First-wave feminism

First-wave feminism was the feminist movement in the nineteenth century and early twentieth century, which primarily focused on gaining the right of women's suffrage. The term was not used during the time of the movement and was instead coined retroactively after the term second-wave feminism began to be used to describe a newer feminist movement.

Related Topics:
Feminist - Nineteenth century - Twentieth century - Suffrage - Second-wave feminism

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Prominent leaders of the movement in the US included Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony, who campaigned for the abolition of slavery prior to championing women's right to vote. Anthony and other activists (such as Victoria Woodhull and Matilda Joslyn Gage) made attempts to cast votes prior to their legal entitlement to do so, for which many of them faced charges. First-wave feminism involved a wide range of women, some conservative Christian groups (such as Frances Willard and the Womens Christian Temperance Union), others resembling the diversity and radicalism of much of second-wave feminism (such as Matilda Joslyn Gage and the National Woman Suffrage Association).

Related Topics:
Elizabeth Cady Stanton - Susan B. Anthony - Victoria Woodhull - Matilda Joslyn Gage - Frances Willard - Womens Christian Temperance Union - Second-wave feminism - National Woman Suffrage Association

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Both Stanton and Anthony believed that abortion was an imposition of the patriarchy upon women, that it robbed the unborn child of its life, and that if decisions about abortion were placed into the hands of women, it would happen far less often (or cease entirely).

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In the United States, the end of first-wave feminism may be regarded as the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which was the major victory of the movement.

Related Topics:
United States - Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In the UK, Mary Wollstonecraft published the first feminist treatise A Vindication of the Rights of Women, in which she advocated the social and moral equality of the sexes. Her later unfinished work Maria, or the Wrongs of Women earned her considerable criticism as she dared to acknowledge the existance of women's sexual desires, almost certainly becoming the first published woman writer to do so. Wollstonecraft is regarded as the grandmother of British feminism and her ideas shaped thinking of the Suffragettes. The Suffragettes campaigned for the women's vote, which was eventually granted − to some women in 1918 and to all in 1928 − as much because of the part played by British women during the First World War, as of the efforts of the Suffragettes.

Related Topics:
Mary Wollstonecraft - Vindication of the Rights of Women - Maria, or the Wrongs of Women - Suffragette - First World War

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~