This era of feminism movement is the most recent and ongoing one, and hopefully not the last. The introduction of fourth wave feminism was in 2008, the internet and social media being its biggest outreach platform and stage to get their voices heard, fourth wave feminism started when social media started ex. Twitter in 2006. Fourth wave feminists use(d) this advantage that the first, second and third wavers didn’t have. With being online being this accessible, feminists spoke out on topics/issues like gender equality, the abortion bill, reproductive rights and other issues featured in the third wave. But the fourth wave; consisting of mostly millenials, was more open to a larger audience, including transgender women and nonbinary (androgynous) people. Topics and issues expanded to matters dealing with body positivity, sexuality, queer women, one's body (a woman's body):how it’s their choice; my body my choice, and affairs dealing with the topic of sex. Something 1980’s feminist leader Betty Dodson felt that all the previous feminist movements left out. Sexual harassment/street harassment and rape being a significant part of it also.

 

An example of feminists speaking out against rape culture and the stereotypes and social view on rape, was the SlutWalk movement. One of the first moves in the fourth wave, April  3, 2011 marked the day of the first powerful protest march. The SlutWalk was a movement and protest fueled by the comment of constable Michael Sanguinetti of the Toronto Police Force. While investigating the case of a campus rape at a University, Sanguinetti let this remark slip: “I’ve been told I’m not supposed to say this-however women should avoid dressing like sluts in order not to victimized.” Implying that the reason why rape happens, is because women dress in a way that is considered “sluttish”. When in reality, rape or any form of sexual assault is never the victim’s fault.

 

The first rally of the SlutWalk happened in Toronto, Ontario subsequently, feminists and supporters gathered at Queen’s Park to boost awareness on rape culture, how a women/man dresses should not influence or condone the cause of sexual assault and slut-shaming. Thousands of people attended, women, men, children, it was all-inclusive, the SlutWalk was not just dedicated to women but was for anybody who felt targeted because of the way they dressed was the cause of their sexual assault. The many that did show up attended seminars, and speeches given by prominent feminist activists throughout the day, some dressed in casual clothing while others decided to emphasize their support and point by dressing like “sluts”. The march later carried on down to the Toronto Police Headquarters, closing the protest, for the day. But that wasn’t the end. This movement started by Heather Jarvis and friend Sonya Barnett sparked inspiration for feminists around the world, leading to SlutWalks dominating feminist movements across the globe. Because of the widespread media attention the SlutWalk in Toronto received: creating a Facebook page, Twitter account, the replies were overwhelming, the SlutWalk went viral nationally and internationally.

 

In the same year later on, many countries started their own SlutWalks, branching off from this grass root movement, first spreading across Canada, then to the U.S and gradually to the Atlantic and Europe. SlutWalk didn’t just blow up in protests and feminism marches but made a huge impact on the history of feminism as well, gaining enormous amounts of support from the feminist community. The now worldwide movement success spread from Toronto to Halifax, Montreal, Edmonton, Winnipeg and other Canadian cities, then to other parts of North America such as New York City, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Houston and many other American cities/states. In Europe, this feminist movement first started popping up in the United Kingdom, then Switzerland, Germany, France and also various places in South Africa and in Australia, New Zealand, Argentina, Sweden and the Netherlands and the first in Asia: South Korea.

 

Heather Jarvis and Sonya Barnett were more than pleased and delighted to know that the movement that started as a local outrage, spread to become an international movement, especially in the U.S where a highly known social media figure has used her publicity for this feminist movement. Amber Rose, in the U.S has organized her own event that ties in with this movement, naming it The Amber Rose SlutWalk Festival; her purpose to educate people on rape and how it is never the victim’s fault. A day at the festival is filled with activities like sign-making, dynamic speeches delivered by sexual assault victims, educational booths, art shows, the awareness walk and many other great things to help victims and supporters raise their voices.

 

In Britain the SlutWalk has 5 major locations: Edinburgh, Cardiff, Brighton and Birmingham. Thousands attended to these UK movements. In London, the organizer of the highly populated street event was 17 year old Anastasia Richardson whose event attracted a diverse age range of people, from 11 year olds to middle aged men and women.

Melbourne, Australia is the location of Australia’s SlutWalk, starting up the same year as the Toronto SlutWalk and continuing to the present day; having about 2500 people rally around the first year and more people attending each following year. Feminists and supporters who join the SlutWalk get to listen to inspiring speeches from public figures/professionals like Dr. Leslie Cannold, Monica Dux, Ursula Benstead, Elena Jeffreys and Cody Smith. Co-organizer Karen Pickering’s purpose: “Every year this event coincidences with the issue of policing women’s clothing. There’s a lot of push-back against that now, but people come every year because the issue hasn’t gone away.”

