The Great Impact of Feminism

Meijun Zhu
Sociology 2510
Essay #2
11/04/2014
The Great Impact of Feminismzhzhu Feminism is a collection of movements and ideologies aimed at defining, establishing, and defending equal political, economic, cultural, and social rights for women (webster.com). This includes seeking to establish equal opportunities for women in society. The people who advocate or support the rights and equality of women are called feminists. Feminists have worked to protect women and girls from domestic violence, sexual harassment and appealed for women's rights – such as in contract law, property, and voting. They aim to make the society understand gender inequality better and focus on gender politics, power relations, and sexuality. Generally, feminism is mainly focused on women's issues. But from some point of view, it has threatened male control and altered their dominance in society. The words "feminism" and "feminist" first appeared in France and the Netherlands in 1872, and the United States in 1910 (Scott, Nancy,F 13). According to The Grounding of Modern Feminism, the rise of feminist movement in western society has its specific social background. Back to the 17th century, the social status of European women was very low. For example, the British married women barely have any rights of their own, unless their husband allow them to have some rights. When their husband are alive, the women’s property and herself are all belong to their husbands privately. In some countries, if the husband dies without a will, the woman's property have to be given to her husband's relatives, but not to her or her children. Until 19th century, feminism gradually appeared as organized social movement. Most western feminist historians assert that all movements that work to obtain women's rights should be considered feminist movements. The history of the modern western feminist movements is divided into three "waves". Each wave dealt with different aspects of the feminist issues. The first-wave feminism was during the 19th century and early 20th century. It focused on the promotion of equal contract, marriage, parenting, and property rights for women. By the mid-20th century, in some western countries, women still lacked some significant rights. So the second-wave feminism campaigned for legal and social equality for women. In the early 1990s in the USA, the third-wave feminism began as a continuation of and a reaction to the second-wave feminism (Humm, Maggie P251). The feminist movements have effective impact on the change in Western society, including women's suffrage, greater access to education, more nearly equitable pay with men, the right to initiate divorce proceedings, the right of women to make individual decisions regarding pregnancy and the right to own property. The rise of the feminism and relative movements significantly influences the previous male-control social system which male has absolute superior control power than female. As Malti Douglas write in his book, “When I was growing up, it was legal for a husband to take all of his wife's money and spend it however he wanted to. It didn't matter if it was money she had inherited, or money she had earned. He was allowed to take it and use it. She, on the other hand, could not access his money without his permission. She couldn't get credit in her own name, she couldn't take out a loan without him cosigning it. He was able to get credit and loans without her permission or knowledge”(Malti Douglas 16). This kind of social roles system can be indicated as patriarchy which is a social system in which society is organized around male authority figures. In this system fathers have authority over women, children, and property. It implies the institutions of male rule and privilege, and is dependent on female subordination. In feminist theory the concept of patriarchy often includes all the social mechanisms that reproduce and exert male dominance over women. Feminist theory typically characterizes patriarchy as a social construction, which can be overcome by revealing and critically analyzing. Feminism has effectively altered the male’s dominance in society. It believes that women are people and as much citizens as men. Therefore, there are no second class citizens for men to rule. Now we are very close to men and women being equally in control.
Work Citation
Definition and More from the Free Merriam-Webster Dictionary". merriam-webster.com. Retrieved 12 June 2011.
Cott, Nancy F. The Grounding of Modern Feminism. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1987 at 13-5.
Humm, Maggie. 1995. The Dictionary of Feminist Theory. Columbus: Ohio State University Press
Malti-Douglas, Fedwa (2007). Encyclopedia of Sex and Gender. Detroit: Macmillan.