Women's Liberation Movement

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The Women’s Liberation Movement
The Women’s Liberation Movement, also known as the Feminist Movement, refers to the series of political revolutions that emerged in the late nineteenth century and that campaigned mainly for the recognition of the rights, identities and opportunities available to women. With the movement’s main aim being the inclusion and equality for women, the movement arose as a direct opposition to patriarchy and sexism. The campaign led to profound political, cultural, social and intellectual changes all over the world. The movement aimed to challenge the social boundaries that existed due to gender and advocate for measures that would eliminate sexual discrimination against women and champion for equal human rights and treatment for everybody.
The liberationists of the movement used various methods to advance their cause; awareness-raising and protests. Awareness-raising, also referred to as consciousness-raising, became popular in the mid-20th century and was advanced by women activists in the United States. It involved joining a group of people to educate the public on a particular issue, to draw their attention to a problem facing them that they may not be aware of. Activists used awareness-raising to spread knowledge on women’s plight and win over more people in their fight. Activists also used protests or demonstrations to make sure their voices were heard. The protests used to fight for women rights took many forms over the years including, demonstrations, rallies, lobbying and public marches.
The feminist movement arose in many parts of the world primarily in three waves: the first, second and third wave. The first wave of the campaign was witnessed majorly in the early twentieth century and focused mainly on the idea of women’s suffrage, which was a fight to include women in voting processes. The first wave focused on the overturning of barriers to women rights from a legal perspective, for example, giving women the right to vote and the right to own property. The second wave of feminism followed shortly in the mid-20th century focused on broader issues, for example, sexuality, de facto inequalities, reproductive rights, domestic violence and rape, and family and workplace rights. Although the attempt was unsuccessful, liberationists in the second wave of feminism tried to propose the amendment of the United States constitution to include the Equal Rights Act. The third wave of the liberation movement started in the late 20th century and sought to address the failures of the second and first waves. It expanded the idea of feminism across a set of diverse and different women to include ethnic differences, cultural differences and transsexuality. This paper will focus specifically on the second and third waves of the women liberation movement in Europe.
Literature Review
The second wave of feminism is the upsurge in women liberation activities and organizations in Europe, North America, and other developed Western countries between 1960 and 1980. (Bruley and Forster 697) outline the historical rise of women feminism and state the effects of the war as the leading cause of the second wave of feminism. According to the authors, women were angered by their diminished status in the post-war world, leading to profound changes in structure and attitudes in the western world. Women liberationists adopted a new sense of community and female identity, which was the primary fuel for their fight. (Bruley & Forster 698) draw attention to the numerous outbursts of mass activity, referring to it as a ‘great burst of feminist energy’ that occurred between the 1960s and 1980s. They outline the impact that this movement had on local, national, and community needs. In Quebec, for example, feminism was seen as a culture on its own, and liberationists viewed it as a part of their French identity (Bruley & Forster 698). Feminism was seen as a family, which gave liberationists a sense of identity and belonging and a cushioning from mistreatment and discrimination. They viewed the movement not as a group but as a family. As such, feminists in the second wave were largely opposed to the suggestions by the media to appoint feminist leaders. They argued that there were no ‘stars’ in the movement; every person was treated equally (Bruley & Forster 698).
The women liberation trans-ceded national boundaries and was witnessed across numerous countries. (Baxandall and Gordon 1) highlight the rise and growth of the feminist movement in the United States and the various methods that feminists in this era adopted. They cite the 1968 protest against the Miss America beauty pageant as an example. There, feminists protested against their enslavement to beauty by discarding personal items like hairpins and bras into garbage cans. This was a method of raising awareness of the sexism that women faced, and this event turned out to be the foundation for numerous other feminist demonstrations and protests. In 1966, a group called the National Organization of Women was formed to champion equal opportunities for women in the workplace. However, between 1967 and 1969, a group of feminists, the second wave of feminists, emerged to provide a more holistic approach to equality (Baxandall & Gordon 3). This group of feminists challenged every aspect of male dominance and questioned traditional gender patterns. In the United States, the liberationists organized women-only conscious raising groups that accorded women the opportunity to articulate the issues they had encountered. This brought to attention the fact that these injuries to gender were common to everyone, were discriminatory, and needed to be challenged. Soon, more women came to understand and challenge ideas of male dominance and inequalities, which were previously thought to be normal due to gender differences. The conversation shifted from women being only available to please men to women being independent and able to be themselves with or without help from men.
In Australia, the activists referred to the movement as a sisterhood and identified as sisters undergoing the same discrimination and exclusion. According to (Magarey 32), the concept of sisterhood in Australia was based on four main factors; acceptance, support, change, and development. Acceptance came from sharing their discriminatory experiences as women, and other women who related to these experiences came together in support of their sisters. These experiences changed how the feminists thought and reacted to such incidents, leading to the development of collective feelings in the sisterhood. Magarey explains that these sisterhood movements were numerous and spread o...