The feminist movement has been a vibrant one for the past couple of decades, not only in the United States but all across the world. There have been politically powerful and culturally influential campaigns and movements regarding women’s liberation and consciousness. The feminist movement involved several projects in the government bureaucracies, different institutions, and professions. These movements have brought about major changes in the lives of many women and their professions. Despite the acceptance of women’s equality and prominent accomplishments, the feminist movement has yet to achieve its absolute goals of gender equality (Epstein 2001).
The focus of the paper is to discuss obstacles and issues of inequality in the feminist movement and why it has not been able to realize its goals despite making efforts for decades. The women’s movement seems to have lost its cohesion and is highly fragmented because of individualistic goals. There is still an imbalance in power not just between men and women in the family and workplaces, but also within the feminist movement. There is no longer a collective force behind the movement, and there seems to be variation in attitudes towards the feminist movement among women belonging to different strata and backgrounds of the society. The current generation of women today have become individualistic and focus on individual solutions. Moreover, for many women, feminism is an unaffordable luxury. Needless to say, the feminist drive has lost its focus on equality and here are very few who talk about the gender divisions. Is feminist a collective mass movement? To begin with on the subject, the main negative behind the women’s movement is that it is no longer a mass feminist movement. Although there are an endless number of organizations that work for women’s equality in the public and private fields, these have gradually become bureaucratic structures that are run by paid staff (Epstein 2001). It seems that the freewheeling Feminist theory has lost the self-motivation to work for the betterment of the lives of women and has lost concern with their conditions. Thus, it is no longer a mass feminist movement.The rich and varied body of feminist theory? The wide body of feminist theory is said to cover the rights of every woman irrespective of their nationality and ethnicity. The rights of every woman are the central concern behind the Feminist Movement. However, one cannot ignore the racial face of the feminist movement. The faces of the Feminist Movement have shown racial disparity, and when one speaks of feminist icons, one can see that they are all white women as stated by Hoffman (2015). This. The issue has been that the idea of racism has been believed to be for a particular race and culture. The fragmentation within the feminist movement specifically between Black and White women has led to a sharp decline of the movement. African-American women who joined the movement left soon as the majority of issues focused on white women and their issues and experience (Hoffman 2015). This has hampered the shared collective identity and effectiveness of the movement. The black feminists argue that the intersectionality of racism, sexism, and class oppression make the whole experience inherently different for them. They have argued that the white women have ignored the ideas of women of color. Thus, for the black feminists, they have to fight against racism with the feminist movement before fighting for gender equality (Aronson 907).
Women’s movement drives the feminist consciousness of today? Each feminist wave covers roughly fifty years or two generations and each wave is influenced by how the current generation of women identify with it. The term applies mostly to the younger women who find new work and family arrangements and are unlikely to push for further political change (Aronson 905). These young women belonging to the "postfeminist" generation tend to be individualistic and typically focus on individual solutions. Recent studies suggest that feminism is a luxury that might not be affordable for some women, especially the single women or parents. Many of these women see a frivolous struggle in feminism as compared to raising their children (Aronson 919). There are significant questions raised about the perceived need for feminism as a collective identity and the feelings of entitlement. A woman brought up amidst limitless options in her life, and ample opportunities for education and employment may not feel the need for feminism. Clearly there is a tension between the collective identity, feminism and the individuality today (Crossley 131).
Do feminists share the same views of feminism? Women of different racial and ethnic backgrounds develop variable views of feminism. It is equally essential to understand as to how the younger women of current generations look upon their lives, the opportunities, and obstacles as compared to their mothers and grandmothers. How do they relate to feminism and perceive gender inequalities? Does their race, class and status impact their views and attitudes toward feminism? (Aronson 904). There is lots of ambiguity around the term feminism and it necessities the need of rethinking about the assumptions made about women's identities. Different women come from different backgrounds and social classes such as indigenous, working, and rural women. The experiences of other women and their own in real life situations can reinforce feminist consciousness and develop a sense of solidarity, which is essential to participate in a collective action for the younger women s asserted by Chen (193).Has the feminism strengthened women from the third world? The third world feminists today fight to oppose the dominant notion of Western feminism that is fast gaining legitimacy. The Western scholarship needs to reevaluate the ethnocentric universalism it applies in representing all third world women. They need to examine their role within Western dominations to make genuine progress (Elkholy 2016). The third world feminists are accused of Westernization and silenced by these attacks. They get constructed as a singular, non-Western other. The current generation of young women approach feminism more ambiguously and are looked upon as fence-sitters who embrace some aspects of feminism while rejecting others. Their background shapes their attitude towards feminism, race, class, life experiences and education (Aronson 918).
