Feminism is Not Really a Third World issue

Outline:
Introduction
(Third world (using the concept of development by IR third second and first
worlds)
feminism (theory and achievement)
History of feminism
First Wave (definition scope and achievements with time period)
Second Wave
Third Word
arguments
Common feminist problems in "all worlds" (harassment, glass ceiling etc)
UN focus
Inclusion of gender equality, as a SDG goal, for all countries of the world)
Focus of the Third wave of feminism/postmodern feminis
Availability of more rights like education
Mechanisms in first world to address issues of feminism
Countering the opposing arguments
Mechanisms to address the feminist’s issues in the Third world
Information influence theory
Applying information influence theory to counter the argument to those who
focus only on second wave of feminism
Conclusion
Terminologies are socially constructed. The binary division of the world
between first-world and third-world is primarily a reflection of colonial
discourses. Such discourses and terminologies have given birth to the narrative
that feminism is primarily a third world issue, but reality is quite the opposite. If
feminism was born in the “first world”, it does not mean that the first-world is
free from gender-based issues. These issues; such as gender-based inequalities
and discrimination are not exclusive to the third-world, they are a global
problem. Feminism and women’s rights are global issues. It is generally
believed that only the women of the third world are discriminated against in
social, political and economic contexts, but women in the first-world are also
susceptible to these problems. If third-world countries have a fewer women at
high posts, the case is the same in the first-world. It is the same for other gender
based issues such as sexual harassment and representation in politics. So, when
we say that feminism is not really a third world issue but it is present in
first world having different fundaments according to the culture and
development of the bloc in consideration.

The three-world model arose during the Cold War. The concept of First World
originated well-functioning democracy, rule of law, capitalist economy,
economic stability and high standard of living. The Second World is a term that
was used to refer to the industrial socialist states that were under the influence
of the Soviet Union. the term Third World referred to the developing countries
of Asia, Africa, and Latin America, the nation not aligned with either the First
World or the Second World.

Feminism is a range of political movements, ideologies, and social movements

that share a common goal: to define, establish and achieve political, economic,
personal and social gender equality. This includes fighting gender stereotypes
and seeking to establish educational and professional opportunities for women
that are equal to those for men. Feminist movements have campaigned and
continue to campaign for women's rights, including the right to vote, to hold
public office, to work, to earn fair wages or equal pay, to own property, to
receive education, to enter contracts, to have equal rights within marriage and to
have maternity leave. Feminists have also worked to ensure access to legal
abortions and social integration and to protect women and girls from rape,
sexual harassment and domestic violence. Changes in dress and acceptable
physical activity have often been part of feminist movements. Some scholars
consider feminist campaigns to be a main force behind major historical societal
changes for women's rights, particularly in the West, where they are near-
universally credited with achieving women's suffrage, gender neutrality in
English, reproductive rights for women (including access to contraceptives and
abortion), and the right to enter into contracts and own property. Although
feminist advocacy is and has been mainly focused on women's rights, some
feminists, including bell hooks, argue for the inclusion of men's liberation
within its aims because they believe that men are also harmed by traditional
gender roles. Feminist theory, which emerged from feminist movements, aims
to understand the nature of gender inequality by examining women's social roles
and lived experience; it has developed theories in a variety of disciplines to
respond to issues concerning gender. Numerous feminist movements and
ideologies have developed over the years and represent different viewpoints and
aims. Some forms of feminism have been criticized for considering only white,
middle class, and college-educated perspectives. This criticism led to the
creation of ethnically specific or multicultural forms of feminism, including
black feminism and intersectional feminism.

