotypes portrayed by media and language.
Celebrates emotions and experiences that traditionally have been labeled as
“unfeminine”. Women are invited to be angry, aggressive, and outspoken.

Claims & Demands of Third Wave Feminists:

1. Broader inclusion of recognition, of color, sexual diversity, age (recognition of young
girls and older women), and men.
2. Inclusion becomes more trans-global; activist activities become a fight for all women
everywhere, beyond US borders. (Transnational/ global feminism)
3. Volunteerism is a new force in activism.

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4. Consciousness raising groups through new texts: the zone movement gives way to
the use of writing, new technologies( internet, filmmaking, music)
5. Women began stepping into male dominated cultural arenas.
6. Women health issues are recognized through activist activities.
7. Legal and social recognition of: date rape, sexual identity issues (custody battles,
gender reassignment, marriage rights), reclamation of language (bitch, slut),
objectification (body image is a major issue).
8. Shifting of second wave ideals on proper feminism: marriage, prostitution,
pornography etc.
9. Voter registration among women becomes driving force for many activist activities.
Activism During third Wave

The movement has simultaneously criticized sexist language, appropriated

derogatory terms for girls and women, and invented new self-celebrating words and forms
of communication. As such, third-wave feminists have followed in the footprints of groups
like Queer Nation and Niggers with Attitude by deploying a kind of linguistic jujitsu against
their enemies. Instead of condemning the stereotypes used against them, they
exaggerate them, beginning with the very word girl.

Third Wave Direct Action Corporation was founded by American feminists Rebecca
Walker and Shannon Liss as a multiracial, multicultural, multi-issue organization to
support young activists. The organization’s initial mission was to fill a void in young
women’s leadership and to mobilize young people to become more involved socially and
politically in their communities.

Riot Grrrl; During Third Wave Feminism

Riot Grrrl, a group mainly comprised of white females that identified as “punk-
feminists,” emerged in the early 1990s in Washington, D.C.and Olympia, Washington
(Downes 2012).The term Riot Grrrl stems from Allison Wolfe and Molly Neuman,
members of the feminist punk band Bratmobile, who coined the phrase “girl riot.

Moreover the titles like, Lipstick feminism, girlie feminism, riot grrl feminism, cyber
grrl feminism, transfeminism, or just grrl feminism, feminism is alive and kicking. Young
feminists now reclaim the term “girl” in a bid to attract another generation.
They declared, in the words of Karen McNaughton (1997), “And yes that’s Grrls
which is, in our case, cyber-lingo for Great-Girls. They were known as cybergrrls or Net
grrls and introduced them to other girls and women in books such as The Cyberpunk

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Handbook (1995), Friendly Grrls Guide to the Internet–Introduction (1996), and Cybergrrl!
A Woman’s Guide to the World Wide Web, (1998).

Key Features of Third Wave Feminism

1. Non-Universalist: Rejection of Universal Category of Women. No generalization

of approach and rejection of binary categories of Men/Women, Sex/Gender or
Masculinity/Femininity.
2. Intersectionality: A woman's condition is not only based on Gender but on a
myriad of factors of race, class, ethnicity and color which intersect and collectively
determine the plight of a woman.
3. Cultural Relativism: Different Cultures have different Practices and Traditions.
Thus, a single culture can never determine the true plight of women in another
culture without experiencing it i.e. western women cannot effectively determine
problems of third world women. Therefore, the cultural studies must be adopted to
address the problems of women in different cultures.
4. Plurality and Diversity: Being different doesn’t mean being abnormal and diverse
voice and positions must be accepted. Therefore, universal and binary categories
must be abolished and diversity and plurality must be adopted. I.e. gays/lesbians
or tans genders will be considered abnormal if we assess them on basis of
masculinity or femininity and their voices won't be heard, so there must be a
diverse and plural approach for their acceptance in society.
5. Transversal Politics: An interesting and important contribution to third-wave
feminist thinking is the notion of “transversal politics.” Nira Yuval-Davis, the author
of Gender and Nation (1997), who is herself a British Jew, launched this notion,
which is based on the possibility of dialogue between women across national,
ethnic, and religious boundaries.

