Appendix: Summary of Feminist Movements

Time Frame		Main Focus
First Wave 1830–1920
Second Wave 1960s–1970s		Traditional Feminists •   Includes liberal, radical, and Marxist/socialist schools. •   Betty Friedan’s book The Feminine Mystique is commonly associated with the second wave and tended to reflect the interests and concerns of mainly younger, white, middle-class, articulate women. •   Of prime concern were women in the home, division of labor, childcare, reproductive roles, and issues concerning women’s sexuality. •   Liberal feminists argued that women’s oppression lies in their lack of civil rights and poor educational opportunities. •   Marxist/socialist feminists believed that women are oppressed by society’s structures and that capitalism and patriarchy are the primary causes.
1980s–1990s		Contemporary Feminists •   Origins in psychoanalytical and postmodernist/ poststructuralist discourses; although there is no unifying definition of feminism, feminism is often associated with a political label indicating support for the aims of the women’s movement and the struggle against all forms of patriarchy and sexism. •   Contemporary socialist feminists strive to understand women of color, working-class women, disabled, women, poor women, lesbian women, and old women as well as white, financially privileged, heterosexual women. •   Contemporary radical feminists tend to be issues-focused: pornography, family violence, assault, rape, reproductive rights. The primary issue with radical feminism “is not gender difference, but the difference gender makes” (Bernard et al., 2000, p. 11). •   Psychoanalytic feminism (also known as cultural feminism) supports a separate women’s culture that should be valued and claimed as its own for its own innate qualities (see Gilligan, 1982). •   Postmodern and poststructuralist feminists stress plurality (e.g., that even oppression is experienced differently by different women). Poststructuralist feminists wish to deconstruct the ideas, examine them, and reconstruct the elements, albeit with a certain amount of discomfort with the label “postmodern,” which would claim that no one identity exists. •   Contemporary feminists also criticize Western feminism for having been largely inattentive to race and ethnicity. •   Note: The current emphasis on situating women in society is congruent with our approach in this book, that is, of learning about women’s experiences of grief—not only young women but older women as well. This is consistent with criticisms meted out by both traditional and contemporary feminists of the failure of psychological models and theories to take into account aging or the experiences of women in mid-life or older women.
Post-1990s		Post-Feminist Era •   The aging of women has been examined. Although a discussion of women and aging is covered elsewhere (e.g., Bernard et al., 2000), interestingly, Jung (1968) claimed the women in mid-life have become more familiar with themselves and have easier access to the masculine side of their nature (and become more aggressive) while a parallel occurrence happens with men (they develop more feminine features of gentleness and caring behaviors). •   Findings from Bernard et al. (2000) indicate that women’s experiences of grief were related more to the way in which each woman had developed a sense of self and made sense of her own experience; interestingly, it also found that emotional characteristics drawn from the childhood of each woman gave her an important sense of her life perspectives. Women’s experiences do not fit any category nicely; rather, a much more complex process of understanding the world and one’s place in it produces a varied response to loss. Bernard’s research pointed out that women have a wide range of reactions to bereavement (most of them nonpathological). As well, narrative and story are now seen as important paths to self-discovery and meaning making.
Source: M. Bernard, J. Phillips, L. Machin, and V. Harding Davies, eds., Women Ageing: Changing Identities, Challenging Myths (New York: Routledge, 2000).