First Generation Feminism

What I thought: The first wave of endearing women to demand gender equality. I thought of the bra-burners, the protestors and the lesbians of the 50’s and 60’s because these were the first people I knew to refer to themselves as feminists.

What it turns out to be: While I was correct in the broadest sense, the first generation feminists came into existence around 1850. The first noted wave of activism was in Seneca Falls, NY – the suffragist movement. The women who organized and were present that day have claimed the titles of the first feminists; Elizabeth Cady-Stanton, Lucretia Mott, and Martha Wright, to name a few. They drafted the Declaration of Sentiments, which announced, “All men and women had been created equal.”

These women were the icebreakers of pushing the limits. They stepped outside the social norms to fight for what they believed. While today their efforts seem mainstream and very structured, they had to start somewhere… The first wave feminists were geared mainly toward the right to vote, a feat which took seventy years to accomplish. When the 19^th Amendment was set into action, the first wave was over and from here out was the second generation of feminists.