Second Wave Feminism

Overview

Second-wave feminism is usually defined as lasting from the 1960s to the 1980s. The beginning of this wave is often defined by the publishing of The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan. In the first wave, women were mostly fighting for legal rights such as the right to vote. In this second wave the scope of the feminist movement broadened to include issues such as reproductive rights, sexuality and domestic violence. As in the first wave, white feminists mostly dominated the mainstream, although they began to speak more about topics such as class, middle and upper class women were still much more prevalent writers.