The Three Waves Of Feminism

This essay will discuss feminism it’s a broad yet an complicated topic in our human social history. According to Oxford's English dictionary it’s a noun with the meaning "The advocacy of women's rights on the ground of the equality of the sexes". The word feminism came from the French word féminisme in the late 19th century. The history of feminism is something that shall be examined in this essay and how it has developed from earlier century's for the greater good and the first people who tried to make a difference for female basic rights. This essay shall then go on to examine the history of the three waves of feminism.

People and activists who discussed or advanced on women's equality before the existence of the feminist movement can

Wollstonecraft blamed the upbringing and education of women for creating their limited expectations by the dominant males surrounding them. Wollstonecraft believed that both male and female donated to equality. She took women's sizeable power over men for granted, and determined that both would need education to ensure the necessary changes in social attitudes towards feminism. Her main article was called 'A Vindication of the Rights of Woman'. Wollstonecraft insists that all women should have an education that is equivalent to their position in society. She states in her argument that since women were the primary care givers and that they could be able to better educate their own children and be seen as companions to the husband rather than wives if they were given the right opportunity. 'Thoughts on the Education of Daughters' (1787), 'The Female Reader' (1789) and 'A Historical and Moral View of the Origins and Progress of the French Revolution' (1794) are her other major works.

During this period the countries that had participated in World War 2 were trying to re-build themselves and their economy. Women had met their equality target only with the failure of the Equal Rights Amendment. So many different groups were fighting for equality during this time. The second wave was highly influenced by gender equality women fought for this in order for their voices to be heard. The major victories the second wave produced was in the form of legislation designed to give women equal opportunities on the same level as men. In the United States John F.Kennedy's provided the Equal Pay Act, the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the 1974 Equal Credit Opportunity Act and these are just a few of the many important legal battles won for women's equality during the second