Today, many people do not fully comprehend the theory or ideology of feminism. The roots of the new women rebellion were anchored in the frustrations felt by mothers with a college education and whose discontentment incited their daughters to take up a new course. If the abolition movement inspired the first wave feminists, their great grand-daughters were pushed into the movement by civil rights campaigns, which include justice and equality to women. Historically, there have been three waves of feminism. The First Wave of feminism began in the middle of the 19th Century and developed into the movement of women suffrage. The second wave began in the late 1950s up to the 1980s. Feminist scholars and historians describe today’s feminism push as the third wave of feminism. The forcing of women out of workplaces after World War II sparked the second wave of feminism. This essay will discuss the artworks of three ancient and modern artists including Priyesh Soni, Susan Bee, and Ewa Partum. The essay will explain how these artworks depicted the feminism fight or contributed to the same while linking them to the Second Wave of Feminism.
The Ideologies That Shaped the Second Wave Movement
The above painting by India’s Priyesh Soni is a clear depiction of the oppression of women before the feminism fight began. As shown in the picture, women had no voice to express their opinion or wishes. The hands in the picture represent the patriarchic society which blocked a woman to have a say in her welfare. Ironically, Soni is a modern male artist, which shows that men joined the fight of feminism in contemporary times. To deliver themselves from society’s oppressive hands, women had to form feminist movements and fight for their rights (Reilly & Nochlin, 2008). But how did it all start? During the 1940s, women were engaged in more employment opportunities as men had left for overseas to assist in the World War II. After the war, men returned and took up most of the employment positions hence forcing women out of jobs. With the knowledge that they could effectively perform in jobs and frustrations of being thrown out of employment in favor of men, women began the second wave of feminism. This generally developed into women advocating for improved access of women to education, employment, benefits, and reproductive rights. The movement concentrated on the general inequalities that women faced in the society including poor working conditions, while some feminists focused on social ills such as prostitution and alcoholism (Baumgardner and Richards, 2003). This fact of women being oppressed and being denied freedom and equality with men is what inspired modern artists such as Soni and Susan Bee whose painting is discussed below.
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The above painting by Susan Bee is a contemporary artwork that depicts a woman locked in a cage while a man is free. Like Soni, Susan Bee is a modern artist. However, unlike Soni, Susan is a female artist championing for feminism. Oil and enamel were used on this piece of painting, and it was done on a 24 inch by 30-inch linen surface. Modern art enthusiasts cherish Susan Bees artwork due to her expansive application of color and incorporation of narratives to bring out her subject, theme, and environment. The painting depicts various modern aspects in it such as the multicolored modern attire and the sophisticated look of the woman. Besides, the focus of the painting, like many others she has done, is on color, imagination, and fantasy. Bee is a special kind of artist as she collaborates with poets to effectively express the theme in her paintings. She focuses on creating artworks that accompany the work of poets. Her artworks can be said to be secondary as she creates her paintings out of film stills from the 1920s to the 1950s or other source materials (Reilly & Nochlin, 2008). Bee’s painting brings out the fact that women were barred from pursuing anything they wanted by society. This is hence a depiction of the Second Wave of Feminism as it shows how a woman was denied freedom of economic empowerment as compared to men. Women needed to create a movement that would champion for their rights, and this led to the rise of the Second Feminism Wave. A woman who is denied freedom could only watch as a man achieves his. Therefore, a woman found the need to fight for her freedom and liberate herself from society’s barriers. Artists of all kinds including painters and authors joined the movement.
World War II had demonstrated that women could make valuable contributions and perform tasks just like men would. Renowned author and feminist Simone de Beauvoir published a book entitled The Second Sex in 1949 that questioned the society’s view of women and their roles. In this book, Beauvoir is of the view that someone is not born a woman but rather becomes one. That idea brings out the notion that society is where gender roles are defined and forced upon women. Beauvoir is of the idea that society should let women define themselves rather than specifying how a woman should act and what she should do. While World War II proved that women could break out of their traditional gender roles, Beauvoir then questioned why the roles of women should see them be perpetuated as secondary to men at home and the workplace.
