Feminism and Ethnic Diversity

The term feminism is derived from the French féminisme, which is a combination of the French words for women's, féminin, and social movement, isme. The term spread throughout Europe in the 1890s and to North and South America around the turn of the century. The concept of [Page 866]feminism, the belief that men and women are of equal worth, has always been controversial. At its origins, even some women disavowed the term, instead asserting that to be equal with men might diminish their roles as mothers. Men who enjoy the privileges of living in societies that are patriarchal often find feminism to be a dangerous challenge to their authority. Patriarchy refers to societies that are male dominated. Such societies tend to divide qualities into “male” and “female,” valuing those associated with traditional gendered understanding of masculinity over those considered to be feminine. Some see feminism as exclusively focused on ending oppression of women, while others take a more global stance and seek the end of all forms of oppression that affect women.

The U.S. feminist movement is said to have occurred in three waves. The first wave, emerging even before the actual term feminism migrated from Europe, lasted roughly between the mid-1800s and the mid-1950s. The second wave, or what is often referred to as the Women's Rights or Women's Liberation Movement, began in the mid-1950s and lasted until the late-1970s. The third-wave began in the 1980s and continues today.

There are multiple forms of feminism. Liberal feminism is what most people are familiar with. Its focus is on legislative and judicial remedies to gender inequality. Radical feminism emerged in the late 1960s. Influenced by Marxism and the Black Power movement, radical feminists challenged capitalism as the root cause of patriarchy. Rather than advocating shared power between men and women, radical feminists asserted that the quest for power itself was the problem. Further, radical feminists denounced sex roles as rigid and oppressive. Radical feminist groups include the Redstockings, W.I.T.C.H, and Cell 16. A small group of radical feminists asserted that women should separate themselves from men, which likely created the long-lasting notion that feminists are “man-haters.” Many of these activists, however, believed that gender equality needed to be achieved before racial equality was a possibility.