Women's Social Movements, History of

Beth E. Schneider

Women have always been involved in social protest. Questions can be asked about when, how, and why women have chosen to undertake collective action, and what sort of action they have undertaken. Some of women's social movement activity is in the interests of explicitly feminist goals; other times, women are participants in activities focused on community issues not defined as feminist, to which they nevertheless bring their gendered experience. Women are also often involved in social movements related to issues with little obvious relationship to the conditions of women's lives, movements with goals such as environmental protection, labor rights, peace, or economic justice. Each of these constitutes a unique form of gendered social movement participation. This entry focuses on the history of women's participation in social movements associated primarily with feminism and its consequences in the United States. By way of conclusion, there is a brief discussion of women's global ...

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