The Pre-Feminist Movement

The role of a feminist is to be advocator for the equality between sexes, usually through political and social movements to spread the ideologies about the present inequalities. To be a feminist does not mean you must be a certain sex, race, or belong to a certain religious organization. Feminist have been influential in gaining rights for women and LGBTQ communities for centuries.

One of the first American movements started with the women’s suffrage in the 19th and 20th century. Roughly two decades before the Civil War, a group of women and some men came together to discuss women’s right including those to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness and notoriously the right to vote. These pre-feminist, also labeled abolitionist, were
Constitution was put into action in 1920. However, even that first success took almost 100 years to be put into action. These abolitionists had to use different tactics to achieve their success. These early tactics included women using inheritance money and using their political/organizational elite partners to express legal pressure in their communities (Collins et al. 206). These radical ideologies of the right to education, vote, own property, employment rights to have equality with men were granted but not without a fight. Women had to fight hard to get past the male dominated economic and political arenas from the men’s neo-liberalism view of women as homemakers, domestic labour, motherhood and taking care of the family (Crossley et al. 500). This movement also gave rise to imperial manhood as the roles of men and women were divided in the workforce and in public. This kept women very submissive and easy targets of violence and aggression from men until the next wave of feminism. The “second wave” of feminism, started in the 1960s, was a great success but also released a lot of backlash as well (Aronson 517). This wave challenged gender norms, cultural inequalities and the role of women in society. One of the
As a white, American citizen, middle class, Christian young lady, I was born into a nation of free and home of the brave. I can wear whatever I want, I can marry whomever I please, I can leave my house and go pretty much anywhere I want, I can practice my religion without fear. And for some reason many people who share one or more of the qualities that I do believe that Muslim women are in need of saving because of the way they chose to live their lives. The cultures differ in many aspects from modesty, to religious practices, to the place of origin. But since Bush’s “War on Terrorism” in 2001, places like Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Egypt and other middle eastern countries have places this practice that “white men saving brown women from brown men” (Abu-Lughod 487). Authorities and military saw the political and ethical problem as a form of oppression on these women. Feminist, on the other hand, were astonished that these women were forced to cover their faces and wear robes to protect themselves out in public (Abu-Lughod 488). However, many women are comfortable with their culture and religion and don’t need the protection and salvation we are giving them that they do not want. A more necessary way of helping, but not saving or protecting, is creating spaces for peaceful discussion, debates and transitions for these two separate worlds, “not organized around strategic