...Feminism in Canada has been shifting, reforming and reinventing itself since its inception in the late nineteenth century in an effort to bring a genuine sense of equality to both men and women across the country. Though feminism takes many different forms – classical feminism, liberal feminism, post-modern feminism etc. – each definition maintains commonalities which attempt to shed light on issues related specifically to the historical disadvantages of women and the goal of egalitarianism. In Canada, feminism has unfolded in three distinct stages often referred to as the three waves of feminism: (i) the first wave started in the late nineteenth century characterized by basic demands for equality via suffrage and recognition as persons; (ii) the second wave originated during World War II taking a more proactive approach to women’s workforce and reproductive rights; and (iii) the third wave began in the 1990’s challenging broader issues of equality such as racism, capitalism and colonialism. The following essay will analyse each wave based on their chronological time frame, ideological foundation and the social movements which emerged as a by product. First wave feminism started the general movement and, even though its goals and fundamental ideology may seem drastically different from second and third wave feminism, it should be credited with forming the foundation in which the fight for gender equality originated. First wave feminists were primarily driven by maternal feminism...
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...active in China: "One of the most striking manifestations of social change and awakening which has accompanied the Revolution in China has been the emergence of a vigorous and active Woman's Movement." Beginning in the 70s and continuing in the 80s, however, many Chinese feminists began arguing that the Communist government had been "consistently willing to treat women's liberation as something to be achieved later, after class inequalities had been taken care of."[9] Some feminists claim that part of the problem is a tendency on the government's part to interpret "equality" as sameness, and then to treat women according to an unexamined standard of male normalcy.[10] Chapter two: definition, development, and categories of feminism 1. Definition of feminism Throughout history, women have always struggled to obtain equality, respect, and the same rights as men. This has been difficult because of patriarchy, an ideology in which men are superior to women and have the right to control women. This ideology has spread...
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...women is natural matter which is unchangeable. People tried to find the reason why this belief occurred and has still endured for a long time. In addition, there is a social movement which tried to change this belief, including the condition of the inequality between men and women. This social movement is called feminism. This social phenomenon began, in 19th century, in the western side of the world, because women didn’t accept the original culture, their role in society, the inequality of gender, and the oppression of men. However, this contradiction in terms of gender has been argued up to the beginning of 20th century. Feminism has rapidly grown since the last forty years of 20th century. People become awakened to study about women in several measurements, especially in the study of the relationship between men and women, by using the idea of gender to be the equipment of the analysis. The inconsistency of gender causes the movement which people demand the equality between men and women. Moreover, there are many studies, explanations and ideas about the secondary status of women in many terms, in the last for decades. Almost explanations and ideas of feminism develop from main...
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...The development of feminism Feminists argue that gender inequalities form the major division in society. Most feminists also see gender relationships as being based on conflict and exploitation of women by men. They believe that much of the culture has been shaped by men and neglects the contribution that women have made in society. First wave The first wave of feminism emerged in the mide-1800s aiming to change the social and legal inequalities effecting women to achieve universal female suffrage, which is the right to vote for all women. It was led by middle-class women, known as the suffragettes. As well as campaigning for the right to vote, they were also worried about the poor education opportunities available for girls they fought for better secondary education and access to high education. The suffragettes also wanted to change the law which sated that once they were married, their wealth and income became their husbands. Also, women could not divorce their husband without their husband agreeing. By the early 1900s, the first wave of feminism achieved a number of their goals, the right to vote was granted to women in 1928, in the UK. Greater access to higher education and greater access to some professions were achieved, such as medicine. These issues gave a rise to the development of the next phase of feminist activity. Second wave The second wave of feminism grew in the 1960s and 1970s, which was focused on the person problems that women would experience due to...
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...Comparison of Second and Third Wave Feminism A historical Social Movement that had major implications for the future was the Feminist movement during the 1960s-1970s often referred to as the Second Wave of feminism. This movement’s peak was during these two decades although it lasted until the 1980’s. This historical social movement is interesting because it was almost immediately followed by what is referred to as the third wave of feminism, which began in the 1990’s and still exists today. Both movements focused on aspects of women’s rights although they differ in rhetoric. The emergence and decline of second wave feminism was a necessary event which led to the third wave of feminism. The term second-wave feminism refers mostly to the radical feminism of the women’s liberation movement of the late 1960s and early 1970s. Second-wave feminism grew out of leftist movements in postwar Western societies, such as student protests, the anti–Vietnam War movement, the lesbian and gay movements, and, in the United States, the civil rights and Black power movements (Krolokke, Sorensen, p. 8). During this period other movements that were critical of capitalism and imperialism focused on the interest of oppressed groups: working classes, minorities, women and homosexuals. Even during this period of social upheaval women found themselves servicing the revolution, cut off from real influence and thus, once again, exposed to sexism (p. 9). To combat this, women began to form...
