How Would Women's Activism In The Progressive Create Major Changes In American Society

There are people who believe that we do not need feminism today, but nothing could be farther from the truth. Women have struggled for equality and against oppression for centuries, and although some battles accept been partly won - such every bit the correct to vote and equal access to education – women are all the same disproportionally afflicted by all forms of violence and by discrimination in every aspect of life.

It is true that in some areas and on certain issues, there have been improvements: for instance, in Saudi Arabia women were allowed, for the starting time time, to vote and run for office in 2015(!). Yet, on other problems in that location has been little or no progress: for example, there have been insignificant reductions in cases of violence against women. Women continue to receive lower pay for the same work as men in all parts of the world; there are still countries that do not have laws confronting marital rape and still permit child brides, and practices such as 'award' killings and female person genital mutilation all the same be.

Jokes well-nigh feminism and stereotypes about feminists persist, and many of these are also homophobic and assume that being lesbian is something 'bad'. In fact, being a feminist is not something particular to any sex or gender: there are women and men who consider themselves feminists, some are gay or lesbian, some heterosexual, bisexual or transgender - and some may identify differently.

The concept of feminism reflects a history of dissimilar struggles, and the term has been interpreted in fuller and more complex means equally understanding has adult. In general, feminism tin exist seen every bit a motility to put an cease to sexism, sexist exploitation, and oppression and to achieve full gender equality in police force and in practice.

Women's movements and the history of feminism

There have been many boggling women who have played an important function in local or earth history, but non all of these take necessarily been advocates of women's issues. The women's movement is made up of women and men who work and fight to achieve gender equality and to meliorate the lives of women as a social group. In nigh societies, women were traditionally bars to the home as daughters, wives and mothers, and we are frequently merely enlightened of women in history considering of their relation to famous men. Of course many women throughout history did in fact play an of import role in cultural and political life, merely they tend to be invisible. An organised women's movement but really started in the 19th century, even though women activists and the struggle for equality take always been role of all human societies.

One of the early pioneers, who thought and wrote about women equally a group, is the Italian writer Christine de Pizan, who published a book near women'southward position in society equally early on every bit 1495. Christine de Pizan wrote most books she had read past famous men, who wrote books most the sins and weaknesses of girls and women, and questioned whether women were really human beings at all, or whether they were more than similar to animals. Christine de Pizan's piece of work offers a good example of the early on stages of the struggle for women'southward equality. Nevertheless, she was very unusual in being able to read and write, which was not at all common for women of that time.

In afterwards history, women took part in the French revolution from the very beginning: the demonstrations that led to the revolution started with a large group of working women marching to Versailles to demand not but food to feed their families, but as well political change. However, the French Revolution did not lead to proper recognition of women's rights. For that reason, in September 1791, Olympe de Gouges wrote the Declaration of the Rights of Woman and of the Female Citizen, in response to the Proclamation of the Rights of Human being and of the Citizen, and with the intention of exposing the failure of the French Revolution to recognise gender equality. As a result of her writings de Gouges was defendant, tried and convicted of treason, resulting in her immediate execution.

The women'due south movement began to develop in N America, mainly considering women at that place were allowed to go to school earlier than in Europe - and women who can read and write, and who are encouraged to think for themselves, normally start to question how society works. The first activists travelled around North America and fought for the end of both slavery and women's oppression. They organised the 'First Women's Rights Convention' in 1848, and continued to campaign to meliorate the social position of all women. The movement too began in Europe with the aforementioned broad aims: activists collected signatures demanding that working women should receive their ain wages and not their husbands', that women should be able to own a business firm and have custody of their children.

Starting time wave of feminism

The fight for women's right to vote in elections is known as the 'suffragette movement'. By the stop of the 19th century, this had become a worldwide movement, and the words 'feminism' and 'feminist movement' started to be used from that signal on.

This starting time wave of feminism activism included mass demonstrations, the publishing of newspapers, organised debates, and the establishment of international women'southward organisations. By the 1920s, women had won the right to vote in most European countries and in North America. At around the same fourth dimension, women became more active in communist, socialist and social democratic parties considering increasing numbers of women began to work outside the dwelling in factories and offices. Women were showtime allowed to go to university in the early 20th century, having both a career and a family unit. In certain countries, when fascist parties gained ability the feminist motion was banned.

Women started organising once more after the end of the Second Earth State of war, and they soon gained equal political rights in most European countries, with women's emancipation becoming an important aim and most women being immune to have on full-time jobs, divorce their husbands and become to university.

Second wave of feminism

In Western Europe and the United states, the feminist movement was resurgent by the 1970s. Although this second wave of feminism aimed to achieve 'women's liberation', dissimilar groups had unlike ideas about how this should be done. Liberal feminists wanted better equality laws and reform of institutions such equally schools, churches and the media. Radical feminists argued that the root cause of women'southward inequality is patriarchy: men, as a group, oppress women. They also focused on violence against women past men and started to talk about violence in the family, and rape. Socialist feminists argued that it is a combination of patriarchy and capitalism that causes women'south oppression.

The second wave of feminism also resulted in new areas of science: women's studies became a discipline to exist studied at academy, and books began to exist published about women's achievements in literature, music and scientific discipline, and recording women's previously unwritten history.

Finally, the women's movement played an important role in the drafting of international documents about women's rights, such as the Universal Announcement of Man Rights and the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Bigotry Against Women (CEDAW, 1979).

