FEMINIST THEOLOGY

Topic: Different Waves of Feminism

Submitted to : Prof. Lalnghak\huami
Submitted by : Reuben Lalrinmawia Pulamte. B.D. IV. Roll no. 23.
1. Introduction
Feminism has evolved over time, with different waves representing distinct periods of feminist
thought and activism. It is a complex and multifaceted movement with a wide range of perspective and
goals. Each wave built on the achievements and challenges of the previous ones, contributing to the
ongoing fight for gender equality. This paper will attempt to give an overview of the major waves of
feminism.
2. Definition of Feminism
It was not until the late 19th century that the term feminism was coined by Hubertine Auclert in
1882 to name the struggle of women to gain political rights.1 Feminism has been given a variety of
broad and narrow definitions since the 1960s. Of the many broad definitions available, Joann Wolski
Conn’s is particularly helpful. She defines feminism as,
Both a coordinated set of ideas and a practical plan of action, rooted in women’s critical
awareness of how a culture controlled in meaning and action by men, for their own advantage,
oppresses women and dehumanizes men.2
3. Traces of Feminism Prior to the 19th Century
Prior to the term feminist was coined in 1882, women have been struggling and lifted their voice
to challenge the inferior status of women. For instance, 600 years ago, Christine de Pizan (1365-1430),
poet, author, and invited member of the court of Charles V and Jeanne de Bourbon, king and queen of
France, wrote “There is not the slightest doubt that women belong to the people of God and the human
race as much as men and are not another species or dissimilar race.” 3 From the words of Christine it
can be discerned how women were seen as substandard humans. Therefore, long before the term
feminism was coined, many characteristics commonly associated with contemporary feminists are
found in this Christine De Pizan’s writing.
The American Anti-Slavery Society, founded in 1833, was a natural setting for connecting the
oppression of slaves with the subordination of women. It was the Grimke sisters, Sarah (1792-1873)
and Angelina (1805-79) who not only condemned the evils of slavery, but also championed why it was
appropriate for women to speak publicly about this dehumanizing evil in Christian churches. 4 Initially
women were excluded from speaking at their meetings. As women were not allowed to teach or speak
for the anti-slavery society, women came to the realization that they themselves were slaves. Therefore,
their enthusiasm for anti-slavery movement turned into a new direction to address their own problems.5
Thus, it can be said that these circumstances contributed to the development of the first wave of feminist
movement in the late 19th century.
4. Three Waves of Feminism
I. The First Wave
i. Legal Rights: At the Anti-Slavery Convention held at London in 1840, the women groups became
so frustrated that Elizabeth cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott met and discussed women’s inequality and

1
Anne M. Clifford, Introducing Feminist Theology (New York: Orbis Books, 2002), 11. Hereafter cited
as Anne M. Clifford, Introducing Feminist Theology…
2
Anne M. Clifford, Introducing Feminist Theology…, 17.
3
Anne M. Clifford, Introducing Feminist Theology…, 9.
4
Anne M. Clifford, Introducing Feminist Theology…, 11.
5
Wati Longchar, comp., Contextual Theologies (Kolkata: SCEPTRE. 2013), 197. Wati Longchar, comp.,
Contextual Theologies…
1
agreed to hold a women’s right convention.6 The Women’s Right Convention was organized at Seneca
Falls, New York, in 1848 by Stanton and Mott which can be regarded as the official outbreak of the
feminist movement in the West. In this convention they put forward their demands to own property,
the right to their own earnings, the right to share legal custody of their children, the right to have access
to education and the right to vote.7 Due to the persistence of these women, women in the United States
won the right to own property.8
ii. Birth of Feminist Theology: Elizabeth Cady Stanton brought attention to the ways in which the
Bible contributed to the subordination of women. She gathered female colleagues to create a biblical
commentary, The Woman’s Bible.9 Stanton was critical about the use of the Bible and believed that
interpreting the Bible from women’s own perspective was important. It can be said that feminist
theology was initially started in the first wave of feminism itself but it was not until the second wave
of feminism that Christian women began to successfully draw attention to the shortcomings of the
maleness of Christian theology.10
iii. Suffrage: These women also paved the way for the success of women’s suffrage. Carrie chapman
(1859-1947) and many others aided women in getting the right to vote through the passage of the
Nineteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in 1920. The momentum for the cause of women’s
equality did not continue in the U.S. after voting rights were acquired by women. Since the first wave
of feminism was so closely associated with getting access to voting booths, once women could vote.
The worldwide economic depression and the many adjustments in societal life during and immediately
after World War II also contributed to the movement’s decline.11
II. The Second Wave
It was not until the 1960s that a second and broader women’s liberation movement emerged in the
United States and Western Europe.12 It focused on a wide range of issues, including gender equality,
reproductive rights, workplace discrimination, and sexual liberation.
The second wave of the women’s movement not only revived women’s political struggles for civil
rights and equal pay, but also brought forth feminist studies as a new academic discipline. There are
different types of feminism because women have different experiences of patriarchy and
androcentrism, and therefore there are different ways of analyzing their causes and remedies. Maria
Riley’s analysis is helpful in its straight forward way of mapping the complex feminist terrain of
second-wave feminism which she groups into four types:13
i. Liberal Feminism
According to Maria Riley, liberal feminist seeks:
• The removal of the barriers that deny women full legal, political, economic, and civil rights as
autonomous adults
• Equal access to all structures of society-political, economic, social, and cultural.14

