women as agents of change
Women as agents of change
INTRODUCTION
Throughout most of Western and African history, women were confined to the domestic sphere, while public life was reserved for men. Women were denied the right to own property, to education, or to participate in public life. Women can change the institutional imbalances in society through advocacy, lobbying and activism. This paper therefore seeks to discuss in detail how women can be agents of change in all institutions that govern their lives through venturing into politics, using church platforms to preach about gender issues, resocialisation, becoming role models to their daughters, taking up agriculture and mining work, involvement in decision making positions, having economic independence just to mention a few.
Depending on time, culture and country feminist around the world had different causes and goals. Most western feminist movements worked to obtain women’s rights and were considered to be limited to the modern feminist movements and its descendants Kumari (1986). The history, events and structure of the feminist movements were closely related to individuals, specific protests and the broader transformations which took place in the American culture and other parts of the world. However the history of feminism was divided into three waves and each wave dealt with different aspects and goals. These different waves of feminism were not only reflective to the cultural revolution in America, but it was also the way in which the feminist movements used in different social movement tactics to encourage women to become active and motivate individuals in order to make a change for all women (Spender,1993).
Susan (1992) sites that the first wave refers to the feminist movement of the 18th through the early 20th century and it mainly focused on women’s suffrage, domestic violence, sexual harassment and sexual assaults. In the economical context they advocated for workplace rights, including equal pay, opportunity for
INTRODUCTION
Throughout most of Western and African history, women were confined to the domestic sphere, while public life was reserved for men. Women were denied the right to own property, to education, or to participate in public life. Women can change the institutional imbalances in society through advocacy, lobbying and activism. This paper therefore seeks to discuss in detail how women can be agents of change in all institutions that govern their lives through venturing into politics, using church platforms to preach about gender issues, resocialisation, becoming role models to their daughters, taking up agriculture and mining work, involvement in decision making positions, having economic independence just to mention a few.
Depending on time, culture and country feminist around the world had different causes and goals. Most western feminist movements worked to obtain women’s rights and were considered to be limited to the modern feminist movements and its descendants Kumari (1986). The history, events and structure of the feminist movements were closely related to individuals, specific protests and the broader transformations which took place in the American culture and other parts of the world. However the history of feminism was divided into three waves and each wave dealt with different aspects and goals. These different waves of feminism were not only reflective to the cultural revolution in America, but it was also the way in which the feminist movements used in different social movement tactics to encourage women to become active and motivate individuals in order to make a change for all women (Spender,1993).
Susan (1992) sites that the first wave refers to the feminist movement of the 18th through the early 20th century and it mainly focused on women’s suffrage, domestic violence, sexual harassment and sexual assaults. In the economical context they advocated for workplace rights, including equal pay, opportunity for