FEMINIST APPROACH

https://www.britannica.com/topic/feminism/The-third-wave-of-feminism

Feminism is the belief that women should not be treated in a subordinate or unequal way simply
because they are women.
Feminism is manifested worldwide and is represented by various institutions committed to
activity on behalf of women’s rights and interests.

Mary Wollstonecraft – Seen by many as a founder of feminism due to her 1792 book titled A
Vindication of the Rights of Woman in which she argues for women's education. It was a
ground-breaking work of literature which still resonates in feminism and human rights
movements of today. 
Mary Wollstonecraft

Mary Wollstonecraft (1759–1797) was a moral and political philosopher whose

analysis of the condition of women in modern society retains much of its original radicalism.
One of the reasons her pronouncements on the subject remain challenging is that her
reflections on the status of the female sex were part of an attempt to come to a
comprehensive understanding of human relations within a civilization increasingly governed
by acquisitiveness and consumption. Her first publication was on the education of daughters;
she went on to write about politics, history and various aspects of philosophy in a number of
different genres that included critical reviews, translations, pamphlets, and novels. Best
known for her Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792), her influence went beyond the
substantial contribution to feminism for which she is mostly remembered and extended to
shaping the art of travel writing as a literary genre; through her account of her journey
through Scandinavia as well as her writings on women and thoughts on the imagination, she
had an impact on the Romantic movement.

Charles Fourier
A French Philosopher, Charles Fourier, who was sometimes described as a socialist utopian
thinker, is credited with having coined the word "féminisme" in 1837. He is the man behind the
term very well-known today which is feminism.
 Let us also not forget several philosophers and thinkers of feminism who are foremothers of the
modern women's movement. All of these people advocated for the dignity, intelligence, and
basic human potential of the female sex.

Advantages of Feminism
To put it simply, Feminism aid in breaking sexism, prejudices towards women and
gender inequalities.
Feminism is an ideology that aims to establish the equality of men and women in various
areas of our daily life. This includes political, social as well as economic perspectives.

Sexism

This term is very often present in feminist literature as well as in the media and everyday
life, and it is an important concept in understanding feminism. Sexism means perceiving and
judging people only on the basis of their belonging to a particular sex or gender . It also
covers discrimination of a person on the same basis. It is important to note that sexism applies to
both men and women, however, women are more affected by sexism than men in all areas of
life. Everyday sexism takes different forms, sometimes not easily recognizable – for example,
telling jokes about girls, commenting on the female body (objectifying women), reacting to the
way women are dressed, and assigning women easier tasks in Internet games or objectifying
women in advertising.

The literature mentions three types of sexism

 Traditional sexism: supporting traditional gender roles, treating women as worse than men,
employing traditional stereotypes which portray women as less competent than men.
 Modern sexism: denying gender discrimination (‘it is not a problem anymore’), having a
negative attitude towards women’s rights, denying the validity of claims made by women
 Neosexism: This notion refers to ideologies that justify discrimination towards women on the
basis of competences – 'men are effectively better competent for some things' – for example in
managerial or leadership positions, and not on a direct discrimination of women. Defenders of
these ideas tend to ignore or deny the difficulties faced by women in society as having an
influence on 'competences'.
If it is true that the situation of women’s human rights has improved in recent years,
this does not mean that sexism has ended.
In March 2019, the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe adopted Recommendation
CM/Rec(2019)1 on preventing and combating sexism.

The Recommendation defines sexism as any act, gesture, visual representation, spoken or
written words, practice or behaviour based upon the idea that a person or a group of persons is
inferior because of their sex, which occurs in the public or private sphere, whether online or
offline, with the purpose or effect of:

 Violating the inherent dignity or rights of a person or a group of persons;

 Resulting in physical, sexual, psychological or socio-economic harm or suffering to a
person or a group of persons;
 Creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment;
 Constituting a barrier to the autonomy and full realisation of human rights by a person or a
group of persons;
 Maintaining and reinforcing gender stereotypes.