Third-Wave Writers and Feminists:

1. Rebbeca Walker in her book To Be Real claimed that this is not because women lack
knowledge of feminist history or because of the media’s horrific one-sided portrayal of
feminism.
2. Judith Butler Gender theorist, signaled this paradigmatic feminist shift in her books
Gender Trouble and Bodies That Matter. She fueled new emergent movements such
as queer and transgender politics, which take an interest in the intersections of gender
and sexuality and helped, articulate “performance third-wave feminism” as a
theoretical framework of the politics of transgression.
3. Donna Haraway’s another significant perspective that has contributed to third-wave
feminism is Donna Haraway’s (1987/1991) “cyborg,” which has also inspired the
development of cyber feminism.

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4. Joan W. Scott “Deconstructing Equality-Versus-Difference: Or, the Uses of
Poststructuralist Theory for Feminism”
5. Jennifer Baumgardner & Amy Richards – “Manifesta”
6. Gloria Anzaldua & Cherrie Moraga – “This Bridge Called My Back , All the Women
Are White, All the Blacks Are Men, But Some of Us Are Brave: Black Women’s
Studies”
Major Achievements and Implications of Third Wave Feminism:

1. Diversification of Feminism: Different types of feminism emerged i.e. black

feminism and post-colonial feminism. The core ideas of feminism before
represented white women only and these new feminist approaches endeavored to
explain the political, cultural and economic plight of non-white women.
2. Weakening of Feminist Politics: Unity approach of Woman being a single
category was rejected and alliance approach of diversification was adopted. No
women sisterhood but women solidarity and no compromise on individual
identities.
3. Rise of LGBT(lesbian-gay-bisexual-transgender): As a result of inclusion of
diversified and pluralistic identities to feminism, the issues and rights of LGTs
started to get prominence in feminist arena.
Legal Victories

 In 1991, opportunity 2000 was launched in UK for providing more opportunities

to women 1992 year of women
 1992; four women entered US Senate.
 1993; family and medical leave act
 1994 marital rape was declared illegal 1994 violence against women act in US
 1995 fourth world conference on women by UN
Criticism to Third Wave:

 Criticized on ground of lacking political will to bring about radical social change. Its
focus on identity issues is not a universal concern. The ability to explore one’s
identity is a privilege.
 Other critics argue that the third wave feminists do more damage than good by
equating women’s sexuality with power.
Conclusion

Third-wave feminism is tied up with the effects of globalization and the complex
redistribution of power, which challenge feminist theory and politics. It also mirrors the
diversification of women’s interests and perspectives and the breakdown of master stories

16
of oppression and liberation. For example, postcolonial, third-wave feminism is concerned
with establishing a new critical global perspective and creating alliances between Black,
diasporic, and subaltern feminisms, whereas queer theory and politics create a platform
for what has now split into the lesbian, gay, bi-, and transsexual and transgender
movements. Thus, the Third wave of Feminism sought to accomplish more rights for
women than ever before as viewed by S.Beudgeon in her publication Third-Wave
Feminism and the Politics of Gender in Late Modernity. They were successful in their
endeavors to some extent yet the problems of women cannot be solved overnight and
the struggle shall continue for decades to come.

EVALUATION
First Wave Second Wave Third Wave

Suffrage Equal pay

Patriarchy

 19th and early 20th  Fights for equally by

century. focusing exclusively on
female victims of
 Focused mainly on gender- neutral issues.
suffrage, alongside  Mostly on Tumbir +
other legal rights. Facebook.
 Mostly active in the  Mostly middle/upper
class US. 17
UK, Canada and USA.  Rejects labelling by
 Movement succeeded adopting labels and
in gaining women the identities.
 Began in the US,
then spread to
Europe, Asia.
 Focused mainly on
sexually,
reproductive rights,
and the wage gap.
 Movement
succeeded in
securing career
options for women,
and many
reproductive rights.

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