¡Descarga Evolution of Feminism: From Property Rights to Intersectional Equality y más Apuntes en PDF de Inglés solo en Docsity! FEMINISM THROUGHOUT THE YEARS To properly describe feminisms evolution throughout the years it has been present, we will first need to define what it means and what this movement stands for: The advocacy of women's political ,social and economical rights for there to be equality between the two genders. Many people, mainly men, argument this definition by suggesting that men and women aren't the same therefore they can't be equal, but what feminism preaches is that men and women must have equal access to opportunities and equal rights. This movement is a very positive force that motivates women from the whole world to pursue and achieve their goals overcoming the obstacles they might find along the way and that sometimes have to do with society's perception of women. The term feminism has had a lot of meanings over time but the best version in the one we have today which is: intersectional feminism. In this view, people (especially women of course) are oppressed everyday in many different ways but these types of oppression are all connected. A clear example of that would be a woman who is not an heterosexual and that also has a disability, so in this case feminism would be trying to protect this person from discrimination. But protecting a woman's rights was very hard when feminism first started around the nineteenth century because at the time, it involved a big social change. Before the first wave of feminism they weren't allowed to do anything without the permission of “the man of the house” which was either the father or the husband. In the beginning of this movement activists were focused in gaining women property rights as well as freedom, which meant that they could marry whoever they wanted and not legally belong to a man. However by the end if the nineteenth century they decided to focus on other rights such as gaining political power, but this didn't mean that feminists weren't still campaigning for women's sexual, reproductive and economical rights at the time. This first wave ended in 1919 with the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution which legally allowed women to vote in all states. The second wave is referred to as the period of activism from the 1960s to the 1980s and at the time the movement's energy and hard work was focused on passing the Equal Rights Amendment to the Constitution which guaranteed social equality for both sexes. This second phase officially started with protests against the Miss America pageant in 1968 which activists considered a patriarchal cattle parade that degraded women by treating them as objects and a way to fulfill men's needs. Although there were many protests in this phase, they were not the main news of the time because of the war in Vietnam and many other social movements that put this one on the side. But what makes it so important is how it differs from the first wave. While this one was leaded by western, white and cisgender women the second phase added to the picture women of color with different sexualities and from different nations. lt came to an end when the Equal Rights Amendment was finally passed which led to the third wave of feminism that started around the 90s with a new generation of women. They chose to fight the sexism, racism and patriarchy with irony, classicism and exclusion with a radical democracy and the violence they endured with amazing stories of survival. Women decided to change and redefine the words and ways which the media portrayed them with. If there were characteristics that were only for men, they redefined them and made them theirs. A simple example would be the colors that “only women” were allowed to wear such as pink. Another very important thing they had was “sexual liberation”; wearing whatever they wanted even if it included showing cleavage, wearing high heels, red lipstick, smoking in public without a care etc. This phase also played a very important role in the division of sex and gender something that before was barely even discussed. They completely redefined women as powerful, intelligent, beautiful and in control of their own sexuality. And finally, the last wave which is the modern day feminism. This fourth phase started after a few debates and controversies on the usefulness of