The third wave of feminism is forceful in the 21st century? The feminist movement continues to grapple with the issue of gender and race, sexual orientation, class, and colonialism. It is the women of the poor, third world countries and women of color who have suffered the most from sexist societies. The feminist theory and practices fail to address the differences among women and their relationships to mainstream feminism (Elkholy 2016). An analysis of race and racism in feminist organizations shows self-centered strategies by whites to improve their moral self-image that sustains inequalities. Those efforts change the primarily socio-political nature of the problem to a more personal one. This practice further reinforces the practices of the superior authority of the white women and their responsibility to educate and liberate the less civilized black women (Elkholy 2016). Many women of color are not as keen as the white women to give up their racial distinctiveness. Moreover, the third wave is perceived as non-activist in nature. No cultural racism in the feminist movement? When the feminist movement attempts to position themselves as the saviors of Muslim women, it often ignores the women’s voices fighting to make change within the Muslim world and the oppression of Muslim women by Muslim men. The major aim of the Western feminists to assert their own moral authority to remove the sexism in the Islamic world. By doing so, the Western feminists are only redirecting their racism toward Muslim women in general. The remedy lies in listening to the experiences of these Muslim women and find out what they want and not just assuming their needs (Elkholy 2016). There are no power struggles and inequalities in feminism? There has been a recurrent concern about the creation of inequalities when social and global movements are organized. The emerging literature on the dominant approaches to the social movements pointed out to power struggles and signaled inequalities as stated by Marchand (181). The feminist scholars who were not self-identified as feminists were often downgraded to marginal positions within these movements and their issues were not necessarily prioritized. The women and feminist activists operated against this background on women issues and had different options to pursue their objectives and agendas (Marchand 181). They could work within these global social movements and try to incorporate the specific feminist and women’s issues. They could work separately as feminist movements, nationally or transnationally. They could collaborate with certain sectors of the state or organize as independent movements. It is essential to ponder over the reason for the movement’s decline.
There is lots of ambiguity around the term feminism and it necessities the need of rethinking about the assumptions made about women's identities. The media often questions as to why there are fewer women who call themselves feminists. Studies find that the young women today have become individualistic and depoliticized as they tend to focus on individual solutions. These apolitical women undertake that discrimination will not occur to them and the lack of grassroots mobilization results in their distancing themselves from the feminist’s movements (Aronson 905). Their attitudes get influenced by the media that has always supported the antifeminist backlash.
Advocates of the women’s movement claim to have achieved much in a short period of time. They portray women getting entry into every corner of the economy and the increasing number of women in the workforce. It is true but at the same time, a significant amount of intellectual attention paid to feminist identities that often transcend national borders (Crossley 125). There are important questions that need to be asked such as if the current feminism is more relevant to the transnationally free young women and what kind of images are represented by the wave of feminism today. Based on discussions and interviews with women from different countries of origin, it has been found that transnational stereotypes of feminists contribute to women's resistance and are more pervasive (Crossley 125).
Feminism has achieved success in giving women rights like driving, voting, owning property, leading countries and running businesses and leading countries. It is true that the working women class are more aware of women's disadvantage in the labor market (Aronson 904) and women today are more critical of men’s power, but their gender consciousness has become weaker. It is hard to ignore the physiological and sex differences between females and male, and this creates the inevitable feminist paradox as stated by Lorber (86). It is essential to encourage and support women’s education and their access to health resources that would help them to breakeven and enter men’s occupations with confidence.
Works Cited
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Crossley, Alison Dahl. "“When it Suits Me, I'm a Feminist:” International Students Negotiating Feminist Representations." Women's Studies International Forum33.2 (2010): 125-33. Web.
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Elkholy, Sharin N. " Feminism and Race in the United States." Encyclopedia of Phlosophy. 2016. Web. 14 June. 2016.
Hoffman, Lindsay. " Black Woman, White Movement: Why Black Women are Leaving the Feminist Movement." huffingtonpost. 2015. Web. 20 June. 2016.
Lorber, Judith. "Using Gender to Undo Gender: A Feminist Degendering Movement." Feminist Theory 1.1 (2000): 79-95. Web.
Marchand, Marianne H. "Engendering Transnational Movements/Transnationalizing Women's and Feminist Movements in the Americas." Latin American Policy 5.2 (2014): 180-92. Web.
