Essay 1 ID NAME SOC10004 - Sociological Foundations Assignment 3 - Essay eLA: NAME Date: 7th January 2022 Word Count: 1555
Essay 2 To What Extent is Feminism Supported and/or Criticised in Australian Contemporary Society? The feminist movement emerged out of a realisation of the traditional and institutionalised marginalisation, discrimination and disempowerment of women in the society, as well as the need to attain equality and freedom of choice. This paper will discuss the evolution of feminism; it will analyse the various ideologies of feminism and the sociological theories and concepts which relates to it. This will be followed by an examination of the extent of support and criticism feminism has received in Australia. It will then conclude based on the preceding facts that feminism is criticised in the Australian society because of its patriarchal culture. Historical Overview Feminism can be defined as the goal to achieve and establish personal, economic, social and political equality of all genders and to make available to women, the same opportunities and resources available to men (Raina 2017, p. 1). Over the years, feminism has gone through various phases. In 1894 and 1901 respectively, women in South Australia and Australia (Magarey 2015, p. 2), in what is referred to as the first wave of the feminist movement, achieved the right to vote. This period also signified the age of consent being raised from 13 to 16, the establishment of the Working Women Trades Union and the South Australian Women's Suffragette League, by Mary Lee, also leading to the right to education, wages, independence (in and from marriage), custodial and property rights and non-patriarchal religion (Anon 2018, p. 2). This however excluded indigenous men and women. Before this time, women in Australia had few rights, which were also usurped in marriage. All wages or property they owned had to be given up and they had no legal custody over their children (National Museum Australia, 2017).
Essay 3 The second wave which happened around the late 1960s (Anon 2018, p. 3), up until the late 1980s, focused on the right of women's sexuality outside of reproduction, roles of women in the workplace, rights to a choice of reproduction, abortion, contraception, relationships outside of marriage and rights to property and money. It also signified the establishment of support centres for women who were experiencing violence (Raina 2017, p. 3). This period experienced a diversity in the feminist movements. Black feminist raised the discourse for equality for women of colour on issues of sexism and racism through their civil rights movement (Anon 2018, p. 3). Additionally, indigenous women won the right to vote in federal elections and abortion was legalised. The third wave, also termed as intersectionality, lasted from the 1990s until the 2014 (Anon 2018, p. 3) and it accommodated women of diverse racial and cultural backgrounds, nationalities and religions (Raina 2020, p. 3). The priorities of the movement shifted to the power of women to achieve and their choice of gender and sexuality binaries (Anon 2018,