To understand what International Women’s Day is all about, we must first examine exactly where it is this celebration, or rather its recognition, came from. International Women’s Day is a result of activism and advocating for women’s rights that feminists have done for many years. Before we get into explaining the history of feminism, we have to talk about what it means, since many people confuse it for something else. The heart of feminism is gender equality, which means that no gender is above any other and no one is below either. Feminism believes that women and men are entirely equal and that neither is better or worse.

The core ideals of feminism have existed throughout history, but it has only been a political movement with specific set of principles for the past approximately 200 years. Through these years of existence, it has gone through many changes, especially in the past 60 years, in what we now know as “Waves”.

The First Wave of feminism took place in the 1900s, in which women all around the world, but most famously in the United Kingdom, argued that women were people and not property advocated for their rights, gaining the right to vote and reproductive rights among other things. The Second Wave of feminism took place in the 1960s and 1970s and focused on challenging what women’s role in society should be. Within this Wave, there were 3 other internal movements: Mainstream/Radical Feminism, Radical Feminism, and Cultural Feminism. In simple terms, Mainstream/Liberal Feminism focused on equal rights and reducing gender discrimination, Radical Feminism focused on differences between men and women, and Cultural Feminism focused on an alleged “feminine essence”. The Third Wave of feminism in the 1990s started to incorporate racial factors into its analysis and established that there should be no “rules” on how a woman should live her life: it’s her choice to make. Finally, the Fourth Wave of feminism is occurring right now, focusing on inclusivity, and bringing feminism for everyone.

Escrito por Giomar López, auxiliar de conversación.