The Recommendation stresses that sexism is a manifestation of historically unequal

power relations between women and men, which leads to discrimination and prevents the
full advancement of women in society. The Committee of Ministers asks Governments of
member states to take measures to prevent and combat sexism and its manifestations in the
public and private spheres, and encourage relevant stakeholders to implement appropriate
legislation, policies and programmes.

Women’s rights are human rights

Why do we need women’s rights, when these are simply human rights? Why do we need human
rights treaties about women’s rights, when we have already general human rights instruments?
Almost everywhere in the world, women are denied their human rights just because of their sex
or gender. Women’s rights should not be seen as special rights: they are human rights
enshrined in international human rights treaties and other documents, and include such rights
as freedom from discrimination, right to life, freedom from torture, right to privacy, access
to health, right to decent living conditions, right to safety, and many others. However, there
are also human rights instruments that take into account the specific situation of women in
society with regards to accessing or exercising their human rights, or which aim to protect them
from violence.

https://www.coe.int/en/web/gender-matters/feminism-and-women-s-rights-
movements#:~:text=The%20main%20issues%20that%20third,crimes%20and%20female
%20genital%20mutilation.

Feminist Criticism (1960s-present)

Feminist criticism is concerned with "the ways in which literature (and other cultural
productions) reinforce or undermine the economic, political, social, and psychological
oppression of women" (Tyson 83). This school of theory looks at how aspects of our culture are
inherently patriarchal (male dominated) and aims to expose misogyny in writing about women,
which can take explicit and implicit forms. This misogyny, Tyson reminds us, can extend into
diverse areas of our culture: "Perhaps the most chilling example...is found in the world of
modern medicine, where drugs prescribed for both sexes often have been tested on male subjects
only" (85).
Feminist criticism is also concerned with less obvious forms of marginalization such as
the exclusion of women writers from the traditional literary canon: "...unless the critical or
historical point of view is feminist, there is a tendency to underrepresent the contribution of
women writers" (Tyson 84).
COMMON SPACE IN FEMINIST THEORIES
Though a number of different approaches exist in feminist criticism, there exist some areas of
commonality. This list is excerpted from Tyson (92):

1. Women are oppressed by patriarchy economically, politically, socially, and

psychologically; patriarchal ideology is the primary means by which women are
oppressed.
2. In every domain where patriarchy reigns, woman is other: she is marginalized, defined
only by her difference from male norms and values.
 3. All of Western (Anglo-European) civilization is deeply rooted in patriarchal ideology, for
example, in the Biblical portrayal of Eve as the origin of sin and death in the world.
4. While biology determines our sex (male or female), culture determines our gender (scales
of masculine and feminine).
5. All feminist activity, including feminist theory and literary criticism, has as its ultimate
goal to change the world by prompting gender equality.
6. Gender issues play a part in every aspect of human production and experience, including
the production and experience of literature, whether we are consciously aware of these
issues or not.

Feminist criticism has, in many ways, followed what some theorists call the three waves of
feminism:

1. First Wave Feminism - late 1700s-early 1900's: writers like Mary Wollstonecraft (A
Vindication of the Rights of Women, 1792) highlight the inequalities between the sexes.
Activists like Susan B. Anthony and Victoria Woodhull contribute to the women's
suffrage movement, which leads to National Universal Suffrage in 1920 with the passing
of the Nineteenth Amendment.
2. Second Wave Feminism - early 1960s-late 1970s: building on more equal working
conditions necessary in America during World War II, movements such as the National
Organization for Women (NOW), formed in 1966, cohere feminist political activism.
Writers like Simone de Beauvoir (Le Deuxième Sexe, 1949) and Elaine Showalter
established the groundwork for the dissemination of feminist theories dove-tailed with
the American Civil Rights movement.
3. Third Wave Feminism - early 1990s-present: resisting the perceived essentialist (over
generalized, over simplified) ideologies and a white, heterosexual, middle class focus of
second wave feminism, third wave feminism borrows from post-structural and
contemporary gender and race theories (see below) to expand on marginalized
populations' experiences. Writers like Alice Walker work to "...reconcile it [feminism]
with the concerns of the black community...[and] the survival and wholeness of her
people, men and women both, and for the promotion of dialog and community as well as
 for the valorization of women and of all the varieties of work women perform" (Tyson
107).

