Name: Pradyumn Singh

Course: WMST-1080
Midterm 1

Question 1
There are three waves of Feminism that swept the US. The First Wave Feminism started
approximately in late eighteenth century and ended at approximately late nineteenth century.
The Second Wave Feminism started in mid-twentieth century and ended in approximately
1980s. The Third Wave Feminism started right after the Second Wave Feminism and is still
ongoing.
The First Wave Feminism was successful in generating a separate movement from the
Abolition Movement which laid the foundation for the next two waves of feminist movement
to follow. It was also successful in gaining support for women suffrage and gain a political
personhood for women. This resulted in the introduction of Anthony Amendment (Women
Suffrage Amendment) in the Congress in 1878 but however it was passed only in 1920 when
ratified as Nineteenth Amendment (Womens Voices, Feminist Visions. Ed .4. Pg 9).
However, there was a downside to the first wave Feminism. Clubbing the First wave
feminism with the Abolition movement and Suffrage for colored Americans, It in fact
increased the amount of time taken for social change. Since was too much to change in the
society all together, it took more time for men of color in America to get their right of
suffrage and discrimination of income than it should have (Abolition of Slavery happened in
1865 but the true suffrage for colored Americans came in 1964s Civil Rights Act) .
The Second Wave of Feminism was responsible for Equal Pay Act in 1963 which legally
required employers to pay equal wage for not only American women but colored Americans
as well for the same kind of work done(Womens Voices , Feminist Visions. Ed .4. Pg 7).
The Title IX of Education Amendment Act of 1972 was aimed strictly at higher education for
women which forbade gender discrimination at schools (Womens Voices, Feminist Visions.
Ed .4. Pg 7). It was also a result of Second Wave of Feminism. Both of these
accomplishments brought social justice in the society and a new economic boom of 1980s
under Nixon because of an increase in the labor force of US.
The Third Wave of Feminism Started in 1990s and is still continuing. It is more focused
on the issues relating to Sexuality (Sexual Freedom) and Sexual Identity. Its achievements
include the Platform for Action which was signed by 181 governments at the United
Nations Fourth World Conference on Women (Womens Voices, Feminist Visions. Ed .4. Pg
14). This platform is meant to making the full participation of women in public life and
decision making a part of Universal Human Rights. Another accomplishment would be the
CEDAW (Convention on Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women)
adopted by the UN General Assembly ratified by 185 countries (Womens Voices, Feminist
Visions. Ed .4. Pg 14). It legally binds all the signatory countries to prohibit all kinds of
discrimination against women and incorporate equality of men and women in the legal
system. Both of these achievements have helped to internationalize the feminist movement in
US and get universality in the feminist movement improving womens lives all around the
world. Third Wave Feminism however has tried to correct the mistakes of the First Wave and
Second Wave Feminism by keeping the Feminism movement separate from other social
justice movements making it more efficient to bring about a social change in society.
Note: I could not control the length of the first essay answer since it requires a lot of material
to be answered.
Question 2

Disability is an appropriate topic of study because it faces the similar issues as women do in our
present day society. Disability is socially constructed similar to as gender is socially constructed.
Susan Wendell in her writing social construction of disability argues that when the society is
structured around an assumption that everyone is a young able bodied male , it tends to
marginalizes and increases the magnitude of disability through sheer neglect for whoever is not a
young able-bodied male(Womens voices, Feminist Visions Ed 4. Pg 112).As men do not usually
agree that they are privileged than women in the current structure of the society, similarly able
bodied men do not tend to agree that the society is designed around young able bodied men.
Afterall, most of the times disability for individuals happens because of failure of the society to
protect its citizens from unfortunate events.
Susan Wendell in her writing The Social Construction of Disability (Womens Voices,
Feminist Visions .Ed 4) gives an example of Francine Arsenault who is disabled and getting
married. Her friends dad makes a stereotypical comment of her being a burden on her husband
for the rest of their lives. This is an example of intersectionalities. Francine is being judged by
her friends dad for being disabled and being women which shows how there is an interaction of
judgments.

Being disabled is a marked category similar to being a male, female or transgender.
Being a marked category brings about a certain stereotypes constructed by society. These
similarities between the issues faced by disabled people and women are reasons enough for
implementing the same ideas used to combat prejudice and discrimination against women for
disabled people.

