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Echoes Of Equality

Feminism’s Unyielding Voice Throughout History

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Since the controversial overturning of Roe v. Wade in 2022 and with access to reproductive rights in continued jeopardy, the feminist movement has been urgently, tirelessly rallying for support and mobilization.

A woman’s bodily autonomy is among the most contentious political issues of the moment. Even the word “feminist” has created a sharp divide between people who believe it stands for equality and empowerment and those who dismiss it as overzealous and anti-male. Beyond policy, the debate touches every part of our culture. As recently as this summer, myriad outlets including Time, NPR, The Guardian and The New York Times devoted think-pieces about whether Barbie — star of the biggest box office movie of the year — is a feminist.

When pared down, what is feminism’s most basic meaning? “I define it as the social, political and economic theory of gender equality,” says Tangela Serls, Ph.D., Special Advisor to the College of Arts and Sciences Dean on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at the University of South Florida. “It started with women, but I think it’s evolved to include marginalized genders as well, so gender nonconforming people, transgender people, nonbinary people. It’s more expansive and inclusive than it started out. There is so much more to it now.”

A French philosopher named Charles Fourier is credited with coining the term “féminisme” in 1837 based on his belief that marriage contracts of the time treated women like property and that any society would flourish were they treated as equals. The ideology spread through Europe and ultimately reached America concurrent with the abolitionist movement to end slavery. Many suffragettes, as female activists called themselves, joined the abolitionist cause but remained disenfranchised.  “A lot of the early suffragettes worked alongside abolitionists but were then dismayed when the 15th Amendment gave Black men the right to vote, but not women,” explains Laura Finley, Ph.D., Professor of Sociology and Criminology at Barry University and a social justice expert. “At the time, it was a white women’s movement, made up primarily of white women with the support of some pretty influential men.” One notable exception was Sojourner Truth, a former slave turned abolitionist and suffragette who delivered the famous “Ain’t I A Woman?” speech at the 1851 Akron Ohio Women’s Rights Convention, a painstaking portrayal of the Black female experience.

Other prominent voices of the era included Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucretia Mott, Jane Addams and Susan B. Anthony, who was arrested for trying to vote in 1892.

It wasn’t until 1920 that women finally won the right to vote with the passing of the 19th Amendment, but scholars point out that barriers like taxation, literacy tests and racial threats suppressed the Black female vote until the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which banned discrimination for people of all minority groups.

Between the turn of the 20th century and the start of the second wave of the feminist movement in the 1960s, progress quietly but steadily pushed forward. “This time period doesn’t get as much attention because there weren’t any big markers, but when men started going off for World War II, more women started joining the workforce and working factory jobs,” says Finley. “It was liberating for a lot of women who didn’t want to return to a cult of domesticity and emboldened them to say, basically, ‘Hey, there’s much more I can do.’”

Betty Friedan’s 1963 book “The Feminine Mystique” was groundbreaking in its assertion that American women have value outside the home. It also helped kick off what’s referred to as feminism’s second wave. Not only did the book argue that women should be part of the workforce and treated as equals in the workplace, but it also drew attention to other ways women were still oppressed — like political participation and access to education. Five years later, Friedan organized the August 1970 Women’s Strike for Equality, for which an estimated 50,000 women gathered in New York City, linking arms in loud protest with simultaneous marches held across other major cities. Held on the 50th anniversary of the passing of the 19th amendment, it was the largest women’s rights demonstration since the suffrage era, according to The New York Times. Friedan’s objective was accomplished: there was no way to ignore the women’s liberation movement now.

Other key figures of the movement throughout the 1960s and 1970s — of which there are many — included Gloria Steinem, dubbed the “Mother of Feminism.” Steinem founded Ms. Magazine, the first mainstream publication devoted to women’s issues, as well as the Women’s Action Alliance, the National Women’s Political Caucus, the Women’s Media Center and more. Congresswoman Bella Abzug helped form the National Women’s Political Caucus, which advocated for female representation in government. Pauli Murray, a Black queer feminist, co-founded the National Organization for Women (NOW) along with Friedan and others and Barbara Walters made history in 1976 as the first female co-anchor of a nightly news show on ABC. There are simply too many whose voices made historical contributions to name.

Of course, it’s impossible to review the history of feminism without discussing reproductive rights. Finley explains how abortion and female healthcare became a public issue, rather than a private one, in the first place. “Historically, birthing babies was done by women. They were midwives, but in 1847 the American Medical Association was founded by men, for men,” says Finley. “They started taking over duties women once did, and every state essentially made abortion illegal. Then, slowly, people realized women were still having abortions, but doing it unsafely. In 1930, one-fifth of all maternal deaths were abortions that went bad.” By feminism’s second wave, the issue of reproductive rights which included abortion and the right to birth control was front-and-center.

Putting it into law took until 1973 when the case Roe v. Wade reached the Supreme Court. The parties were Texan Norma McCorvey (under the pseudonym Jane Roe) and the District Attorney of Dallas County, Texas. During that period, Texas only allowed legalized abortion in life-threatening cases, but Roe’s suit argued the Texas law violated the “fundamental right to privacy” afforded by the 14th Amendment. Seven out of the nine members of the all-male Supreme Court agreed with her, decriminalizing abortion and protecting the right to legally access it.

At the time, its importance could not be overstated. “In addition to its actuality, which was safe and legal access to abortion, it acknowledged a woman’s right to privacy within her own body and that decisions about it are hers and hers alone to make,” notes Finley.

But the battle over reproductive rights never really went away. On Jan. 21, 2017, a growing sense of disparagement and an increasingly real threat to women’s reproductive health by conservatives inspired the 2020 Women’s March on Washington. Held on March 18, with simultaneous marches in every U.S. state, it was the single largest demonstration in U.S. history according to Vox, which estimated about 4.2 million people in attendance.

Nevertheless, in 2022, Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, a case that challenged Mississippi’s ban on abortion after 15 weeks, reached the Supreme Court. In a 6-3 vote, the court sided with Dobbs and, in doing so, overturned Roe. The dissenting justices wrote thus: “Whatever the exact scope of the coming laws, one result of today’s decision is certain: the curtailment of women’s rights, and of their status as free and equal citizens.”

Since then, the attack on reproductive rights has only intensified. As of press time, abortion is nearly fully banned in 14 states, with early gestational restrictions in 10 more. Also as of press time, the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that all embryos created through in vitro fertilization (IVF) — a fertility process intended to bring more children into the world by those having difficulty conceiving — are children. Not all embryos survive the IVF process, but according to Alabama law clinics or medical professionals involved with a destroyed embryo could be prosecuted under Alabama’s Wrongful Death of a Minor Act.

These restrictions and rulings have had serious material implications. Doctors and nurses are too scared to give life-saving treatment to suffering women because of potential legal repercussions. After an arduous court battle, a Texas woman was recently forced to leave the state for an abortion despite the fetus having a fatal condition, which also put her at risk of a uterine rupture.

So, what can we do? “We have to keep it front and center how horrible some of these changes have been,” says Finley. “We need more women to run for political office. The more women representing us and elevating these issues, the better.”

“We have to continue to safeguard and protect our rights to prevent continued backpedaling,” adds Serls. “One thing I tell my students is to start small because you can help create a ripple effect. A lot of the time, tackling big initiatives like female healthcare starts at the grassroots level. You don’t have to wait for the big elections to vote, vote at the small elections, which have even more to do with your day-to-day life.”

Whether you’re male or female, concludes Finley, you can be a feminist. “It’s just promoting gender equality. It is not a nasty word. It never was and never should have been.”