First Wave Feminism Essay

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The first wave of feminism has been a revolutionary social movement in terms of that it could lead to an overcoming of the previous social order (Newman, 2012 p. 487) through its social agents and create, through this, a new social ordering of time and space. Moreover, through reaching their previously described aims, the first wave of feminism has been able to literally “overthrow the entire system itself, (…) in order to replace it with another one.” (Skocpol, 1979, as cited in Newman 2012, p. 487). Thereby, one can even state that a new ordering of time and space by which routines and routinised behaviour has been challenged as well as changed took place. The interactions influenced the way how societies work today. (Allan, 2013, p. 323). …show more content…

5). The first wave feminists are regarded as the ‘godmothers’ of feminism because they claimed for controversial and critical changes, which then became part of women’s lives (Baumgardner & Richards, 2000; Henry, 2004; Heywood, 2006, as cited in Ewig & Ferree, 2013, p. 448). They laid the ground for further following feminists’ waves and movements, as for example the second wave of feminism (1960s – 1970s). Intersectionality was one of the ground-breaking differences in comparison to the first wave of feminism. The second wave feminists included a variety of women, other than just the white-bourgeoisie western women. Therefore, the inclusion of ‘oppressed’ groups, such as women of colour, with different sexualities beyond heterosexuality, of different economic backgrounds and further aspects took place, to a large extent, throughout the second wave of feminism (Krolokke & Sorensen, 2005, p. 1). Women all over the globe fought for their rights in as well as outside the labour market (ibid., p. 8). Several outcomes emerged through the waves of feminism and feminist movements. Not only could they, as social agents, lead to a new form of