As the Second Wave of Feminism gained momentum in the 1960s, more feminist authors came up to advocate for women rights. For instance, the influential Betty Friedan did a study on her female classmates and discovered that most of them were unhappy with their housework and childcare roles in their families. This inspired her to author a book entitled The Feminine Mystique in the year 1963. In this book, Friedan questioned the ideals of the middle class white on motherhood and family life (Baumgardner and Richards, 2003). This is especially due to the fact that women’s aspirations were being stifled by domestic life
The portrait above is a 1974 Ewa Partum artwork known as “Change.” Tired of discrimination, Ewa Partum started incorporating her naked body into her artwork. Even though she was criticized with some people labeling this as an egocentric rather than a thoughtful maneuver, the feminist artist vehemently expressed her wish to change her body into art to destroy the perception that the body of a woman was no more than a sexual object. Partum artificially aged half of her face in the “Change” artwork above to address the beauty standards perpetrated by the patriarchic society which deem women as becoming undesirable as they age. The resultant image was finally exhibited on posters along with the quote “My problems are a woman’s problems.” The posters were them spread across socialist Poland (Reilly & Nochlin, 2008). The agenda of the second wave of feminism was to bring out the fact that women are more than just sex objects and that they can participate in the labor force as good as men do. Like Bee’s painting, Partum’s artwork also applied poetry and language to communicate the feminism theme that she was trying to champion for. The difference is, however, evident by the fact that Bee’s artwork was a normal painting done on a linen surface while Partum’s artwork was done on an actual woman’s body and the resultant image replicated on posters. Another notable difference is how modern Bee’s artwork is compared to Partum’s. Bee’s painting comes out as more sophisticated and modern as it applies a lot of colors while Partum’s image is a great piece of art but with less sophistication.
Feminism Victories
The efforts of the Second Wave of Feminism experienced some notable victories in the 1960s. The first big victory was the creation of the National Organization for Women and among the notable members was feminist and author Betty Friedan. Feminists of this era also boasted of the first great legislative piece in the form of the 1963 Equal Pay Act. This Act made it law that women will have the right to equal salaries and wages as men for similar jobs. This then made it possible for women to enter the labor force and not to be hindered by depressed wages as compared to men. Feminists also won on a global platform including the introduction of contraceptives and abortion in Europe. Contraception would then allow women to delay giving birth and hence first establish their careers while abortion gave them greater choices on children rearing (Baumgardner and Richards, 2003). Of course, artists such as Ewa Partum majorly contributed to these victories with modern artists including Susan Bee and Soni carrying on with the fight.
Arguments against the Second Wave of Feminism
The first major argument against the Second Feminism Movement is from a group that has been referred to as cultural feminists. Some authors and feminists consider cultural feminists as the third group of the split movement that included the liberal feminists and the radical feminists. Cultural feminism rejected the common notion that women are intrinsically similar to men and advocated for the celebration of qualities that are distinctly linked to women. These qualities include their greater regard for relationships that are affective and their nurturing characteristics. The cultural feminists inherently criticized the mainstream feminism’s efforts of entering the traditionally male fields. According to this conservative lot of feminists, mainstream feminist’s attempts of transforming women into men are denigrating the natural inclinations of women.
In her book entitled Sex Matters , Mona Charen claims that there is a fundamental difference between men and women and pretending otherwise has only caused havoc. The book is a clear indictment of the second wave feminism. Charen (2018) claims that the second wave feminists were unhappy and radical, and ironically enslaved to the view of two dead 19th Century males; Sigmund Freud and Karl Marx. According to the author, the feminist were very resolute in changing what women wanted completely. She further claims that the feminists of the second wave were wrong about the wants of women, human nature, and history and left behind a lot of wreckage. Such feminists insisted on setting new women standards that were strangely masculine. The results are obvious with the current “MeToo” movement manifesting one of the ways that the feminist movement has miserably been unsuccessful in delivering on its promises of women’s equality and freedom with regards to men. The conventional notion of marriage, children, grandchildren, home, and work (which is the hope of most women), did not form part of their objectives. The author asserts that the second wave feminists were bent in persuading women that such issues were snares and traps. But were they? Charen (2018) is simply saying that the whole struggle and fight of feminism seem to neglect the importance of traditional women’s roles. The second wave feminists seemed to hold and push a view that a woman who is successful in her home, marriage, and motherhood but not as much successful in her career is ultimately a failure in life. This made future generations of women to neglect the roles that make women what they are and push to become more like men. In the process, contemporary generations of women have undoubtedly become successful in their careers but at the expense of their important roles in family cohesion. Therefore, Charen (2018) asserts that the second wave feminists’ efforts were meant to solve one problem by creating another.
Undoubtedly, the second wave of feminism majorly transformed the American and Western Societies in the 1960s and years that followed. Due to this movement, major social changes occurred which include increased participation of women in the labor force and hence their increased prosperity. Contributing to this movement were authors and artists as discussed above. Artists such as Ewa Partum majorly contributed to these victories with modern artists including Susan Bee and Soni carrying on with the fight. This essay has discussed the major artworks of these artists and linked them to the second wave of feminism.
References
Baumgardner, J. and Richards, A. (2003). “The Number One Question about Feminism.” Feminists Studies, Vol. 29, Issue 2, Pp. 428-432.
Charan, M. (2018). “Sex Matters: How Modern Feminism Lost Touch with Science, Love, and Common Sense,” Crown Publishing Group, June 26, Pp. 121-128.
Reilly, M. & Nochlin, L. (2008). “Global Feminism: New Directions in Contemporary Art,” Brooklyn Museum and Merrell Publishers, New York, Pp. 225-250.
