First Wave Feminism

Definition of Feminism
Feminism – comprises a number of social, cultural and political movements, theories and moral philosophies concerned with gender inequalities and equal rights for women. (Wikipedia)
Feminism - Belief in the social, political, and economic equality of the sexes, the movement organized around this belief. (American Heritage Dictionary)

First Wave of Feminism

The first wave of American feminism began in the early 1800’s and proceeded through the 1920’s. The first women’s rights convention was held in Seneca Falls in July of 1848 by Elizabeth Stanton, there she presented the Declaration of Rights and Sentiments which included eleven resolutions demanding social and political equality for all women, including it’s primarily demand, the right to vote.


In 1854, women such as Elizabeth Stanton and Susan Anthony also began a women’s rights campaign to promote New York’s Married Women’s Property Law of 1848, which passed in 1860. The law gave married women the right to own property, manage their own business, wages and income. It also gave women the right to sue, to divorce and the right of custody of their own children. This was a change in women’s lives that many waited for years; women were no longer at the mercy of their husbands.

The National Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA) believed they would achieve women’s rights by congressional amendment to the constitution as where The American Woman Suffrage Association (AWSA) believed they would achieve women’s rights by amending individual state constitutions. Regardless of their beliefs, they all had the same goal and in 1890 both associations merged to form The National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA). Carrie Chapman Catt was a coordinator of The National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) and played an important part in its victorious campaign to win voting rights for women.

Because the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) did not allow colored women to join the association, in 1896 The National Association of Colored Women is formed and led by Mary Church Terrell.

In 1913 Alice Paul and Lucy Burns form The National Women’s Party who picket in front of the White House, demanding the passage of a federal amendment to give women the right to vote.

The first U.S. birth control clinic is opened in Brooklyn, New York by Margaret Sanger in 1916. Sanger is arrested and the clinic is closed down. After obtaining support from the courts, she opens another birth control clinic in New York City in 1923.
The federal woman suffrage amendment, originally presented and written by Susan B. Anthony, becomes the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, granting the right to women to vote in August of 1920.

Many women believed that Suffrage was the most successful way to amend the unfair system. While it did not produce the rapid results many women and its followers hoped for it did lay the foundation for future women to fight for their rights. It was definitely a stepping stone to the Second Wave of Feminism.

Sources

Battle for Suffrage, 1848-1920,
People & Events
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/eleanor/peopleevents/pande09.html

By Popular Demand, “Votes for Women” Suffrage Pictures, 1850-1920
The Library of Congress
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/vfwhtml/vfwhome.html

Women's Rights Movement in the U.S.
Timeline of Key Events in the American Women's Rights Movement http://www.infoplease.com/spot/womenstimeline1.html

Not For Ourselves Alone,
The story of Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony
http://www.pbs.org/stantonanthony/