The Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs held an open dialogue presentation inspiring students to understand the challenges within the recent wave of the feminist movement.

The presentation, held in Maxwell Hall, was part of the Peer-to-Peer speaker series for Maxwell.

Karla Dominguez-Gonzalez and Andrea Svakova, who are both members of the Hubert H. Humphrey Fellowship Program, led the discussion. The fellowship program is designed to bring professionals from designated countries to the U.S. for a year to develop international, professional collaboration skills.

Dominguez-Gonzalez and Svakova are roommates, and the presentation on post-modern feminism was a “great way” to share the discussions they have about feminism at home, Dominguez-Gonzalez said.

Svakova said it is important to question issues of post-modern feminism because feminist ideals could fix a variety of social problems across nations.

“There are new problems evolving in our society and I think feminism has the tools to solve some of these problems,” said Svakova.

Their presentation began by reviewing the history of the feminist movement’s three waves.

The first wave of feminism began in the 19th century and continued through the beginning of the 20th century when women were demanding the right to vote, Dominguez-Gonzalez said. The second wave of feminism emerged in the 1960s when women began to challenge social constructions and the idea of patriarchy, she said.

“It was not about only realizing materialistic differences, but about building awareness of these differences,” Dominguez-Gonzalez said.

She added that the third wave of feminism, known as the “post-feminist era” began in the 1990s and continues today. In the post-feminist era, Dominguez-Gonzalez said, people often question whether or not feminism is still needed in a society where women have made progress in the workplace.

American women on average earn 81 percent of what men earn in the work force, Dominguez-Gonzalez said. She added that women make up 60 percent of the world’s poorest populations and 35 percent of women worldwide have experienced violence.

“The problem is not solved,” Svakova said.

Svakova and Dominguez-Gonzalez said the book “Lean In” by Sheryl Sandberg, the chief operating officer of Facebook, created some controversy about what barriers still exist for women in the workplace.

Dominguez-Gonzalez said that in Sandberg’s book, Sandberg says a glass ceiling no longer exists and women have been taught to not “lean in.” Now, women just need to be more accountable for their ambition to be as successful as men, she said.

Women should also work to have the right to ‘lean back’ and not be held to the societal expectation of being both a good mother and a successful businesswoman, she said.

“The ‘lean in’ thing will not work if you do not change the social structure, and we need the right to lean back because we cannot be a super woman,” Dominguez-Gonzalez said.

Svakova ended the presentation by asking the audience to think about the feminist tools they can use to better society as they approach leadership positions.

“The question is: is feminism dead? How do you see yourself helping these issues?” Svakova said.

Bridget Walsh, a senior anthropology major, said she hopes one day to apply these ideas to her goal to open a non-profit providing art education for impoverished children in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

“It’s always interesting to hear from a different setting how I can apply feminist concepts to the kind of work that I want to go into,” Walsh said, “ and the whole concept of ‘leaning in’ and changing the social construction — that’s totally applicable to what I want to do.”

Published on April 2, 2014 at 11:58 pm

Contact Anna: almerod@syr.edu