Essay Sample on The History of Feminism: Two Waves of Women's Rights

Introduction

Feminism refers to the activities that aim at supporting the various women's rights based on equality for both genders. The history of feminism states that there have been two major waves. These waves are the first-wave feminism and the second-wave feminism. The first-wave feminism dates back to the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The wave concentrated on issues and challenges that women encountered, primarily legal inequalities. The wave focused on addressing concerns on women's suffrage and inclusion in activities such as voting. The second-wave feminism is the latest and occurred between1960 and 1980. The wave increased concerns on such topics as cultural inequalities as well as gender norms. Nevertheless, the wave examined the role and place of women in society. The paper examines the various challenges of looking for the history of feminism.

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The primary challenge faced in looking for the history of feminism is the lack of ample information on the history of feminism. Feminism started as a secret radical movement with people advocating for women's rights seen as a danger to the political organization. As a result, the earlier advocates of women's power started feminism as secret movements. The information on the history of feminism, such as the works of Charles Fourier, indicates that the activists were working under high tension, faced lots of opposition and threats, lots of materials were also destroyed (Broude, Norma, and Mary 70). Therefore, little information is available on the history of feminism.

The liberation of women has been the central theme in the feminism waves. Advocates of the rights of women believe that the female gender is consistently under oppression from the male gender. Therefore, they think that women need liberation to take on roles and career goals similar to men. The activism on gender equality has not been successful due to gender clashes. The topic of feminism has been on the shadows for ages with scholars paying little attention to conducting research and studies on the subject. Consequently, it has been a challenge to obtain chronological and detailed research work on the history of feminism. Nevertheless, the teaching curriculum focuses more on other careers, such as sciences, as opposed to women and gender studies.

Social inequality and violence against women also link to the challenges in the study of the history of feminism. Feminism marked the beginning of the war on social inequality and gender-based violence (Gallop 105). As such, feminism was bound to experience challenges especially from those against it. Men who were against feminism especially those in political power during the time of the introduction of the concept, ensured that little information on the topic was available. As a result, research and studies on feminism became hard.

Conclusion

In conclusion, negativity on feminism serves a stumbling block and a setback in the study of the history of feminism. The stiff opposition on feminism both presently and in the past made sure that there is less information on the history of feminism. Negativity on the concept also makes it hard for students and scholars in the field to research on feminism and its history. The current curriculum puts more attention to scientific studies and little concern about gender studies. Research on feminism is challenging as a result of sidelining the program.

Work Cited

Broude, Norma, and Mary D. Garrard. "Introduction: Feminism and art history." Feminism And Art History. Routledge, 2018. 1-17.

Gallop, Jane. "Response: The Institutional History of Theory and the Institutional History of Feminism." symploke 27.1-2 (2019): 465-468.