 

The first SlutWalk in Asia was held in Seoul, South Korea, their mission still the same, but a year later their purpose broadened to equal pay issues and other women’s rights. Showing that Korea is slowly growing as a country for women.

 

Now finally we move to the most recent and ongoing Feminist movement that is widespread and blew up all over social media: the days leading to it and the days after the event. The Women’s March is an ongoing movement that started this year on January 21, 2017 with the it’s opening show to the world: The Women’s March on Washington. A worldwide protest that advocated for the reproductive rights women are denied, LGBTQ+, women’s rights, freedom of speech, racial equality, and other human rights that people are concerned about; with the Trump administration being in power now. The Women’s March was not just about protecting the rights of women but raising awareness on general human rights regarding race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, religion, and etc. as co-organizer Linda Sarsour put it. Partners and sponsors supporting the Washington March included: Planned Parenthood, NRDC (both premier sponsors and partners), others included NARAL Pro-choice America, Human Rights Campaign, NOW, National Center for Lesbian Rights and many others.

 

The origins of the march started with Hawaiian woman, Teresa Shook. After the upsetting results of the 2016 American election was released, Teresa, who like many others were frustrated with the Trump win decided to make an event on Facebook, inviting about 40 of her friends to do a march on Washington. 40 friends, turned into 10 000 people overnight joining the Facebook event and 10 000 giving a maybe towards the march. Support flooded Teresa’s event, many feminists/activists and people eager to advocate for women’s rights, LGBTQ+ rights and racial rights, not protesting against Trump personally, but the inequities he brought with the decisions he has made. Her event led to other people such as Evvie Harmon, Fontaine Pearson, Bob Bland and Breanne Butler making similar events on Facebook to this, with the same idea and the same title which resulted in thousands of women signing up to march and take a stand. With the popularity of the March on Washington rising in the world, the four girls mentioned above, teamed up to form an official page for the Women’s March on Washington, the beginning of a powerful movement. Co-founders also included Linda Sasour, a Palestinian Brooklyn-born advocate for racial justice and civil rights activist, Tamika D. Mallory a very involved social activist who has worked closely with the Obama administration, and Carmen Perez, a dedicated advocate for gender equality and other ongoing civil rights.

 

The women-led protest, Women’s March on Washington happened on January 21, 2017: the day after Donald Trump’s inauguration. The numbers surpassed the organizers’ estimate of 200 000 people attending the march; about 440 000 to 600 000 to 1 million people participated in what became the one of the biggest protests in U.S history, along with the third wave feminism movement: The March for Women’s Lives in 2004. It was noted that the number of Washington participants surpassed the number of people at Trump’s inauguration. Among the thousands that participated in the Washington march, many included well-known public figures, politicians and celebrities, some there to spectate and march along with participants and some there to make a speech or statement. Those who could not make it to the Washington march because of distance and travel didn’t have to just wait at home and watch the impactful protest at home, because around the world, many feminists who supported the cause formed sister marches, marching for the same thing. There was an estimate of a total of 673 sister marches across the globe ranging from Canada to Bulgaria, the total number of marches internationally reached a massive figure of 5 million and above. This has impacted feminism history in a number of ways.

 

The Women’s March on Washington has made a massive impact on the history of feminism, number wise in the participation and the body of itself. In the first wave and second wave, the women who protested and fought for their rights only included white, cis-gendered women, excluding all women of colour and the LGBTQ+ community from rallies and movements. But now the Women’s March and fourth wave of feminism prides itself on focusing on bringing ALL women and people into the fight for rights. The march was made for everybody who wanted to fight.

 

The foundation laid out for the march was based on many principles, one critical pillar that pushed the march forward, was that we as people stand together and fight for our rights together, we are all equal, nothing divides us. As Washington March speaker, prominent feminist Gloria Steinem put it: “Our constitution does not begin with 'I, the President.' It begins with, 'We, the People.' I am proud to be one of thousands who have come to Washington to make clear that we will keep working for a democracy in which we are linked as human beings, not ranked by race or gender or class or any other label.” And as the official website for the women-led organization/protest said: “We believe that Women’s Rights are Human Rights and Human Rights are Women’s Rights. We must create a society in which women - including Black women, Native women, poor women, immigrant women, disabled women, Muslim women, lesbian queer and trans women - are free and able to care for and nurture their families, however they are formed, in safe and healthy environments free from structural impediments.”  The feminists and activists who attended and organized the Women’s March on Washington did not just go to fight for women’s rights and equalities, but started the march as a way to express their concerns for civil rights for everyone and dealing with the inequalities everybody might encounter. Eight other major pillars the Women’s March was built on were: Ending Violence, Reproductive Rights, LGBTQIA(LGBTQ+) Rights, Worker’s Rights, Civil Rights, Disability Rights, Immigrant Rights and Environmental Justice. All these known as the “Unity Principles” acting as the string tying every marcher together.

