How does contemporary ‘post-feminism’ or ‘third wave feminism’ contribute to the furtherance of women’s rights and gender equality?

Answer

How does contemporary ‘post-feminism’ or ‘third wave feminism’ contribute to the furtherance of women’s rights and gender equality?

A new form of activism is sweeping among the modern women; what is now referred to as the “Third Wave Feminism.” The new movement that begun in the 1990s seeks to broaden the parameters of feminism. The third wave of feminism offers a platform for illuminating the multifaceted experiences of the modern young women. The modern woman is consistently misunderstood and misrepresented by the older generations, the society, the mainstream press, and other avenues in society. Considered as the most individualistic and diverse feminist wave to date, the third wave feminist movement focuses less on the political process and laws and more on the individual identity. Notably, the movement is believed to have arisen out from a realization that women present in many nationalities, ethnicities, colors, cultural, and religious backgrounds (Levy  2005). This wave of feminism has since been to assume a desire to challenge the assumption that there is a female identity that is universal and over-emphasis on the experiences of the upper-middle white woman. Moving ahead from the first two forms of feminism, a greater right to education, a right to work, right to vote, and greater right to one’s own body, the third wave movement saw the need to further changes in the media portrayals and societal stereotypes of women and in the language used to define them (Marbley 2005: 605).  In other words, as opposed to fighting political battles, the third wave movement are focused on promoting women welfare in the society, media, workplace, education, and leadership and in so doing promote women rights and equality across all spheres and regions. This paper proceeds to explore the various aspects of the third wave feminist in order to establish whether and how it promotes women rights and equality.

As highlighted above, the third wave feminism seeks to face the contemporary issues facing the modern women. In this light, they are less focused on fighting political battles and instead strive to address issues such as continuing pay inequality in the workplaces, the glass ceiling preventing women from achieving their potential in leadership, sexual harassment, lack of support for the single mothers through initiatives such as child care and welfare, unfair maternity leave policies, lack of respect for working mothers, as well as disrespect for mothers who leave their careers to concentrate full time on child raising (YU 2011: 889). These restrictions are more experienced at the county and state levels and comprise of restrictions such as parental consent laws, spousal consent laws, and mandatory waiting periods.

Proponents of the new form of feminism hold that this new approach allows women the chance to define feminism for themselves by integrating their own identities onto their valued belief system of what constitute feminism. They particularly point out that language has turned out as a means to create binaries, for instance, the heterosexual v. homosexual or male v. female binaries (Miller 2015: 489). The post feminism considers these binaries as artificial constructs that are created to sustain the power of dominant groups.

As such, it can be argued that feminist’s strive to changes in the languages used to define women is a form of fight against stereotype and inequality in general. However, in my own opinion, binaries in this case are not a form of inequality because they involve groups representing both men and women with no clear distinctions on which group is dominant over the other. Rather they are societal constructs that exist in our minds concerning, for instance, male v. female where male is considered as dominant (Kinser 2004: 153). Moreover, women form part of the greater perpetrators of these societal constructs and can as such be considered part o the problem and not the solution. This can be supported by the premise that gender, language, and social groups are culturally constructed (Choudhury 2015: 167). This also implies that gender, race, and other social constructs are not conceptualized in the same manner across all cultures since each cultures a different way of constructing and interpreting them. Language is central to self-identification and understanding of others as well as the ability to interact meaningfully with others. Post feminism as such strives to incorporate linguistic studies to establish ways that can heal cultural issues of acceptance of harassment, rape language, employee harassment, and undermining female intelligence (Gough-Yates 2003: 26). In other words, it involves in deconstructing the prevalent linguistic patterns that undermine empowerment and equality.

The post feminism movement incorporates elements of anti-racism and women of color, womanism, consciousness, people of color, postmodernism, anti-imperialism theory, queer theory, transnationalism, new feminism theory, cyber feminism, girl power, ecofeminism, rejection of the gender binary, transgender politics, and individualist feminism. Another important element of the post feminism is the sex-positivity or what can be considered a celebration of sexuality of women as a positive aspect of their life and with broader definition of the meaning of sex and the implication of oppression and empowerment within the context of sex (van Reenen 2014: 223). The bottom line in post feminism is the homogenous goal for greater equality within the contemporary patriarchal society.

While earlier feminist movements made some distinction decisions concerning intesectionality, some of them were unfortunately tempted into sacrificing the rights of the women of color in order to gain the right for white women. However, the new wave of feminism sought to address these challenges. The fact that women’s issues were articulated around the struggles of the middle-class white women represents deeply internalized class and racial privilege (Gough-Yates 2003: 26). It is imperative to note that such a movement that lacks inclusivity of all gender identities, races, lifestyle, and sexual expressions is inherently hypocritical given its identity as an equality movement (Williams & Jovanovic 2015: 1570. The new form of feminism is one of intersectional solidarity reflecting the struggles of all the marginalized groups and inclusive of feminists of all identities and backgrounds in pursuit of its common goal of equality.

There is an increasing focus for equal opportunity for women as there are for men by the post feminism movement over the past several years. The movement is agitating for equal employment, educational, internship, and promotion opportunities as well as equal bonus, pay, and benefits. Equal opportunity equally comprises of the linguistic issues discussed above (McRobbie 2009). This calls for an opportunity to be spoken to with the same professional tone and respect as other employees and the opportunity not to be whistled at or gawked at while working or on the street, as well as the opportunity to feel and express emotion and not be demarcated as hormonal or crazy. It seeks equal opportunity n platform to have a voice, a feeling, and an ambition. Feminism in this sense works towards equal opportunities in every aspect for all genders because it is almost impossible to claim to be living free in a culture that has a pre-written script for the women.

The third wave movement concerns combining of forces in an effort to create equality for everyone. Because western civilizations tend to be very patriarchal, the movement rests on the assumption that the starting ground places men in society in an entitled position (Gough-Yates 2003: 26). However, it should be noted that this cannot be taken to imply that men are to be blamed for such social issues. Rather, there should be an open attempt to recognize the role of both genders in such feminism efforts in addressing these pressing social issues. Feminism strives to identify different forms of inequalities and privilege that tend to hinder the equal ability and platform to pursue self-actualization.  In the new platform of feminism, women are now able to embrace their political and personal contradictions, rejecting the fellowship of feminist party line, choosing to wear makeup and maintaining a critical stance of the misogyny inherent in the cosmetic industry, and celebrating their pluralities.

Conclusion

In conclusion, it is clear from the discussion that the current efforts by the third wave feminism are focused at furthering the achievements of their predecessors towards women rights and equality. While the second wave sought access to paid work, the third wave seeks access to better paid work, maintain the secured right to abortion, climbing to the roof of the already broken glass ceiling, and braking silence to consensual sex since the braking of silence to rape and sexual abuse, among others.