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What Are the Four Waves of Feminism?

Feminism has evolved since the early 20th century. Here are the four waves of the movement as outlined by recent historians.

What Are the Four Waves of Feminism

summary

  • First Wave Feminism (late 19th – early 20th centuries):  Focused on women’s suffrage, culminating in the 19th Amendment. Primarily benefited white women, ignoring racial inequality.
  • Second Wave Feminism (1960s-1970s):  Challenged traditional gender roles, seeking equality in various life areas. Addressed racial disparities through Black feminism.
  • Third Wave Feminism (1990s): Emphasized intersectionality, incorporating race, class, and gender into feminist discourse. Tackled workplace harassment, pay disparities, and media representation. 
  • Fourth Wave Feminism (2010s-present): Continues third-wave issues with digital activism. Movements like #MeToo and Time’s Up address harassment, workplace safety, and inclusivity.

 

Feminism is a broad term that refers to various points in history when women have fought for greater equality in politics, economics, and culture, and it is an ongoing battle that continues today. Because feminism covers such a broad area of history, spanning the 19th century to today, some historians since the 1960s have divided the American strands of the movement into four distinct stages, or ‘waves.’ In each supposed phase, women have geared their activism towards certain freedoms to society’s expectations of them during the time.

 

Overview of The Four Waves of Feminism

Women’s equal rights parade
Women’s equal rights parade by Warren K. Leffler and Thomas J. O’Halloran, 1977. Source: The Library of Congress, Washington DC

 

Not everyone believes feminism should be divided in this way. Some critics argue it oversimplifies history, ignoring the complex and conflicting feminist subgroups that have existed throughout the centuries. However, others believe it can provide a helpful overview of the movement’s history and evolutionBelow, we outline these four waves of feminism that can be a helpful introduction to the movement.

 

First Wave: The Suffragettes and Voting Rights

Suffragette protests in the United States during the early 20th century. Source: Museum of the City of New York/ Rose Schneiderman Collection, Tamiment Library & Robert F. Wagner Archives, New York University
Suffragette protests in the United States during the early 20th century. Source: Museum of the City of New York/ Rose Schneiderman Collection, Tamiment Library & Robert F. Wagner Archives, New York University

 

The first wave of feminism, the era of the suffragettes, lasted from 1848 to 1920. During this time, women fought violently and vociferously for the right to vote, staging violent and attention-grabbing protests throughout the Western world to make themselves heard at a time when they had little agency and few political rights.

 

The term “suffragette” first appeared in 1906 in a British newspaper to refer to the suffrage activist in a derogatory way. However, some suffragist groups soon proudly adopted the word, and women began calling themselves “suffragettes.”

 

Women’s rights activists and abolitionists Elizabeth Cady Stanton (left) and Susan B. Anthony (right)
Women’s rights activists and abolitionists Elizabeth Cady Stanton (left) and Susan B. Anthony (right). Source: the Library of Congress, Washington DC

 

In the US, where activists preferred the term “suffragist,” First Wave Feminism began with the 1848 Women’s Rights Convention at Seneca Falls, New York. At the meeting, a group of over 300 women issued the “Declaration of Sentiments,” stating that women and men are equal. These first activists drew inspiration from the French Revolution and the Abolitionist Movement.

 

In 1920, the American Congress finally gave women the right to vote, passing the 19th Amendment. However, the movement was focused exclusively on white women’s rights, and it wasn’t for several decades that Black women and other women of color would gain such similar freedoms.

 

Second Wave: Women’s Liberation

Flyer announcing the Women’s Strike for Equality, August 26, 1970, New York City. Source: Wikimedia Commons/ Library of Congress, Washington DC
Flyer announcing the Women’s Strike for Equality, August 26, 1970, New York City. Source: Wikimedia Commons/ Library of Congress, Washington DC

 

The supposed second wave of feminism covered the pivotal historical period of 1963 to the 1980s when women were calling for the prescribed gender roles of men and women to be re-evaluated. Many women rejected society’s expectations on how they should look and behave, deliberately refusing to wear sexually provocative clothing or make-up, and staging bra-burning interventions.

 

Rosie the Riveter poster titled “We Can Do It!”
Rosie the Riveter poster titled “We Can Do It!” by J. Howard Miller, ca. 1942. Source: US Department of Defense

 

In the wake of Betty Friedan’s best-selling book, The Feminine Mystique, published in 1963, women pushed against society’s expectation that they should become wives and mothers and argued for greater equality between the sexes with a series of staged protests and marches.

 

Throughout the 1970s, activists, including Gloria Steinem and Bella Abzug, led the women’s liberation movement through the National Women’s Political Caucus. They gained traction through the 1963 Equal Pay Act and Roe v. Wade in 1973. There was still a disparity between the races, as addressed by groups including the National Black Feminist Organization (NBFO).

 

Third Wave: Intersectional Feminism

feminism poster guerrilla girls
Feminist Poster by GuerrillaGirlsOnTour, 1985-today. Source: Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts/ Linda Lee Alter Collection of Art by Women

 

Throughout the 1990s, a new branch of feminism arose concerning postcolonialism and postmodernism. Having gained some ground in the political sphere, women of this era fought for greater individuality and power, pointing out entrenched, institutionalized sexism such as workplace harassment, pay disparities, and social exclusion, challenging it head-on with a series of protests and marches.

 

The punk/riot grrrl band Bratmobile at The Charlotte in Leicester
The punk/riot grrrl band Bratmobile at The Charlotte in Leicester, England in 1994, photograph by Greg Neate. Source: Wikimedia Commons

 

Various protest groups, including the Guerrilla Girls and the punk rock Riot Grrrls, reclaimed their sexuality by dressing and behaving in deliberately feminine ways. Third-wave feminism was also more inclusive of race, class, and gender, an attitude that gender theorist Judith Butler called intersectional feminism.

 

Fourth Wave: The #MeToo Era and Beyond

MeToo Protest in New York City, photograph by Alec Perkins, 2018. Source: Wikimedia Commons
MeToo Protest in New York City, photograph by Alec Perkins, 2018. Source: Wikimedia Commons

 

Fourth-wave feminism is understood as a continuation of the third-wave, as women continue to fight against many of the same issues around entrenched sexism. Having already been launched by Tarana Burke in 2007, the #MeToo movement became a worldwide phenomenon in 2017 following the Harvey Weinstein scandal, while the TIME’S UP group was established in 2018 by women in entertainment to tackle the most pressing gender issues around safety, pay, and dignity in the workplace.

 

Women today continue to fight for fair, equal treatment across the workplace and society, as well as inclusivity, particularly when gender politics are at the forefront of the political sphere.

Rosie Lesso

Rosie Lesso

MA Contemporary Art Theory, BA Fine Art

Rosie is a contributing writer and artist based in Scotland. She has produced writing for a wide range of arts organizations including Tate Modern, The National Galleries of Scotland, Art Monthly, and Scottish Art News, with a focus on modern and contemporary art. She holds an MA in Contemporary Art Theory from the University of Edinburgh and a BA in Fine Art from Edinburgh College of Art. Previously she has worked in both curatorial and educational roles, discovering how stories and history can enrich our experience of the arts.