Womens Studies

p Running head : Feminism

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It is necessary to think of of feminism from the late 19th century to the present day in terms of waves since feminist movements and activities have come in different phases which all seemed to be conveying specific themes that were directed towards the championing for the welfare of women . In addition to this , the spheres of influence in these different phases have grown starting from a local or national to a a more globalized and all- issues embracing

perspective . With the coming in of each phase , there have been a broadening in the tackling of issues from geographically specific issues that bedevil women to global ones (Doyal , Naidoo , Wilton ,1994

The first wave refers to the efforts which were made to elicit reforms on the socio- economic inequalities that existed in the 19th century under the leadership of feminists like Mary Wollstonecraft . This 1850 movement which began in Langhan Place , London by middle class women such as Barbara Bidichon (1827- 1891 ) and Bessie Reyner (1829-1925 ) met to discuss pertinent issues and to subsequently publish an English women 's journal on the same . The key concerns in the first wave included matters touching on education , employment , the plight of the middle class women single women and marriage laws . The actual word feminism ' is coined in this period , with most movers and shakers of these meeting being women who had faced these challenges

The term second wave of feminism ' was coined by Marsha Lear to allude to the heightening of the feminist activities in America Britain , and Europe from the late 1960 's onwards . This wave sprung from civil rights movements and antiwar activism and was filled with women with the second class status . The tactics employed included the assimilation of highly conscious groups and the publication of their materials . Although this wave did not make much impact , it continued to inspire the global struggle of women for their rights . This group also was not unified since the liberal , the social , the lesbian and the black feminist were all here , with different views

The third wave came about to combat the inequalities women faced arising from matters touching on race , gender , sexual orientation economic status and the education level . Under the leadership of Rebecca Walter , the third wave can be said to be working towards achieving a more permanent solution and a stable foundations by empowering young women through education

Critics from black and post colonial feminists are said to have disturbed the second wave notion . This is because , the post colonial feminism which emerged after spates of colonialism in Africa , Caribbean south east Asia and parts of Latin America , under the leadership of Chandra Talpade criticised it as being ethnocentric . This sentiment was also echoed by black feminists such as Angela Davies and Alice Walker who posited that the second wave notion of feminism was bent on internal racism (by the fact that it mostly comprised white women , classism (since it was...