Feminists

Very interesting line of thought. Scholars mark theoretical waves of feminism as if the ocean's tide (women's movement) was in retreat thus, needing to recoil its energy from the abyss only to return with momentum enough to swing the pendulum. Perhaps, theorists needed to retreat to address matters of transcendentalism or metaphysical universals, but the women never stopped their activism. Shall I say it again? They did not stop their activism nor did they disband all organizations. Instead, when dispersal of women (note that division has always been) occurred upon ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment, most women thought equality had been won. Pathways opened wide for women to leave the 72-year long struggle and pursue their personal interests in women's rights (which is what we see in organizations today on a domestic and international scale). The division (protective legislators/difference fems vs egalitarian fems) survived and thrived through the 1920's (crash of 1929) and began international campaigns for equality (man's life should not be more valuable than a woman's) with the Equal Rights Amendment (Alice Paul). Of course, the difference fems, so closely aligned with labor unions (Women's Bureau of Labor), was a staunch opposition for equality fems. The political party in power (Dems) were closely aligned with labor unions (as they are today), and President Roosevelt's administration financially benefited from this alignment. Eleanor Roosevelt, aligned with the League of Women's Voters (aka NAWSA - Carrie Chapman Catt), became the most antagonistic of all to the ERA amendment; the ERA threatened to wipe out protective legislation that limited women in the workforce (yes, limited and not helped). Hard to imagine the lady so closely associated with the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights in opposition to the women's equality principle within her own country. The waves are symbolic of scholar-activists that attempt to 'box in' the movement as if boundaries ever existed. It gave them ample time to theorize and develop scientific reasoning that worked to oppose women at every turn. It didn't work. While a dry spell occurred from 1896 to 1910, there was no other period of inactivity. I agree with the eradication of the wave concept...it was more of an ebb and flow that did turn and continues to turn the tides of women's social, political, and economic legitimacy.