What is the politics of gender? Gender politics includes opposition to gender roles as too oppressive, restrictive, and arbitrary. Women’s opposition to restrictions became political as they banded...

What is the politics of gender? Gender politics includes opposition to gender roles as too oppressive, restrictive, and arbitrary. Women’s opposition to restrictions became political as they banded together to fight gender inequality. Men often also find their own gender roles restrictive, and some believe the fight for women’s rights has led to reverse discrimination. The U.S. women’s movement began in the nineteenth century with the firstwave feminists, who fought for entry into the public sphere, including the right to vote and attend college. The second wave of feminism occurred in the 1960s and 70s, when women were fighting obstacles to advancement and were focusing on gender inequality in their own relationships. The third wave of feminism is occurring today among the younger women who interact with and through mass media and consumerism. They tend to focus on multiculturalism and believe that the second wave of feminism is dead. Many young women do not identify as feminists but believe in the principles of feminism. They feel equal to men. Liberal feminism focuses on individual work to remove obstacles to women’s freedom. Radical feminists believe inequality stems from patriarchy, and multicultural feminists believe that all women’s experiences are not the same and are affected by intersections of race, class, sexuality, and so on.