Waves of Feminism vs a Flow: An Alternative Approach to Identifying Cases of Gender Norm Advancement

Abstract

 The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate that there are small or unacknowledged developments of social change which have advanced the progress in womenʼs roles, potential in society, and images in peopleʼs awareness, between the first wave feminist movement in the 1920s and second wave feminist movement in the 1960s. This can and should be labeled as part of a broader, more significant feminist movement. We also argue that the historical framework of the first wave and the second wave feminist movements might mask the actual, significant lived history that also helped lead to more prominent social improvement. We demonstrate this point with three sample cases, like the creations of Wonder Woman, the work of Frieda Hennock in FCC, and McCardellʼs clothing design, which occurred during the 1940s and the 1950s, and involved popular and consumer culture. By looking back at these examples, it is entirely reasonable to say that these were a part of the feminist movement. It might be hard to see direct connections from the characteristics of Wonder Woman, civic work of Frieda Hennock or the case of McCardell to feminist as well as minority activism. It is because these examples were not something directly related to the political movements that led to significant changes or gained human rights through other, non-political, means. Nevertheless, if these cases and their history are considered in-depth, they reveal that these were the examples of individual activisms operating in a local or specialized sphere that impacted popular and consumer culture.