Generalization: The epochs or waves of feminism helps us in determining the background

of feminism, how it evolves even up in this time of modernity where women have the voice
for battling sexism, and gender inequalities in attaining gender equality and balance. Starting
from its first wave, women were still inferior towards men and the patriarchal system is
dominating, making women unable to express and exercise their innate rights up until in the
third wave of feminism and at the present, women stands out and contributed a lot in our
countries, being able to express their rights and freedom towards the society.

https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/subject_specific_writing/writing_in_literature/
literary_theory_and_schools_of_criticism/feminist_criticism.html

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Mary-Wollstonecraft

https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/wollstonecraft/

Four Waves of Feminism (Epoch) a period of time in history or a person's life, typically one
marked by notable events or particular characteristics.
It is common to speak of three phases of modern feminism; however, there is little
consensus as to how to characterize these three waves or what to do with women's movements
before the late nineteenth century. Making the landscape even harder to navigate, a new
silhouette is emerging on the horizon and taking the shape of a fourth wave of feminism.

Some thinkers have sought to locate the roots of feminism in ancient Greece with Sappho
(d. c. 570 BCE), or the medieval world with Hildegard of Bingen (d. 1179) or Christine de Pisan
(d. 1434). Certainly Olympes de Gouge (d. 1791), Mary Wollstonecraft (d. 1797) and Jane
Austen (d. 1817) are foremothers of the modern women's movement. All of these people
advocated for the dignity, intelligence, and basic human potential of the female sex. However, it
was not until the late nineteenth century that the efforts for women's equal rights coalesced into a
clearly identifiable and self-conscious movement, or rather a series of movements.
First Wave: In its early stages, feminism was interrelated with the temperance and abolitionist
movements and gave voice to now-famous activists like the African-American Sojourner Truth
(d. 1883), who demanded: "Ain't I a woman?" Victorian America saw women acting in very "un-
ladylike" ways (public speaking, demonstrating, stints in jail), which challenged the "cult of
domesticity." Discussions about the vote and women's participation in politics led to an
examination of the differences between men and women as they were then viewed. Some
claimed that women were morally superior to men, and so their presence in the civic sphere
would improve public behavior and the political process.

Second Wave: This phase began with protests against the Miss America pageant in Atlantic City
in 1968 and 1969. Feminists parodied what they held to be a degrading "cattle parade" that
reduced women to objects of beauty dominated by a patriarchy that sought to keep them in the
home or in dull, low-paying jobs. The radical New York group called the Redstockings staged a
counter pageant in which they crowned a sheep as Miss America and threw "oppressive"
feminine artifacts such as bras, girdles, high-heels, makeup and false eyelashes into the trashcan.

Because the second wave of feminism found voice amid so many other social
movements, it was easily marginalized and viewed as less pressing than, for example, Black
Power or efforts to end the war in Vietnam. Feminists reacted by forming women-only
organizations (such as NOW) and "consciousness raising" groups. In publications like "The
BITCH Manifesto" and "Sisterhood is Powerful," feminists advocated for their place in the sun.
The second wave was increasingly theoretical, based on a fusion of neo-Marxism and psycho-
analytical theory, and began to associate the subjugation of women with broader critiques of
patriarchy, capitalism, normative heterosexuality, and the woman's role as wife and mother. On
top of that, Sex and gender were differentiated—the former being biological, and the later a
social construct that varies culture-to-culture and over time.

One of the strains of this complex and diverse "wave" was the development of women-
only spaces and the notion that women working together create a special dynamic that is not
possible in mixed-groups, which would ultimately work for the betterment of the entire planet.
Women, due whether to their long "subjugation" or to their biology, were thought by some to be
more humane, collaborative, inclusive, peaceful, nurturing, democratic, and holistic in their
approach to problem solving than men. The term eco-feminism was coined to capture the sense
that because of their biological connection to earth and lunar cycles, women were natural
advocates of environmentalism.

