Third Wave Feminism Research Paper

The feminist movement has been separated into three "waves" by different feminists in order to categories the different events that took place throughout the movement. The first wave mainly refers to the women's suffrage (the right for women to vote) movements of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, which was mainly concerned with women's right to vote. The second wave refers to the ideas and the behaviors, which are correlated with the women’s liberation movement, which began in the beginning of the 1960s. The third wave refers to the continuation of, as well as a reaction to the recognised failures of the second second-wave.

First-wave of feminism was a period of activity during the nineteenth century and early twentieth century. In the United Kingdom and the United
States, feminism mainly concentrated on the promotion of equal contract marriage and property rights for women. Towards the end of the nineteenth century, activism concentrated partially on gaining political power especially the right of women's suffrage. Although some feminists were active in campaigning for women's economic rights as well. Louise Weiss whom was an early pro-European feminist whom is among other Parisian suffragettes in 1935 protesting on the matter of women’s right to vote. The newspaper in the image reads "The Frenchwoman Must Vote."

Second-wave feminism refers to the period of activity in the early 1960s and lasting through the late 1980s.The term first wave was coined to categorise these western movements after the term second-wave feminism began to be used to describe a newer feminist movement that focused on fighting social and cultural inequalities as well as political inequalities. The scholar Imelda Whelehan proposes that the second wave was an expansion of the earlier phase of feminism involving the suffragettes in the United Kingdom and United States. Second-wave feminism has continued to exist since that time and is also said that it coexists with what is termed third-wave feminism.

Third-wave feminism began in the early 1990s, originating as a response to recognised failures of the second wave and also as an acknowledgement to the reaction against the actions and movements, which were created within the second wave.
Within the third-wave feminism it seeks to challenge or escape what is assumed in the second wave's key definitions of femininity, which according to these feminists over-emphasize the experiences of upper middle-class white women. It can be seen within the post-structuralist interpretation of gender and sexuality is central to a large portion of the third wave's ideology. Third-wave feminists often focus on the "micro-politics" and challenge the second wave's description as to what is, or isn’t, good for females. Many black feminists, sought to negotiate a space within the feminist through the consideration of race-related subjectivities. Third-wave feminism also contains internal debates between different feminists, as some believe that there are important differences between the sexes and then there are other feminists who believe that there are no differences between the sexes and they argue that gender roles are due to social and cultural
conditioning