RUETAIJETJAROEN 1

Kanyaorn Mimi Ruetaijetjaroen

Ms. Orana Meenongwha
English 10/10:06
May 25, 2017

Key Events in Feminism

Introduction

In the last ten years, it is uncommon to see a female as a prime minister

because people tend to perceive women as inferior, sensitive, and unintelligent.

Nevertheless, many countries today are having female prime minister such as Angela

Merkel of Germany, Park Geun-hye of South Korea and Yingluck Shinawatra of

Thailand. This demonstrates that women are now accepted to have the equal right in their

jobs. Women have right to do things same as men, different but equal. Despite, this

situation does not happen so easily. It required a lot of time as well as braveness to

promote feminism. In the past, men and women were not at the same level in the society.

Men were always in a higher level. However, compared to the past that female does not

have a chance to study as men and not permitted to find a work. They were staying at

home, raising children, and doing household chores. The reason is that it is the believed

that men are stronger and they are ready to encounter the problem, while women are not.

At present, women are allowed to do more things such as having an education, working

outside, and voting. This is a result of the feminist movement that support women to

have an opportunity as equal as men. Therefore, this research paper aims to provide the
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history of feminism and examine the key events that changes the course of inequalities

between males and females.

First-wave Feminism

Feminist movements advance gender equality and obstruct the perpetuation of sex

discrimination in financial, governmental, social structures and legal. The first wave of feminism

was initiated in 1848 in the United states. This circumstances started with Seneca Falls

Convention, which was the first convention in womens rights. The convention was encouraged

when Elizabeth Cady Stanton met Lucretia Mott at the World Anti-Slavery Convention, in

London. The meeting denied Mott and other female representatives to attend the meeting

because of their gender. After that, Stanton, the bride of the antislavery deputy and Mott made an

appointment to talk about the condition of women. Around three hundred were present at the

meeting. During the conference, the discussion was about a variety of conditions that restrict

womens right such as religion, civil, and social conditions and womens feminism. At the end of

the convention, the outcome was about 32 men and 68 women signing the Seneca Falls

Convention. Meanwhile, the Seneca Falls Convention was written by Elizabeth Cady Stanton

and the Mclintock family. The declaration of Independence was written generally from Stanton

which planned and arrange the agenda for the feminist movement. After that the womens

suffrage movement originated based on the Seneca Falls Convention. Following the civil war in

1848, the movement reorganized and also gaining more campaigners who had experienced

inequalities. By the end of 19th century, only minority of Western states had accepted female full

voting rights. Moreover, an arrangement of 12 resolutions is embraced calling for equivalent

treatment of ladies and men under the law and voting rights for ladies. In 1878, a woman

suffrage modification was first presented in the United State Congress, yet the amendment did

not pass. In 1920, the Nineteenth Amendment was endorsed, giving ladies the privilege to vote;
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the main flood of women's liberation is considered to have finished with that victory. This wave

of feminism was focusing on the right that women should receive jobs, career, and be able to

express their opinion in order to get a chance to vote.

Second-wave Feminism

One of the most influential events that adjust women to have a role on the society was

the second-wave feminism. The second movement of womens rights began in 1960s and lasting

through the late 1980s, as Civil Rights Movement influenced female of all ages to begin to fight

in order to protect a durable role in American society. Afterwards in 1963, the book named The

Feminine Mystique written by Betty Friedan became famous. She criticized the idea that women

could only find their contentment through childrearing and homemaking. Nevertheless, in the

book, Friedan speculated that women were the victims of the false belief system that women

should had identified their lives through children and husband (History, 2017). This wave of

feminism usually involved with the congress and politics significantly. There were a time when

the social reorganized, thousands marched for civil rights, asking for the racist laws

discrimination. This circumstances also known as the womens liberation. Women during 1960s

and 1970s were encountering the widespread inequalities, fewer chances in education, and

unequal salary. In 1963, the congress passed the Equal Pay Act as a feedback. The purpose was

to provide equal pay for males and females doing the same work. Thus, the type of employment

did not covered at all by the act which means that more legislation was required. During 1964,

congress was working to pass the Civil Rights Act aimed to outlaw discrimination against

African Americans. Howard Smith, a Southern congressman, he added something to the act

which outlawing the discrimination on the foundation of sex and the bill passes (Risen C., 2014).

Civil Rights that outlawed job discrimination on the basis of nationalities, religion, sex, or color
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was known as the Title VII. The government created an organization which regulated this law,

they were known as the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission or EEOC (Equal

Employment Opportunity Commission, n.d. ). In 1966, Friedan contributed the National

Organization for Women (NOW) because she realized the EEOC was not doing their job.

