Feminist Traditions/Movements: A Historical Survey

1. History of Global Feminist Traditions/Movements

The 1920s and 1930s witnessed the peak of the so-called first feminist movement. This was the period when women began to organize and mobilize on issues of s

ocial reform and civil and political rights.

The term feminism can be used to describe a political, cultural or economic movement aimed at establishing equal rights and legal protection for women. Feminism involves political and sociological theories and philosophies concerned with issues of gender difference, as well as a movement that advocates gender equality for women and campaigns for women's rights and interests. Although the terms "feminism" and "feminist" did not gain widespread use until the 1970s, they were already being used in the public parlance much earlier; for instance, Katherine Hepburn speaks of the "feminist movement" in the 1942 film Woman of the Year.

According to Maggie Humm and Rebecca Walker, the history of feminism can be divided into three waves.

First-wave feminism of the 19th and early 20th centuries focused on overturning legal inequalities, particularly addressing issues of women's suffrage

Second-wave feminism (1960s–1980s) broadened debate to include cultural inequalities, gender norms, and the role of women in society

Third-wave feminism (1990s–2000s) refers to diverse strains of feminist activity, seen by third-wavers themselves both as a continuation of the second wave and as a response to its perceived failures.

Fourth-wave feminism is a recent development within the feminist movement. Jennifer Baumgardner identifies fourth-wave feminism as starting in 2008 and continuing into the present day.

2. History of Feminist Traditions/Movements in India

According to Chaudhuri, unlike the Western feminist movement, India's movement was initiated by men, and later joined by women. Tarabai Shinde who wrote India's first feminist text, and Pandita Ramabai who criticized patriarchy and caste-system in Hinduism, married outside her caste and converted to Christianity. Feminism in India is a set of movements aimed at defining, establishing, and defending equal political, economic, and social rights and equal opportunities for Indian women.

In the Indian context we can see the rise of feminism and the women’s movement in two distinct phases, the pre-independence era and the post-independence era.

We can divide the women’s movement into three phases:

First Phase (1850-1915)

The idea came through colonial venture into modernity brought concepts of democracy, equality and individual rights. The rise of the concept of nationalism and introspection of discriminatory practices brought about social reform movements related to caste and gender relations. This first phase of feminism in India was initiated by men to uproot the social evils of sati (widow immolation), to allow widow remarriage, to forbid child marriage, and to reduce illiteracy, as well as to regulate the age of consent and to ensure property rights through legal intervention.

Second Phase (1915-1947)

In this movement nationalism became the pre-eminent cause. Claiming Indian superiority became the tool of cultural revivalism resulting in an essential sing model of Indian womanhood similar to that of Victorian womanhood: special yet separated from public space. Gandhi legitimized and expanded Indian women's public activities by initiating them into the non-violent civil disobedience movement against the British Raj. In this movement nationalism became the pre-eminent cause. Claiming Indian superiority became the tool of cultural revivalism resulting in an essential sing model of Indian womanhood similar to that of Victorian womanhood: special yet separated from public space. Gandhi legitimized and expanded Indian women's public activities by initiating them into the non-violent civil disobedience movement against the British Raj. Women-only organizations like All India Women's Conference (AIWC) and the National Federation of Indian Women (NFIW) emerged. Women were grappling with issues relating to the scope of women's political participation, women's franchise, communal awards, and leadership roles in political parties

Third Phase (1947-Present)

It was primarily due to the efforts of women and their role in the freedom struggle that women got the right to vote and complete equality in the constitution in India. Article 15(3) (INDIA, 1949) empowers the State to make special provisions for women. There were also a large number of policy documents which followed, but what really happened was that a great gap arose between the theoretical status of women and their rights as defined in these and what existed in reality.

The third phase can be further classified into three sub-phases:

            The Period of Accommodation (1947-1960s)

Women’s participation in the freedom struggle developed their critical consciousness about their role and rights in independent India. This resulted in the introduction of the franchise and civic rights of women in the Indian constitution.

           

The Period of Crisis (1960s-1975)

This period from the late sixties has been marked by economic crisis and stagnation, rising prices, increasing landlessness and generalised discontent both in rural and urban areas. This period is also associated with the Green revolution, which dramatically improved scientific agricultural techniques aimed at improving agricultural yield. It was very successful in India.

From 1975 - to date

Since 1975, there has been a steady increase in the number of women’s welfare organizations in India. There were various issues that the Women’s movement took up during this period against Liquor, missing girl children, violence against women, to name a few. However, there are lots of improvements in the status of women during this period.

3. Different Waves of Feminism

Feminism comprises a number of social, cultural and political movements, theories and moral philosophies concerned with gender inequalities and equal rights for women. One can clearly see the history of feminism as consisting of three waves.

(i) The first wave was in the mid nineteenth and early twentieth century’s, primarily concerned with gaining equal rights for women, particularly the rights to suffrage. In Britain the Suffragettes campaigned for the women’s vote. In 1918 the Representation of the People Act 1918 was passed granting the vote to women over the age of 30 who owned houses. In 1928 this was extended to all women over eighteen (Melanie Phillips).

(ii) The second wave was in the 1960s and 1970s when protests were centered around women’s inequality not only in the context of women’s political rights but in the areas of family, sexuality and work. Second-wave Feminism has existed continuously since then, and continues to coexist with what is termed third-wave Feminism. The second-wave feminism saw cultural and political inequalities as inextricably linked. The movement encouraged women to understand aspects of their own personal lives as deeply politicized, and reflective of a sexist structure of power. If first-wave feminism focused upon absolute rights such as suffrage, second-wave feminism was largely concerned with other issues of equality, such as the end to discrimination (Melanie Phillips). Carol Hanisch, with her essay The Personal is Political, coined a slogan that became synonymous with the second-wave and was related to the women’s liberation movement (Ellen Carol Du Bois).

(iii) The third wave of feminism extends from the early 1990s to the present. The movement arose as a response to perceived failures of the second-wave. It was also a response to the backlash against initiatives and movements created by the second-wave. Third-wave feminism seeks to challenge or avoid what it deems the second-wave’s “essentialist” definitions of femininity, which (according to them) over-emphasized the experiences of upper middle class white women. A post structuralist interpretation of gender and sexuality is central to much of the third-wave’s ideology. Third-wave feminists often focus on “micro-politics” and challenge the second-wave’s paradigm as to what is, or is not, good for females. Post-feminism is a term used to describe a range of viewpoints reacting to feminism. The term was first used in the 1980s to signify a backlash against second-wave feminism. It now denotes a wide range of theories, some of which argue that postmodernism has destabilized the notion of a universal femininity, and take critical approach to previous feminist discourses, including challenges to second-wave ideas (Stacy Gillis, 2007).