Positive Changes That Feminism Brought to America

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There is no arguing that feminism has gone a long way with the tremendous changes the movement has brought to American society and most of the world. Feminism has brought so many changes in almost every aspect of the daily lives of the Americans that the young women of today can hardly imagine how very far removed they have become from their counterparts only several generations back (Love, n.d.).

Before the onset of feminism, women were relegated as second-class citizens, without voice, and with very limited rights. Their role was confined in the home. Their biggest achievement was catching a good husband, giving birth to several children, and raising them. They did not have roles in politics; in fact, they did not have a right to vote. They also did not have work outside of the home; having a career was not only very far-fetched but also something no woman ‘in her right mind’ would dream of having.

All these were changed with the emergence of feminism — “the view, articulated in the 19th century, that women are inherently equal to men and deserve equal rights and opportunities” (Kung Saud University, n.d.). It is a “struggle for a human status for women which can only be achieved at the expense of no one else at all, and certainly not at the expense of other women. It is also a commitment to building connections between women despite the barriers that divide us” (Thompson, 1994).

As a movement, feminism is divided into three stages or “waves”. The first wave (nineteenth and early twentieth century), otherwise known as the women’s suffrage movement, fought for and succeeded in giving women the right to vote. But that was not all that was achieved during this period. The original focus of the first wave of feminism was to fight for equal rights between husbands and wives. This period sought to give women equal contract and property rights as well as to fight off the tradition of chattel marriage ( Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2004) — “a form of marriage in which the husband owned the wife and any children they might have in about the same way slaves were owned. The only meaningful difference was that there were a few legal restrictions to the husband’s right to physically abuse or sell his wife or child” (Lemon, 2004).

The first-wave feminists sought to abolish slavery before championing women’s right to vote. And when, in 1919, the American Constitution was amended such that the women in all the States were given the right to vote, it was then that the first period of feminism officially ended, their main cause having been achieved (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2004).

The feminists, however, were not very happy with whatever was achieved by the first wave of feminism. In their heart, they were not enough. Hence, another wave of feminism arose, which scholars now label as the second wave of feminism.

In this period (1960-1980), the feminists concerned themselves with social and cultural issues, particularly equality and discrimination. For the feminists of this period, the cultural and political inequalities between the sexes were linked inextricably. As such, they strove to encourage the women to be more involved with the different aspects of their personal lives, and to stand up against the politicized and sexist power structures. During this period, the feminists demanded equal opportunities and pay and rights (Wilson, 2008), child care, maternity leaves, and abortion rights, among others (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2004).

The third wave of feminism, which started in 1990, is a movement that champions whatever had been left out by the first two waves of feminism. It continues to this day mainly because there is still a lot to be won. But while that is so, feminists have already won much of the battle. For one, the women of today now have a voice not only to speak up their thoughts but also to stand up to them when challenged and to encourage and influence others. Because of feminism, our women concern and involve themselves with every issue imaginable, even those that are stereotyped to be the domains of men: politics, sports, science, technology, philosophy, arts and culture, law, and other issues worth discussing.

The feminist movement not only allowed today’s women to vote. It also gave them the right to seek political office and once elected, to govern. Today, women now comprise “more than half of the U.S. electorate and have influenced electoral outcomes for more than 40 years” (Conway, n.d).

Conway argues: “women have comprised a majority of the eligible electorate since 1964, but it was not until 1980 that the percentage of eligible women who voted surpassed the percentage of qualified men casting ballots.” Women voters, she says, have been influencing outcomes of elections for several decades, thus shaping “public policy directly and dramatically” (Conway, n.d).

Current events and not-so-recent history tell us just how influential the American woman has become, politically speaking. The election of former first lady Hillary Clinton as a senator is one indication that the American women have come very far from their non-voting grandmothers before 1919. This became more apparent when, earlier this year, she nearly became the standard-bearer of the Democratic Party. That she very nearly became the first woman president is an indication that sometime in the future, a woman would make the history of being the very first woman president of the United States of America.

Besides Clinton, there is also Sarah Palin, the running mate of the Republican Party’s standard-bearer, John McCain. More than anything else, Palin’s selection as the party’s vice-presidential candidate is a recognition of the power of the women voters.