Third Wave: The third wave of feminism began in the mid - 90's and was informed by post-
colonial and post-modern thinking. In this phase many constructs were destabilized, including
the notions of "universal womanhood," body, gender, sexuality and heteronormativity. An aspect
of third wave feminism that mystified the mothers of the earlier feminist movement was the
readoption by young feminists of the very lip-stick, high-heels, and cleavage proudly exposed by
low cut necklines that the first two phases of the movement identified with male oppression.
Pinkfloor expressed this new position when she said that it's possible to have a push-up bra and a
brain at the same time.

The "grrls" of the third wave stepped onto the stage as strong and empowered, eschewing
victimization and defining feminine beauty for themselves as subjects, not as objects of a sexist
patriarchy. They developed a rhetoric of mimicry, which appropriated derogatory terms like
"slut" and "bitch" in order to subvert sexist culture and deprive it of verbal weapons. The web is
an important tool of "girlie feminism." E-zines have provided "cybergrrls" and "netgrrls" another
kind of women-only space. At the same time — rife with the irony of third-wave feminism
because cyberspace is disembodied — it permits all users the opportunity to cross gender
boundaries, and so the very notion of gender has been unbalanced in a way that encourages
experimentation and creative thought.

This is in keeping with the third wave's celebration of ambiguity and refusal to think in terms of
"us-them." Most third-wavers refuse to identify as "feminists" and reject the word that they find
limiting and exclusionary. Grrl-feminism tends to be global, multi-cultural, and it shuns simple
answers or artificial categories of identity, gender, and sexuality. Its transversal politics means
that differences such as those of ethnicity, class, sexual orientation, etc. are celebrated and
recognized as dynamic, situational, and provisional. Reality is conceived not so much in terms of
fixed structures and power relations, but in terms of performance within contingencies.

 Third wave feminism breaks boundaries.

Fourth Wave: The fourth wave of feminism is still a captivating silhouette. A writer for Elle
Magazine recently interviewed me about the waves of feminism and asked if the second and
third waves may have “failed or dialed down” because the social and economic gains had been
mostly sparkle, little substance, and whether at some point women substituted equal rights for
career and the atomic self. I replied that the second wave of feminism ought not to be
characterized as having failed, nor was glitter all that it generated. Quite the contrary; many
goals of the second wave were met: more women in positions of leadership in higher education,
business and politics; abortion rights; access to the pill that increased women’s control over their
bodies; more expression and acceptance of female sexuality; general public awareness of the
concept of and need for the “rights of women” (though never fully achieved); a solid academic
field in feminism, gender and sexuality studies; greater access to education; organizations and
legislation for the protection of battered women; women’s support groups and organizations (like
NOW and AAUW); an industry in the publication of books by and about women/feminism;
public forums for the discussion of women’s rights; and a societal discourse at the popular level
about women’s suppression, efforts for reform, and a critique of patriarchy. So, in a sense, if the
second wave seemed to have “dialed down,” the lull was in many ways due more to the success
of the movement than to any ineffectiveness. In addition to the sense that many women’s needs
had been met, feminism’s perceived silence in the 1990s was a response to the successful
backlash campaign by the conservative press and media, especially against the word feminism
and its purported association with male-bashing and extremism.

However, the second wave only quieted down in the public forum; it did not disappear
but retreated into the academic world where it is alive and well—incubating in the academy.
Women’s centers and women’s/gender studies have became a staple of virtually all universities
and most colleges in the US and Canada (and in many other nations around the word).
Scholarship on women’s studies, feminist studies, masculinity studies, and queer studies is
prolific, institutionalized, and thriving in virtually all scholarly fields, including the sciences. 
Academic majors and minors in women’s, feminist, masculinity and queer studies have produced
thousands of students with degrees in the subjects.  However, generally those programs have
generated theorists rather than activists.

