Third-Wave Feminism In The Twentieth Century

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First-wave feminism refers to the period of feminist activity towards the end of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth century, predominantly in the United Kingdom and the United States. First-wave feminism initially focused on the “promotion of equal contract and property rights for women and the opposition to chattel marriage and ownership of married women (and their children) by their husbands.” The beginning of first-wave feminism was a form of activism, which focused primarily on gaining political power, particularly for women’s voting rights. Yet, early feminists such as Voltairine de Cleyre and Margaret Sanger tackled another issue way ahead of their time by campaigning for women's sexual, reproductive, and economic rights. British Female suffragists protested by pestering politicians at political events, …show more content…

Additionally, it arose as a response to new-conservatism. Third-wave feminism seeks to challenge or avoid what it deems the second wave's essentialist definitions of femininity, which over-emphasizes the experiences of upper middle-class white women. Third-wave feminists often focus on "micro-politics" and challenge the second-wave feminism’s paradigm as to what is appropriate, or not appropriate for women. Feminist leaders rooted in the second wave like Bell hooks, Audre Lorde and many other black feminists, including Sojourner Truth, sought to negotiate a space within feminist ideologies for the consideration of race-related subjectivities. Third-wave feminism also contains internal debates regarding the differences between feminists, such as those who believe that there are no inherent differences between the sexes and those that contend that gender roles are due to social