The Feminist Movements and the Emancipation of Females - Essay Example

However, by the end of 1950s, women’s magazines had started to voice concerns over the early marriage of females and to change the existing attitudes of women whose concept of life remained confined to getting married, having “four children” and living in a “nice house in a nice suburb” (60). By the early 60s, women began to recognize their unhappiness which stemmed from causes other than marriage or family and then the media came into the scene to report a common trend of women’s discontentment over their status in society through prominent newspapers and magazines as well as TV programmes such as “The Trapped Housewife” (66).

Thus, the intervention of the media, which promoted a “collective awareness” of women’s common condition, has played a key role in the success of the feminist movement (Lamb 2011:46). Another major factor that helped the success of feminist mobilisation could be evidenced from the dramatic transformation in women’s social condition including the “mechanisation of domestic chores” and the “contraceptive pills” (The Feminist Movement: Slide 6). . The protest tactics of females have remained on symbolic forms because of the traditional notion of women as being peaceful and protective rather than aggressive.

In addition, strategies of “civil disobedience” and “playful” marches were adopted to garner media attention and, thus, women relied on these forms of agitation to attain their goals (Slides 15, 16, 17). The strike by the Ford machinists at Dagenham factory in East London on June 7, 1968 where 850 females participated to protest “against sex discrimination of job grading” can be seen as an example of women’s involvement in “direct action” (Hughes n.d: 3, 4). In the present day, where feminism takes a “backlash” due to rampant violence against the gender, the movements such as “End Violence against Women campaign” have become significant, as it can be seen as an example of symbolic form of action (Cochrane 2008). 3. What obstacles and challenges do feminist organisations face today in their mobilization efforts?

In the modern day of technological development, feminist organisations encounter a lot of challenges such as “religious fundamentalism,” sex determination tests and the tendency of many people to blame women’s liberation movements (The Feminist Movement Slide 20). Besides, the issue of gap in pay of women as well as the fact that violence against women has reached “crisis levels” are grave concerns for them (Rake 2006). This will pre-empt the feminist organizations from focusing on the core strategy of mobilisation as their attention will be remain concentrated on fighting violence against women and other such issues.

In addition, the women’s organisations today also encounter a main problem where they struggle to keep the “faith in