Second-Wave Feminism In The 19th Century

Feminism has been said to have gone through four waves. First-wave feminism happened during the 19th and early 20th century across the Western world. It was introduced by middle to upper class white women who wanted political equality and suffrage. Second-wave feminism occured in the early 1960s and lasted about two decades. They tried to further fight the cultural and social inequalities women still faced. The main difference between first-wave and second-wave feminism were the women involved. First-wave feminism was mainly middle class white women and the second-wave included more women from developing nations and women of color. They all had the goal of wanting solidarity and a chance at the life they wanted. Third-wave feminism began in

In the 19th century, women had little to no control of their own life. Many of the women were stuck raising up to seven children and had to comply to what their husbands demanded. A lot of the women during that era didn’t know any better because that’s what they were used to. They didn’t have higher education and lacked the voice to change anything. Around the time of the Second Great Awakening, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott gathered many women in a rally due to the exclusion of women in many abolitionist organizations during that time. They believed women should have the right to vote and that both genders should be equal. In 1848 they formed the Seneca Falls Convention where they discussed women’s injustice and their want for suffrage. These impactful women helped start the suffrage movement and begun the change for all

The bill legalized joint child custody, property ownership and wage retention for women. The word “feminist” was fabricated by the public and was used to label these women wanting equality between the genders. But not all suffragists would refer to themselves as feminists because some advocated for only voting rights and not complete equality. In 1920, forty years after New York passed the Married Women’s Property Act, congress ratified the 19th Amendment which granted women the right to vote. This was a huge accomplishment for women and it also was motivation for feminists to continue to fight for equality between the sexes.

Second- wave feminism expanded the debate of feminism and included reproductive rights for women and drew to attention issues such as domestic violence and rape. Feminist women during this era campaigned to change the ideal image of a women and what her life should be like. They would represent their thoughts by wearing the clothes they wanted to wear and work in whatever field they wanted to work in. They wanted to break the idea of women’s primary duty of being in the home and doing household