“Feminism is the single most important social movement of our time, one
that addresses every aspect of human and social life”
Richard A. Epstein
The words "féminisme" ("feminism") and "féministe" ("feminist") first
appeared in France and the Netherlands in 1872, Great Britain in the 1890s, and
the United States in 1910, and the Oxford English Dictionary lists 1852 as the
year of the first appearance of "feminist" and 1895 for "feminism". Depending
on the historical moment, culture and country, feminists around the world have
had different causes and goals. Most western feminist historians contend that all
movements working to obtain women's rights should be considered feminist
movements, even when they did not (or do not) apply the term to themselves.
Other historians assert that the term should be limited to the modern feminist
movement and its descendants. Those historians use the label
"protofeminist/postfeminists" to describe earlier movements.
Feminist do not wish to have power over men, but rather over themselves.
The history of the feminist movements is divided into three "waves".
The first wave refers to the movement of the 19th through early 20th centuries,
especially in Europe and in the United States, which dealt mainly with suffrage,
working conditions and educational rights for women and girls.
Key concerns are:
 women's suffrage (the right to vote)
 the right to education
 better working conditions
 marriage and property laws
 reproductive rights

The second wave (1960s-1980s) dealt with the inequality of laws, as well as
cultural inequalities and the role of women in society. Second-wave feminism is
a period of feminist activity and thought that first began in the early 1960s in
USA and spread all over the western world and beyond.
Key concerns:
 raising consciousness about sexism and patriarchy
 raising consciousness about gender based violence, domestic abuse and
marital rape
 inequalities in the workplace
 legalizing abortion and birth control
 sexual liberation of women
The third wave of feminism (1990s-2000s?) is both a continuation of the second
wave and a response to the perceived failures.
Key concerns:
 Intersectionality
 The diversity of "women" is recognized and emphasis is placed on
identity, gender, race, nation, social order and sexual preference
 Changes on stereotypes, media portrayals and language used to define
women.
 Sexual identities

Women all over the world are hindered in their aspirations by a strong glass
ceiling. Why it is so that the US has never had a female President? A democracy
that is much stronger to the extent of providing leadership to the whole world
has never elected a woman as their President. It shows that the society generally
believes that men are better able to lead than women. And if we analyse election
debates between both 2016 US presidential candidates – Hillary and Trump, we
see that gender was an often-touched topic. So much so that to damage Trump’s
appeal, the democrats used Melania, Trump’s wife. Her old pictures, when she
was in fashion industry, were shared online to discredit Trump. In contrast,
third-world countries have elected women as their premiers many times.
Pakistan has elected Benazir Bhutto twice as the Chief Executive of the country.
In India, Indira Gandhi has been a successful Prime Minister. In Myanmar, the
struggle of Aung Sang SuuKyi has been recognised by its citizens who elected
her party in the last elections. In Rwanda, the ratio of women holding
parliamentary offices has been improving. These facts show that feminism is
very much, a global issue.
Historically, what is now considered the third world has been more receptive to
women in positions of authority. The Subcontinent has seen Razia Sultana, a
queen of the Delhi Sultanate who ruled for more than 3 years. Then, this region
experienced the successful reign of NurJehan, wife of Jehangir. She ruled as de-
facto head of the Mughal Empire. If this part of the world had accepted women
as their leaders back then, it has no reason to not accept women as their leaders
today. Gender-based issues are as present in the first-world as they are in
the third-world. In some cases, there are more gender discrimination in the
first-world than the third-world. Even if we observe the ratio of women
holding top positions in big corporations, we see that men are present in
disproportionately higher numbers. Name any top company of the first world
and we see the men hold all the executive slots. It is true that some big
corporations are headed by the women, but that is also true for the third-world.
There are many examples of women holding top positions in developing
countries such as Nita Ambani, Arundhati Bhattacharya and Chiyono Terada.

