Third-wave feminism refers to several diverse strains of feminist activity and study, whose exact boundaries in the history of feminism are a subject of debate, but are generally marked as beginning in the early 1990s and continuing to the present. The movement arose partially as a response to the perceived failures of and backlash against initiatives and movements created by second-wave
feminism during the 1960s, '70s, and '80s, and the perception that women are of "many colors, ethnicities, nationalities, religions, and cultural backgrounds". This wave of feminism expands the topic of feminism to include a diverse group of women with a diverse set of identities.[1][2] Rebecca Walker coined the term "third-wave feminism" in a 1992 essay.[3] It has been proposed that Walker has become somewhat of a symbol of the third wave's focus on queer and non-white women.[4] Third Wave feminists have broadened their goals, focusing on ideas like queer theory, and abolishing gender role expectations and stereotypes.[5] Unlike the determined position of second wave feminists about women in pornography, sex work, and prostitution,[6] third-wave feminists were rather ambiguous and divided about these themes (feminist sex wars).
Purpose:
The shift from second wave feminism came about with many of the legal and institutional rights that were extended to women. In addition to these institutional gains, third-wave feminists believed there needed to be further changes in stereotypes, media portrayals, and language to define women.
Third-wave ideology focuses on a more post-structuralist interpretation of gender and sexuality.[8] In
"Deconstructing Equality-versus-Difference: Or, the Uses of Poststructuralist Theory for Feminism,"
Joan W. Scott describes how language has been used as a way to understand the world, however,
"post-structuralists insist that words and texts have no fixed or intrinsic meanings, that there is no transparent or self-evident relationship between them and either ideas or things, no basic or ultimate correspondence between language and the world"[9] Thus, while language has been used to create binaries (such as male/female), post-structuralists see these binaries as artificial constructs created to maintain the power of dominant groups
Challenges
Third-wave feminism deals with issues which appear to limit or oppress women, as well as other marginalized identities. Consciousness-raising activism, which has been referred to as "the collective
critical reconstitution of the meaning of women's social experience, as women live through it"[17]
[citation needed] In their book Manifesta: Young Women, Feminism and the Future, Jennifer Baumgardner and Amy Richards write:
Consciousness among women is what caused this [change], and consciousness, one's ability to open their mind to the fact that male domination does affect the women of our generation, is what we need... The presence of feminism in our lives is taken for granted. For our generation, feminism is like fluoride. We scarcely notice we have it – it's simply in the water.
Feminist scholars such as Shira Tarrant object to the "wave construct" because it ignores important progress between the so-called waves. Furthermore, if feminism is a global movement, she feels the fact that the "first-, second-, and third waves time periods correspond most closely to American feminist developments" raises serious problems about how feminism recognizes the history of political issues around the world.
Arguably, the biggest challenge to the efforts of third-wave feminism is the decline in popular support for the relevance and importance of feminism in what some claim is the "post-feminist" era. Manon Tremblay refers to this phenomenon as the "antifeminist undercurrent" of the West. Here, a concern for what Amy Friedman calls third-wave feminism's "radical fanaticism" is expressed.[19] Essentially, the claim is that gender equality has already been achieved via the first two waves, and that further attempts to push for women's rights are either irrelevant and unnecessary, or are excessively
pushing the pendulum towards advantaging women over men and exaggerating the state of women in modern western society. This issue is seen manifesting itself in the heated debates over whether or not affirmative action initiatives really are creating societal gender equality, or are actually
disadvantaging/punishing white, middle-class, males for a biological history that they have merely inherited.[20]
In response to such sentiments, we can trace many previously self-proclaimed feminists crossing the floor to becoming self-proclaimed post-feminists, claiming that the strands of feminism extant today are out of sync with the reality of the success story of women's gains.[21] The popular media has played a large role in propounding this image of radical feminists.[citation needed] Donna
LaFromboiseis known for stating third-wave feminism of having "perpetuated the myth of female martyrdom, stated that feminists have deliberately maintained such fictions to ensure its survival, and differentiated between "a feminism that informs one's opinions and a feminism that dictates how one should think"
Prominent issues Gender violence:
Gender violence has become a central issue for third-wave feminists. Organizations such as V-Day have formed with the goal of ending gender violence, and artistic expressions such as The Vagina Monologues have generated awareness and action around issues relating to women's sexuality. Third-wave feminists want to transform the traditional notions of sexuality and embrace "an exploration of women's feelings about sexuality that included vagina-centred topics as diverse as orgasm, birth, and rape."
Reproductive rights:
One of feminism's primary goals is to demonstrate that access to contraception and abortion are women's reproductive rights. According to Baumgardner and Richards, "It is not feminism's goal to
control any woman's fertility, only to free each woman to control her own".[15] South Dakota's 2006 attempt to ban abortion in all cases, except when necessary to protect the mother's life,[33] and the US Supreme Court's recent vote to uphold the partial birth abortion ban are viewed by many
feminists as restrictions on women's civil and reproductive rights.[34][35] Restrictions on abortion in the United States, which was mostly legalized by the 1973 Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade, are becoming more common in states around the country. Such restrictions include mandatory waiting periods,[36] parental-consent laws,[37] and spousal-consent laws.[38]
Reclaiming derogatory terms
English-speakers continue to use words such as spinster, bitch, whore, and cunt to refer to women in derogatory ways. Author Inga Muscio writes, "I posit that we're free to seize a word that was
kidnapped and co-opted in a pain-filled, distant, past, with a ransom that cost our grandmothers' freedom, children, traditions, pride, and land."