6
Wati Longchar, comp., Contextual Theologies…, 197.
7
Francis Martin, The Feminist Question. Feminist Theology in the Light of Christian Tradition (Grand
Rapids: William B. Eerdsmans Publishing Company, 1994), 146.
8
Anne M. Clifford, Introducing Feminist Theology…, 11.
9
Anne M. Clifford, Introducing Feminist Theology…,11.
10
Zubeno Kithan, comp., Women in Church and Society (Kolkata: SCEPTRE, 2014), 275-276.
11
Anne M. Clifford, Introducing Feminist Theology…, 12.
12
Anne M. Clifford, Introducing Feminist Theology…,12.
13
Anne M. Clifford, Introducing Feminist Theology…,21.
14
Maria Riley, Transforming Feminism (Kansas: Sheep and Ward, 1989), 48. Hereafter cited as Maria
Riley, Transforming Feminism…
2
 Liberal feminism, also emphasizes individual freedom for women. The most pointed manifestation
of this trait is the claim that each woman has the right to privacy that ensures that she can make
decisions about her own body, especially about child-bearing.15
ii. Cultural Feminism
Cultural feminism, sometimes also called “romantic feminism” or “reform feminism,” focuses on
the contributions and values traditionally associated with women, like nurturing and compassion, and
the difference they can make to the betterment of the society. Cultural feminism is rooted in two
premises that can be traced to “the cult of true womanhood”:
• The presumption of the moral superiority of women, associated with their maternal role; and
• The need for that moral superiority to make societal life more humane.16
iii. Radical Feminism
Radical feminism envisions feminism to be concerned with more than social equality for women;
it seeks to eradicate every form of male domination. What makes radical feminism radical is the belief
that male domination is the root of all societal problems. Their goal is the liberation of women from all
male control in every facet of life.17
Radical feminists argue that in patriarchal societies male dominance not only dictates the
hierarchical structure of society, but also influences personal relationships. For example, some radical
feminists are critical of traditional romantic love because the man is the initiator, and the woman is
expected to be submissive or at least passive. Some radical feminists are also critical of traditional
attitudes about motherhood. They identify women in a patriarchal family primarily in terms of
reproduction, a function that they believe lends itself to female dependence on males and to women’s
subordination to men.18
Radical feminist analysis is particularly critical of pervasive violence tolerated in a patriarchal
society. male domination is overtly violent in acts such as rape, pornography, war and ecological
destruction. To counter the violence of patriarchal culture, some radical feminists propose creating a
“women-centered culture” in order to give women new space to create a lifestyle characterized by
nurture, closeness to nature, and compassion.19
iv. Socialist Feminism
Socialist Feminism is influence by Marxist principles. They emphasize that the impact of
economic class in women’s oppression cannot be ignored. Although socialist feminist embraces
Marxist economic analysis, they fault it for its failure to focus sufficiently on the pervasive effects of
patriarchy. 20
Socialist feminists stress that in capitalist societies those who control the means of production also
define the division of labor according to sex and race. They argue that capitalism results in the
subordination of women due to the division of labor, the valuing of the public sphere over the private,
and the economic dependence of women upon men. In the capitalist structure, white males are
responsible for production in the public sphere and females are responsible for reproduction in the
private sphere.21 The patriarchy of capitalism, according to the socialist feminists, seems to undervalue
childbearing and childrearing perhaps because it is not considered economically productive. For the
socialist feminists, women and men regardless of class should have the same opportunity of
employment and also to be actively and equally involved in parenting.

