Two Waves of Feminism in the Twentieth Century - Article Example

Part I Terms and Meanings National Woman’s Party: Led by Alice Paul and Lucy Burns in the 1913 a small group of five persons, the NWP gradually grew big enough to make its presence felt in the federal level. It emerged as the agent of the militant and political action during the final decade of the suffrage campaign, and was the main advocate of Equal Rights Amendment (ERA). League of Women Voters: was the successor of the NAWSA or the National American Woman Suffrage Association, the first president of which was Maud Wood Park. The LMV played a lead role in organizing a major women’s lobby called the Women’s Joint Congressional Committee. However, LMV was opposed to NWP initially on the ERA or Equal Right Amendment issue. Flappers: The term "flapper" denotes young women of about 19-20 years, and initially was use in England after World War I. A flapper was the epitome of new age women in the 1920s; she broke all gender constructs and smoked, drank, danced, cast her vote, and no longer believed in grooming long hair. A flapper wore make-up, cut her hair short and was plucky. Internment Camps: President Roosevelt issued an Executive order 9066 in February 1942, which led to the establishment of 10 concentration camps to house 120,000 Japanese Americans in the United States. Numerous Japanese Americans experienced the trauma of leaving their homes, and legitimated businesses to be confined to the internment camps located in Arizona, Utah, Wyoming, etc. and because of the shame of the disloyalty insinuated into their identities. Resettlement: This concerns the release of the Japanese American evacuees who were relocated in the year 1942, to internment camps or concentration camps in places like Arizona, Wyoming. The War Relocation Authority began to encourage them to work outside the camps. However, the National Japanese American Student Relocation Council – a non government agency was instrumental in relocating groups of youngsters in colleges and then jobs outside. The older Japanese Americans were slower to follow, though the women were quite anxious to go outside and get on with life, putting the scars of internment behind them. Many young girls were successful too, and soon formed network of support system for those wanting to study and work outside the camps. Encouraged by this support, slowly the Japanese American took to resettlement into various parts of the U.S. Little Rock Nine: In the year 1957, during the active period of the Civil Rights Movement, a group of nine students of African American origin were barred from entering the Little Rock Central High. It eventually turned into a crisis, with the protest of many white students. National Organization for Women: Was born out of National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, protesting the tabling of sex-discrimination and racial discrimination on the same platform, twenty eight women joined together formed NOW, which included Betty Friedan. Its formation marked feminism’s rebirth, and supported the ERA. Las Chicanas: In the early 1970s a Chicano/Latino Community women’s organization called Las Chicanas was born of a few students and staff of the University of Washington. They focused on women’s issues related to women who struggled both against sexism and racism. The group, however, staged a walk-out in 1971 and separated from the Coalition of University Organizations for Women’s Rights, because the major women’s movements considered racism only as a secondary issue. Mother’s Pension: The Advisory Council constituted by the Social Security Board, recommended that widows who were mothers of young children should be provided with three-fourths of what their husbands’ pension would have been, until their children were young. However, she would be ineligible for this pension once the children were older; pension was also denied to widows who had no children. Equal Rights Amendment (1920s): set the target for feminists to demand the same opportunity for women as men, without any discrimination on the basis of sex. It was championed by the National Women’s Party Alice Paul, and fought for equal opportunities for women like men and sought a wider platform of jobs, without sex-based discrimination. But the ERA met with severe opposition from and was defeated, by other feminist unionist groups. Rosie the Riveter: denotes the poster campaign of a woman flexing her arms with the caption “We Can Do It”. This was to boost the moral of the womenfolk whose men were away at war. Thus women had to take up men’s jobs, because it was better paying and they were good at it. And, because of the war, the factories needed people to fill-in the vacancies created by the men at war, and hence took in women in military units and factories. This however, proved to be temporary and women had to return to their traditional domestic jobs when the war was over. Levittown: Promoted by Abraham Leavitt and sons, Levittown is the model of post World War II suburban communities as low-cost, mass-produced housing. He had acquired the land after the potato crop was badly hit by disease on 1920s and the advent of depression. When the War was over, the war veterans needed housing, which was fulfilled by the low-interest and affordable housing provided by Levitt and Sons, making their housing plans a model for the world. Fannie Lou Hamer: An African American woman who became a founding member of the Civil Rights Activist movement of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party. Was arrested along with June Johnson and beaten several times between the years 1962-63 due of her part in SNCC. The Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee or SNCC: was a child organization of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People – NAACP. It was founded by Ella Baker, to provide a platform for voicing the sufferings of black women. Black Feminism: Anne Julia Cooper first identified the ‘double challenge’ to black women, in that they were facing a racial discrimination