Friedan was the one who supported for an increased role for ladies in political process. National

Organization for Women is the group that asserted the rights and equality for ladies founded in

1966 (National Organization for Women, 2017). The opposition disagreed that feminists concern

such as reproductive rights, child care, equal chores in the house were personal matters. The

feminists believed that this issue was customary to the nation. Therefore, in order to change the

perspective of the society, large-scale amendment is required and not in customary matters but

political matters. Also in 1972, there was a law that legalized the birth control for single women.

Furthermore, second-wave feminism changed the society considerably; the significant event that

occur during this wave of feminism was that women were allowed to controll over their

equalities and the reproduction system. Whereas, the second wave made abortion legalized.

Feminists introduced ERA which stand for Equal Rights Amendment. However, in order for this

law to be in the constitution, at least 38 states needed to approve the law but it was not enough.

So, people said that this was the end of the second wave. In conclusion, feminism was not

successful in changing the nation.

Third-wave Feminism

The third wave in feminism carried on the will of the feminists of the first and second

wave. It was a complicated issues because this wave mixed up the controversy between the first

wave and the second wave together. Third-wave feminism is a term identified with several

diverse strains of feminist activity and study from 1990 to the present. The movement originated

as a feedback to apperceive possible backfire and lack of success against the first move and
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movements initiated by second-wave feminisms of the 1960s through the 1970s, and the

recognition that women were of many colors, nationalities, ethnicities, religions and cultural

backgrounds (The Third Wave of Feminism, 2017). The third wave embraces differences,

conflict, and accommodated diversity and change. During 1960s and 1970s womens movement

brought a tremendous changes. Based on the wave that feminists constructed, women had more

power upon their families and workplace. As the result of the womens right movement, more

women worked outside and had right to receive the education. Consider as an illustration, as life

quality of females do not rely on males anymore. The divorce rate increased dramatically

because of the no-fault divorce law which made it easier than before to divorce. Simultaneously,

there were some people did not liked the impact that shifted on the society. Later on in 1980s

and 1990s. Political conservatives conducted a backlash against feminist. They did not decline

all of the advances of the feminist, but the felt that the movement had gone too far so that it led

to that backlash against feminist. The person who played a big role on the movement was

Geraldine Ferraro. She was the one who encourages women to believe that women were had the

potential to do such a thing (Geraldine A. Ferraro, 2017). Furthermore, preacher Jerry Falwell

the conservative religious leader were inducing the negatives attacks and denounced feminists as

pro-divorce, pro-abortion, and, antifamily. He called for a moral majority and assist the

presidents that supported the conservative agenda to push women back again (Jerry Falwell,

2017). In addition, the one who really brought the new generation of feminism was Anita Hill.

She was the first women accused for the sexual harassment which sparked the new generation of

the feminists, and also increased the consciousness about sexual harassment. Third-wave

feminisms were attempting to expand the idea of what feminists looked and acted like. This

wave enlarged the range of feminism to include women from different nationalities and classes.

Many women of color felt they did could not access to the mainstream of the movement.

Moreover, this movement is still working at present. This movement of feminism not only
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allowed women to have their own perspective no matter what their nationalities or skin color

was, but also helped shape the womens movement as it move beyond.

Conclusion

In the final analysis, it is obvious that womens movement is an admirable task that

altered the society into a better way. Women today can attend colleges, play sports, and pursue

the careers they choose. Furthermore, women are accomplishing in the political arena as well.

This is because the movement of women that fought for their right and seems to anticipate the

future for the young generation. From that point, that was when the wave of feminism began,

there were three main wave in feminism that was prominent in the history; first-wave of

feminism prompted the right for women to vote, receive an effective education, and capable to

do works. That was only the first step that women had on the society. Then, the second-wave

feminism contributed women to have an authority in reproductive system and made abortion

legalized. Therefore, it led ladies to controlled over their equalities and also gaining the political

power. Lastly, for the third-wave this wave was different; it was about the races and classes of

women, this wave feminists gave the priority to the effect of various forms of discrimination.

Also, there was a group of people who do not like the changes of females on the society which

result in backlash against feminists because they wanted to push women back again. In fact, to

make the movement impel, the chief was literally integral without any doubt. As a woman, it

was incumbent upon us to appreciate those people and use that chances wisely. Without them,

women will not be able to work outside, chase for their education, or even to discuss about their

perspective. It is now common to see females having their own property and speak in public
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now. They provide an adequate opportunities for the new generation, if it was not for them, then

there will be no us today.

References
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Risen C. (7 February 2014). The Accidental Feminist

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http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/jurisprudence/2014/02/the_50th_annive

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Appendix