WAVES OF FEMINISM

The modern wave of Feminism called the Fourth wave which began around 2008, has its roots in the First, Second and the more recent Third Wave of Feminism.          

• First wave Feminism arose in the 19^th century with the aim of bringing about equality as well as ensuring women’s suffrage in the countries of United States, United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Canada, but however was not limited to only these four countries. In the Indian context. The first wave was set in the backdrop of the 19^th-20^th century, beginning with an attempt to eradicate evils like Sati, child marriage, and introducing ideas of increased literacy among women, allowing widow re-marriage, bringing changes in property laws, etc.
• The Second Wave of Feminism (post-1920) on the other hand, argued for women’s rights to abortion, birth control, and overall control over their own bodies, opposing the patriarchal family’s sexism and sexual control over their bodies. Therefore, it had a more radical element to it, in contrast to the first wave. In India, the second wave retained its radical nature, as women became more engaged in the public scene, and participated in the Civil Disobedience Movement as a part of the Nationalist struggle. Emphasis was placed on women’s education, their livelihood and also led to the founding of many new organisations for the upliftment of women, as a whole.  
• The third wave of feminism emerged in response to the failure of the second wave. It was to challenge the second wave’s idea of ideal feminism which highlighted the struggles of only white upper-middle-class woman. They decided to shift the aim of the movement to ensure that every woman despite its colour and family background is respected and given equal rights. It was not only related to sex and gender but caste and colour too. The concept of lesbianism also came into the forefront during this wave. Earlier lesbians felt sidelined by both women and gay liberation but eventually, it became a part of the mainstream women’s movement. This wave also demanded the right to contraception and birth control. Feminists also fought for social acceptance of female sexual freedom. They demanded sexual equality for the freedom of women. Thus it became a very important wave in shaping the concept of modern feminism.
• The fourth wave is a very recent development within the movement which began in 2008. It is connected with technology. It focuses on issues like sexual abuse, rape, violence against women, body shaming, homo and Tran’s phobia, equal wages, sex work acceptance and most importantly male feminism. It is an ongoing wave that aims at ensuring equality and removing patriarchy and misogyny from the world.

INTERSECTIONAL FEMINISM

One of the most important by-products of the Feminism movement, especially the third and fourth waves, was the emergence of the Intersectional Feminist Theory, which was propounded by a Civil Rights activist called Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw about 30 years ago. According to her, “Different things make different women vulnerable,” which basically sums up the core ideology of the Intersectional Feminists. If anything is for certain in this world, it’s the persistent presence of diversity as different factors like race, caste, class, disability, immigration, belonging to the LGBTQ community, identifying as indigenous people, etc. has an impact on the lives people live.                                                                                                                                                 

The aim of this theory is to bring about an end to the exclusive nature of the Feminism movement of the past and make it inclusive for women of all races, castes, classes, economic standing, etc. For a long period of time in the history of Feminism, the movement mainly focused on middle-class white women and therefore failed to look at the problems of the other sections of women, who were in almost all cases, in a far worse state. This “white feminism” that generalized the entire feminist movement on the basis of the experiences of white women, is however sadly, not just a thing of the past. While intersectional Feminist theory has continued to highlight its problematic aspects over the ages, “white Feminism” can be seen in play (either covertly or overtly) in fields of entertainment, music, sports, and in general workplaces. But women from all over the world gave not failed to speak up over such issues, one such example being when Nicki Minaj, a 37-year-old Black woman rapper and singer, spoke about how almost always, those videos which were nominated in award shows, showed white and slender-bodied women. 

The theory of Intersectional Feminism becomes even more significant in the context of India, as it remains the most diverse nation in the world, and therefore brings into light a number of other factors that collectively result in oppression. One such important factor is Caste, which has been a crucial aspect of Indian society since the very beginning. Evidence suggests that Indian feminism for the longest time mainly focused on Upper caste women. History gives insight as to how education was a privilege only for Brahmin women, and how the education imparted was mainly on how a woman should become a good daughter, wife and mother. Even today, education remains a privilege for those living in poverty, especially the female children in those households, as most often it is the boys who are sent to school. Statistics suggest that about 32.5% of women drop out of schools at the secondary level. 

PSEUDO-FEMINISM

Being a feminist is something to be proud of, but being a pseudo-feminist is a whole different thing. Anyone who calls themselves a feminist knows the difference between feminism and pseudo feminism. Feminism is all about genders having equal rights and opportunities. It aims at achieving equality and equity despite a person’s gender, race, caste and colour. It believes that a woman deserves respect like any other human being. But pseudo feminism accosts that women deserve more respect than any other person. They don’t aim for equality but they want a world ruled by women, and while they seem to want an end to misogyny, whether knowingly or unknowingly, engage in misandry or male-hating. In a world, where feminism is still seen as a detrimental movement, pseudo feminism gives people the upper hand to legitimise the flaws of the whole movement. It somewhere tarnishes and wrecks the idea of the actual feminist movement. A lot of people don’t even know that they are pseudo feminists and they keep claiming themselves as feminists, without even understanding the consequences of their actions. This leads to people misunderstanding the concept of feminism and thus not supporting it. Hence the terms feminism and pseudo feminism are most of the times used interchangeably. Despite the fact that these are two different concepts, people often mistakenly consider it the same. People should have enough knowledge so as they can differentiate between the two and comprehend both the concepts. They should not withdraw their support from the idea of feminism which aims at achieving equality, by perplexing it with pseudo feminism.

CONCLUSION

Feminism is all about ensuring that equality prevails in society regardless of a person’s gender, caste, colour, and sex. It emerged in the late 19th century and is an ongoing movement, which occurred in 4 waves.                                                           

An important aspect of Feminist theory is keeping in mind, privileges that each woman has that another might not. For instance, a white middle-class woman is privileged in ways more than a black middle-class woman. Likewise, a cis-gendered white woman is more privileged than a white woman belonging to the LGBTQ community. Therefore, it’s crucial to recognise, as women, involved in the Feminist movement, our privileges and work effectively so that women who are not as privileged can acquire similar opportunities.                                                              

The concept of Pseudo feminism differs from that of feminism and so both the terms should not be used interchangeably. People should realise the importance of feminists’ movement and understand the struggles and lack of privileges that women hold in their lives. Various feminist movement and principles have evolved over the years, representing different aims and viewpoints. Some theories are criticized while others are actively supported. Despite this, the basic idea of feminism of achieving equality is widely supported and has emerged as a very important movement in the history of many countries.

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