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Second Wave Feminism

Second wave feminism, as a term, identifies both a varied set of feminist ideologies (e.g., liberal, radical, socialist) and a social movement promoting women’s social, political, and legal rights. The second wave incorporated a wide array of feminist perspectives and was most active in the late 1960s and in the 1970s in the United States. Although second wave feminist activism continued into the early 1990s, it faced decline and significant backlash beginning in the early 1980s. The second wave can be distinguished from both first wave feminism (the voting rights movement from 1848–1920) and third wave feminism (a more postmodern approach beginning in the mid-1990s). Second wave feminism signaled a rapid increase in legal reforms and grassroots organizing that ultimately transformed societal understandings of women’s roles, rights, and status. It also played a foundational role in feminist scholarship in communication studies research by encouraging historical study of the women’s voting rights movement, popularizing feminist scholarship, and providing the basis for ideological criticism from a feminist perspective.

This entry examines the history of second wave feminism, including several of the key changes in the status of women during the second wave. It also discusses communication scholarship rooted in second wave feminist thought. Finally, it briefly examines criticisms of the second wave.

Overview of Second Wave Feminism

Second wave feminism began in the mid-1960s and continued through the 1970s. It grew out of dissatisfaction with women’s limited roles in society and their experiences in the New Left, anti-racism movements, and anti-war movements. While the end date of the second wave is unclear, the failure of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) to gain 38 state ratifications by the 1982 deadline is sometimes marked as the end of the second wave. Despite continued second wave activism and feminist scholarship in the 1980s and early 1990s, this period is thought of as one of decline and active backlash toward feminism as indicated by the failure of the ERA, the election of Ronald Reagan as U.S. president in 1981, and by the relatively few feminists victories in the 1980s.

The Kennedy Commission on the Status of Women

Prior to the second wave, the Kennedy Commission on the Status of Women, which was headed by Eleanor Roosevelt until her death in 1962, brought women’s issues into the public consciousness. The commission made several recommendations, including promoting access to childcare, educational access, equal employment opportunities, additional part-time employment, equal pay, paid maternity leave, admittance to serve on juries, and family law reforms. The commission set the stage for legal advances such as elimination in sex discrimination for federal hiring practices and passage of the Equal Pay Act (1963). It also drew public attention to women’s issues and encouraged the feminists who would later found the National Organization for Women (NOW) in 1966.

The Feminine Mystique, Title VII, and the National Organization for Women

In 1963, Betty Friedan published The Feminine Mystique and identified “the problem that has no name” in which she criticized forced femininity, mandatory motherhood, and rigid female roles. The book’s popularity and controversial nature suggested that feminist thought might have mass appeal. In 1964, Congressman Howard Smith proposed adding the word sex to the employment protections outline in Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. For Smith, it was a joke and an attempt to defeat the bill by giving northerners an excuse to vote the bill down. However, due to an unlikely coalition, the amendment passed and sex was added to the final bill. Ultimately, the Civil Rights Act (1964) became law and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) was established to regulate and enforce its employment nondiscrimination provisions. Friedan was instrumental in founding the National Organization of Women (NOW) in 1966. NOW fought for legal protections and enforcement of the Title VII provisions among other liberal reforms.

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