Feminist Movement Research Paper

The feminist movement in USA was one of the most remarkable movements in its history. Women raised their voice and protested to achieve their basic rights which they were deprived of. Every women worked collectively for its success. The history of feminism is primarily described in three secular “waves” - as they consider every aspect of feminism which include the success and failures, goals and accomplishments in that particular period of time.

However, there have been various definitions for the word “Feminism”. On the whole, evaluating these definitions, “Feminism” can be explained as a revolution in order to fight against the norms that exist between men and women and also the right to consider every women equal to men on every grounds

The very main concerns of the first wave were higher education for women, reforming secondary schools, widening employment access to women, marriage laws, property rights, custody rights and voluntary motherhood. In regard to the women’s rights movement, feminists like Wollstonecraft and Margaret Fuller tried to educate women in recognizing their basic right to access to education and jobs. Whereas, some other feminists like Grimke sisters formed Anti-slavery Societies which focused on abolition movement. This greatly helped women slaves who were often violated physically by men. In fact, this Anti- Slavery movement served as a foundation in the struggle for women’s right to vote. This helped women to talk more in public, express their ideas, create groups and associations in a way to make a change. Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony worked together for the women’s rights movement mainly focusing in women’s suffrage with their writings. Later, a convention was held in Seneca Falls to discuss about the conditions of women in social, cultural and religious facets and also their basic rights like to vote. Stanton and Lucretia Mott presented the “Declaration of Sentiments” which were about the minimal rights that women were not privileged of. This event served as one of the carriers to spread the significance of women’s rights throughout the country. Considering the goals set in the first wave, women’s suffrage was the most important one. Later after the Seneca Falls convention Stanton, Anthony and Stone worked hardly for twenty years in order to achieve women’s rights. Many newspapers like Pittsburgh Saturday Visiter and Amelia Bloomer’s The Lily were started which majorily focused on temperance, abolition and women’s rights. However, the Civil War obstructed the growing work of the feminists as they lost many women supporters who were then concentrating on the war. On the other hand, women rights