Page 179 - DENG402_HISTORY_OF_ENGLISH_LITERATURE

History of English Literature

Notes 23.1 First Wave

The first wave refers to the feminist movement of the 18th through early 20th centuries, which
dealt mainly with the women’s suffrage. Writers such as Virginia Woolf are associated with the
ideas of the first wave of feminism. In her book A Room of One’s Own, Woolf “describes how men
socially and psychically dominate women”. The argument of the book is that “women are
simultaneously victims of themselves as well as victims of men and are upholders of society by
acting as mirrors to men”. She recognizes the social constructs that restrict women in society and
uses literature to contextualize it for other women.

Notes The term “first-wave” was coined retrospectively after the term second-wave
feminism began to be used to describe a newer feminist movement that focused as
much on fighting social and cultural inequalities as further political inequalities.

Feminism is a collection of movements aimed at defining, establishing, and defending equal
rights. Feminism is mainly focused on women’s issues, but because feminism seeks gender equality,
some feminists argue that men’s liberation is therefore a necessary part of feminism, and that men
are also harmed by sexism and gender roles. Feminists—that is, persons practicing feminism—
may be persons of either sex.
Feminist theory emerged from these feminist movements and includes general theories and
theories about the origins of inequality, and, in some cases, about the social construction of sex and
gender, in a variety of disciplines. Feminist activists have campaigned for women’s rights—such
as in contract, property, and voting—while also promoting women’s rights to bodily integrity
and autonomy and reproductive rights. They have opposed domestic violence, sexual harassment,
and sexual assault. In economics, they have advocated for workplace rights, including equal pay
and opportunities for careers and to start businesses.
Some of the earlier forms of feminism have been criticized for being geared towards white,
middle-class, educated perspectives. This led to the creation of ethnically-specific or multiculturalist
forms of feminism.
In Britain, the Suffragettes campaigned for the women’s vote, which was eventually granted “ to
some women in 1918 and to all in 1928 “ as much because of the part played by British women
during the First World War, as of the efforts of the Suffragists. In the United States leaders of this
movement included Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony, who each campaigned for the
abolition of slavery prior to championing women’s right to vote. Other important leaders include
Lucy Stone, Olympia Brown, and Helen Pitts. American first-wave feminism involved a wide
range of women, some belonging to conservative Christian groups (such as Frances Willard and
the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union), others resembling the diversity and radicalism of
much of second-wave feminism (such as Stanton, Anthony, Matilda Joslyn Gage, and the National
Woman Suffrage Association, of which Stanton was president). In the United States, first-wave
feminism is considered to have ended with the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment to the
United States Constitution (1919) granting women the right to vote.

23.2 Second Wave

The second wave (1960s-1980s) was concerned with gender inequality in laws and culture. It built
on what had been achieved in the first wave, and began adapting the ideas to America. Simone de
Beauvoir is associated with this wave because of her idea of women as “the other”. This idea was
touched on in the writing of Woolf, and was adapted to apply not only to the gender roles of
women in the household or at work, but also their sexuality. Beauvoir set the tone for later
feminist theory.
The second wave of feminist activity began in the early 1960s and lasted through the late 1980s.
What helped trigger this second wave was the book written by Betty Friedan.

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