IS THERE STILL A NEED FOR A WOMENS MOVEMENT
... The second wave women’s liberation movement owes much of its creation to the second world war, as women became part of the home front having to step and do traditionally accepted “male” occupations like manufacturing, mechanics, weapon building and general manual labour trades. ... A statistic from Natasha Walters “the new feminism” chapter outlines this “Among certain professionals-such as solicitors-newly qualified women now outnumber men” There are some similarities between the second wave movement and today, the notion of “sisterhood” which was created through feminism was concerned with women coming together through shared oppression which identified men as the “enemy” (groups like the New York radical feminists). ... These groups became known as consciousness raising groups and the natural progression from this was the creation of self help groups such as women’s aid (domestic violence), rape crisis and the well woman’s clinic many of which are still used and appreciated by our generation of women. ... It would be naïve to suggest domestic violence etc did not still happen, but help is on offer that was not always there for women in these situations. ... Although still not completely equal with men, women of the new generation are more concerned with education and starting a career rather than traditional roles of starting a family and being a housewife “The young, educated women at the end of the twentieth century is a new kind of woman, with quite different experiences and ambitions from her mothers generation” The new feminists in other words the modern women are not surprisingly more confident than any other generation as their upbringing was in a time of our history and society where two women were essentially running the country, Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and her majesty the Queen.