Breaking the Waves:
Continuities and Discontinuities Between Second and Third Wave Feminism

a thesis in progress by Jenn Frederick

The Concept of Waves: Continuity & Discontinuity

The first known reference to Waves of feminism was in a statement by Kate Millet who "declared that that the first wave of feminism in the early twentieth century, which lost much of its force with the achievement of women's right to vote, was reborn as a second wave of feminist action in the early 1960s"¹. An early feminist magazine was named The Second Wave, for Kate Millet's statement.

While the term and identification with Second Wave seems to be a declaration of continuity with the First Wave of feminism, some see the declaration of a Third Wave as "a means of distancing itself from earlier feminism, as a means of stressing what are perceived as discontinuities with earlier feminist thought and activity"².

The First Wave is generally considered to have taken place from 1848 with the first Women's Rights Convention in Seneca Falls to 1920 with the ratification of the 19th amendment (women's suffrage). At that point, many of the First Wave feminists "scattered to work on a variety of issues - child labor protection, prenatal care for mothers, and peace"^³. While many of these women were activists during the period from 1920 to the 1960s, there was no "single mass-based social movement"⁴. Many of these women were committed to "the woman question"; however, they did not call themselves "feminists"⁵.

The rebirth of feminism, as a "single mass-based social movement"⁶ began in the 1960s. "[T]o call something a wave implies that it is one among others, in some sort of succession, both similar to and different from the other occurrences"⁷. That is precisely what the Second Wave was, building on many of the successes of the First Wave, reviving some of the failures, and redefining some of the issues.

This rebirth, however, occurred after a significant period of time. The distinction between those feminists of the First Wave and those of the Second Wave was clear. "[O]ne of the obvious differences between the first and second waves is time . . . if there is a temporal difference between the second and third waves, it is neither so great nor so visible as that which separates the first from the second. If there is a third wave, it overlaps considerably with the second,"⁸. The question of temporal differences raises the question of what defines a "Wave" of feminism.

While it is true that the Second and Third Waves of feminism overlap significantly, causing some feminists to question where they belong⁹, it is also true that this new generation, while a continuation of the Second Wave, contains differences. These feminists have grown up in the midst of the fight the Second Wave began. Many of these feminists grew up in a time when they could take for granted rights and privileges that the Second Wave fought hard for. Third Wave feminists are picking up the task of completing the work the Second Wave did, as well as defining new issues for which to fight. "Each generation of women activists leaves an unfinished agenda for the next generation . . . It is for a new generation to identify what they need in order to achieve greater equality"¹⁰.

 ¹Northeastern University Libraries. The Second Wave: A Magazine of the New Feminism records, n.d., 1971-1984.
² Bailey, Cathryn. 1997. "Making waves and drawing lines: The politics of defining the vicissitudes of feminism." Hypatia: A journal of feminist philosophy 12(3), 17-28.
³Rosen, Ruth. 2001. The world split open: How the modern women's movement changed America. New York: Viking Press.
⁴ Ibid.
⁵ Ibid.
⁶ Ibid.
⁷Bailey, Cathryn. 1997. "Making waves and drawing lines: The politics of defining the vicissitudes of feminism." Hypatia: A journal of feminist philosophy 12(3), 17-28.
⁸ Ibid.
⁹ Ibid.
¹⁰ Rosen, Ruth. 2001. The world split open: How the modern women's movement changed America. New York: Viking Press.