Gloria Marie Steinem is an American journalist and social-political activist who emerged as a nationally recognized leader of second-wave feminism in the United States in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
Liberal feminism, also called mainstream feminism, is a main branch of feminism defined by its focus on achieving gender equality through political and legal reform within the framework of liberal democracy and informed by a human rights perspective. It is often considered culturally progressive and economically center-right to center-left. As the oldest of the "Big Three" schools of feminist thought, liberal feminism has its roots in 19th century first-wave feminism seeking recognition of women as equal citizens, focusing particularly on women's suffrage and access to education, the effort associated with 19th century liberalism and progressivism. Liberal feminism "works within the structure of mainstream society to integrate women into that structure." Liberal feminism places great emphasis on the public world, especially laws, political institutions, education and working life, and considers the denial of equal legal and political rights as the main obstacle to equality. As such liberal feminists have worked to bring women into the political mainstream. Liberal feminism is inclusive and socially progressive, while broadly supporting existing institutions of power in liberal democratic societies, and is associated with centrism and reformism. Liberal feminism tends to be adopted by white middle-class women who do not disagree with the current social structure; Zhang and Rios found that liberal feminism with its focus on equality is viewed as the dominant and "default" form of feminism. Liberal feminism actively supports men's involvement in feminism and both women and men have always been active participants in the movement; progressive men had an important role alongside women in the struggle for equal political rights since the movement was launched in the 19th century.
Ms. is an American feminist magazine co-founded in 1971 by journalist and social/political activist Gloria Steinem. It was the first national American feminist magazine. The original editors were Letty Cottin Pogrebin, Mary Thom, Patricia Carbine, Joanne Edgar, Nina Finkelstein, Mary Peacock, Margaret Sloan-Hunter, and Gloria Steinem. Beginning as a one-off insert in New York magazine in 1971, the first stand-alone issue of Ms. appeared in January 1972, with funding from New York editor Clay Felker. It was intended to appeal to a wide audience and featured articles about a variety of issues related to women and feminism. From July 1972 until 1987, it was published on a monthly basis. It now publishes quarterly.
The National Women's Political Caucus (NWPC) is an organization which was founded in 1971 by leaders of the women's liberation movement to promote women's participation in government. The group describes itself as a multi-partisan grassroots organization in the United States dedicated to recruiting, training, and supporting women who seek elected and appointed offices at all levels of government. The NWPC endorses female candidates at the state and national level who adhere to the organization's core set of values.
The Independent Women's Forum (IWF) is an American conservative, non-profit organization focused on economic policy issues of concern to women. IWF was founded by activist Rosalie Silberman to promote a "conservative alternative to feminist tenets" following the controversial Supreme Court nomination of Clarence Thomas in 1992. IWF's sister organization is the Independent Women's Voice (IWV), a 501(c)(4) organization.
Eleanor Marie Smeal is an American women's rights activist. She is the president and a cofounder of the Feminist Majority Foundation and has served as president of the National Organization for Women for three terms, in addition to her work as an activist, grassroots organizer, lobbyist, and political analyst.
The National Organization for Women (NOW) is an American feminist organization. Founded in 1966, it is legally a 501(c)(4) social welfare organization. The organization consists of 550 chapters in all 50 U.S. states and in Washington, D.C. It is the largest feminist organization in the United States with around 500,000 members. NOW is regarded as one of the main liberal feminist organizations in the US, and primarily lobbies for gender equality within the existing political system. NOW campaigns for constitutional equality, economic justice, reproductive rights, LGBTQIA+ rights and racial justice, and against violence against women.
Jennifer Baumgardner is a writer, activist, filmmaker, and lecturer whose work explores abortion, sex, bisexuality, rape, single parenthood, and women's power. From 2013 to 2017, she served as the Executive Director/Publisher at The Feminist Press at the City University of New York (CUNY), a feminist institution founded by Florence Howe in 1970.
Sisters of '77 is a documentary film that chronicles the 1977 National Women's Conference in Houston, Texas, which took place November 18–21, 1977. The goal of the National Women's Conference was to end discrimination against women and promote their equal rights. The conference was sponsored by President Gerald Ford's Executive Order 11832 and federally funded through HR 9924. It brought together over 20,000 women and men from around the United States.
The Ms. Foundation for Women is a non-profit organization for women in the United States, which had a deep commitment to diversity and was founded in 1972 by Gloria Steinem, Patricia Carbine, Letty Cottin Pogrebin and Marlo Thomas. The organization was created to deliver strategic resources to groups which elevated women's and girls' voices and solutions across race and class in communities nationwide, working to identify and support emerging and established groups poised to act when and where change is needed. Its grants — paired with skills-building, networking and other strategic opportunities — enable organizations to advance women's grassroots solutions across race and class and to build social movements within and across three areas: Economic Justice, Reproductive Justice and Safety. The organization also focuses its lobbying efforts on the state-level around those three areas.
Judy Goldsmith is an American feminist, academic, and activist. She served as president of the National Organization for Women (NOW) from 1982 to 1985, which is the largest feminist organization in the United States; prior to this she was an English professor. Goldsmith also serves as an honorary board member of the Veteran Feminists of America, whose headquarters are in Phoenix, Arizona.
The National Women's Conference of 1977 was a four-day event during November 18–21, 1977, as organized by the National Commission on the Observance of International Women's Year. The conference drew around 2,000 delegates along with 15,000-20,000 observers in Houston, Texas, United States. The United States Congress approved $5 million in public appropriations for both the state and national conferences as HR 9924, sponsored by Congresswoman Patsy Mink, which Ford signed into law. In 1977 at the start of his presidency, President Jimmy Carter chose a new Commission and appointed Congresswoman Bella Abzug to head it. Numerous events were held over the next two years, culminating in the National Women's Conference.
Feminism is aimed at defining, establishing, and defending a state of equal political, economic, cultural, and social rights for women. It has had a massive influence on American politics. Feminism in the United States is often divided chronologically into first-wave, second-wave, third-wave, and fourth-wave feminism.
Feminism in Thailand is perpetuated by many of the same traditional feminist theory foundations, though Thai feminism is facilitated through a medium of social movement activist groups within Thailand's illiberal democracy. The Thai State claims to function as a civil society with an intersectionality between gender inequality and activism in its political spheres.
Judith Meuli was an American feminist, activist and scientist.
Toni Carabillo was an American feminist, graphic designer, and historian.
Katherine Spillar is the American executive editor of Ms. and co-founder and executive director of the Feminist Majority Foundation (FMF) and the Feminist Majority.
Embedded feminism is the attempt of state authorities to legitimize an intervention in a conflict by co-opting feminist discourses and instrumentalizing feminist activists and groups for their own agenda. This term was introduced in the analysis of the US-led invasion of Afghanistan, but can also be applied to several historical examples where women's rights were used as justification and legitimization of Western interventionism.
This is a Timeline of second-wave feminism, from its beginning in the mid-twentieth century, to the start of Third-wave feminism in the early 1990s.
Jo Ann Evansgardner was an American psychologist and social activist. Born in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, she studied psychology at the University of Pittsburgh and met her husband, Gerald Gardner, whom she married the same year she received her bachelor's degree. The couple moved to Dublin, Ireland, but returned to Pittsburgh after five years, where Evansgardner received a doctorate in experimental psychology. She co-founded the Association for Women in Psychology in 1969 and was active alongside her husband in the NAACP and numerous feminist organizations.
