feminist movement

(noun)

The feminist movement refers to a series of campaigns for reforms on issues. such as reproductive rights, domestic violence, maternity leave, equal pay, women's suffrage, sexual harassment, and sexual violence.

Related Terms

Examples of feminist movement in the following topics:

  • The Feminist Movement

    • The feminist movement refers to a series of campaigns for cultural, political, economic, and social equality for women.
    • The feminist movement (also known as the women's movement or women's liberation) refers to a series of campaigns for reforms on issues, such as women's suffrage, reproductive rights, domestic violence, maternity leave, equal pay in the workplace, maternity leave, sexual harassment, and sexual violence.
    • The history of feminist movements has been divided into three "waves" by feminist scholars.
    • The first wave refers to the feminist movement of the nineteenth through early twentieth centuries, which focused mainly on women's suffrage .
    • The feminist movement also helped to transform family structures as a result of these increased rights, in that gender roles and the division of labor within households have gradually become more flexible.

  • Minorities, Women, and Children

    • While in most societies, numbers of men and women are roughly equal, the status of women as a subordinate group has led some (especially within feminist movements) to equate them with minorities.
    • The Civil Rights Movement attempted to increase rights for minorities within the U.S.

  • Civil Rights of People with Disabilities

    • To address these concerns, a disability rights movement has introduced a range of legislation and law suits.
    • The disability rights movement became organized in the 1960s, concurrent with the African-American civil rights movement and feminist movement.
    • In the 1960s, the movement included such successful initiatives as the Community Mental Health Act, which provided funding for research about developmental disorders, and the Architectural Barriers Act, which required all federally owned or leased buildings to be accessible to disabled people.

  • Equality

    • Within the United States, racial and gender equality issues have been particularly prevalent and the catalyst for much social and political reform through the work of the feminist and civil rights movements.

  • Abolitionism and the Women's Rights Movement

    • Many women involved in the early abolitionist movement went on to be important leaders in the early women's rights and suffrage movements.
    • Two of the most influential were the anti-slavery or abolitionist movement, and the women's rights movement.
    • These were also closely related as many of the women who would go on to be leaders in the women's rights movement got their political start in the abolitionist movement.
    • As progressive movements grew, several divisions developed often over questions of identity and especially over the role women and people of color in the movements.
    • This period of activism also set the foundation for the suffrage campaigns that would occur in the early 20th century, along with women's rights, feminist and women of color movements that continue today.

  • The Women's Rights Movement

    • The women's rights movement refers to political struggles to achieve rights claimed for women and girls of many societies worldwide.
    • Second-wave feminism is a period of feminist activity.
    • In the United States, second-wave feminism, initially called the Women's Liberation Movement , began during the early 1960s and lasted through the late 1990s.
    • However, the changing of social attitudes towards women is usually considered the greatest success of the women's movement.
    • Betty Friedan, American feminist and writer, wrote the best selling book "The Feminist Mystique. " This book is widely credited with having begun second-wave feminism in the United States.

  • Liberalism

    • These ideologies — as with liberalism — fractured into several major and minor movements in the following decades.
    • In the 1960s and 1970s, feminism in the United States was advanced in large part by liberal feminist organizations.Many liberals also have advocated for racial equality, and the civil rights movement in the United States during the 1960s strongly highlighted the liberal crusade for equal rights.

  • Continuing Challenges in Race Relations in the U.S.

    • The Civil Rights Movement influenced racial integration, but tensions with affirmative action and racism still affect racial relations.
    • Though much progress has been made in establishing racial equality since the time of the Civil Rights Movement, there still exist numerous challenges in this area.
    • However, feminists criticized him for doing little to help the ERA or their cause after his election even though he appointed more women to administration positions than Lyndon Johnson had.

  • Ideological Interest Groups

    • It is a liberal feminist organization, and its main mission is advocating for equality and full societal participation for women.
    • National Organization for Women (NOW) founder and president Betty Friedan; NOW co-chair and Washington, D.C., lobbyist Barbara Ireton; and feminist attorney Marguerite Rawalt.

  • Leadership

    • Martin Luther King, Jr. is an example of an unofficial leader of a social movement--the Civil Rights Movement was a diffuse political movement, not a discrete organization, but King became the figurehead of the movement through his charismatic and influential leadership.
    • Interest groups may be broader than one formal organization, in which case advocacy may form a social movement.
    • A social movement is group action aimed at social change.
    • Because of these factors, social movements do not always have a clear leader the way corporate lobbying efforts and media campaigns do.
    • Differentiate between the different kinds of leadership structures in interest groups and social movements.