15
Anne M. Clifford, Introducing Feminist Theology…,22.
16
Maria Riley, Transforming Feminism…, 50.
17
Anne M. Clifford, Introducing Feminist Theology…,24.
18
Anne M. Clifford, Introducing Feminist Theology…,24.
19
Anne M. Clifford, Introducing Feminist Theology…,24.
20
Maria Riley, Transforming Feminism…,57.
21
Anne M. Clifford, Introducing Feminist Theology…,24.
3
III. THIRD WAVE
The Third Wave of feminism began roughly around 1980s onwards taking seriously the differences
in women’s experiences.22 The legacy of the Second Wave feminism was continued by the European
and Euro-American feminism. On the other hand, women of color have been critical of the white
feminists for universalizing white, middle-class women’s experience as normative for all women and
thereby ignoring the unique experiences of others.23 Thus, different feminist theologies have emerged
around the globe with their own distinctive concerns to overcome various forms of women’s
oppression.
i. Womanist
The term womanist was coined by Alice Walker in the 1970s. A womanist simply means a black
feminist. To draw the attention to the fact that the struggles of black women are different from those of
white American women, many African American women identify themselves as womanist. Afro-
American women see ‘feminism’ as a white women middle class tag. Alice Walker came up with
‘Womanist’ distinctively emphasizing the concerns, experiences and history of the Afro-American
women.24
ii. Mujerista
The Hispanic women in United States came up with the term mujerista (from the Spanish word
for woman, mujer), to describe their own distinctive way of theologizing. It takes into account their
experience of sexism, racism, and classism. It is a liberative praxis with a goal to liberate Hispanic
women. 25
iii. Asian Women Theology
Asian Women articulate their theology from the day-to-day survival reality, where the oppression
of women and the denial of their full humanity often occur on a much larger scale and to a much greater
degree than in other parts of the world.26
Chung Kyung explains the historical reality by asserting that Asian Women’s Theology was not
born because of the logical consequences of academic debate of the university nor the pastoral
conclusion of the institutional church, rather it has emerged from the cries of Asian women’s suffering
in their everyday lives.27
iv. Ecofeminism
The term ‘ecofeminism’ was termed by Francois d’Eaubonne to draw attention to the connection
between women’s struggle in patriarchal systems and ecological crisis. Ecofeminists argue that the
domination of women and exploitation of non-human nature are intimately and inseparably
connected.28
Ecofeminism rejects anthropocentric worldviews which tends to legitimize and even seek Biblical
sanction for the extraction of more and more from the life-giving mother earth.29 Ecofeminists call for