There are a lot of horrible things happening all over the world, including the
United States. it’s a positive sign when people are aware of human rights
injustices and are invested in changing them. But when that comes at the
expense of belittling another person’s personal struggles, I no longer think that’s
useful. As humans, we love to categorize things and then put them into
hierarchies – and feminism is not exempt from that.
But I want to shed some light on the false idea that there is any such thing
as a “trivial” feminist cause in first World.
Because while there may be causes that affect some more than others or that are
more explicitly violent than others, feminism isn’t about taking a stand for
every single cause. It’s about allowing marginalized people to dictate how
issues relating to them are discussed and addressed – and recognizing that all
forms of violence, big or supposedly small, are tied to the same larger issues. It
is time to drop the depthless issues that barely scratch the surface of women's
equality and human rights. It is owed it to humanity to raise awareness for
pressing feminist’s issues, not the first world ones that many seem to be
concerned with and subsequently spend too much energy fighting for.
There are worldwide common feminist issues
 Poor Parliamentary representation
 Gender pay gap
 Female genital mutilation (FGM)
 Sex-selective abortions
 Domestic Violence
 Glass ceiling
 Trafficking
 Stalking and Harassment
The UN’s largest gathering on gender equality, is taking place at the United
Nations Headquarters in New York from 11 – 22 March 2019. It will focus on
the theme, “Social protection systems, access to public services and sustainable
infrastructure for gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls”.
The Commission on the Status of Women is one of the largest annual gathering
of global leaders, non-profit organizations, private sector actors, UN partners
and activists from around the world, focusing on the status of rights and
empowerment of all women and girls, everywhere. What does the theme mean
for women and girls? It’s feeling safe walking to the market, or through parks.
Or having access to clean water. It’s public health centers and affordable
childcare. It’s a pension in old age and public housing for survivors of domestic
abuse. The Equality in Law for Women and Girls by 2030: A Multistakeholder
Strategy for Accelerated Action has been developed by UN Women, African
Union, Commonwealth, Inter-Parliamentary Union, Organization International
de la Francophonie and Secretaría General Ibero-Americana, in partnership with
the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, United
Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Equality Now, Global Citizen, Global
Campaign for Equal Nationality Rights, International Association of Women
Judges, International Development Law Organization, Muslims for Progressive
Values, and Women’s Learning Partnership.
the ‘third wave’ feminist agenda based on girls and young women in many
affluent First World societies. Compared with older generations of women,
contemporary young women reject what they deem the ‘victim feminism’ of
their elders (see Baumgardner and Richards 2000; Budgeon 2001; Rich 2005)
but feel confident enough to measure feminist positions against their lived
experiences. While claiming natural entitlement to freedom from sexual and
racial violence, they are also shifting themselves from traditional feminist
activism to something more diffuse and less organized. In this sense, feminism
is increasingly demanded to be endorsed as a source of personal identity than a
tool for political activism at once. And this indicates that the birth of ‘young
feminism’ discourse is becoming more and more closely relates to young
women’s cultural and political actions providing them with differentiation and
emancipation. The Third-wave of feminism began in the early 1990s.The
movement arose as a response to perceived failures of the second-wave. It was
also a response to the backlash against initiatives and movements created by the
second-wave. Third wave feminism seeks to challenge or avoid what it deems
the second-wave's "essentialist" definitions of femininity, which over
emphasized the experiences of upper middle class white women. A post
structuralism interpretation of gender and sexuality is central too much of the
third wave's ideology. Third-wave feminists often focus on "micro politics", and
challenged the second-wave's paradigm as to what is, or is not, good for
females. Thus, in the western world various social, ideological and political
circumstances were responsible for encouraging the women's movement for
gender equality. In communist countries, especially Russia, Lenin and his wife
Krupskaya were great advocates of women's equality and the Soviet rule gave
equal rights to women. Russian women worked with men in secret police and in
the army. In fascist countries, women were valued for producing children and
bringing them up. Nitler did not favor women's participation in war efforts. He
said a woman's battlefield is her home where she produces children for the
nation. Thus, Fascist countries did not encourage women's movement. In India
women's movement was born out of the social reform movements of 19 th and
20th century. At first philanthropic men initiated welfare programmed for
women, later, women took the lead themselves by starting Al India Women's
Conference. Gandhi's encouragement of women taking part in the freedom
struggle gave a new confidence to women and helped the women's movement.
All feminists are concerned about women's subordination and want to find out
its cause. Within the women's movement there have been three major
ideological positions described as Liberal Feminism, Radical Feminism and
Socialist feminism.
The only way for a woman, as for a man, to find herself as a person, is by
creative work of her own. Betty friedan
