Feminism

First-Wave Feminism

The first wave of feminism occurred when the landscape and economy changed from a rural to an urban society. Many women had been involved with the abolition of slavery and sat on international councils, clubs, or delegations dealing with political issues, but had been denied the right to vote. An 1808 law had limited voting to men, although states were able to set their own voting requirements. Suffragists and suffragettes were the feminists of the early 19th century primarily involved with the abolition of slavery, and the WCTU. The women were usually married, financially secure, with prominent husbands who often spoke for them because it was considered improper for women to be in public places without men. A single woman giving a lecture was rare. During the first wave of feminism, 1870–1928, women who wanted the right to vote were accused of wanting to overthrow traditional female roles.

In 1839, Ernestine Rose and Susan B. Anthony led a petition campaign for women's rights. For nine years, they went to the New York State Legislature until a married women's property law was enacted in 1848. That same year, the first Women's Rights Convention was held in Seneca Falls, New York, calling for equality in education, employment, and the law. Voting was not a focus in this meeting. Its primary declaration was that all men and women were created equal.

Elizabeth Cady Stanton, one of the organizers from Seneca Falls, became the first woman candidate for Congress. However, women could not yet vote. What would take 52 years to come to fruition was introduced in 1868, the first women's suffrage amendment. The following year, the Fourteenth and Fifteenth amendments were passed, which granted voting rights to African-American males. Two suffrage organizations, the National Woman Suffrage Association led by Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and the American Women Suffrage Association guided by Lucy Stone and Julia Ward Howe, were formed.

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