Women’s choice is also among the important gifts the feminists gave to all American women. Where before the movement, they could be bought and were regarded as objects, women now have a say in what happens to their life — who to marry, which school to attend, what course to take, who to vote for, whether or not buy a car, how many kids to have and whether they want to have kids or not, and so on. In every question about everything that affects her directly or indirectly, the woman has a say. The woman has ceased to be the property of man; she has stopped being told what she should do. She now charts her destiny.

Another change that the feminists brought to the human race, particularly the United States of America, is the right to education and to work. Where before the women were confined to the house, to their knitting, and to make themselves beautiful, the present-day women now have school to concern themselves with, and jobs to excel in. Lady executives, women school administrators, female government workers, and lady police officers among others, seemed to be a far-fetched thought several generations ago, but are now so real. As Wilson puts it, “the possibility we now have for a woman to command the highest office in our country rests on the labors of the women and supportive men that have come before, and on those who continue to toil for gender justice” (Wilson, 2008).

The above are just some of the more apparent positive changes that the feminists had brought to the women of today, among all the numerous positive changes that they have brought.

In her discussion on how feminism has brought the possibility of having a female president to America, Wilson writes that feminism, “has not only made inroads for women into the worlds of business and politics; it has challenged long-standing assumptions regarding masculinity, significantly expanding the box in which men and boys experience and display their maleness” (Wilson, 2008).

Indeed, the biggest change that feminism has brought upon the American civilization is the shift that they (and the other peoples in the world) had towards how they see their women, how they deal with them vis-à-vis their perceptions of themselves, and how they see every aspect of their lives. Without this shift in perspective, none of the things that American women enjoy now would have been possible.

While there had not been what we may call roll reversal, more and more men are becoming more involved in the house, and are doing the things that used to be regarded as simply women’s work. For one, fathers are now taking more part in raising their children and are enjoying it. We now have family-friendly workplaces, and compared to situations decades ago, gender roles are now much more flexible, which is beneficial to both the sexes. Even the armed forces — a very masculine institution — now have women in the ranks (Wilson, 2008).

These transformations say, Wilson, is “palpable and positive” (Wilson, 2008).

Of course, as a movement, feminism did not bring only positive things into the human race. It also brought things that could be regarded as negatives (depending on who is looking at it) like the legalization of abortion which was sparked by the second wave feminism (Llaguno, 2001), or the fact that women now feel worthless without having a career of their own, a kind of thinking that was also sparked by the second wave of feminism when feminist Betty Freidan wrote in her book that housewives are a “parasite,” and that they are “less than fully human” insofar as they “have never known a commitment to an idea” (Freidan, quoted in Ross, 2002).

Feminism is also being blamed for the trend of many of today’s women to make their family second only to their career (James, 2007). But while these may have come as a result of feminism, it is the woman’s choice, not feminism per se, that directly causes this. For while society has started glorifying women who are in the rat race, every woman still has the choice not to be pressured to join in or to decide which to prioritize: their career or their family, or which to choose: to undergo abortion or not. Moreover, even with these negative events, the fact remains that feminism has brought numerous positive changes to our lives.

Bibliography

Conwey, Kellyanne. N.d. Women Voters in the United States.
James, Oliver. 2007. Blind feminism has hurt our children. Web.
King Saud University. N.d. Glossary.
Kush, Jessica. 2005. Idea of Feminism Changes in the 21st Century.
Llaguno, Magaly. 2001. Radical Feminism and Domestic Violence.
Lemon, Patricia Ann Dickerson. 2004. Your Grandmother Really Was a Cherokee Princess Or What Do You Get When You Cross an 18th-Century English Archetype with 18th-Century Cherokee Mores.
Lewis, Jone Johnson. 1920. The Day the Suffrage Battle Was Won. Web.
Love, Meredith A. and Helmbrecht, Brenda M. (n.d.) Teaching the Conflicts: (Re)-engaging the Students in a Post-feminist World. Project Muse Scholarly Journals Online.
Ross, Kelley L. 2002. Feminism. Web.
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. 2004. Topics in Feminism.
Thompson, Denise. 1994. Feminism and Racism: What is at Stake? Web.
Wilson, Marie. 2008. This Opportunity has been Brought to You by Feminism.Web.

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Positive Changes That Feminism Brought to America

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