Feminism

1. Feminism: How Has It
Changed Over The
Years

2. Thesis statement: Feminism movements and ideologies have gone through
changes in issues like politics, discrimination, autonomy and sexual
harassment throughout the years to fight for equality for women of all age
while adapting to the time period they are in.
Body
First Main Point: The first wave of feminism is focused on women’s suffrage
on which it is a decades long fight to win the right to vote. (POLITICAL)
Examples/Details/Explanations:
• Paglia (2008) stated that the First Wave Feminists made a huge
sacrifice and showed bravery in not only voting but to reform laws on
women’s rights to own property and entering contracts.
• As a result, in 1920, the nineteenth amendment to the constitution was
passed granting women the right to vote.
• The suffrage movement became one of the reasons for the roaring
twenties where women became more lively and adventurous.

3. Second Main Point: The second feminist wave started dueing the 1960s and
lasted for about two decades which focused on equality as well as
discrimination. (DISCRIMINATION)
Examples/Details/Explanations:
• This was also contributed by the hard work of female athletes like tennis
players Billie Jean King and Martina Navratilova that inspired
generations of young women to play the sport.
• Paglia (2008) stated that sports programmes on campus were
expanded for women but also at the expense of men’s sports.
• One major event that marked the second wave is the legalisation of
abortion in the 1970s which give women the right to their own bodies.

4. Third Main Point: The third wave of feminism that began in the mid-90s
focuses not on the outcomes of choices made, but rather on awareness and
accessibility of information to make a free choice. (AUTONOMY)
Examples/Details/Explanations:
• Zimmerman, McDermott & Gould (2009) says the third wave
continues the political and social agenda of the second wave. However,
the climate for the third wave is characterized by uses of technology,
globalization, and political arenas that are aware of, and dismissive of,
feminist efforts toward equality of opportunity.
• Understanding choice as the penultimate in feminism affords us
concrete visions for change, for the focus is on empowering all people
to make socially informed and world responsible choices
• The third wave is traced to the emergence of the riot grrrl feminist
punk subculture in Olympia, Washington, in the early 1990s. Grrl-
feminism tends to be global, multicultural, and it shuns simple answers
or artificial categories of identity, gender, and sexuality.

5. Fourth Main Point: Lastly, the fourth wave which began on 2012 mainly
focuses on sexual harassment, body shaming, and rape culture. (SEXUAL
HARASSMENT)
Examples/Details/Explanations:
• The fourth wave feminism is seen as characterized by action-based viral
campaigns, protests, and movements like #MeToo advancing from the
fringes of society into the headlines of our everyday news.
• The campaign gained widespread attention beginning in 2017, after it
was revealed that film mogul Harvey Weinstein had for years sexually
harassed and assaulted women in the industry with impunity.
• The movement grew over the coming months to bring condemnation
to dozens of powerful men in politics, business, entertainment, and the
news media.