Returning to the question the Elle Magazine columnist asked about the third wave and
the success or failure of its goals. It is hard to talk about the aims of the third wave because a
characteristic of that wave is the rejection of communal, standardized objectives.  The third wave
does not acknowledge a collective “movement” and does not define itself as a group with
common grievances.  Third wave women and men are concerned about equal rights, but tend to
think the genders have achieved parity or that society is well on its way to delivering it to them.  
The third wave pushed back against their “mothers” (with grudging gratitude) the way children
push away from their parents in order to achieve much needed independence.  This wave
supports equal rights, but does not have a term like feminism to articulate that notion.  For third
wavers, struggles are more individual: “We don’t need feminism anymore.” 

But the times are changing, and a fourth wave is in the air. A few months ago, a high
school student approached one of the staff of the Center for Gender Equity at Pacific University
and revealed in a somewhat confessional tone, “I think I’m a feminist!” It was like she was
coming out of the closet. Well, perhaps that is the way to view the fourth wave of feminism. 

The aims of the second feminist movement were never cemented to the extent that they
could survive the complacency of third wavers.  The fourth wave of feminism is emerging
because (mostly) young women and men realize that the third wave is either overly optimistic or
hampered by blinders. Feminism is now moving from the academy and back into the realm of
public discourse. Issues that were central to the earliest phases of the women’s movement are
receiving national and international attention by mainstream press and politicians:  problems like
sexual abuse, rape, violence against women, unequal pay, slut-shaming, the pressure on women
to conform to a single and unrealistic body-type and the realization that gains in female
representation in politics and business, for example, are very slight. It is no longer considered
“extreme,” nor is it considered the purview of rarified intellectuals to talk about societal abuse of
women, rape on college campus, Title IX, homo and transphobia, unfair pay and work
conditions, and the fact that the US has one of the worst records for legally-mandated parental
leave and maternity benefits in the world.

Some people who wish to ride this new fourth wave have trouble with the word
“feminism,” not just because of its older connotations of radicalism, but because the word feels
like it is underpinned by assumptions of a gender binary and an exclusionary subtext: “for
women only.” Many fourth wavers who are completely on-board with the movement’s tenants
find the term “feminism” sticking in their craws and worry that it is hard to get their message out
with a label that raises hackles for a broader audience. Yet the word is winning the day.  The
generation now coming of age sees that we face serious problems because of the way society
genders and is gendered, and we need a strong “in-your-face” word to combat those problems.
Feminism no longer just refers to the struggles of women; it is a clarion call for gender equity.

The emerging fourth wavers are not just reincarnations of their second wave
grandmothers; they bring to the discussion important perspectives taught by third wave
feminism.  They speak in terms of intersectionality whereby women’s suppression can only fully
be understood in a context of the marginalization of other groups and genders—feminism is part
of a larger consciousness of oppression along with racism, ageism, classism, abelism, and sexual
orientation (no “ism” to go with that).  Among the third wave’s bequests is the importance of
inclusion, an acceptance of the sexualized human body as non-threatening, and the role the
internet can play in gender-bending and leveling hierarchies.  Part of the reason a fourth wave
can emerge is because these millennials’ articulation of themselves as “feminists” is their own:
not a hand-me-down from grandma. The beauty of the fourth wave is that there is a place in it for
all –together. The academic and theoretical apparatus is extensive and well-honed in the
academy, ready to support a new broad-based activism in the home, in the workplace, in the
sphere of social media, and in the streets.

At this point we are still not sure how feminism will mutate.  Will the fourth wave fully
materialize and in what direction?  There have always been many feminisms in the movement,
not just one ideology, and there have always been tensions, points and counter-points. The
political, social and intellectual feminist movements have always been chaotic, multi-valenced,
and disconcerting; and let's hope they continue to be so; it's a sign that they are thriving that is
very important even in this time of modernity.

Generalization: The epochs or waves of feminism helps us in determining the background of

feminism, how it evolves even up in this time of modernity where women have the voice for
battling sexism, and gender inequalities in attaining gender equality and balance. Starting from
its first wave, women were still inferior towards men and the patriarchal system is dominating,
making women unable to express and exercise their innate rights up until in the third wave of
feminism and at the present, women stands out and contributed a lot in our countries, being able
to express their rights and freedom towards the society.
https://www.pacificu.edu/magazine/four-waves-feminism