Women's Movement

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The first wave of feminism gained women the right to vote which led to fight for equality with men. Emmeline Pankhurst is considered by many to be the most influential leader involved in the Women’s Movement in the early 20th century, due to of her role in the formation of the WSPU and their active protest for women’s rights. Her militant tactics have been perceived as being central to the first wave of feminism, which began an international movement that still resonates around the modern Western world. This movement has changed the lives of women and accelerated the fight for equality. However women will still continue to fight for financial equality in the workforce.
The early 20th Century was a time of dramatic change for women in society; pre-World War One most democratic countries still rejected women suffrage, this rejection just served to fuel the Women’s Movement. Furthermore, most women were omitted from the workplace. Instead, they were expected to spend their days as homemakers, raising children, cleaning, cooking, sewing and performing other household chores. The patriarchal domination of women is best illustrated through the American Catholic spokesman, Orestes Brownson before the Civil War. He stated, “We do not believe women . . . are fit to have their own head. Without masculine direction or control, she is out of her element and a social anomaly -- sometimes a hideous monster!” (Gurko, Pg. 9) This view by Brownson is representative of the patriarchal attitude at that time to the position of women during the Industrial Revolution era, and highlights the issues that women were facing. The agenda for the empowerment of women was laid in the 18th and 19th centuries. Frenchwoman, Olympe de Gouges, issued an ironic De...

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BBC News. The legacy of the Suffragettes. (2003) Retrieved 16/5/14 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/the_westminster_hour/3163132.stm History Learning Site Emmeline Pankhurst (2013) Retrieved 9/5/13 http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/emmeline_pankhurst.htm Women's Rights Before the Civil War By Gurko, p. 9. (2003). http://www.loyno.edu/~history/journal/1984-5/donnaway.htm#14 Mirror.co.uk. (2011).International Women's Day: Suffragette Emmeline Pankhurst's great-granddaughter. Retrieved 16/5/14 http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/international-womens-day-suffragette-emmeline-114865 Cowie, H. (1992). Legacies Volume 1 The Modern State, Nationalism and Internationalism. Melbourne: Thomas Nelson Australia.
Low. (1996). Modern Quest. Milton: The Jacaranda Press.
Maureen Anderson, A. L. (2008). Retrospective. Milton Australia: John Wiley & Sons.

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