Feminism has played an important role in the history and culture of the United States. Beginning very early on in the late 1800s, women fought for their rights to be heard and allowed to vote. In the next century the desire for women to become more socially equal was the focus of the feminist in the United States. Now in the more modern wave of feminism in this country, the emphasis has shifted to enforcing the equality of all women, no matter their ethnicity, social standing, or sexual orientation.
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During the late 1800s, following the end of the American Civil War, feminists such as Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony began to campaign for women's suffrage in the United States. Stanton and Anthony led the National Woman Suffrage Association or the NWSA when it was established in 1869. This was the same year that the American Woman Suffrage Association came to be.
The Seneca Falls Convention was held between July 19-20 in 1848 with Stanton and Lucretia Mott where several discussions were held to debate the roles for women in society. During these meetings, Stanton devised a declaration of how women have been discriminated by men and the laws of the past known as the Declaration of Sentiments. Stanton also provides a list of resolutions describing how women should be treated equal. [1]
American women were finally granted universal suffrage in 1920 with the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. This prohibited any citizen being denied the right to vote based on gender.
The Second-wave feminism began nearly as soon as World War II had ended. The end of the war had proven that women were fully capable of retaining the jobs that men had abandoned when they were deployed to battle.[2] They sought to be freed from the traditional roles of housewife and caregiver, and wished to occupy a higher prevalence in the work force. [3]
In the early 1960s Betty Friedan wrote a controversial book entitled The Feminine Mystique in which she critiqued the patterns of middle class women in the United States at the current time. Her emphasis focused on the assumption that women had no other roles in life other than wife and mother. Furthermore, Betty Friedan began encouraging women to strive to find their own callings in life and seek other personal and professional roles in a society that was deemed male-dominated. [4]
During this time, women found started to seek more interest in removing gender discrimination in the workplace. In 1966, roughly 30 women including Betty Friedan formed National Organization for Women where they sought to bring awareness to all the limited access women have had in mainstream society. Their goal was to reach full equality with that of men. Their founding chair members were:
-Betty Friedan: President
- Kathryn F. Clarenbach: Chair of the Board
- Aileen Hernandez: Executive Vice President
- Richard Graham: Vice President
- Caroline Davis: Secretary/ Treasurer
The Third Wave chooses not to have a structured or specific definition of feminism because many feel it is best to challenge the universal belief of what femininity is. The Third-wave feminism took form in the early 1990's when minority women such as Rebecca Walker shed light on the lack of attention being drawn to women of color, non heterosexuality, and the younger generations. This is more a general term for the modern feminism and the progressions they have made since the second-wave feminism [5]
The Third Wave did not have a central or specific goal that they wanted to focus all their efforts into. Instead they stood for a greater sense of equality for all; whether it be race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or social class. Some of the bigger issues that modern feminists choose to address are that of gender violence, reproductive rights, derogatory language, sexual harassment.
In recent years more groups have formed such as the Third Wave Foundation that seeks to donate their time in the development and recognition of the resilience and leadership amongst women who may be young, transgender, or gender non conforming youth. [6]