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...How does contemporary ‘post-feminism’ or ‘third wave feminism’ contribute to the furtherance of women’s rights and gender equality? Research and discuss There is a good deal of controversy over the role of so-called Third Wave feminism in the quest for gender equality. Third Wave feminism emerged in the late 1980’s and 1990’s among a cohort of women who had grown up taking for granted the gains made in the first wave of feminism (suffrage) and the second wave (the 1970’s emergence of feminist activism) (Arneil, 1999; Henry, 2004). These are young women who experience feminism almost like “’flouride. We scarcely notice that we have it—it’s simply in the water” (Henry, 2004: 70, quoting Baumgardner and Richards). The controversy stems not so much from their tacit reliance on previous gains, but on the focus of Third Wave feminism, which is undeniably on self-expression, freedom of experience, and sexual flexibility. Henry (2004) writes about the American television series Sex and the City as emblematic of Third Wave feminist sensibilities. This might be a bitter pill to swallow for those who identify feminism with more stalwart causes, including combating idealised and sexualised images of women in the media and embracing women’s diversity. After all, the four heroines of Sex and the City are all white, wealthy, thin, glamorous, obsessed with fashion and arguably obsessed with men. Nevertheless there are story lines and sensibilities in Sex and the City which reveal feminist...
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...Feminism is the belief that women should be treated as both potentially intellectual and socially equal to men. It embraces the thought that all people are entitled to freedom and liberty within reason; including equal civil rights and the discrimination that should not be made based on gender, sexual orientation, skin color, ethnicity, religion, or culture. Feminist movements have campaigned and continue to campaign for women's rights, including the right to vote, to hold public office, to work, to earn fair wages, to own property, education, and to have equal rights within marriage. Feminists have also worked to promote bodily independence, integrity, to protect women from rape, sexual harassment, and domestic violence. Feminism underlies five major concepts. First, we have patriarchy which is the authority of men in society and the oppression of women for men’s gain. Second, discrimination that leads to the unequal treatment that women receive. Third, we have gender stereotypes which are negative misconceptions about women. Forth, economic dependency; where women are forced to quit their job in order to take care of their household responsibilities. Fifth, emotional work; where women are predicted to do the majority of emotional care of their family. As feminism started to rise, it encountered three waves. The first wave of feminism took place in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, where it emerged out of an environment of urban industrialism and...
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...Feminism in Bangladesh: Establishing equal rights between men & women in young generation. SADMAN ANIS Students University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh ABSTRACT This is basically exploratory study and was conducted at University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh & United International University, Dhanmondi,Dhaka, Bangladesh over a period of 10 days started from 1st December, 2012 to 10th December, 2010. The main objective of this study is to describe what the condition of feminism in Bangladesh and what is the thinking of our varsity girl about feminism. Total 21 respondents were selected based on age class of 18-22. Feminism is a belief in the right of women to have political, social, and economic equality with men. It is a discourse that involves various movements, theories, and philosophies which are concerned with the issue of gender difference, advocate equality for women, and campaign for women’s rights and interests. According to some, the history of feminism can be divided into three waves. The first wave was in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the second was in the 1960s and 1970s and the third extends from the 1990s to the present. Feminist theory emerged from these feminist movements. It is manifest in a variety of disciplines such as feminist geography, feminist history and feminist literary criticism. Although feminism has emerged in nineteenth in the world, it is yet unknown to women of our country. The concept of feminism in Bangladesh has...
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...How has feminism attempted to achieve women’s liberation, and has the battle been won? This essay aims to outline how feminism has and continues its attempt to achieve women’s liberation.This essay will reflect the current situation in Europe. The essay begins by describing the first and second wave of feminism, providing an overview of the ideas of some important feminist thinkers and activists. It then introduces the third wave, modern feminism and concludes with some remarks regarding the development of feminism insofar as it affects modern organizations willing to tackle gender inequality. The concept defined as the ‘first wave of feminism’ finds it origins in the mid-nineteenth century, with the ‘suffragettes’—as those pioneers were called—and their struggle to achieve equal political rights. These women’s central aim was to obtain the right to vote, even if that meant they had to protest through various hunger strikes, as they did in London. The ‘second wave of feminism’ focused on ending all forms of sexism, and it fought both psychological and sexual oppression towards women. Among others, Betty Friedan realized that women felt frustrated due to the oppression that came from their perceived role in society, namely that of staying at home. The patriarchal culture started to be criticized by many radical feminists. This second wave was very marked by Simone De Beauvoir and her work, The Second Sex. She believed “one is not born a woman, one becomes one”. Eva Figes wrote...
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...Assignment/Dissertation Submission Form Student Information Please complete all parts of this form and submit with your assignment. All parts of the assignment must be stapled together before submission PLEASE USE BLOCK CAPITALS Student Registration Number | 2 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 6 | 3 | Class Code and Title - PRINT the code and title as it appears in the student handbook V | 1 | 2 | 1 | 6 | | History of the USA since 1877 | Tutor’s name | Mark Ellis | Submission date | 17/11/13 | | | Extension/Re-submission Yes No | Extension/Re-submission date: | Where appropriate please √ your year, Now √ the attempt. 1st | 2nd | √ | | Yr 1 | Yr 2 | Yr 3 | Yr4 | | Postgraduate | | √ | | | | | | | ...
