1st Wave of Feminism

Ancient & medieval society

 Women are in subordination, oppression & Discrimination

 Age old View
o Women are weak by nature & Irrational thus they need protection & Guidance of men
o View of Plato, Aristotle, Thomas Jefferson, Charles Darwin etc
o Aristotle: The relation of male to female is by nature a relation of superior to inferior &
of ruler to ruled”
o Remain unchallenged till 18th century
 Imp Change in 18th C
o Spread of liberal ideas of liberty, equality & Dignity
o From subjects people became citizens
o Glorious revolution, French Revolution, American rights Movement
o But citizenship & all benefits associated with it available only to men
o Women : 2nd rate citizen faced social, political & economic
discrimination( Discrimination socially accepted & Justified)
 Women lack reason & rationality
 Challenged by Mary Wollstonecraft : men and women equal
o Possess reason so they should have all rights that men have
o Demand for equality & end of discrimination
o 1848: first time took form of organized Movement Seneca Falls Convention USA
 Movement from 1848-1920 ( first wave of fem)
 Main Demands
o Full citizenship like men (Legal & political equality)
o Suffrage/ Right to vote( Suffragists) would solve all problems
 Movements focused in USA & UK
o National Women’s Suffrage Association( USA) 1869
o UK: J.S.Mill put a proposal in House of Commons for giving right to vote but was
defeated 1867
 1903: Women ‘s Social & Political Union established ( UK)
 End with Right to vote granted to women