Feminism Unfinished

Reprinted   by  permission  of Ms.  magazine,   ©   2009.

When    they    first   emerged on  the scene   in  the 1990s,  many    of  the “new    wave”   of  feminists   conceived   of

feminism    in  very    individualistic terms.  For these   younger women,  feminism    represented greater personal

choice—in   their   career  opportunities,  decisions   about   motherhood, and expressions of  sexuality.  For

them,   feminism    was a   way of  life,   a   way of  seeing  the world,  a   mindset as  much    as  a   movement.   This    gave

them    the freedom to  create  lives   that    were    much    different   than    those   of  their   mothers or  grandmothers.   Yet

as  they    developed   their   own activist    agendas and participated    in  ongoing feminist    projects,   they    began   to

recognize   that    individual  empowerment,    while   important,  is  not enough. In  its current manifestations—

whether we  look    at  the One Billion Rising  global  movement    to  end rape,   the feminist    blogosphere,    or

groups  fighting    for the rights  of  mothers and other   caregivers—feminism demonstrates    the continued

importance  of  collective  action. Looking forward,    the unfinished  work    of  feminism    will    require a

diversity   of  voices, willing to  come    together    to  secure  freedom and justice for all.

1. Rebecca Walker, “How Anita Hill Woke a Generation of Feminists,” The Root, October 15, 2011, http://www.theroot.com/views/how-
   anita-hill-woke-generation-feminists.


2. In 1991, there were two Asian American senators, both Democrats from Hawaii: Daniel Inouye and Daniel Akaka. There were also two
   white women senators: Nancy Kassebaum, Republican from Kansas, and Barbara Mikulski, Democrat from Maryland.


3. Deborah Siegel, Sisterhood Interrupted: From Radical Women to Grrls Gone Wild (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007), 112.


4. Eleanor Holmes Norton quoted in Krissah Thompson, “For Anita Hill, the Clarence Thomas Hearings Haven’t Really Ended,”
   Washington Post, October 6, 2011, http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2011-10-06/politics/35280664_1_thomas-hearings-anita-hill-sexual-
   harassment.


5. “African American Women in Defense of Ourselves,” New York Times, November 17, 1991, A-53.


6. Rebecca Walker, “Becoming the Third Wave,” Ms., January/February 1992, 41; Walker, “How Anita Hill.”


7. Walker, “Becoming the Third Wave,” 41.


8. Rebecca Walker, “Being Real: An Introduction,” in To Be Real: Telling the Truth and Changing the Face of Feminism, ed. Rebecca
   Walker (New York: Anchor Books, 1995), xxxii–xxxiii.


9. Walker, “Being Real,” xxxiii.


10. Rebecca Walker, “Foreword: We Are Using This Power to Resist,” in The Fire This Time: Young Activists and the New Feminism, ed.
    Vivien Labaton and Dawn Lundy Martin (New York: Anchor Books, 2004), xv.


11. Catherine S. Manegold, “No More Nice Girls: In Angry Droves, Radical Feminists Just Want to Have Impact,” New York Times, July 12,
    1992, http://www.nytimes.com/1992/07/12/nyregion/no-more-nice-girls-in-angry-droves-radical-feminists-just-want-to-have-impact.html;
    “Rebecca Walker,” Time, December 5, 1994, 94.


12. Manegold, “No More Nice Girls.”


13. Walker, “Foreword,” xvi.