Part of taking back the word bitch was fueled by the 1994 single, "All Women Are Bitches" by the all-woman band Fifth Column, and, later, by the 1999 book Bitch: In Praise of Difficult Women by
Elizabeth Wurtzel. In her declaration of the word bitch, Wurtzel introduces her philosophy: "I intend to scream, shout, race the engine, call when I feel like it, throw tantrums in Bloomingdale's if I feel like it and confess intimate details about my life to complete strangers. I intend to do what I want to do and be whom I want to be and answer only to myself: that is, quite simply, the bitch philosophy."
Rape:
Since 2011,[40] the utility of the reclamation strategy has been a hot topic among third-wave
feminists with the introduction of SlutWalks. The first SlutWalk took place in Toronto on April 3, 2011, in response to Toronto police officer Michael Sanguinetti's statement that "women should avoid dressing like sluts in order not to be victimized."[41] The SlutWalk movement caught on rapidly and additional SlutWalks sprung up internationally with marchers contending a reclamation of the word
"slut", their position being that if victimized women are sluts, then all women must be, since anyone can be victimized regardless of what they are wearing. SlutWalks have occurred in many international major cities, including New York City, Berlin, Seattle, West Hollywood, and London. Third-wave
feminist bloggers have both praised and criticized the Slutwalks, with the reclamation of the word
"slut" being questioned for its possible exclusion of some cultural groups.
Other issues:
Third-wave feminism regards race, social class, transgender rights, and sexual liberation as central issues. However, it also pays attention to workplace matters such as the glass ceiling, sexual
harassment, unfair maternity-leave policies,[49] motherhood – support for single mothers by means of welfare and child care and respect for working mothers and for mothers who decide to leave their careers to raise their children full-time.
Third-wave feminism is often associated, primarily by critics of third-wave feminism, with the emergence of so-called "lipstick" or "girly" feminisms and with the rise of "raunch culture". This is because these new feminisms advocated for "expressions of femininity and female sexuality as a challenge to objectification".[50] Accordingly, this included the dismissal of any restriction, whether deemed patriarchal or feminist, to define or control how women or girls can dress, act, or generally express themselves.[50] These emerging positions stood in stark contrast with the anti-pornography
strains of feminism prevalent in the 1980s. These new feminisms posit that the ability to make autonomous choices about self-expression can be an empowering act of resistance, not simply internalized oppression. However, such views have been critiqued[by whom?] because of the subjective nature of empowerment and autonomy. Scholars are unsure if empowerment is best measured as an "internal feeling of power and agency" or as an external "measure of power and control".[51] Moreover, they critique an over-investment in "a model of free will and choice" in the marketplace of identities and ideas.[51] Regardless, the "girly" feminisms attempted to be open to all different selves while maintaining a dialogue about the meaning of identity and femininity in the contemporary world.
Third-wave Feminists claim that these view-points shouldn't be limited by the label "girly" feminism or regarded as simply advocating for "raunch culture".[original research?] Rather, these feminisms seek to be inclusive of the many diverse relationships and roles women fulfill. Gender scholars Linda Duits and Liesbet van Zoonen highlight this inclusiveness by looking at the politicization of women's clothing choices and how the "controversial sartorial choices of girls" and women are constituted in public discourse as "a locus of necessary regulation".[50] Thus the "hijab" and the "belly shirt", as dress choices, are both identified as requiring regulation but for different reasons. The two clothing items of women that have caused a great deal of controversy initially appear to be opposing forms of self-expression. However, through the lens of "girly" feminisms, one can view both as symbolic of
"political agency and resistance to objectification".[51] The "hijab" can be seen as an act of resistance against western ambivalence towards Islamic identity, while the "belly shirt" can be viewed as an act of resistance towards patriarchal society’s narrow views of female sexuality: Both are regarded as valid forms of self-expression.
United Nation Conferences on Women:
The Four Global Womens' Conferences 1975 - 1995:
Historical Perspective
Four world conferences on women convened by the United Nations in the past quarter of a century have been instrumental in elevating the cause of gender equality to the very centre of the global agenda. The conferences have united the international community behind a set of common
objectives with an effective plan of action for the advancement of women everywhere, in all spheres of public and private life.
The struggle for gender equality was still in its early stages at the inception of the United Nations in 1945. Of the original 51 Member States, only 30 allowed women equal voting rights with men or permitted them to hold public office. Nevertheless, the drafters of the United Nation Charter had the foresight to deliberately refer to the "equal rights of men and women" as they declared the
Organization's "faith in fundamental human rights" and the "dignity and worth of the human person".