22
Limatula Longkumer, Women in Theological Education: Pedagogical Issues (Bangalore: BTESSC,
2012), 22. Hereafter cited as Limatula Longkumer, Women in Theological Education…
23
Linda A. Moody, Women Encounters God. Theology Across the Boundaries of Difference (New York:
Orbis Books, 1996), 1. Hereafter cited as Linda A. Moody, Women Encounters God…
24
Delores S. Williams, “Womanist Theology: Black Women’s Voices,” in Feminist Theology from the
Third World: A Reader, ed. Ursula King (New York: Orbis Books, 1994), 77.
25
Linda A. Moody, Women Encounters God…, 2.
26
Limatula Longkumer, Women in Theological Education…, 24.
27
Chung Hyun Kyung, Struggle to be the Sun Again. Introducing Asian Women’s Theology (New York:
Orbis Books, 1991), 22.
28
Limatula Longkumer, Women in Theological Education…, 24.
29
Aruna Gnanadason, “Women, Economy and Ecology,” in Ecotheology: Voices from South and North,
ed. David G. Hallman (New York: Orbis Books, 1994), 184.
4
an end to all forms of oppression, especially the exploitation of the Earth, the home that human and
non-human forms of life share.30
IV. FOURTH WAVE
How is this wave of feminism distinct from previous waves? According to Cochrane, the fourth
wave is defined by technology; more specifically, the digital “tools that are allowing women to build a
strong, popular, reactive movement online.” Everyday feminists quickly learned to use this technology
and advance the goals of previous waves (i.e., reproductive rights, equal pay, and workplace
harassment) on a macro scale.31
The rise of social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, and Instagram has provided
feminists from across the globe with the tools to connect, build relationships, and organize. Digital
activism in the form of hashtag campaigns, which can reach hundreds of thousands of people through
the concentrated efforts of a few, is a contemporary example of how online technology is being taken
up in the fourth wave. Feminist-inspired hashtags that have emerged since 2013 providing space for
those who are marginalized to share multivocal (humorous, angry, sad, and reflexive) responses to
sexual violence, and find solidarity.32
#MeToo Movement
In late 2017, the digital environment was dominated by a single hashtag: #MeToo, offering unique
and timely lessons about the fourth wave of feminism. In 2017, the New York Times published an
investigation into sexual harassment and assault allegations against Harvey Weinstein, a Hollywood
producer. Actors Ashley Judd and Rose McGowan shared their experiences, marking the first-time
multiple women publicly addressed allegations since 1990. Weinstein was fired from the Weinstein
Company, and cultural icons like Kate Winslet and Judi Dench denounced his behavior. This led to a
broader conversation about male sexual predation in Hollywood and other industries.33
On October 15, Alyssa Milano, an actor and activist, tweeted the statement: If you've been sexually
harassed or assaulted write 'me too' as a reply to this tweet. Almost instantly, several high-profile
women operating within the Hollywood industrial complex responded in solidarity with tweets of
#MeToo, including Lady Gaga, Rosario Dawson, Evan Rachel Wood, Debra Messing, Anna Paquin,
Patricia Arquette, and Gabrielle Union. Soon, wave after wave of women, and some men, inside and
outside Hollywood began using the hashtag to share their experiences with sexual harassment and
assault. Within four months of Milano’s initial call to action, at least 100 men in positions of power
across various industries were accused of sexual violence.34
CONCLUSION
Feminism has gone through several waves, each with its own focus and characteristics. At the
same time as asserted by Parry, “when feminist issues and actions are viewed in sequential order, there
can be a tendency to view the earlier stance as ‘less than’ those that come after.”35 It is important to
note that while these waves provide a framework for understanding the evolution of feminism, they are
not strictly delineated but only give us a general idea of how feminism has changed over time, and
many ongoing feminist movements continue to work on a wide range of issues.

30
Limatula Longkumer, Women in Theological Education…, 25.
31
Diana C. Parry, ed., Feminisms in Leisure Studies. Advancing a Fourth Wave (New York: Routledge,
2019), 151. Hereafted cited as Diana C. Parry, ed., Feminisms in Leisure Studies…
32
Diana C. Parry, ed., Feminisms in Leisure Studies…, 152.
33
Diana C. Parry, ed., Feminisms in Leisure Studies…, 149.
34
Diana C. Parry, ed., Feminisms in Leisure Studies…, 150-151.
35
Diana C. Parry, ed., Feminisms in Leisure Studies…, 27.
5
BIBLIOGRAPHY

Clifford, Anne M. Introducing Feminist Theology. New York: Orbis Books, 2002.
Gnanadason, Aruna. “Women, Economy and Ecology,” in Ecotheology: Voices from South and
North. Ed. David G. Hallman. New York: Orbis Books, 1994
Kithan, Zubeno. Comp. Women in Church and Society. Kolkata: SCEPTRE, 2014.
Kyung, Chung Hyun. Struggle to be the Sun Again. Introducing Asian Women’s Theology. New
York: Orbis Books, 1991.
Longchar, Wati. Comp. Contextual Theologies. Kolkata: SCEPTRE. 2013.
Longkumer, Limatula. Women in Theological Education: Pedagogical Issues. Bangalore:
BTESSC, 2012.
Martin, Francis. The Feminist Question. Feminist Theology in the Light of Christian Tradition.
Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdsmans Publishing Company, 1994.
Moody, Linda A. Women Encounters God. Theology Across the Boundaries of Difference. New
York: Orbis Books, 1996.
Parry, Diana C. Ed. Feminisms in Leisure Studies. Advancing a Fourth Wave. New York:
Routledge, 2019.
Riley, Maria. Transforming Feminism. Kansas: Sheep and Ward, 1989.
Williams, Delores S. “Womanist Theology: Black Women’s Voices.” In Feminist Theology from
the Third World: A Reader, ed. Ursula King. New York: Orbis Books, 1994.