The First Wave Of Feminism In The United States

“Compare and contrast women’s suffrage movements of the late nineteenth and early centuries with the European feminist movements of the 1960’s and 1970’s.”

The first wave of feminism began somewhere in the 1860’s and lasted to the 1920’s when the Nineteenth Amendment was ratified and women were given the right to vote.

“It is the state of mind of women who realize that their whole position in the social order is antiquated…made of old materials, worn out laws, customs, conventions, fetishes, traditions, and taboos.” This was said by Rheta Childe Dorr, an American journalist, suffragist newspaper editor, writer, and political activist who was ready to divulge the beauty of feminism to the rest of the United States men and women. The term, feminist, is derived from the French term, “feminisme” meaning feminism. Past movements had placed their respective focuses on the authority of women outside of their own homes, but feminism focused more on changing women’s private lives which would then affect the role of women in the public. Feminists were irritated about American society using their femininity and their “maternal service” as a justification for their enduring oppression. Before feminism’s influence, a “pure” woman was one that demonstrated submissiveness, domesticity, piety, and purity. Working class women were faced with many frightening accusations if they were caught on the streets; instead of harboring this fear of being associated with prostitution or other corruption and being restrained to their homes and work, working class women were anxious to use amenities like dance halls, amusement parks, and skating rinks under the influence

In July 1848 the Seneca Falls convention, the first women’s rights convention in the United States, is what sparked the Suffrage Movement. During the Seneca Falls convention women talked about the social, civil and religious conditions that women have to deal with. The Suffrage movement is a group of women that decided to come together and fight for the right to vote. This paper will talk about what sparked first wave feminism and the events along the way to get where they are today.

The Women’s Movement also referred to as Second Wave feminism applies to the women’s movement that began at the end of 1963 and extended into the 1980s.

The thesis of The Body Project is that “girls today make the body into an all-consuming project in ways young women of the past did not. (Brumberg pg. xvii) This basically means that our culture has granted girls and women more freedom in how much of their bodies they can bare, and in their sexuality, that girls and young women have become more obsessed with their bodies than women of the past have.

During the late 1800s and early 1900s the feminist movement grew rapidly, beginning the era which would greatly impact the way women were perceived in society. Literature shows to be a direct reflection of the societal belief during the two reform eras in the late 1800s leading up to the 1930s. The most influential to literature of the time period was the second reform era which pushed for progressivism for a utopian society in which women could actively resist the roles of females being essentially required to live as “the common housewife”. Being stripped from their rights, women did not have the option of becoming independent and educated or becoming employed in a job of their choosings. Remaining at home women were not granted the equal rights of those that a white man held. Males seen as superior to females granted for women to marry at a young ages, bare children and obey to their husbands commands keeping them content with their doings. Traditional women roles at the time uniformly restricted them to their duties

First-wave feminism was brought on by the newly educated female population. “Women’s experiences under colonization taught them to see themselves as citizens of oppressed nations, and many entered into Nationalist politics on behalf of their beleaguered people.” (123) Women activists took an approach of social housekeepers; it was their duty as nurtures of the nation to be involved in education, social work, public health, poverty, and so on. (126) First-Wave feminists were concerned with gaining access to vote in elections and on other important matters, they were concerned with gaining access to higher education; they were concerned with temperance, since they were not well protected under the law from, drunk, abusive husbands.

Many historians learned on the subject are of the opinion that first wave feminism originated in the 18th century with Mary Wollstonecraft’s publication titled Vindication of the Rights of Women (1792), and came to an end after the Nineteenth

Late 1906s and early 70s was the next wave in the feminist movement. Taking social views and gender roles head on. The role of women was being redefined within America. After en forcing women to be domestic, the stigma of a woman in the workplace was being pushed. During the 1960s, women were determined to seek equal opportunities, in pay and work within society. Women began to speak out and be respected as they challenged traditions. Finally in the 1980s, the biggest battles were won. Women were accepted into colleges and in the workplace, all of which were reflected in media.

That was the main belief of first-wave feminists. Spanning from 1848 to 1920, the first wave of feminism was the start of the American women’s rights movement. The true beginning of the first wave of feminism was in 1848 in Seneca Falls, NY, where the first Women’s Rights Convention was held . From this convention, the Declaration of Sentiments was born. The Declaration of Sentiments was and adapted version of the Declaration of Independence, voicing the inequalities and inferiority women face in political, economic, and social situations, the first publication to ever do so (Nash, 11). As previously mentioned, the first wave of feminism was centered around gaining suffrage for women, with other issues, such as equal pay for equal work, circling close

The first wave of feminism was tied to industrialization in the 19th century. It was where changes in cultural acceptance started to grow and women were moving into the public sphere. They were fighting for social reform, higher education, etc. They focused on temperance, abolitionism and more importantly Women’s Suffrage. Women’s Suffrage centers on women getting the right to vote.

Feminism is still very much needed in this day in age. Although Feminism has come a long way since being first introduced in the early 20th century, the movement faces new challenges. Women have accomplished the goals they had set from the first wave of Feminism, including the right to vote, the right to work, and the right to have custodial rights over their children. The second wave of Feminism focus was for women to have sexuality and reproductive rights. Women gained their reproductive rights in the Roe vs. Wade (1973).

The First Wave of Feminism initially targeted at getting equal rights of property and child however by the end of the nineteenth century, it started focusing on issues like

The idea of women being equal to men has been debated for a very long time. Even when civilizations were just starting, most women were treated very differently from men. When women started fighting against this oppression they were called feminists. Feminism can be separated into three waves. The first wave of feminism was from the mid 1800s to the early 1900s. The second wave was from the 1960s to the 1980s. The third wave of feminism started in the 1990s, but its end is unclear. Some people believe it has ended and the fourth wave of feminism has started, but others believe it continues today. The different waves have been very different in some aspects, but very similar in others. The main differences between the first and third wave of feminism are what they fought for, how they protested, and society’s reaction to their cause.