second wave of feminism, the period of the women’s movement in the United States that emerged in the 1960s and lasted through the 1970s. Unlike the first wave of feminism, of the 19th and early 20th centuries, which focused primarily on securing women’s right to vote, the second wave lobbied for equality in all aspects of women’s experience, particularly in employment, politics, marriage and family, education, and sexuality. Landmark victories of second-wave feminists include the passage of the Equal Pay Act (1963) and Title IX (1972) and the legalization of abortion through the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling on Roe v. Wade (1973).

Foundations of second-wave feminism

The second wave of feminism began in the 1960s, a time of momentous social change in the United States spurred by the civil rights movement and Vietnam War protests. Although the fight for women’s rights had become dormant following the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment in 1920, which granted women suffrage, by the mid-20th century a new generation of feminist writers had set the tone for a renewed activism. French writer and philosopher Simone de Beauvoir provided the foundation for the modern era of feminist thinking in 1949 with the publication of her book Le Deuxième Sexe (The Second Sex), which explores definitions of womanhood and argues against society’s treatment of women as secondary to men.

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