Diverse Feminish Voices

This week we focused on the history of feminism. This focus broke into three distinct waves. The first wave lasted from the mid 1840s till 1920, when women’s suffrage was passed; the second wave from the 1960s till around 1980; and the third wave starting around 1990 and continuing today. There are some over arching themes in these waves that continue to affect everyone today. The first and most blatant is the fact that these social movements while can seem small and unimportant affect nearly every aspect of our lives today. These movements have come to a crest like a wave and dissipated but they have everlasting effects. This can be shown most clearly in the article by Jennifer Baumgardner and Amy Richards, “A Day Without Feminism.” This writing really shows how much is impacted by these movements by imaging what life would be like without the reforms, both large and small. Throughout all the articles it becomes clear that there have been men and women who sacrificed much more than many of us can ever realize or appreciate for us to live the way we do without a second thought. This isn’t too scold the women of today but to question what we take for granted that only eighty years ago was fought with an amazing amount of passion. The other theme that was evident in the readings this week is that social movements, such as the feminist movements, morph and change over time. This again, shown in the three waves. Activists rallied around a cause and fought to achieve their goal. It could be argued that the third wave of feminism is an illusion but I can’t believe this as there are so many issues that people gather to support today. Just look around Luther, how many groups are there for different causes?

I can’t begin to think of where to even start to respond to the readings. I am starting to realize that every opportunity I have been given is thanks to an act of a feminist from the not too distant past. I am attending Luther College to start. This Saturday I will be taking the LSAT so that I can apply and hopefully attend a law school. This is nothing out of the ordinary. Until you think that only 60 years ago when my Grandmother was my age that it would not even be considered that a women could be a lawyer let alone attend a college and be the majority at that co-ed school. Yet, my entire life I have strived toward this goal of going to law school and never questioned that because I am a women that I would not or should not be considering this career. I can not begin to articulate how indebted I feel to those who paved the wave for me in so many ways.

Another way I have thought of these readings relate to my internship this summer. I worked at Women Work! The National Network for Women’s Employment, formally the Displaced Homemakers Association. (www.womenwork.org) This incredible organization was started by a second wave feminist in 1978. This organization works with women who are re-entering the work force after being away from some time due to any reason for raising children to being in prison to anything in between. There are basically three types of women I encountered working here for three short months. The first were the third wave feminists who were young, just out of school and really striving to make a difference especially through policy actions for the lives of women throughout our Country. The second type of women was the second wave feminist. These women typically had there own women based organization but relied on Women Work! For supplies and materials to help women the work with directly to get and keep jobs. The third and most common women that I talked to were those who called our office. They usually were just divorced and either going back to school or looking for a job. These were my favourite to talk to because over the phone I would talk them through the process of either getting financial aid for school or writing a resume and looking for a job. This is one of the most rewarding things I have ever done. After this weeks readings I am gaining a new appreciation for the women that started and continue this organization and have an even better of the social setting that allowed this organization to form and thrive.