Making Waves: Re-teaching the Parameters of the American Women’s Movement

Within the last decade, historians, especially prominent women historians, have argued against the accepted wave model. The wave parameters of the American Women’s Movement consisted of the years 1848-1920 as the first wave, 1960-1982 as the second wave, and 1990-present day as the third wave. Introduction of new scholarship divides the women’s movement into a more spatially friendly structure of either feminist subdivision or radio waves. Exploring these two well-supported theories necessitates a re-teaching in the classroom for both instructors and students. Instrumental methodology can examine and explore the current framework analysis by dissecting the traditional woman suffrage metanarrative. In our global world the women’s movement needs a more inclusive legacy past the older wave model of white, elite, woman centric participation within an American ethnocentric scope. The women’s movement, spanning three centuries of struggle, actually includes a full roster of ethnically diverse women and men encompassed and influenced by a wider global narrative. Similar to the AHA/NEH Bridging Cultures project challenging global inclusion by community college professors teaching the U.S. History survey, there needs to be an expansion of subject material and world history emphasis to better educate our students. Use of primary and secondary sources, photograph/media analysis, and interactive assessments will demonstrate the global intersectionality of the women’s movement in this presentation.