No previous international legal document had so forcefully affirmed the equality of all human beings, or specifically targeted sex as a basis for discrimination. At that moment, it became clear that
women's rights would be central to the work that lay ahead.
During the first three decades, the work of the United Nations on behalf of women focused primarily on the codification of women's legal and civil rights, and the gathering of data on the status of
women around the world. With time, however, it became increasingly apparent that laws, in and of themselves, were not enough to ensure the equal rights of women.
The struggle for equality entered a second stage with the convening of four world conferences by the United Nations to develop strategies and plans of action for the advancement of women. The efforts undertaken have gone through several phases and transformations, from regarding women almost exclusively in terms of their development needs, to recognizing their essential contributions to the entire development process, to seeking their empowerment and the promotion of their right to full participation at all levels of human activity.
The first world conference on the status of women was convened in Mexico City to coincide with the 1975 International Women's Year, observed to remind the international community that
discrimination against women continued to be a persistent problem in much of the world. The Conference, along with the United Nations Decade for Women (1976-1985) proclaimed by the General Assembly five months later at the urging of the Conference, launched a new era in global efforts to promote the advancement of women by opening a worldwide dialogue on gender equality.
A process was set in motion — a process of learning — that would involve deliberation, negotiation, setting objectives, identifying obstacles and reviewing the progress made.
The Mexico City Conference was called for by the United Nations General Assembly to focus
international attention on the need to develop future oriented goals, effective strategies and plans of action for the advancement of women. To this end, the General Assembly identified three key
objectives that would become the basis for the work of the United Nations on behalf of women:
Full gender equality and the elimination of gender discrimination;
The integration and full participation of women in development;
An increased contribution by women in the strengthening of world peace.
The Conference responded by adopting a World Plan of Action, a document that offered guidelines for governments and the international community to follow for the next ten years in pursuit of the three key objectives set by the General Assembly. The Plan of Action set minimum targets, to be met by 1980, that focused on securing equal access for women to resources such as education,
employment opportunities, political participation, health services, housing, nutrition and family planning.
This approach marked a change, which had started to take shape in the early 1970s, in the way that women were perceived. Whereas previously women had been seen as passive recipients of support and assistance, they were now viewed as full and equal partners with men, with equal rights to resources and opportunities. A similar transformation was taking place in the approach to
development, with a shift from an earlier belief that development served to advance women, to a new consensus that development was not possible without the full participation of women.
The Conference called upon governments to formulate national strategies and identify targets and priorities in their effort to promote the equal participation of women. By the end of the United Nations Decade for Women, 127 Member States had responded by establishing some form of national
machinery, institutions dealing with the promotion of policy, research and programmes aimed at women's advancement and participation in development.
Within the United Nations system, in addition to the already existing Branch (now Division) for the Advancement of Women, the Mexico City Conference led to the establishment of the International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women (INSTRAW) and the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) to provide the institutional framework for research, training and operational activities in the area of women and development.
An important facet of the meeting in Mexico City was that women themselves played an
instrumental role in shaping the discussion. Of the 133 Member State delegations gathered there, 113 were headed by women. Women also organised a parallel NGO Forum, the International Women's Year Tribune, which attracted approximately 4,000 participants.
Sharp differences emerged among the women gathered at the Forum, reflecting the political and economic realities of the times. Women from the countries of the Eastern Block, for instance, were most interested in issues of peace, while women from the West emphasized equality and those from the developing world placed priority on development. Nevertheless, the Forum played an important role in bringing together women and men from different cultures and backgrounds to share
information and opinions and to set in motion a process that would help unite the women's
movement, which by the end of the Decade for Women would become truly international. The Forum was also instrumental in opening up the United Nations to NGOs, who provided access for the voices of women to the Organization's policy-making process.
Copenhagen: The Review Process Begins
There was a general consensus that significant progress had been made as representatives of 145 Member States met in Copenhagen in 1980 for the second world conference on women to review and appraise the 1975 World Plan of Action. Governments and the international community had made strides toward achieving the targets set out in Mexico City five years earlier.
An important milestone had been the adoption by the General Assembly in December 1979 of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, one of the most powerful instruments for women's equality. The Convention, which has been termed "the bill of rights for women", now legally binds 165 States, which have become States parties and obligates them to report within one year of ratification, and subsequently every four years, on the steps they have taken to remove obstacles they face in implementing the Convention. An Optional Protocol to the Convention, enabling women victims of sex discrimination to submit complaints to an
international treaty body, was opened for signature on Human Rights Day, 10 December 1999. Upon its entry into force, it will put the Convention on an equal footing with other international human rights instruments having individual complaints procedures.
Despite the progress made, the Copenhagen Conference recognized that signs of disparity were beginning to emerge between rights secured and women's ability to exercise these rights. To address this concern, the Conference pinpointed three areas where specific, highly focused action was
essential if the broad goals of equality, development and peace, identified by the Mexico City Conference, were to be reached. These three areas were equal access to education, employment opportunities and adequate health care services.
essential if the broad goals of equality, development and peace, identified by the Mexico City Conference, were to be reached. These three areas were equal access to education, employment opportunities and adequate health care services.