top of page

Waves of Feminism

#MeToo

Survey cited
Sources Used:
Bustle
Fourth-Wave Feminism
​

Something to BUZZ About

Standing out like a bright yellow school bus in pile of backed-up Mopac traffic lies the latest hive of feminism buzzing between 41st Street and Lamar: Bumble, the female empowerment app-turned-corporation that is encouraging women to make the first move in the 21st century.

 

Looking back on feminist history, this idea of women making the first move may seem less than revolutionary. With standout activists dating back to Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony and Lucretia Mott, powerful women standing up for what they want dates back more than one hundred years. Even so, this goal of full, feminine equality has yet to be conquered in the year 2017, but Bumble and its headquarters team here in Austin, Texas are hard at work to change that perspective.

​

Launched in 2014, Bumble joined the crowd of mobile dating applications for single people to download and—hopefully—find their one true love. However, this app came with a twist: once two people swiped right on each other (signaling they'd like to get to know each other), it was up to the woman to make the first move within a twenty-four-hour period, or the connection would then vanish.

'BEE KIND' illuminates the open office space on the second floor.

A brightly painted exterior greets anyone who enters the Bumble HQ in

Austin, Texas.

Founder and CEO Whitney Wolfe didn’t blindly craft this rule out of thin air. After leaving another dating app company, Tinder, due to a sexual harassment lawsuit, she decided to launch a 2.0-version of the platform that put a safe and respectful community first. Based on a mission statement of empowerment for everyone, this idea transformed into the now multi-million-dollar brand that has further launched two other apps: BumbleBizz for networking connections, and BumbleBFF for friendships, both enabled on the same swipe-right (or left) platform, and both instilling a feeling of females having a seat at the table.

 

 

Similar to the bright-yellow exterior, Bumble stands out internally as well: Eighty-percent of its workforce is made up of women. One in particular, Merchandising Manager Paige Locke, is proud of the work Bumble has put forward so far, but knows it’s going to be a while until this feminist formula–if there is one–is completely figured out.

“I don’t think you can necessarily go out and tell women to just make the first move, you have to bring her into a world where she feels that she can do that,” Locke said. “On the app and within the community of the app, Bumble really protects that space, but you don’t always have that Bumble-app protection in the real world.”

 

Locke graduated from St. Edwards University and worked in the retail-merchandising world before finding her spot in the hive this past year. While she said she was lucky to be surrounded by powerful women and mothers as her professional superiors before joining the Bumble team, being treated as an equal in society still comes as a struggle.

 

“If you leave Austin, or if you leave the social media bubble, you’re going to find people that don’t consider being a feminist a good thing,” Locke said. “I think most people are going to say, ‘Yeah, I believe in female equality but I wouldn’t consider myself a feminist,’ however that’s it’s most basic, ground-level definition.”

 

​

​

Two books about feminism greet guests sitting on the first floor of the office.

In the year 2017, the word ‘feminist’ receives more airplay than ever before, whether it’s in response to the inauguration of Pres. Donald Trump, the recent #MeToo social media movement, calling for strong women to stand their ground and have their stories of sexual harassment and assault heard—and believed—by the masses, or just the concept that suddenly, this phrase has been deemed ‘cool’ and ‘trendy’ by many mainstream brands. When looking around the brightly decorated Bumble office, this word appears vividly in various corners of the décor, styled within framed mantras or office accessories placed strategically in keeping  the team motivated and focused on its mission of empowerment at all times. Even so, Locke knows her personal and professional drive toward women’s equality requires more than just looking at these words.

 

“Words are very powerful, and I do think that having really strong mission statements and slogans definitely help gut-check all of us on the Bumble team when trying to make a decision,” she said. “There’s only so much that words can do if you just read them and don’t push them forward, though. That’s what we keep aiming to achieve.”

 

When asked if she thought Bumble could have succeeded seven or even five years earlier in history, the answer was easy and given without hesitation, “No.”

 

“Five years ago Bumble might have been a cool idea people talked about, but may have phased into something else, with probably more men on the executive team, and less women running this company from the bottom up,” Locke said. “I think we are on a very great journey, but it definitely wouldn’t have happened if it were not for the women before us who made noise, and angered some people for doing so." 

I am WOMAN

Girls Glossary

Mansplain

(of a man) explain (something) to someone, typically a woman, in a manner regarded as condescending or patronizing

Gaslight

manipulate (someone) by psychological means into questioning their own sanity

Bropropriating

stealing an idea from a woman and putting it into the world as your own

bottom of page