Feminism today is a lot different from how the world viewed it 100 years ago. Today, women of all communities can have their voices heard by the world when they try hard enough. But many people don’t truly understand the history behind feminism and its origins. How it started, why it started, and what it looks like now.
The start for American women’s rights started around July of 1848 in Seneca Falls, New York. Female figures like Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott started their push for women’s equality with men. But, later in 1870 the conversation focused when the 15th Amendment was passed. This amendment gave African American men the right to vote. Many white women were upset that these men got to have the right to vote before them, just because they were men.
Similar to this, these earlier movements often excluded women of color, like Sojourner Truth, leading them to have to fight harder for their individual obstacles. Later, only in 1920 was the 19th Amendment passed, giving white women the right to vote. Women of color had to wait for the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
This was only the beginning of this national movement for American women. Even though they gained these rights on paper, they were going to have to fight harder for there to actually be a difference in how they are treated by men in society.
An extremely traditional view of women was the expectation of motherhood. How they should be mothers and be the perfect wives. But most women know that those two adjectives are hard to balance at the same time. That’s why in 1963, a woman named Betty Friedan wrote “The Feminine Mystique” arguing against their roles of being mothers and wives.
This book sold 1.4 million copies and initiated the so-called second wave of women’s rights. This second wave initiated many other areas of women’s concerns, “including passage of the Equal Pay Act and the landmark Supreme Court decisions in Griswold v. Connecticut (1965) and Roe v. Wade (1973) related to reproductive freedom.” Of course, there was controversy for concentrating on white women, but the movement was losing its voice by 1980, when Ronald Reagan came to the White House.
The 1990’s is when more problems were coming to a head. Like tackling sexual harassment and lack of women holding powerful roles. These problems becoming more vocalized led to the “Year of The Woman” in 1992 when a large number of women were elected for Congress. This now being the third-wave of the movement led to women starting to be more comfortable with expression and sexuality.
Ways that women were dressing were straying farther and farther away from the traditional ways that were once expected of them. Inclusivity was also starting to become more of the norm with the concept of “intersectionality.”
All this history now leads up to what we see today. Women of all races being able to be united as one. “Our gender, our race, disability, class, sexuality, and more – all of these pieces of ourselves generate different lived experiences and also help us understand that no one of us is just one thing,… This inclusive vision is a powerful and integral part of feminism.” said Diana Duarte, feminist group MADRE’s Director of Policy and Strategic Engagement.
Feminism has come a long way, for the better. Despite all the differences that women may have from one another, at the end of the day, they all have to fight the battle of simply being a female. This as an element, makes them all connected as an operation, a group. A group that has to stick together in order for better days to come.
Sources:
What Are the Four Waves of Feminism?
The feminist movement has changed drastically. Here’s what the movement looks like today
