Third Wave Of Feminist Movement
“The third-wave of feminism encompasses several diverse strains of feminist activity and study” (Nicholson, 33). The third-wave ascended somewhat as an answer to the repercussions in contradiction of the initiatives and movements created in the 1960s through the 1980s. It is a challenge to increase the feminist knowledge, including women with a diverse set of personalities and characteristics, recognizing that women are of “many colors, ethnicities, nationalities, religions, and cultural backgrounds” (Hewitt 34). Specific boundaries are a subject of debate, although the Women’s Liberation Movement swings into full gear in the 1990s and continues to be prominent in present day news. In the early 1990s, movements such as the “Riot grrrl” pursued
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The 60s and 70s started an American Feminist Movement and began to open the minds of fellow Americans who had not noticed or who had not cared about the gap between value of women and men. Women attempted to improve the gap and the feminist movement was “not rigidly structured or led by a single figure or group” (Ciabello). The movement was deeply divided between young and old, upper-class and lower-class, conservative and radical. Betty Friedan was determined to make the movement a respectable part of mainstream society and distanced herself from what she termed “bra-burning, anti-man, politics-of-orgasm” school of feminism. She spent years insinuating that the young feminist leader Gloria Steinem had sinister links to the FBI and CIA. Younger feminists, for their part, distrusted the older generation and viewed it was out of touch from their modern-day views of feminism. Feminist leaders were also inspired by the Civil Rights movement, through which many of them had gained civic organizing experience. At the same time, black women played a key role in the Civil Rights movement, especially through local organizations, but were shut out of leadership roles. Meanwhile, the women’s anti-war movement was joined by a new generation of more radical young women protesting not only the Vietnam war but also “the way in which the traditional women’s peace movement condoned and even enforced the gender hierarchy in which men made war and women wept” (Ibid 367). Many of these women were relegated to low-paying clerical and administrative work, but their main goal was to improve the overall view of women as a whole in America, not to close the gap between jobs, or the wage gap. The overall purpose of the American Feminist Movement was to minimize the stereotypes of women and to show that they can do what any man can
The 60s and 70s started an American Feminist Movement and began to open the minds of fellow Americans who had not noticed or who had not cared about the gap between value of women and men. Women attempted to improve the gap and the feminist movement was “not rigidly structured or led by a single figure or group” (Ciabello). The movement was deeply divided between young and old, upper-class and lower-class, conservative and radical. Betty Friedan was determined to make the movement a respectable part of mainstream society and distanced herself from what she termed “bra-burning, anti-man, politics-of-orgasm” school of feminism. She spent years insinuating that the young feminist leader Gloria Steinem had sinister links to the FBI and CIA. Younger feminists, for their part, distrusted the older generation and viewed it was out of touch from their modern-day views of feminism. Feminist leaders were also inspired by the Civil Rights movement, through which many of them had gained civic organizing experience. At the same time, black women played a key role in the Civil Rights movement, especially through local organizations, but were shut out of leadership roles. Meanwhile, the women’s anti-war movement was joined by a new generation of more radical young women protesting not only the Vietnam war but also “the way in which the traditional women’s peace movement condoned and even enforced the gender hierarchy in which men made war and women wept” (Ibid 367). Many of these women were relegated to low-paying clerical and administrative work, but their main goal was to improve the overall view of women as a whole in America, not to close the gap between jobs, or the wage gap. The overall purpose of the American Feminist Movement was to minimize the stereotypes of women and to show that they can do what any man can