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...of integrity and justice, is a perfect example of a seemingly equal situation, which turns out to be anything but for women. The policies imposed in the criminal justice system affect men and women in extremely dissimilar manners. I plan to examine how gender intersects with the understanding of crime and the criminal justice system. Gender plays a significant role in understanding who commits what types of crimes, why they do so, who is most often victimized, and how the criminal justice system responds to these victims and offenders. In order to understand the current state of women and the way in which gender relates to crime and criminal justice, it is first necessary to provide a comprehensive analysis of the historical evolution of women in the criminal justice system and the affect that the different waves of feminism have had on policies and practices towards women in this system. I plan to argue that the criminal justice system is another form of patriarchal control, a sexist organization which creates conflict between the private sphere of a woman's life and the public. This control extends far beyond the just incarcerated women, it affects all women. Despite the fact that there have been changes to certain policies and prison regulations, though made with resistance, none of the changes have been for the better. By looking at past and present situations as well as the differing feminist perspectives on the justice system, I hope to offer ways and opinions on how to improve...
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...Black feminism addresses sexual politics under patriarchy that is just as pervasive in Black women’s lives as politics of class and race (Smith, 2000:134). While historians often identity two distinct periods between the 19th and 20th centuries in the discussion of the evolution of Black Feminism in the United States, there are actually three waves. The first wave is marked by “the abolitionist movement and culminated with the Suffragists’ successful passage of the Nineteenth Amendment” (Taylor, 235). The second wave of feminism encompasses the Civil Rights Movement and the “women’s liberation movement” (Taylor, 239). Both waves illustrated the need for Black women to address both white supremacy and sexism, an intersection that often their white women counterparts did not address. Before contemporary feminist...
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...Wuornos, and the Future of Third Wave Feminism Crime committed by women is on the rise, especially in the area of violent crimes such as murder (Balfour’ 739). This has produced a new form of feminist studies in an area called feminist criminology. What hasn’t been studied as extensively is the question of why women kill. I argue that by using the individuality concept of third wave feminism and doing more research in the field of feminist criminology, patterns of criminal behavior may be established which may prevent severe female crime such as murder. This paper seeks to explain how advancing the study of feminist criminology is good for the U.S. legal system and could have changed the outcome for Aileen Wuornos. In this paper I will discuss what third wave feminism is, then I will discuss what feminist criminology is and how it applies to the Aileen Wuornos case, and lastly I will show that with advanced studies into the field of feminist criminology, odds of severe crimes committed by women could decrease. The third wave of feminism is not easily describable. However, it can be framed by saying that it is a movement that continues to advance the women’s rights agenda of the second wave (Zimmerman et al. 77). Unlike the second wave which was intended to give a voice to all women, the third wave tends to reflect more on the individual. By focusing on personal narratives, responsible choices, and by individual level political activism, the third wave gives us the idea that...
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...Philosophical Paper: Defending Men Through the Study of Masculism and Explaining 3rd Wave Feminism Further Submitted by: Xiayra Mae B. Magtibay 1LM2 Submitted to: Mr. Emmanuel De Leon Abstract This paper will be discussing gender equality through further explanation of Masculism and 3rd Wave Feminism by depending on essays and articles made by 3rd Wave Feminists and the philosophies of Plato. This paper will be pointing out the objectives of Masculism and Feminism and their similarities. This paper will also attempt to explain that the demands of both genders can be met. Defnition of Terms * Masculism: is a movement that advocates for the rights, equality and dignity of the male sex in an egalitarian framework. * Egalitarian: believing in the principle that all people are equal and deserve equal rights and opportunities * Feminism: the doctrine advocating social, political, and all other rights of women equal to those of men and an organized movement for the attainment of such rights for women. * Misandrist: a person who hates men * Gender : the state of being male or female * Gender Roles: is a theoretical construct in the social sciences and humanities that refers to a set of social and behavioural norms that, within a specific culture, are widely considered to be socially appropriate for individuals of a specific sex. * Gender Equality: is the measurable equal representation of women and men. Gender equality does not imply that women...
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...1. Introduction It is highly believed that fashion magazines contain various portrayals of women not only because fashion magazines target women as their biggest readers, but also become the facilitator to teach women how they view themselves in feminine elegant ways just like most women want them to be. Nonetheless, those views are more likely shaped by how the society views a woman. As such, if fashion magazines are indeed in the means of shaping women's view as well as society's view of a woman, then the representation of women in the magazines becomes very important in order to explore how women are portrayed according to those two views. Reading a fashion magazine on the surface simply contains fashion-related articles in thick glossy pages. On deeper surface, on the other hand, those articles actively are where women as well as society see how a woman should be. It is also implied that they become the source of stereotypes of women which many of them are always about marginalising women. Amongst many high fashion magazines, Elle is strongly believed to be one of the most leading high fashion magazines in regards to the fact that this French origin magazine widely spreads its international editions published in over 60 countries which one of those includes Indonesia. Like other Elle editions worldwide and other mainstream high fashion magazines, many ultra expensive bags, clothes, perfumes, and the sorts appear in Elle Indonesia in two forms: articles and advertisements...
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