A Brief History of the Feminist Waves

Bess Wohl's Liberation exists within a specific moment of US history: the women’s liberation movement, or, second feminist wave. Oxford English Dictionary defines feminism as the “advocacy of equality of the sexes and the establishment of the political, social, and economic rights of the female sex,” but this advocacy has taken many forms over the past 200 years. In 1968, a New York Times article titled "The Second Feminist Wave" by Martha Weinman Lear effectively attached the wave metaphor to feminism to distinguish the goals and timelines of each era of the feminist movement. While Liberation chronicles the complicated reality of the second feminist wave by building upon personal and collective memory, what came before the second wave and where are we now? As the characters grapple with their identity, contributions, and goals, Lizzie is drawn to the question of legacy and its meaning in the context of feminist history.

The First Feminist Wave (1848–1920)

Throughout the 19th century and early 20th century, the temperance movement was sweeping through America attempting to moderate alcohol consumption, and it was the first predominantly female-led movement. Through their work with the temperance movement, women gained experience in public speaking and advocating for legislative change. There is historical evidence that many women who were a part of the temperance movement later joined the first feminist wave. Obtaining the right to vote for women was the primary goal of the first wave, but they were not the only movement seeking rights. The abolitionist movement began in 1831 and, like the temperance movement, drew many of the same women to its cause.

Inaugural Women’s Rights Convention (1848)

The first feminist wave began in 1848 when Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott organized the inaugural Women's Rights Convention at Seneca Falls. An exclusionary culture towards women up to and throughout the late 19th century inspired Stanton and Mott to create an opportunity for both women and men to discuss societal inequities AdvancedProofingIssueV2Themed on the basis of sex. The event culminated in the signing of the Declaration of Sentiments, a document containing 15 resolutions for gender equality such as property ownership, wages, education, and the first formal demand for women’s right to vote, or suffrage. Acquiring the vote became the primary goal for feminists, now branded as suffragettes.

Suffrage and the Reconstruction Era (1850–1877)

By 1850 the number of supporters of suffrage had grown. Abolitionists and temperance organizers aligned with the suffragists, working in tandem towards their interrelated goals. An opportunity for parallel progress arose in 1865 at the end of the Civil War. Notable suffragettes Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton believed if the US legislature was going to address the rights of the 400 million newly freed peoples, then women’s suffrage should be part of the conversation. The two women began a campaign petitioning congress to acknowledge women’s rights, but their efforts and petitions went largely unaddressed in the face of the greater challenges of the Reconstruction era which ended in 1877

The 19th Amendment (1919-1920)

The 19th Amendment, which gave women the right to vote, was passed on June 14, 1919 and ratified on August 26, 1920 following a successful campaign led by suffragist Carrie Chapman Catt. Despite the amendment preventing discrimination in voting based on sex, it effectively only gave white women the right to vote due to the structural racism of the era. The first wave of the feminist movement officially ended after 71 years of advocacy and organizing around the right to vote. Despite the historic victory of ratifying the 19th Amendment, various exclusionary measures towards women of color would continue to suppress women’s votes. It wasn’t until 1965 when the Equal Rights Act was passed, causing full enforcement of the 19th Amendment, that all women officially obtained the right to vote.   

Liberation takes place during the second wave of feminism. You can read more about this era in “American Women in the 1970s” and “Unraveling the Undertow.” 

Third Feminist Wave (1992 – early 2000s)

In 1992, Rebecca Walker published a piece titled "Becoming the 3rd Wave" in Ms. Magazine effectively launching a new wave of feminism defined by its prioritization of female individuality and expansion to recognize LGBTQIA+ people and women of color. Following the divisive feminist sex wars of the 1980s that questioned if sex positivity was anti- or pro-feminist, the third wave was an attempt to broaden the understanding of what is contained within feminism and give recognition to minority identities historically excluded. The movement was composed of a younger generation, the daughters of the second wave feminists in some cases, who felt entitled to equal rights and who took a different and somewhat controversial approach. Unlike the first and second wave, which focused on legislative and political action, the third wave was a movement within culture. There was an intention to eliminate exclusivity and to push the second wave agenda even further by redefining femininity as powerful.

Riot Grrrl Movement – 1990s 

In an effort to address sexism in the punk scene, a group of women in Olympia, Washington got together to discuss the misogyny and exclusion in male punk rock spaces. The idea of a “girl riot” against society was born and slowly became the Riot Grrrl movement, which encouraged girls and women to create space for their experiences using various artistic avenues, including music and fanzines. The movement centered the adolescent female experience in the countercultural, rebellious ethos of punk. The phrase “girl power” was a slogan from the Riot Grrrl magazines of the time that has carried on to today. Underground feminist punk rock bands like Bikini Kill and Bratmobile used their music to discuss feminism, bodily autonomy, self-image, rebellion, anger, racism, and personal experiences with sexual assault.