 

January 21 was a day filled with many exciting and empowering speeches, entertainment, and other inspirational movements. Speeches were delivered by many powerful women, politicians, celebrities and socially visible advocates for women’s rights and human rights. The list of speakers comprised of: Gloria Steinem, Scarlett Johansson, Ai-jen Poo, Aida Hurtado, Amanda Nguyen, America Ferrera, Angela Davis, Ashley Judd, Bob Bland, Carmen Perez, J. Bob Alotta, Linda Sarsour, Maryum Ali (Muhammad Ali’s daughter), Tamika Mallory, 6 year-old Sophie Cruz and many other great speakers, all these people visible in advocacy (a full list of speakers is available on the official site for The Women’s March on Washington). Each speaker delivered a moving and inspiring speech, whether it was a few words and sentences that got out or a whole page of dialogue, it moved the crowd of protesters forward. The official rally started at 10:00 am and lasted till 1:15pm, 1:15 was also the start of the actual march. There were also a variety of celebrities and politicians present at the march, either there to make a speech or just participate and support the march. Celebrities included Emma Watson, well known actress and feminist, also UN Women Goodwill Ambassador and creator of the campaign HeforShe, Madonna, Katy Perry, Rihanna, Amy Schumer, Adam R. Dell (founder of Dell Inc.) and tons more. Senator Bernie Sanders also attended, as well as U.S Secretary of State John Kerry.

 

The Women’s March spread like a wildfire across the globe, sparking interest in many advocates for human rights in other countries and cities. Of course the many that were located in farther countries and cities could not make it to the Washington march because of distance, so activists internationally showed their support by planning and organizing sister marches which had the same march for the same cause. Countries and cities that were involved in the Women’s March sister marches consisted of: many of the other U.S states, Canada, Czech Republic, Ireland, The United Kingdom, Japan, Mexico, Greece, India, Kenya, Israel, Iraq, France, Germany, Argentina, Australia, and many other countries (a full list of the sister march locations can be found on the official website for the Women’s March). All of the sister marches overflowing with marchers and activists showing their pride for human rights and the awareness, it was a big day on January 21, 2017, the whole world united to protest for myriad of human rights. Which goes to show that a small action can inevitably make a HUGE impact (on the whole world).

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This might have been the end of the March on Washington, but it was not the end of this organization's movement. After the end of the Women’s March on Washington, the organizers didn’t want to stop the action there, they started their campaign: 10 actions 100 days. The Women’s March on Washington being the first action, the upcoming and second action is set for March 8 2017, International Women’s Day. Women will protest behind the title of the event: A Day Without A Woman. Organizers put together this event to advocate the inequalities women face at the workplace, to show that women have a significant place in the economy, to bring awareness to how women can be in power also not just men and bringing to light the fact that women of color, the  LGBTQ+ community and who are disabled face discrimination when being hired and at the workplace. On the official website, it states how to participate in the nationwide and worldwide protest, simply just don’t go to work. Show the significant difference of having the other half of the human race not being present for the whole day. As it states in the FAQ on their website:  “The goal is to highlight the economic power and significance that women have in the US and global economies, while calling attention to the economic injustices women and gender nonconforming people continue to face.  We play an indispensable role in the daily functions of life in all of society, through paid & unpaid, seen & unseen labor.  

We must have the power to control our bodies and be free from gender norms, expectations and stereotypes. We must free ourselves and our society from the constant awarding of power, agency and resources disproportionately to masculinity, to the exclusion of others.

We must end the hiring discrimination that women, particularly mothers, women of color, women with disabilities, Indigenous women, lesbian, queer and trans women still face each day in our nation.  We believe that creating workforce opportunities that reduce discrimination against women and mothers allow economies to thrive. Nations and industries that support and invest in caregiving and basic workplace protections—including benefits like paid family leave, access to affordable childcare, sick days, healthcare, fair pay, vacation time, and healthy work environments—have shown growth and increased capacity.

We believe in Gender Justice and the protection of the human rights of gay, lesbian, bi, queer, trans, Two-Spirit and gender nonconforming people.”  The end of the fourth wave still has a long way to go, with the upcoming A Day Without A Woman event.