3rd wave of feminism

The third wave of feminism mainly refers to the American move in the 1990s, and was a reaction to the backlash of conservative media and politicians announcing the end of feminism or referring to 'mail-feminism'. The term 'backlash' was popularised by Susan Faludi in her book Backlash. The Undeclared War against Women, published in 1991, and describing the negative reaction of the patriarchal system towards women's liberation. This was inappreciably a new phenomenon: women's movements had always been met with animosity. Nonetheless, in the 1980s, institutionalised forms of attacks on women's rights grew stronger. The third wave of feminism can be characterised by an increased sensation of overlapping categories, such as race, grade, gender, sexual orientation. More emphasis was also placed on racial issues, including the status of women in other parts of the earth (global feminism). This was also a moment when a number of feminist non-governmental organisations were established, merely focusing on specific feminist issues, rather than claiming to represent general feminist ideas.

3rd wave feminism actively uses media and pop civilisation to promote its ideas and to run activities, for example by publishing blogs or e-zines. It focuses on bringing feminism closer to the people'due south daily lives. The main issues that third wave feminists are concerned virtually include: sexual harassment, domestic violence, the pay gap between men and women, eating disorders and body image, sexual and reproductive rights, honour crimes and female genital mutilation.

Cyberfeminism and networked feminism (4th-moving ridge feminism)

The term cyberfeminism is used to describe the work of feminists interested in theorising, critiquing, and making use of the Internet, cyberspace, and newmedia technologies in general. The term and move grew out of 'third-wave' feminism. Yet, the exact pregnant is withal unclear to some: even at the first meeting of cyberfeminists The First Cyberfeminist International (FCI) in Kassel (Germany), participants found it hard to provide a definition, and as a result of discussions, they proposed 100 anti-theses⁵² (with reference to Martin Luther'due south theses) on what cyberfeminism is not. These included, for example, it is not an institution, it is non an ideology, information technology is not an –ism.

Cyberfeminism is considered to be a predecessor of 'networked feminism', which refers generally to feminism on the Net: for example, mobilising people to take activity against sexism, misogyny or gender-based violence against women. One example is the online movement #metoo in 2017, which was a response on social networks from women all over the world to the case of Harvey Weinstein, a Hollywood producer who was accused of sexually harassing female staff in the motion picture industry.

Sexism

This term is very often nowadays in feminist literature besides equally in the media and everyday life, and it is an of import concept in agreement feminism. Sexism means perceiving and judging people just on the basis of their belonging to a detail sex or gender. It also covers bigotry of a person on the aforementioned basis. It is important to annotation that sexism applies to both men and women, withal, women are more afflicted by sexism than men in all areas of life. Everyday sexism takes different forms, sometimes not easily recognisable – for instance, telling jokes almost girls, commenting on the female torso (objectifying women), reacting to the way women are dressed, assigning women easier tasks in Internet games or objectifying women in advertisement.

The literature mentions iii types of sexism⁵³

• Traditional sexism: supporting traditional gender roles, treating women every bit worse than men, employing traditional stereotypes which portray women as less competent than men.
• Modernistic sexism: denying gender discrimination ('it is non a problem anymore'), having a negative attitude towards women'due south rights, denying the validity of claims made by women
• Neosexism: This notion refers to ideologies that justify bigotry towards women on the ground of competences – 'men are effectively better competent for some things' – for instance in managerial or leadership positions, and non on a directly discrimination of women. Defenders of these ideas tend to ignore or deny the difficulties faced by women in society as having an influence on 'competences'.
  

If it is true that the situation of women's homo rights has improved in recent years, this does not mean that sexism has ended.

In March 2019, the Commission of Ministers of the Council of Europe adopted Recommendation CM/Rec(2019)i on preventing and combating sexism. The Recommendation defines sexism as

any act, gesture, visual representation, spoken or written words, practise or behaviour based upon the idea that a person or a group of persons is junior because of their sexual practice, which occurs in the public or private sphere, whether online or offline, with the purpose or consequence of:

• Violating the inherent nobility or rights of a person or a group of persons;
• Resulting in physical, sexual, psychological or socio-economic harm or suffering to a person or a group of persons;
• Creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment;
• Constituting a barrier to the autonomy and total realisation of human rights by a person or a group of persons;
• Maintaining and reinforcing gender stereotypes.
  

The Recommendation stresses that sexism is a manifestation of historically unequal power relations between women and men, which leads to discrimination and prevents the full advancement of women in social club. The Committee of Ministers asks Governments of fellow member states to take measures to prevent and combat sexism and its manifestations in the public and private spheres, and encourage relevant stakeholders to implement advisable legislation, policies and programmes.

Women's rights are human rights

Why do we need women'due south rights, when these are simply human rights? Why do nosotros need human being rights treaties about women's rights, when we accept already general man rights instruments? Almost everywhere in the earth, women are denied their man rights just because of their sex or gender. Women's rights should not be seen as special rights: they are human rights enshrined in international man rights treaties and other documents, and include such rights as liberty from discrimination, right to life, liberty from torture, right to privacy, admission to health, right to decent living atmospheric condition, right to condom, and many others. However, there are also human rights instruments that have into account the specific situation of women in society with regards to accessing or exercising their human rights, or which aim to protect them from violence.

52.  100 anti-theses
53.  Based on: Todd. D. Nelson, Psychology of Prejudice, Pearsons Didactics, Inc. publishing as Allyn and Salary, 2002

Source: https://www.coe.int/en/web/gender-matters/feminism-and-women-s-rights-movements

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