The women’s right movement’s first wave was seen in the 19th and early 20th century where women demanded fundamental rights such as the right to vote.
The second wave started in the 1960s and 70s in the USA to provide more freedom to women and provide equal opportunities and rights. The second wave focused on work, politics, family and sexuality.
The third and fourth wave began in the 1990s and early 2000s. But here, we still haven’t achieved what we have been demanding for so long and are still fighting every day.
An idea built the wall of separation between the sexes, and an idea will crumble it to dust.
Sarah Moore Grimké
We are going to mention some of the recent movements below
MeToo Movement
In October 2018, the global the #MeToo movement reached India. The movement was against sexual harassment committed by the patriarchal society of India. Women took social media to speak about the harassment they felt in workplaces, particularly in the entertainment industry.
Many of the accused got back their jobs and found work in the industry after a while. The accused were not just men but women as well. Kaneez Surkha accused fellow comedian Aditi Mittal of harassing her during a show in Mumbai; she said that Aditi tried to kiss her without her consent, and Kaneez was triggered and scared to tell this story out loud.
Free The Nipple Movement
In six states of the USA, women are allowed to go topless in public, according to the U.S 10th Circuit Court of Appeals. A gender equity group challenged the law, Free the Nipple, in 2012. It spoke about the hypocrisy in allowing men to roam topless and not women.
The six states that have allowed women to walk topless are: Utah, New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming, Oklahoma and Kansas.
In February 2019, the 10th Circuit had declared the Fort Collins anti-topless law unconstitutional initially and based on “negative stereotypes depicting women’s breasts, but not men’s breasts, as sex objects.” After the defeat, the city gave up fighting the law, which cost them $300,000 or more.
Women in India Entered the Men-Only Temple
The Sabrimala Temple in Kerala does not allow women of menstruating age to enter the temple for a very long time as part of their traditional values.
In 2018, Supreme Court made this practice illegal, but women were still pushed back by the temple’s men. In 2019, women decided to get together and enter the temple and two women made their inside the temple, both in their 40s.
You can check this Wikipedia Link for More Details: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entry_of_women_to_Sabarimala
Change in Policies of Abortion Globally
Women’s movement made huge impact on Ireland and Chile’s approach, where abortion was banned completely was decriminalised. And people in Argentina are also looking forward to legalise abortion as it has been rejected once by the senate.
In India (2020), Union Cabinet passed the MTP Amendment Bill which expanded the access of safe and legal abortion to all women as a step towards safety and well-being of the women
You can check Democratic Naari Article for More Details on Medical Termination of Pregnancy: https://democraticnaari.com/2021/03/31/medical-termination-of-pregnancy/
Teens in Argentina Call for Gender-Neutral Language
As the visibility of gender and LGBTQ is increasing worldwide, the teens of Argentina championed gender-inclusive forms of Spanish, which is generally constructed around male and female binary.
“In classrooms and daily conversations, young people are changing the way they speak and write — replacing the masculine ‘o’ or the feminine ‘a’ with the gender-neutral ‘e’ in certain words — to change what they see as a deeply gendered culture,” reported The Post’s Samantha Schmidt.
“Their efforts are at the center of a global debate over gender, amid the growing visibility of non-binary identities and a wave of feminist movements worldwide. A big part of the battle is being waged over language.”
The gender-neutral forms rise in children’s books, courts, universities and even the new president using the more inclusive Spanish.