and sex-discrimination. Black women had always lent support to the Civil Rights Movement. In the late 1967, with white women leaving the SNCC movement, the numbers of black women increased. Through a network of support system, they provided help to their community against rape, lynching and motivation through their writers like Joyce Ladner. To Black women their tradition of feminism was venerable; hence they forged a strong network of support, through which they battled the double discrimination meted out them. Miss America (1968): Protests were organized in Atlantic City, by New York Radical Women, women's liberation groups in which about 50 feminists demonstrated hurt sentiments by beauty competitions. According to them, parading women was a demeaning act, called for an end of beauty competitions, the pressure to submit to the artificial beauty standards and the commercialization of beauty products in order to elevate the exterior appearance of women. Social Security Act: passed in the year 1935 has been described by some as the most important social legislation in America. It allowed for relief grants to be given to the needy and the aged, and to care for the unemployable old people, up to two hundred dollars a month. Later modifications followed, to include widows with children. Pauli Murray (1910-85): Born of mixed race of Africans, Native Americans and Europeans, Murray was refused entry into North Carolina law school because of her race. She however, entered Harvard University law school and grew into an attorney, actively involved in the rights of minorities and women. She was also a founder of NOW, a friend of Eleanor Roosevelt, and at sixty-two years of age became the first Black female priest ordained by the Episcopal Church. Four Freedoms Speech (1941): was made by President Franklin D. Roosevelt to the 77th United States Congress. Roosevelt listed four aspects as fundamental freedoms humans beings: 1) Freedom of speech and expression 2) Freedom to choose one’s personal God and religion 3) Freedom from want and 4) Freedom from fear. Feminine Mystique (1963): Written by Betty Friedan, it discusses the plight of educated women who were forced to retire to their domestic arenas after the two World Wars were over. These women could not satisfy themselves merely fulfilling their roles as home-keepers and craved for a more active engagement in the career and job market. However, the prevailing social constructs discouraged that strongly that the women had to suppress their unhappiness. They couldn’t assign a reason for it. It was named thus “the problem that has no name”, and this paved the way for women to understand that the root of the problem that troubled so many individual women, lay in the social structures and was a collective one, rather than individual aberration. Dolores Huerta: A well-known Chicana labor leader in the U.S. She co-founded the United Farm Workers union and was its first vice president. Being a tough negotiator, and an organizer of successful boycotts of grapes, she received honors for the thirty plus years of dedicated struggle for the justice and dignity of migrant farm workers. An American of Hispanic origin, Huerta even today, serves as a role model for Mexican American women. Roe vs. Wade: The Supreme Court in 1973, ruled through its decision on the Roe v. Wade case, that a woman’s had the right to arrive at decision for herself, as to whether or not she should carry a pregnancy to term or not. This plunged the nation into a full-scale debate on the morality of permitting abortions, and feminists were divided yet again on grounds of pro-choice and pro-life or anti-abortion supporters. The ruling was a landmark in the recognition of the travails of women having to suffer unwanted pregnancies with inherent dangers of childbirth, when methods of prevention were not so effective or available. Eleanor Roosevelt: wife of President Franklin Roosevelt, she was one of the most active of the First Ladies of the U.S. Despite her supreme position, she was a column-writer in a long-running daily syndicated newspaper, wherein she promulgated her ideas. However, with the rising threat of the Nazi Germany looming over America, the state Department had to insist on her silence and she could no longer speak as she willed on the issues and subjects that mattered to her. However, she will be long remembered as a woman who evolved into an illustrious personality, a champion of social justice, civil rights and civil liberties, from a shy and insecure person who was filled racism and anti-Semitism. Great Depression: of the 1930s did not affect all sections of the society in the same way. Many of the money people did not feel it all. It did make it had for men to secure get jobs and retain them. Agricultural and farm sectors were the most hit since their produce did not fetch them good prices. The women however, had their positions reversed. They had more opportunities to work and supplement the family income to some extent. Eleanor Roosevelt was very actively involved in relief work and was instrumental in setting up the Federal Emergency Relief Administration. During the bitter winter of 1933-34 a program called the Civil Works Administration was introduced, which provided 300,000 poor women their much needed jobs. Women were employed in different capacities, and different jobs, including clerical. Industrialization of the home: Improved household technology ensured that the middle-class women’s labor was reduced by means of a vacuum cleaner, dish washer, washing machine etc. The full-time home-makers used all these modern gadgets and kept their homes sparkling neat, and reduced their dependency on the servant force. It made it easier for them to do all the jobs in the house on their own, and left them as the only section of unspecialized work force in America. Instead of physical labor, the duties of taking care of their children and husbands, and spending some leisure in shopping became the hallmark of the industrialized homes. Brown vs. Board of Education: In 