The feminist movement
Women’s rights movement, also called women’s liberation movement, diverse social movement, largely based in the United States, that in the 1960s and ’70s sought equal rights and opportunities and greater personal freedom for women. It coincided with and is recognized as part of the “second wave” of feminism. While the first-wave feminism of the 19th and early 20th centuries focused on women’s legal rights, especially the right to vote (see women’s suffrage), the second-wave feminism of the women’s rights movement touched on every area of women’s experience—including politics, work, the family, and sexuality. Organized activism by and on behalf of women continued through the third and fourth waves of feminism from the mid-1990s and the early 2010s, respectively.
Feminist movement in the 60s
The current feminist movement
Why it is important
The feminist movement has effected change in Western society, including women's suffrage; greater access to education; more equitable pay with men; the right to initiate divorce proceedings; the right of women to make individual decisions regarding pregnancy (including access to contraceptives and abortion); and the right to own property.
Harvard Psychology Professor Steven Pinker argues that feminism has reduced domestic violence against men as their likelihood of being killed by a female intimate partner has decreased six-fold. However, fourth-wave feminism has coincided with significant increases in male violence and femicides against women, a lot of it regarded as a backlash.
Femicides: A growing issue
Femicide or feminicide is a sex-based hate crime term, broadly defined as "the intentional killing of women or girls because they are female", though definitions vary depending on its cultural context. Author Diana E. H. Russell defines the word as "the killing of females by males because they are female." Other feminists place emphasis on the intention or purpose of the act being directed at females specifically because they are female.
Intimate partner violence affects 3 in 10 women over a lifetime, and it is estimated that 13.5% of homicides globally involved intimate partners, and these percentage of killings are gendered. Opponents argue that since over 80% of all murder victims are men, the term places too much emphasis on the less prevalent murder of females. However, a partner is responsible in almost 40% of homicides involving a female victim, compared with 6% partner responsibility for homicides involving a male victim.
Learn statistics of femicides in America
Facts from The Global Americans
Resources
If you or an acquaintance were victims of gender violence here are some resources that can help.