Sociology

Introduction
Feminism refers to the term that is used in the description of economic, cultural or political movement whose main intention is establishing more legal protection and rights for women. It involves sociological and political philosophies and theories regarding gender difference issues, and also a movement advocating for more gender rights for women that are specific as well as campaigns aimed at achieving women’s interests and rights. Despite the fact that both feminists and feminism were not widely known until in the 1970s, these terms have been in existence and were previously applied in public parlance (Citron, 2004).
Feminism waves

Feminism history can be categorized into three broad waves, feminism first wave took place in the 19th and in the early 20th  centuries, while the second wave of feminism occurred in 1960s and also in the 1970s, and finally the third wave started in the 1990s and is still the one prevailing to date. The theory of feminism surfaced from these movements of feminism. It is apparent in various disciplines like the feminist literary criticism, feminist history and feminist geography. Feminism has changed prime perspectives in a big way especially within the western societies, such changes range from law to culture. Activists of feminism have over time campaigned vigorously for the legal rights of women, which involve voting rights, property rights and contract rights. They also campaigned for the rights of women to bodily autonomy and integrity, for rights of abortion and women’s reproductive rights. The feminist activists were also keen in ensuring that girls and women were well protected by the law, they were protected from rape and sexual harassment, domestic violence, and they enjoyed equal rights as men in the workplace. Women are also supposed to be protected against misogyny, and against any other form of specific gender discrimination (Haag, 1996).

Feminism’s first wave was mainly focused on promoting equal property and contract rights for all women together with resistance of chattel marriage as well as ownership of women who are married together with their children by the men who have married them. But by the close of the 19th century, feminism activism was mainly focused on achieving political power, especially voting rights among women. However, there were still feminists who were very vocal in fighting for women’s economic, productive, sexual rights. In America, this wave is deemed to have come to an end upon the passage of 19th amendment to the US constitution in 1919, the amendment granted women voting rights in all states in US. The first wave of feminism paved way for the second one as the battle for treating women as equals with men went on (Citron, 2004).

The second wave was mainly focused on fighting cultural and social inequalities as well as political inequalities. This wave which started in the 1960s continues to exist ever since it started and coexists together with the third wave of feminism. Feminists comparing the second to the first wave of feminism suggest that while the first wave was mainly focused on women rights such as voting rights, the second feminism wave was much focused on issues such as bringing an end to discrimination against women. Feminist’s second wave saw women’s political and social inequalities as inextricably connected and thus encouraged the women to comprehend their personal lives aspects as politicized deeply and as mirroring chauvinist power structures. The second wave was a big achievement for the fight against oppression and discrimination against women. Cultural and social inequalities started fading away and thus women started to enjoy equal rights as men in several societies around the world (Haag, 1996).

Feminism’s third wave started in the 1990s; it arose in order to respond to the failures that were perceived in the second wave, it also arose so as to respond to the counterattack against movements and initiatives, which the second wave created. The feminism third wave seeks to avoid or challenge what it considers the essentialist femininity definitions arising from the second wave, which over emphasized the upper and middle class women in America and Europe experiences (Sowards & Renegar, 2004).

Post structuralist sexuality and gender interpretation is core to the ideology of the third wave. The feminists of the third wave frequently puts more emphasis on micro challenges, they also pose a great challenge to the paradigm of the second wave as to what may be good or bad for women. This wave also possesses inner debates between various feminists who are different. Some psychologists who are also feminists suggests that there are significant disparities between sexes, they therefore disagree with their counterparts who propose that such inherent differences do not exist between sexes, such feminists therefore contend that the roles of gender are as a result of social conditioning (Sowards & Renegar, 2004).

According to post feminism, it describes a wide range of perspectives responding to feminism. Even though post feminists are not against feminism, they firmly believe that women have already attained the goals of the second wave, while being critical to the feminist goals of the third wave. This term was largely applied in the second wave to explain criticism against feminism of the second wave. Various contemporary feminists perceive feminism to simply hold since women are people. They however suggests that views that are meant to separate the human race along sex lines instead of uniting them should basically be considered not as feminism but rather as sexist (Haag, 1996).

Socialist feminism links women’s oppression to the ideas of Marx concerning the labor, oppression and exploitation. These feminists believe that unequal standing of women in both domestic and work place spheres puts the women down. Socialist feminists perceive marriage, childcare, domestic work and prostitution as channels through which women are basically exploited and oppressed by a system that is patriarchal, which devalues the women together with all the substantial tasks they perform. The socialist feminists thus focus more of their energies on changes that are broad affecting the entire society instead of individual basis (Citron, 2004).

The fight for women’s rights and gender equality has come a long way and has so far achieved substantially. Women in several parts of the world are now protected by the laws governing various nations around the world. They are also granted similar rights as those accorded to men. However, the battle is far from over especially in Africa and other developing regions as well as in the greater part of the Muslim world where the rights of women are yet to be recognized leave alone to be entrenched in the constitution. Therefore, women in such regions need to be liberated from the exploitation and oppression they experience every day. This will ensure that women are properly integrated in the political, social, cultural and economic development of their societies.