1954 the United States Supreme Court’s ruling in the Oliver L. Brown v. the Board of Education of Topeka (KS) case important turning point in the history of judicial department. It declared that the discriminatory trait of racial discrimination violated the 14th amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which states and guarantees all citizens equal protection of the laws. Thus it was this case that fundamentally shaped the foundation for the national and international norms in human rights. Women’s Liberationists: The various feminist groups were often called under one name – the “women’s libbers.” The women’s liberationists included young veterans of the Civil Rights Movement and the New Left, who were very intent in their commitment to equality and the techniques of protest. They were often not very highly educated, and their ideas and political style of doing things gave form to the violence of the 1960s, and paved the way for turning the focus on women’s predicament. Global Citizenship: Has two inherent arguments in it. 1) Since the differentiations of culture and beliefs have been narrowed down, it identities should no longer be base on the racial, geographical differences. 2) Every one is a Global Citizen and has equal rights to live responsibly, and does not belong to any particular state or country, but rather, a citizen of the globe. Global Citizenship is more about comprehending the requirement to deal with injustice and inequality squarely, and having the desire and capacity to do so. On should value the Earth as priceless and unique, and ensure reaches the hands of future generations, safely. Part II Compare and contrast first and second wave feminism. How did the issues, strategies, and priorities differ during the first and second wave movements? How did first and second wave feminists deal with race and class tensions? How have the women’s movements changed American society? In your opinion is there a need for a woman’s movement today? Why or why not? First and Second Wave of Feminism – A Comparative Study Introduction Nancy Cott defines the term ‘feminism1’ of the first wave of feminist movement, as some thing of an ideology based on a presupposed set of rules and governing principles, but not necessarily inclusive of all woman, and however, nor are they (the principles) upheld only by women. The forces that drove the feminist movements into action during the second wave of feminism are as complicated as this definition, to say the least. Study of American history would be incomplete without the history of women’s liberation movements and their roles in making the nation a more democratic one as it stands today. The fight for women’s emancipation did happen suddenly. It happened over a period of years, in what historians call waves of feminism. This essay shall compare and contrast the first and the second wave of the feminist movements and analyze and highlight some of the differences in their ideologies, strategies used, priorities that seemed important to the women of each period. It shall also discuss the role played by race and class differences and in the process try to understand how they have contributed to changing America as it stands today. Finally it shall also try to answer some pertinent questions such as whether or not another feminist movement is necessary in the present day context, drawing relevant references from the works of some prominent historians. Ideological Platforms With the advent of industrialization and “commodification2” of produce, the seeming equality of men and women laboring side by side on the field was lost. The requirement of skilled labor to handle machinery rendered women unsuitable for industrial jobs, and confined her work domain to the domestic arena, mostly unpaid. The concepts true womanhood3 and the already ingrained social male and female gender roles helped severe the wage-earning-labor links of women in the society. Domestic work was difficult, and women, very often had to labor more than men; but, were hardly recognized as contributing to the society, since their labor did not fetch wages. Their social standing was also poor, and they were deemed to have no identity or life or their own. They were ‘second class’ citizens, having not property rights, nor paying taxes, politically and educationally too, with no voting rights or participation in public affairs of the state. Thus the roots of the first wave of feminism were more unified, against the perceived inequalities of the ‘gendered’ sex, with the ideology being recognition of feminist rights by the patriarchal society.4 Frequently, the struggle was alongside the racist struggles. The demands were for legitimate, basic rights to do recognized labor and rights to inherit property, education, and most importantly, to vote – for example, the National Suffrage Parade5 of 1913. However, by the time second wave of feminism (1970s) evolved, the two world wars had taken place and their capacity for labor was valued, though disparities did exist in the wages as well as the opportunities available to them. However, unlike the near unified appeal of the first wave, second wave of feminism was fragmented on their social ideologies, races and color, and economic class. One of the fundamental differences lay in the very foundations of the “second sex6” – whether womanhood was to be considered equal to men, indiscriminate of their biological function of motherhood (the liberal feminists) or, was it to be considered as being unique and different from the capacities of the male, because of the child-bearing function; and oppression by male-dominated society being the main cause of subjugation (the radical feminists7). A third dimension was also tangible in the presence of the unionist feminists, who were seeking to protect and fight for the rights of women in workplace. Additionally, the ideological platform of ‘anti-racial, anti-sexual’ discrimination of the Afro-American women, who had to contend with “double challenge” of “the race problem” and “the woman question8” with