Despite the dramatic accomplishments of the women’s movement, and the
acceptance of women’s equality as a goal in most sectors of US society, gender
equality has not yet been achieved. Many more women work outside the home
but most continue to be concentrated in low paying jobs; women earn, on the
average, considerably less than men. Violence against women is still
widespread. Even though most women work outside the home, nowhere is it
seen as a societal rather than a familial responsibility. Worst of all, there is no
longer a mass women’s movement. There are many organizations working for
women equality in the public arena and in private institutions; these include
specifically women’s organizations such as the National Organization for
Women, and in environmental, healthcare, social justice and other areas that
address women’s issues. But where there were once women’s organizations
with large participatory memberships, there are now bureaucratic structures run
by paid staff. Feminist theory, once provocative and freewheeling, has lost
concern with the conditions of women’s lives and has become pretentious and
tired. This rises two questions:
Why there so little discussion on the near-disappearance of a movement
that not so long ago was strong enough to bring about major changes in the
social and cultural landscape?
What are the causes of the movement’s decline?
However well-intentioned such arguments may be, they betray a deeply flawed
understanding of what feminism is, why it exists and why it remains important
in first world. Feminism is not the belief that individual men do not love their
wives or fail to champion their rights. It is not the belief that women are
incapable of defending themselves or standing up for their rights to be educated,
to dress as they please and to proclaim their equality. Feminism does not equate
a sense of victimhood and it does not assume women need special protection.
Women do not need (or ask for) protection; what they need is empowerment,
which can only be gained through social and institutional equality. It is
wonderful and encouraging that there are individuals who respect women, but
that does not change an inherently patriarchal society unless more people are
willing to identify it as sexist.
Informational influence theory is the social identity theory of social influence in
groups. It considers normative influence and informational influence separate
concepts in the thinking of other social scientists as part of a single influence
process linked to group membership and social identity. This entry describes the
background and content of the theory and then summarizes relevant research
and implications. Traditionally, social influence has been accounted for in terms
of individual needs such as the need for approval and liking or the need for
rational assessment of the social world.
Applying information influence theory to counter the argument to those who
focus only on second wave of feminism, in the historiography of the United
States' second-wave feminism has been criticized for failing to acknowledge
and analyse the multiple sites of feminist insurgencies of women of colour,
silencing and ignoring the diverse pre-political and political developments that
occurred during this time. It has been suggested that the dominant historical
narratives of the feminist movement focuses on white, East Coast, and
predominantly middle-class women and women's consciousness-raising groups,
disregarding the experiences and contributions of lesbians, women of colour,
and working-class and lower-class women. Chela Sandoval called the dominant
narratives of the women's liberation movement "hegemonic feminism" because
it essentializes the feminist historiography to an exclusive population of women,
which assumes that all women experience the same oppressions as the white,
East Coast, and predominantly middle-class women. This restricting view
purportedly ignored the oppressions women face determined by their race, class,
and sexuality, and gave rise to women-of-colour feminisms that separated from
the women's liberation movement, such as Black feminism, Africana
womanism, and the Hijas de Cuauhtémoc that emerged at California State
University, Long Beach, which was founded by Anna Nieto-Gómez, due to the
Chicano Movement's sexism. Many feminist scholars see the generational
division of the second wave as problematic. Second wavers are typically
essentialized as the Baby Boomer generation, when many feminist leaders of
the second wave were born before World War II ended. This generational
essentialism homogenizes the group that belongs to the wave and asserts that
every person part of a certain demographic generation shared the same
ideologies, because ideological differences were generational differences
Gender equality is more than a goal. It is a precondition for meeting the
challenge of reducing poverty, promoting sustainable development and
building good governance
Gender equality should be the main goal of every state for the development. As
we begin with a new set of resolutions to follow, it appears that the world is
reacting negatively to the small victories won by feminists globally. While
women rights advocates throw their collective weight behind struggles for
equality in education, health care and the workplace, others decry the
“irrelevance” of feminism in first-world countries. Why care about women
when we should be caring about humans? Why affix the dreaded label of
“feminist” which conjures images of bra-burning circa 1960s? Why cry about
the no status of women in US parliament where the matriarchal figures hold so
much power in popular culture? There is no women’s problem; there is just a
developmental problem. It does not matter either the problem is in first-world or
the third-world, only matter is it exists. As it is a global problem so its solution
should be relating to all the countries regardless of first-world, second-world
and third-world.