ABSTRACT

This chapter considers several ways in which United States (US) feminist efforts, which held so much promise in the last half of the twentieth century, and which did accomplish so much to change women's lives. It considers how US "second wave" feminist organizing was split into different organizationally distinct movements, and how liberal feminism, with its class-based feminist "associationalism" became ascendant, leaving behind the issues of women on the lower rungs of the economic ladder. The chapter shows that US feminisms' ability to transcend the stall in feminist policy progress will depend on the continuing but intensified commitment to a broadly based intersectional politics, especially one that tackles economic burdens still faced by American women. It argues that feminist organizing had important spillover effects, sparking other social movements, especially but not limited to the movement for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender rights. US feminist organizations are best characterized by a commitment to intersectionality and coalitional work.