Question 3
Women who are low-income or women in developing countries face various health issues that
women in developed countries generally white and/or high income do not face.
HIV/AIDS is one of the biggest health issues faced by women in developing low income
countries since 95% of the HIV infections happen in developing countries, 2/3
rd
of which
happens in Sub-Sahara Africa (Womens Voices, Feminist Visions Ed 5, A Global Health
Imperative). Women generally face a social backlash for having AIDS in these countries and
generally suffer more socially than men due to conservative values. The solution of this problem
is to educate women about AIDS in these developing countries and make society more open to
talk about it so that AIDS does not spreads atleast sexually.
About 60-100 million women are missing in this world due to gender preferences
(Womens Voices, Feminist Visions Ed 5, A Global Health Imperative). The concentration of
missing girls is mostly in India and China due to the patriarchal structure of society and family
planning (like once child policy in China) which has only worked to enforce the patriarchal
structure of society. The solution to this issue can only come with economics, political will and
time. As these two countries grow, the aggregate demand grows which demands more women in
the workforce making women also the bread winners in the family which will help to destroy the
patriarchy.
A World Health Organization fact report suggests that there are about 800 women who
die of complications relating to pregnancy, out of which 99% are in developing countries (WHO
Fact Sheet No 348). These have serious implications on the families as it increases poverty since
there is one less breadwinner in the household (For developing countries this can mean only 1
meal a day from 3 meals per day). This in turn also results in Child Labor coming from these
kinds of families stuck in poverty and various other vices. The only solution to maternal deaths is
a better health infrastructure which is hard to acquire for developing countries.

Question 4
This advertisement is an evidence of Jean Kilbournes argument that advertising sells not only
products, but ideas and values. However the ideas and values given in this advertisement are
undermining the efforts of feminist movement.
In the advertisement given we see a clear mention of objectification. The lady in the
advertisement is being objectified as someone who is achievable by bribing the lifeguard with
a Coca-Cola can. The ad is androcentric as two men are shown trading a soda bottle with
lifeguard jersey while a women lays unconscious on the ground in need of the assistance of men
around her. Such a show of stereotypical masculinity and femininity is outright sexist and
directly undermines the efforts of the feminist movement. Division of Labor has generally
produced the identification of masculinity with the public realm and the money economy and of
femininity with domesticity, which is a core of modern western gender system (Womens
Voices, Feminist Vision Ed 4 Pg 163). It is these identifications because of which we do not see
two women dealing over an unconscious man in the advertisement. This advertisement is directly
aimed at kindling the male audiences masculinity and making the product a way of dealing for a
woman. Such androcentric is part of the society and thats the only reason why such an ad was
possible to begin with to target an exclusive male audience. Also the fact that there is a young
boy in the advertisement shows that such advertisements are possibly indoctrinating the young
generation with the ideas of masculinity and femininity and is a clear example of social
construction of gender.
Male Dominance or the show of masculinity is basically the theme of this advertisement.
Men are shown in a position of power and women are shown in a position of helplessness
needing the assistance of men who are treating women as a commodity. The division of labor
was not a norm in all classes and ethnicities in England at the time (19th Century), the image of
middle-class femininity and masculinity became pervasive. The new division of labor increased
womens economic dependence on men which curbed womens sexual license but not mens.
(Womens Voices, Feminist Vision Ed 4 Pg 191). The values of 19
th
century England are
reflected in this advertisement. Intentional or not, but this portrayal of values and ideas in this
advertisement proves it that women rights are not instinctive to men even in present day society.
Another issue that this advertisement raises is the ideal standards of beauty set by this
advertisement. It also shows the unreal sense of beauty gained through digital enhancements of
pictures. This objectification of women has serious issues since it lowers the self-esteem of
women with psychological consequences. Approximately 4% of young women (15-25 years of
age) have an eating disorder called bulimia (Womens Voices, Feminist Vision Ed 4 Pg 240). 4%
is quite a big statistic whose sole reason is just the way the ideal sense of beauty is advertised.
This issue is now a public health issue and should be dealt with appropriate regulations in the
advertising industry.