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D 6.3.1 Waves of feminism
It was not until the 19th century that organised women’s movements started to fight
against different and dominant aspects of gender inequality, which changed with the
time and place. According to different emphases placed on the issues being fought
about, the history of feminism is often divided into three waves. The first wave refers
mainly to the women’s suffrage movement, which was concerned with ensuring the
right to vote for women (from the 19th to the early 20th centuries), mainly in the
United Kingdom and the United States. Starting with the struggle to promote equal
contract and property rights for women, activism in the first wave focused on political
inequalities for women and on gaining political power. The second wave covers the
period from the 1960s to the late 1980s, with an emphasis on fighting against social
and cultural inequalities and ensuring women’s liberation. 58 The personal spheres of
life were also brought to the fore by the second-wave feminists, in order to bring what
had formerly been seen as private matters (such as housework or domestic violence)
onto the political agenda. 59 The third wave refers to a period beginning with the
1990s, often as a critique of second-wave feminism for its lack of attention to the differences
among women due to race, ethnicity, class, nationality or religion. This period
emphasises identity as a site for gender struggle. 60
It is also important to note that not all feminists would agree with this identification of
feminism with particular moments of political activism in history. One of the reasons
for this is that those moments confine feminism to a few (white) women in the west
over the past century or so and neglect other forms of resistance to male domination
that should be considered “feminist” throughout history and across cultures. Another
reason is that the historical perspective of the first and second wave ignores the ongoing
resistance to male domination between the 1920s and 1960s and the resistance outside
mainstream politics, particularly by women of colour and working-class women. 61
D 6.3.2 Forms of feminism
The feminist women’s movements aim to achieve women’s liberation, but different
theoretical feminisms can also be categorised according to the emphasis they give to
the sources of gender inequalities and domination over women. However, this does
not mean that these perspectives are mutually exclusive. There are often attempts to
synthesise different forms of feminism and to synthesise feminist analysis with other
mainstream frameworks. 62
Radical feminism suggests that men as a group dominate women as a group and that
men benefit from the subordination of women. 63 Radical feminists aim to challenge
and overthrow such patriarchy by opposing standard gender roles and male oppression
of women. 64 They introduce a range of issues such as the appropriation of women’s
sexuality and bodies, men’s violence against women, violence in the family and rape,
which are systems of male domination and control over women. 65 Personal aspects
of life are seen as part of this, which is also indicated by the slogan “the personal is
political”. 66
Socialist feminism suggests that women’s oppression is the result of a combination of
patriarchy and capitalism. 67 It focuses upon both the public and private spheres of a
woman’s life and argues that liberation can only be achieved by working to end both
the economic and cultural sources of women’s oppression. 68
Themes