Sandberg Gender Roles

In Penelope Eckert and Sally McConnell-Ginet’s article entitled Learning to Be Gendered (2013), Bell Hooks’s article entitled Dig Deep: Beyond Lean In (2013), and Sheryl Sandberg’s article entitled Lean In: What Would You Do If You Weren’t Afraid? (2013), each author discusses how feminism and gender roles play a part in today's society. Eckert and McConnell-Ginet discuss linguistics and how language forms your gender from a young age, Sandberg encourages women to reach for more leadership roles in the workforce and to break traditional roles, and Hook criticizes Sandberg for presenting old ideas and not grasping what feminism has become. The purpose of each article is to show how language can affect our gender, and therefore our lives, as
To figure that out we need to take a look at what feminism started as and how it’s evolved. Feminism began as a middle class movement in the 19th century, known as the first wave. This feminism focused on legal issues and was the first time people gathered to examine the difference between man and woman. However, the only woman who benefited from this feminism were white women. Second wave feminism expanded beyond middle class white women and focused on anti-war matters, civil rights, and awareness of minority groups. The only problem is that second wave feminism was easily marginalized because it included so many voices. Third wave feminism was all about strong women and empowerment. Third wave feminist didn’t use the word feminist. A certain stigma surrounded the word and even Sandberg didn’t associate herself with the word feminist: “if anyone had called me a feminist I would have quickly corrected the notion” (Birkenstein et al. 660). There were tons of people who would perform feminist actions but wouldn’t label themselves feminists because the word had earned such a bad rep. Fourth wave feminism is the most current wave, it brought conversation back into the public discourse. Fourth wave feminism takes place largely online and through social media and has the widest definition. Eckert and McConnell-Ginet’s views on gender and gender roles have been challenged in modern times and Sandberg’s definition of feminism only embraces the ideas of first wave feminists, a definition that doesn’t suit modern society. I think Hook’s views best express feminism. When Hook wrote the words: “Simply put, feminism is a movement to end sexism, sexist exploitation, and oppression” (Birkenstein et al. 662), she was expressing that feminism is not solely about