A Comparative Study Of Asian American Women And Afro-American Women In American Women’s Movement Since The 1960s

In recent years, the increasing population of ethnic minorities gradually changed the American population structure. Asian Americans and Afro-Americans have become the two groups of ethnic minorities that grew fastest in America. They have begun to exert great influence on American society. Asian American women and Afro-American women, aipart of them, play a more and more significant role in the development of American culture and society. However, their rights were not gained overnight. They experienced a long process of hard struggle for equality and freedom through women’s movement because of their colored skin in a white dominant society. What’s more, they faced prejudice and oppression from males. Even in the circle of women, they were not equally treated due to their different classes.Women of Asian Americans and Afro-Americans demonstrated different characteristics in the women’s movement. This paper is to make a comparative study of Asian American women and Afro-American women in American women’s movement since the 1960s on the basis of previous study. The purpose of the study is to reveal the similarities and differences of the two groups in this period through analysis of the causes leading to them.The method of comparison is mainly used, induction and historical study are also employed in the process of research. Spivak’s post-colonialism theory and bell hooks’ feminism theory are the theoretical basis of this paper. The structure of the thesis is as follows:The first chapter of the thesis is the introduction, where the author offers a brief introduction to the writing of the whole paper, including the reason for the topic, the purpose and significance of the research, the research background, the theoretical basis and the thesis of this paper.The second chapter is a brief review of the history of American women’s movement to provide a general background to fully understand the Asian American women and the Afro-American women in the women’s movement.The third chapter is an account of the situation of Asian American women and Afro-American women in the women’s movement since the 1960s. It gives a specific description of the performances of women of the two groups respectively after looking back the general history of these women in America.Chapter four and five are the presentation of the similarities and differences between the Asian American women and the Afro-American women in the women’s movement since the 1960s. The similarities involve their similar goals and ways, similar obstacles encountered and similar achievements. While, the differences exist in their enthusiasm, momentum, guiding theories and so on.The reasons for the similarities and differences are analyzed in the sixth chapter. There is a combination of many reasons, among which, the social background, the improvement of women’s self-quality and the domestic need of U.S government are the most important for the similarities, and the different sensitivity, different historical background and the different social attention are the most important for the differences.The last chapter is the conclusion part, in which the author draws the conclusion that the Asian American women are a little lagging behind than the Afro-American women in each stage of the movement. Their achievements and influence on the society are also poorer than that of the Afro-American women. Therefore, it is necessary for Asian American women to further improve their self-quality and strengthen their internal unity in order to promote their influence on American society.