Introduction
The terms women’s liberation and women’s movement are synonymous to the feminist movement. Women’s liberation refers to a stream of, “campaigns for reforms on issues such as reproductive rights, domestic violence, equal pay, sexual harassment, and sexual violence, all of which fall under the label feminism” (Freedman 34).
The movement’s precedence varies from one state to another and from community to community. While movements in developed countries fight against the glass ceiling, those in a majority of the developing countries fight against female genital mutilation. Since the movement was established, it has witnessed three campaign phases.
The movement uses the term “wave” to refer to each of the three phases. Freedman alleges, “The first wave involved the fight for political equality and suffrage by white women while the second wave tried to liberate women from cultural and social inequalities” (34). The third phase involved women staging war to claim their rights in the political sphere (Freedman 34). This paper will discuss the feminist movement in the United States.
Cultural dynamics
Humm posits, “The feminist movement’s agendas include acting as a counter to the putatively patriarchal strands in the dominant culture. …the movement has struggled to overthrow power holders, political structures, and cultural practices that give men superior powers over women” (27). Although one may trace the precursors of feminism back to the early 18th century, the present women’s liberation movement was established in early 19th century (Humm 31).
Christine de Pizan was the first woman to champion for an overhaul of western cultures that discriminated against women. With time, other intellectuals like Marquis de Condorcet and Lady Mary Wortley Montagu began enlightening women about their rights. This led to many women adopting feminist thoughts, which eventually led to the establishment of the feminist movement.
During this time, majority of the women languished in poverty and they could not fight for their rights. Therefore, the only women who benefited from the movement hailed from rich families (Humm 31). There were claims that, in the United States, rich women came up with the feminist movement to fight for their personal agendas.
Today, the feminist movement still fights for rights of women in the majority of countries across the globe. For instance, the movement still exists in the United States, although it currently targets a different set of women. In most cases, people use the three phases of feminism to demonstrate how cultural values have been converted, shared, and improved (Hyde 45-47).
Besides, they use the phases to show how the movement has struggled to restructure certain standards of its demands to accommodate a wide range of women. Nowadays the movement fights for the rights of women from minority groups as well as lesbians. The feminist movement still advocates for women to chase their dreams without fearing intimidation from men.
Liberation in America
The term women liberation originated from the United States. Women started the movement with intention of liberating themselves from men domination. Their initial agenda revolved around liberation. However, as the American culture kept evolving, women started introducing new agendas into the movement to cater for the changing cultural practices (Hyde 49). They knew that they could deliver themselves from social and cultural oppression by facing the repression as a group.
Nevertheless, the initial movement did not see the representation of women from poor and minority groups. White women from affluent families managed the movement. Gloria Jean blamed the original movement for being based on social status and race (Hyde 52). This made it hard for the movement to address problems that alienated women. Racism deterred women from combining their efforts to fight sexism.
Two branches that started calling for women liberation led to the establishment of the feminist movement in the United States. The branches established organizations like National Organization of Women (NOW) and Human Rights of Women, which tried to address economic hurdles facing women.
They made women realize that working, as a group would help them solve a majority of the challenges they experienced (Hyde 57-63). This led to the establishment of the feminist movement, which aimed at liberating women from cultural and economic hardships.
Social changes
The feminist movement transformed the Western society in many ways (Plott and Lauri 60). For example, women acquired the right to make personal resolutions concerning maternity and separation. Women could not opt for abortion or use contraceptives without having to consult their husbands. Prior to the feminist movement, women could not own property in the Western society. The movement helped women to gain the right to acquire property and to get equal wages with men.
These days, the feminist movement has evolved to accommodate the various facets of American culture. In America “most people are socialized to think in terms of opposition rather than compatibility” (Plott and Lauri 67). Consequently, the movement has effected social changes that do not only cater for equity in employment, right to vote, and reproductive rights, but also the acknowledgment of unfairness and the mechanisms that can be used to address this unfairness.
Language
Feminists prohibit the use of sexist language or words that aim at demeaning a certain gender. Plott and Lauri allege, “Feminists advocate for use of “Ms.” To refer to both married and unmarried women, and the ironic use of the term “herstory” instead of “history”” (71). In addition, feminists advocate for use of terms like “humanity”, which they perceive to be gender-inclusive.
Feminists encourage people to use gender-neutral language to ensure that people do not make suppositions concerning gender. This underscores the reason why they advocate for use of words that cover for both genders and they encourage people to use words that do not indicate the referred gender.
Apart from introducing a language that does not refer to any gender, the feminist movement has also led to scientists, changing their way of describing scientific processes associated with gender. Scientists no longer describe sperm as active and the egg as passive (Riger 99). Indeed, the feminist movement introduced a new dimension of looking at and describing different phenomena.
Religion
Apart from advocating for a gender-neutral language, “The feminist movement has led to emergence of feminist theology, which views the scriptures, customs, practices, and religious beliefs from a feminist dimension” (Riger 100).
The objectives of the feminist theology include, “increasing the role of women among the clergy and religious authorities, reinterpreting male-dominated imagery and language about God, determining the place of women in relation to career and motherhood, and studying images of women in the religion’s sacred texts” (Riger 101). The movement has transformed theology and religion in insightful ways.
Majority of the protestant churches nowadays, allow women to serve as priests. In many churches, women are assuming leadership in positions that were once under men domain (Riger 104-109). Besides, men seek advice from women prior to coming up with novel statements of faith. Nonetheless, in sects like Roman Catholicism, Islam, and Orthodox Christianity, women are yet to assume leadership roles. The feminist movement continues fighting for the rights of women in the church.
The movement maintains that both genders are equal before God. Hence, it alleges that both men and women ought to have equal powers in church. It fights for women’s right to control Christian nuptials and to be preachers. Besides, it fights for equal parenting roles and general handling of women in the church (Riger 110-117).
Conclusion
The feminist movement was established with an aim of fighting for women rights and neutralizing men domination in the society. Women from wealthy families established the movement in the United States. Racism prevented women from fighting for their rights together.
However, after women realized that disunity made it hard for them to gain liberation, they sought to fight for their rights together regardless of gender or social status. The movement sought to implement changes in social, cultural, language, and theological practices. It aimed at helping women triumph cultural practices that gave men powers over everything.
Besides, it aimed at helping women to have a voice in society and families. Initially, women had no voice over family issues like parenting and divorce. Furthermore, women could not acquire or own property. Because of the movement, the society stopped using a language dominated by men references. It advocated for use of gender-neutral language as a way to demonstrate that both genders are equal. Many of the changes witnessed in churches today were because of the movement.
Works Cited
Freedman, Estelle. No Turning Back: The History of Feminism and the Future of Women. London: Ballantine Books, 2003. Print.
Humm, Maggie. Modern Feminisms. New York: Columbia University Press, 1992. Print.
Hyde, Cheryl. “Commitment to social change: Voices from the feminist movement.” Journal of Community Practice 1.2 (1994): 45-64. Print.
Plott, Michele, and Lauri Umansky. Making Sense of Women’s Lives: An Introduction to Women’s Studies. New York: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 2000. Print.
Riger, Stephanie. “Vehicles for empowerment: The case of the feminist movement organizations.” Prevention in Human Services 3.3 (1984): 99-117. Print.