Second Wave Of Feminism Research Paper

Feminism, why the long face?
Today, there are many rights women tend to take for granted. For example, women are allowed to vote, pursue a higher education, are not pressured to get married or have children, and play sports. These are some of the rights that women have earned within the past century. To put it into perspective, women could not vote a century ago, there was not term for sexual harassment, and a woman’s highest goal in life was to be the perfect housewife. Feminism has been at work for decades fighting for equality. Categorizing this movement into waves might make sense for topical reasons, but doing so would create a mainstream narrative. It would suggest women went through phases where they suddenly realized that they
Feminism did not sleep once women got the vote in 1920. MacLean’s long movement argument continues into the 20th century when women remained fairly active in working towards the feminist cause. Alice Paul continually fought for gender equality by supporting the Equal Rights Amendment (MacLean 5). During the Great Depression, “women devoted themselves instead to a wider social reform, working through the labor movement, the League of Women Voters, and other liberal and radical organizations,” (MacLean 5). Ending the first wave in 1920 suggests feminism halted for decades, and reawoke in the 1960s. Feminist efforts in the labor movement increased when the United States entered World War II, when male citizens fought in Europe. Women assumed the role of the breadwinner and entered the factories. The number of women working “had increased to 17 million, women constituting 32.5% of the entire labor force,” (Congress of America 47). They were often paid lower wages for performing the same jobs as men. Their progress in the workforce contributed to the employment equality goal decades later. In the 1950s, feminism was under attack from the Red Scare. The Red Scare decreased feminist efforts by creating “a forbidding climate for organizing for gender equality” (MacLean 7). Women were afraid of being labeled as Communist, and radical groups were targets of this scrutiny. Like abolition, the Civil
In the 1980s Ronald Reagan took office. There were no major victories in that time, but they did not stop fighting. Groups like the National Organization of Women (NOW) was “the only remaining all-purpose national feminist organization, which focused on developments in Washington DC” (MacLean 36). Feminist activity decreased, but it did not cease. Some of the methods and ideas differed from the second to third wave, but the two waves had similar agendas. The third wave is known as the younger generation, the children of feminists. Third wavers tend “to be much more pluralistic about sexuality and personal expression … tends to be more alert than some second wave feminists were to issues of class and race” (Naomi Wolf). They understood and recognized that different problems existed for women based on race, class, and sexuality. There are very common themes between the second and third wave, like abortion rights and sexual harassment and assault. They take these issues and bring it into a new light. The third wave is prosex, which “is devoted to reducing the stigma surrounding sexual pleasure in feminism and US culture” (Snyder 188). They want women to reclaim their bodies and pleasures. With all of the differences and similarities between the second and third wave, it is not enough to categorize it as a new wave. Even in the third wave “second-wave feminism still exists and, as a