February 20, 2004

Panel to discuss feminism’s ‘Third Wave’

• CSUS celebrates Women’s History Month
• Dolores Huerta brings her message to campus
• Women's History Month Events

There’s a new feminist in town. She’s young. She’s concerned about issues of globalization, gender, race and class. And she assumes rights and opportunities that her mother or grandmother only dreamed of. She’s the Third Wave Feminist, and she’ll be the topic when a panel of women’s rights activists and leaders close out California State University, Sacramento’s month-long celebration of Women’s History Month. The free talk will be in the University Union Orchard Room at 10:30 a.m., Tuesday, March 30.

Panelists include Megan Seely, president of the California chapter of the National Organization for Women, Michelle Matisons, professor of women’s studies at CSUS, and Jessica Heskin, women’s educator and advocate at the CSUS Women’s Resource Center.

“Third Wave Feminism” refers to a new incarnation of the struggle to achieve economic, political and social parity for women, and may signal a fundamental shift in the way women view themselves and their place in society.
“It’s a whole different generation,” says Heskin. She considers herself a “traditional” feminist and is uneasy with some of the new ideas that are emerging.

But defining Third Wave Feminism is not easy. Matisons says the feminist community is at odds over what the term means.

“That’s one of the things the panel will address—the usefulness of the term,” says Matisons. Some see it as a complete break with the older feminist tradition while others view it as another step in the evolution of feminism.

For more information, call (916) 278-7388 or visit the CSUS Women’s Resource Center’s website, www.csus.edu/wrc. Media assistance is available from CSUS public affairs at (916) 278-6156.

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