Something in the second wave that was very different than the first wave was that women “put aside their ideological differences and agreed on three key demands: the right to safe and legal abortion, the right to accessible and affordable childcare, and equal opportunities in education and employment,” (Dicker 58 ). The fact that women were agreeing on some things and working together was pretty new and amazing. In the first wave no one could agree and they ended up separating into two groups, and this did not help the Women’s Movement. In the second wave women realized that they had similar goals, so they united.
Another difference between the two waves is that in the second wave groups that were created, such as NOW, made women’s rights their top/exclusive priority, whereas in the first wave some women had been reluctant to make women’s rights their top priority, and had focused on other issues as well.
Something that I think is interesting that doesn’t really relate to a specific wave, but just feminism in general, is that Dicker says that feminism thrived the most when the social atmosphere was already in turmoil. I am wondering why people think that is; why the Women’s Movement became more active when something else was happening, such as the abolition movement before the first wave or Civil Rights movement before the second wave? And do you think a “wave” of the Women’s Movement could have happened without these other movements to stimulate feminism?
I think the first wave established a path for the second wave. First wave established a sense of equality of opportunity. The idea was there, that women were gaining a sense of equality. People could say women were equal after the first wave, they would vote, could work, could do numerous other things, but the key word is could. The second wave tries to change the could. The second wave tries to gain equality of outcome, verse the previous equality of opportunity they were granted. The equality of opportunity did not do so much, thus stimulating the second wave movement. Sorry if that was so confusing, I do not really know how to write down exactly what I am trying to say.
I found it interesting how, "trade unions tended to see women in terms of their roles as mothers."(61) It showed that there was acknowledgement of women as workers and as mothers, there was no such thing as simply a female worker.
I am kinda curious in thinking about the idea of changing what the same idea is called because of a connotation, is this a good or bad idea? and in what circumstances is it more or less acceptible?
Another thing that I found interesting was the fact that women's rights activist did not like to identify themselves as feminists. It showed that there was a clear negative connotation with the word, maybe some of the same negative stereotypes we have today.
I'm answering Martha's question in this post: So far, how does the "second wave" of feminism compare to the first?
On page 66, Dicker says that "The civil rights movement that began in the 1950s and blossomed in the 1960s set the stage for women's rights reform....feminist activism has thrived when the cultural climate is generally conducive to reform; just as the first wave of the women's movement arose alongside--indeed, out of--abolition, civil rights work in the 1960s led to a culture more ready to fight for women's rights."
I know that's a long quote, but I think Dicker explained the concept well. Civil rights was a revolutionary concept at the time and people had to decide whether or not they supported the movement because that decision determined how people lived their daily lives. The civil rights movement had substantial support--which is why it didn't fail--and those who supported civil rights were likely to support women's rights as well. A lot of people opened their minds to new ideas because of the civil rights movement, and feminism was another new idea. Women's rights and civil rights are both issues of equality, and there was a lot of overlap in the sentiments fueling the two causes.
Like Rachel said, feminist activists worked together much more during the second wave than they did during the first. From what I've read, I think their work was much more effective. While both the first and second waves resulted in radical changes, the second wave seemed to have a lot of individual, tangible outcomes. I'm not sure if that makes sense, so I'm going to put that another way: The second wave broke down the concept of "women's rights" and, by putting logic and reason behind the cause, the changes were plentiful and long-lasting.
My question is...
One message I got from the reading was that, in general, educated women were less happy than uneducated women during the 1950s and 1960s. I have some ideas about this difference and I'm wondering if anyone else has thoughts about it. Do you think most uneducated women were in fact happier than educated women? Why?
Like Rachel said, a difference between the two waves was that the second wave was more exclusive. They were exclusive even though they were still in the social turmoil. I believe that the women realized it was more beneficial to separate themselves from other movements, making theirs stronger and more clear.
I'm a little confused my Zach's question, but I believe he's asking; is subjecting women and mothers into one polar good or bad and what are the connotations. For me it's hard to say... In the case Zach mentioned it is beneficial in the short run, but negative in the long run. Like the stereotypes used in the first wave, calling all women mothers would get women laws that safeguarded mothers' and infants' health, but it would make employers less eager to hire women. Employers would be hesitant to hire a "mother" because of fear of her needing maternity leave or less working hours when they could hire a hardworking and dedicated bread-winning man.
Do you think that the second wave was caused by the exposure of work, to women, after the war?
So far, how does the "second wave" of feminism compare to the first?
I think Rachel makes a really good point in her response by including the excerpt about the three key demands. The biggest difference between the first and second wave of feminism so far is that in the second wave, there was only one group of women, who agreed on 3 specific goals. These women set aside their individual differences and plans and tried to get something done that was important to them all. In the first there were many groups who couldn't agree on what they wanted cumulatively. In response Lily's question, I think that educated women were less happy because they had gone to college and experianced (if not total) some freedom. Women who hadn't been to college, and experianced not as much freedom, didn't know that there were other possibilities.
In response to Anna's question- "was the second wave caused by exposure to work," I have absolutely no idea.
I think that the first wave was the only major "wave" of feminism, and the second two were more like currents.
Posted: Mon Oct 26, 2009 10:17 am Post subject: My post
The first wave of movement compares to the first by the first wave mainly dealt with political power or just power in general. It mainly focused on women’s suffrage. The first wave also dealt with women’s’ statuses especially with their husbands and children.
The second wave mostly focused on the issues of equality and ending racial discrimination. This was the time period that Rosa Parks sat in the front of the bus and lynching was going on in the South. With the issue of equality, women wanted to earn the same amount of money as men earned even when they were working in the same job which was unreasonable.
So most of the differences between the two movements have been said already. Women in the second wave movement became more authoritative. They made demands, set goals, and pursued them until they were recognized. Women in the second wave realized that even though they had gained suffrage, they were still being oppressed in many ways.
As Rachel mentioned before, women of this era had "key demands" that they worked towards. These demands were: "the right to safe and legal abortion, the right to accessible and affordable childcare, and equal opportunities in education and employment".
Women of the second wave used some of the same tactics that were used in the first wave, and discarded others. They did public demonstrations such as the Women's Strike for Equality to show the need for a new women's movement. They reached out to the government, which issued the Presidential Report on American Women in 1963. They realized, however, that if they wanted to accomplish these key goals, that they would have to unite, and work without relation to the government, as it did not make women's rights a priority. One tactic that this new women's movement left out was segregation. Women of different race and class worked together to achieve this common goal.
This was also the first time that women organized a group that named women's rights it's top priority. During the first wave movement, women worked for the abolition cause as well as women's rights. This is the first time that many women named women's civil rights as their cause.
The second wave of women's movement was a a major progress since the first wave, in other words, the achievement in the first wave had been the fundamental key to open every door after it, particularly the second and third waves. The three key demands of a more modern women generation are: the right to safe and legal abortion, the right to accessible and affordable childcare, and equal opportunities in education and employment. Although these goals seemed more practical than suffrage, they could not have been achieved when women were denied the representation in all governmental decisions.
So far, I found two major points that the first wave and second wave had in common: the disunity of women within the movement due to race and different approach to the common goals, and the involvement of war. If the matter of being black or white had been the only hot issue in the division among women during the first wave of the movement, the matter of gay-straight was newly exposed to the participants of the second movement. Once again, the women fell into their own trap: they did not want to relieve their prejudice against lesbians but they wanted men to recognize them. They were advocating against sexual discrimination while participating in it. This is always the kind of ironies I find fascinating about politics. javascript:emoticon('')
Question: How did black women's attitude change toward feminism from the first wave to the second wave of the movement?
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