Waves of Feminism

I think that many issues tackled by previous waves of feminism are still not fully resolved. For instance, access to education is severely limited for women in many parts of the world. Girls are not prioritized with educational resources, or they are forced to marry young and cut their schooling short, or distance and transportation prevents them from going to school. Malala Yousafzai was shot only eight years ago for trying to spread educational access for women, so clearly this issue is a long way from resolution. Property rights are also dependent on the country and what laws are in place. American feminism is often US-centric, while failing to take into account that issues American women may not face as badly anymore are still very pressing in other parts of the world. The right to vote, which was a major first-wave feminist issue, doesn’t always apply equally either. Some parts of the United States have poorly-run or far apart polling places, which restricts the opportunities of women living in those areas (often predominantly poorer women or women of color). Also, felons do not have the right to vote in most places, so any woman charged with a felony has lost that right. People often debate whether felons should have the right to vote, but since police have threatened Black Lives Matter protestors with felonies recently, this kind of voter suppression is very topical.

Feminism in 2020 has not just become inclusive of intersectionality, but contingent on intersectionality. Because so many other social movements have become widely accepted into the mainstream (like the LGBT+ movement and Black Lives Matter), the current operating rhetoric seems to be “none of us are free until all of us are free”. In this way, feminism has expanded to encompass not solely women’s issues, but the concerns of everyone who is oppressed. The definition of feminism has expanded more and more over time as people realize how interrelated systems of oppression are. Earlier waves were more narrowly focused. First on the concerns and basic rights of mainly white upper-middle class women, then on broader concerns but mainly focusing on white women still, then gradually including more perspectives from women of color, disabled women, and LGBT+ women, then eventually taking on its current broad scope. Feminism advocates for equality for everyone in as many ways as possible, because it would be hypocritical to advocate for someone on one front yet discriminate against them on another.