the women of other races joining in. Strategically Different The first-wave feminists relied on friendships, unions, and change in the public perception through propagation of their ideologies and spread of awareness. Dr. Margaret Sanger’s effort to publish literature on the scientific methods of having an abortion and prevention methods and the first American Birth Control Conference are an example. Leading personalities of the time like Susan B. Anthony, Lady Elizabeth Cady Stanton were all basically reformists, indirectly instrumental in staging the Women’s Suffragist Movement Parade in 1913. They relied more on reformation of the society and political awakening of women to gather strength to their principles, and bring about change. The first-wave feminists were largely homogeneous, with a major part of the activists from the dominant whites and a few others, fighting on a twin agenda of ‘anti-slavery’ and ‘anti-oppression’ and hence did not have to deal much with the differing ideological groups and the inherent tensions. The strategies of the second-wave feminists were as varied as their ideologies. Of the main groups under the ‘women’s liberationists’ banner were the Women’s Rights Advocates with mostly a group of older, experienced and reform-oriented feminists, using traditional pressure group tactic to achieve changes in laws and public policy9. Women’s clout in some governmental policies could be understood from the case of Martha Griffith’s (a representative from Michigan) and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission 10(EEOC). Their main aim was to secure the Equal Rights for Women. Another younger group, less highly-educated, consisting of younger veterans and New Leftists, intent on taking the protest route to achieve their demands included NOW or the National Organization for Women - a break away group of 28 women from NAACP, in including Betty Friedan the author of “Feminine Mystique.” The strategy adopted by Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee and the Students Democratic Society, mainly consisting of Afro-Americans followed the their traditional support network tactics and formed “the rap groups11” to raise the consciousness of their womenfolk and struggles against rape and lynching; “Las Chicanas12” the group of American-Hispanics too relied on their community support platforms to have their demands noticed by the federal government. This strategy of each group developing their own support network tailor-made to fulfill their agenda, was one of the main ways in which the second-wave feminists sought to ease class and race tensions. Thus, one can see a cornucopia of groups different in all ways, i.e. race, class, ideology, mannerisms and styles, under the banner of ‘women’s liberationists’. Issues and Priorities The main issues of contention for the first-wave of feminists was recognition of their social, political, property, educational, economic rights in the society as being equal contributors to the society as were the men. Rights to voting, education, and social equality seemed most important as did their right to earn and be employed in areas beyond domestic confines. The issues and priorities before the second-wave feminists were varied according to the ideologies. While the implementation of Equal Rights Amendment was a big issue raised by the National Women’s Party liberationists, the League of Women’s Voters opposed it. The trade unionist feminists of the Women's Trade Union League under Pauline Newman, and Florence Kelley the National Consumer’s League who was instrumental in the sex-based discrimination laws in factories and industries, opposed it vehemently. Old-age pension13 was definitely an issue for the second-wave feminists, as was abortion14. But the main issue that distinguishes second-wave feminism from any movement before is the social change in perception of viewing sexuality, advocated by the radical feminists. Womanhood as an independent entity, totally ignoring male sex since it is the root of all oppression, with even their sexual-orientation changed to lesbianism is one of the most visible transformation. Latest issues include the “glass-ceiling15” faced by women in work places, which prevent or discourage women from reaching top-positions in the corporate ladder. Relevance of Feminism Today Feminist movements have definitely changed the face of America in a positive way. It is the struggles of the feminists which have led to women reaching unprecedented heights today in their careers and the society. Standing examples are Condoleezza Rice, the National Security Advisor to President George W. Bush, and Indira Nooyi the CEO of Pepsi co. At a more common level, it is said that even in the 1990s, more women were encouraged to set up their own businesses, and that at least one in five women were earning more than their husbands16. This may lead one to question the relevance of feminism in present day context, if so much progress has already been achieved and women have already attained emancipation. Unfortunately, the scenario is far from satisfactory, even in developed nations like the U.S. Rapes, and work-place harassments, stalking, and domestic violence are some of the common injustices that women face in everyday life. Needless to say in third-world countries like Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh, even India – the emerging Asian economic giant, women’s rights are blatantly neglected and much needs to be done. Conclusion Two waves of feminism in the twentieth century though very different from each other in their principles, strategies, and the issues they debated, have made their mark and put America firmly on the list of ‘most emancipated-women nations’ in the world. Feminist movements and the basic principles of feminism are still very relevant today, in that they serve as a model to be emulated by countries in which human-rights enforcement still take a back-seat, and inspire develop women-led economies that benefit the nation, and indeed, the whole world in general. Read More