Organized efforts by women to achieve greater rights occurred in two major waves. The first wave began around the mid-19th century, when women in the United States and elsewhere campaigned to gain suffrage-that is, the right to vote. This wave lasted until the 1920s, when several countries granted women suffrage. The second wave gained momentum during the civil rights movement of the 1960s, when the struggle by African Americans to achieve racial equality inspired women to renew their own struggle for equality. The awakening of consciousness that climaxed in a new wave of American feminism began at the close of World War II and not as is often mistaken believed in the 1960's. At the end of World War II, American women represented 36.1 percent of the national and according to the economists they controlled two-thirds of the country's wealth.
[...] II- Manifestations of the rise A-The ideological differences- Egalitarian Feminism and Radicalism- were not a sign of a lack of a coherent movement Egalitarian Feminism (National Woman's Party NWP- National Organization for Women NOW- National Women's Political Causes NWPC- Women's Equity Action League WEAL): It is resolutely reformist and it definitely wishes to adapt itself to the regime of a liberal democracy. The typical behaviour of the liberal feminist is to try to adapt herself to existing institutions. The reformism of the egalitarian feminist movement is characterized by a marked preference for optimism, consisting of an overestimate of the gains achieved and a great faith in evolution. [...]
[...] The notion of work would be separated from that of salary because everyone, men, women end children would receive a guaranteed annual income distributed equitably by the state. Purified of considerations of salary, prestige and power, work would be done for its own sake. Political lesbianism (The Furies- The Radicalesbians): Lesbianism is reactionary while feminism is revolutionary. Feminism is revolutionary in that I confronts oppression and combats it. In contrast, lesbianism is reactionary because it represents a flight from confrontation with male oppression; the flight, since it amounts to a refusal to fight, is therefore equivalent to recognition and acceptance of male oppression. [...]
[...] Radical feminism proposes to demonstrate the political corruption of culture, as a patriarchal institution and wants to provoke tree revolutions: sexual revolution, economic revolution and Cultural Revolution. Radical feminists are not at all interested in the power sharing so dear to the hearts of egalitarian feminists; instead they are demanding an all-out effort to uproot all domination and elitism in human relations. The true revolution in the view of the radical feminists is the one that will abolish the very notion of power. [...]
[...] Wade in 1973 Even more than abortion rape is the issue that transformed action from shock tactics to the more patient work of fostering public awareness and understanding. It is true that spectacular rallies occurred but this type of action gradually gave away to an effort at broad public education and information. Although militants recognized that then Equal Rights Amendment alone could not eradicate sexist prejudices from individuals or the society, they nevertheless believed that an amendment to the Constitution was the only possible remedy to destroy the underlying prejudice of the fundamental law of the land. [...]
[...] But pluralism was not such a drawback- otherwise: On the one hand: radicalism was able to influence reformism and prevent the compromise On the other hand: the existence of radical feminist groups, which expressed the most audacious demands and were specifically set up to take aggressive actions, brought around public opinion and the authorities to accept the reasonable claims of the reformist organizations. B-The action as a unifying factor and source of progress because of its basis on an informational process Although ideology has been a cause of dissension, action has always been a unifying factor of feminist movements. [...]
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