Womens Liberation Movement
Research on social movements in the United States can be written by the writers at Paper Masters. For example, the women's liberation movement was an important part of 20th Century history in the United States. Have our writers custom write research on the women's liberation movement that began in the 1960's and was a key part of the feminist agenda.
While the ideas of feminism, the women's movement, and the women's liberation movement are often seen as synonymous, this is not entirely the case. The last of these - the women's liberation movement - refers to a specific period of time wherein political and philosophical beliefs and tactics combined with very specific goals. Emerging in the late 1960s, the women's liberation movement only lasted about 20 years; it existed in one form or another in most modernized western nations. Generally seen as a subset of radical feminism, the women's liberation movement believed that they only way women could emerge from their status as second-class citizens was through complete and total independence. Women from all walks of life held the ideas of psychological, economic, and social freedom as paramount to advancement.
To that end, members of the women's liberation movement targeted sexism as their ultimate enemy; to adherents of this movement, the formal and legal gender discrimination that took place in many aspects of society, was the reason for women's inequality. Addressing this problem could not be done little by little, or for only one group at a time. Instead, far-reaching systemic change needed to take place in order that all people, regardless of gender, would be seen as equal. Members of the women's liberation movement rejected patriarchal structures in society, encouraged participatory democracy as a vehicle for enacting long-term change, and incorporated a variety of positions into their political actions, including the following:
- Battles against the objectification of women
- Fights for reproductive rights
- Redefining the stereotypical roles within families
While full equality - true social, economic, and psychological equality - has not yet been achieved, the advancements made by the women's liberation movement in their short time in the public eye are monumental.