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2/19/2014 YCteen Story: The History of Feminism - Roberta Nin Feliz

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New books by Youth Communication The History of Feminism published by Free Spirit ROBERTA NIN FELIZ YCteen story wins Honorable Mention in the I wanted to find out more about feminism, so I did some research. First I 2012 Casey Medals for wanted to know the actual definition. Meritorious Journalism According to Merriam-Webster, feminism is “the theory of the political, Sign up for our free economic and social equality of the sexes,” and, “organized activity on behalf email newsletter of women’s rights and interests.” I thought that sounded too vague, and I Strong Teens Growing Up GO wanted to know more about the history. I found out that the feminist Strong Muslim in movement in the United States is broken down into three “waves,” or Neighborhoods America: periods. [BUY NOW] Stories by STORE Muslim Youth [BUY NOW] SUBSCRIBE First Wave Feminism: Gaining Basic Rights LESSON PLANS Like 1 FROM THE AUTHOR In the mid-to-late 1800s, first wave feminism focused on granting LINKS WE LIKE women basic rights. In 1860, New York State passed the Married Tweet 0 Women’s Property Act, which gave married women the right to own ABOUT US Print property. (Before then, everything a woman owned became the CONTACT US property of her husband when she got married.) Other states passed similar laws in the decades that followed, and in 1920, women won the right to vote. Look Beyond Two Moms In the Label: My Heart: Second Wave Feminism: Equality at Work and at Home Teens Write Teens Explore About Busting the Adoption Stereotypes Option By the 1950s, the number of voting women was approximately equal to that of men. But [BUY NOW] [BUY NOW] professional jobs were still largely closed off to women. Companies even had written policies stating that women should be paid less than men. Most women were still expected to

Behind the Scenes: Teen writers housekeep and raise a family. Now that we had the right to vote, “second wave feminism” describe what it's like to work at centered on women rebelling against that stereotype and seeking reproductive and work YCteen. rights. The Equal Pay Act, passed in 1963, prohibited unequal pay for women and men in the

WATCH MORE VIDEOS same job with the same skill level. In 1973, the Supreme Court decided Roe v. Wade, which Teen Success Library made abortion legal in all 50 states. [BUY NOW] Follow us on: In a PBS documentary called Makers: Women Who Make America, I saw footage of feminists

protesting against the Miss America competition in 1968. They didn’t agree with women being depicted as sex symbols and objects of pleasure for thousands of people. They stood outside with a garbage can they called a “freedom can.” They threw away items representing female oppression like bras and brooms. I thought it was so brave of some of them to yank their bras out from under their shirts.

Third Wave Feminism: Expanding the Movement Single Copy of YCteen Represent: Magazine “Third wave” feminism, which began in the 1990s, Issue #107 - (Single Copy Gang Life Subscription) was a lot about including more women of color in the [BUY NOW] [BUY NOW] movement, and helping them find their voices. Many of them felt there were white women that could stay home living leisurely while many of them had no choice but to work. Not only that, they were also busy fighting for civil rights. It’s interesting to me that women of color struggled to find their voices because the only feminists I have come across have been "I Listen to Teens" Mug [BUY NOW] women of color.

Now What?

I thought: “What has feminism come to in this decade? What am I fighting for exactly?” Today, I feel as if feminism is being criticized a lot more. Some http://www.ycteenmag.org/issues/NYC239/The_History_of_Feminism.html?story_id=NYC-2013-11-08 1/2 2/19/2014 YCteen Story: The History of Feminism - Roberta Nin Feliz people argue that there is nothing else to fight for, that women got all of the things they were fighting for.

But there’s still plenty of work to do. image by Little Brown & Company

With liberation from the worst oppression of the past, we’ve inherited a new set of issues like the media’s portrayal of women as sex symbols, eye candy, and little Barbie dolls. In the future, I hope this changes.

Another issue I feel still exists is that women are often depicted as damsels in distress. Many men around me think it’s their duty to protect me or other women from harm. Although I understand they have good intentions, I don’t want them taking the initiative to stand up for me when I am fully able to do it myself.

Outside the U.S., feminism is even more important, often a life-or-death issue. Malala Yousafzai, a 16-year-old from Pakistan, was shot in the head by a gunman as she rode home on a school bus last October. The militants hoped to silence her and destroy her campaign for girls’ education in her country. She survived the attack and became the youngest Nobel Peace Price nominee. Malala serves as an inspiration to girls all over the world, including myself. Often times, we may feel we don’t have a voice or that we can’t change something but Malala shows us the opposite. After hearing about her I’m even more determined to speak about disrespect towards women. If a girl from Pakistan can be nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize at the age of 15, imagine what I can do in America, “the land of the free.”

One thing I can do to promote change is to carry myself in a way that shows men I am not helpless and to speak up whenever I can. I can also get involved in organizations that fight for women’s rights like the National Organization for Women (NOW). Even something as simple as signing a petition can go a long way. In fact, I visited their website and signed the Pledge for Reproductive Freedom. Organizations like NOW help keep the feminist movement alive,

and they remind me that I am not alone in the fight for women’s rights.

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