This PPT was originally created by Courtney Beggs.

1. First-Wave
Feminism

2. Waves vs. Waterfalls
This section will cover the first of three major “waves” of feminism.
The word “wave” is used to categorize feminism because it illustrates
the forward motion—and then resistance or loss of motion—of the
women’s movement(s). It helps to understand this movement in by
thinking of the motion of an actual wave (in, toward the sand, then
back out).
As each wave of feminism pushed forward with progress and change,
the result was often a “backward” motion (or a standstill) so to speak.
In women’s studies, this is called a backlash.

3. The First Wave: An Overview
The efforts of women in the
19th
century that led to the
passage of women’s right to
vote in 1920 is often referred
to as the First Wave of
feminism.
First Wavers were primarily
concerned with women’s
political equality, specifically
the right to vote.

4. First-Wave Feminism: Getting Started
 1840s – 1850s: reform
movements that coalesced
with the Seneca Falls
Convention in 1848
 Led by Elizabeth Cady
Stanton, Lucretia Mott, and
others
 Main focus was the right to
vote
 Led primarily by white
women who supported
restrictions to the right to
vote based on race and
property ownership
Left:
Lucretia Mott
(1793-1880)
Right:
Elizabeth Cady Stanton
(1815-1902)

5. The Declaration of Sentiments:
How Did It Work?
• Relied on 15 “facts” that proved “the history of mankind is a
history of repeated injuries and usurpations on the part of
man toward woman, having in direct object the
establishment of an absolute tyranny over her” (562)
• Passed 12 resolutions arguing that “woman is man’s equal”
and that men should encourage women to speak, teach,
participate in religious assemblies.
The latter strategy is important because it recognized the need
for both men AND women to participate in the “zealous and
untiring efforts” toward equal rights.

6. The Seneca Falls Convention (1848)
The Declaration of Sentiments
The Declaration of
Sentiments was based on the
Declaration of Independence;
it placed the onus on women
to take action to protect
themselves for the future.

7. First-Wave Feminism: Founding Beliefs
The right to vote is a necessary tool for all other aspects of
emancipation
This focus had advantages and disadvantages:
Advantages
•Concrete reform
•Mobilizing effect
•Symbolized participation
of women—as individuals
—in public life.
Disadvantages
•Required approval of male
voters/politicians.
•Forced to adopt any argument
necessary (often invoked traditional
gender roles)
•Intensified racism, nativism, and class
bias

8. First-Wave Feminism: Confronting other
Oppressions
• Multiplicity of
Oppressions: the process
by which multiple forms of
oppression—race, gender,
class—are connected.
• Because of this multiplicity
of oppression, sexism is
“indissolubly linked” to
other forms of oppression,
abuse, and inequality
(Kesselman 557). Anna Julia Cooper, African-American
feminist activist, (1858-1964)

9. First-Wave Feminism: African-American Voices
Sojourner Truth (1797-
1883)
former slave
religious speaker;
anti-slavery activist;
feminist
• Delivered a famous speech, “Ain’t
I a Woman?” at the Women’s Convention in
Akron, Ohio, in 1851 (the link will take you to a video
of actress Alfre Woodard performing Sojourner Truth’s speech;
here is the text of the speech)
•Effective rhetorical appeal based on religion
(i.e. women’s roles in birthing and caring for
Jesus)
•Instrumental in developing consciousness
raising (sharing of personal experience) as a
political tool
•Demonstrates the emotional and intellectual
force behind women’s rights movement,
even for women who had little or no formal
education

10. First-Wave Feminism:
The Cult of the “New Woman” and The Vote
“New Woman”: early 20th
c.
image of woman as self-
reliant and engaged with
the world.
In 1920, the 19th
Amendment is passed,
granting women the right to
vote

11. Defining Feminism
The term “feminism” is
introduced in the U.S. (approx.
1910)
Feminism: distinguishes
suffragists from those who
argued for the “full integration
of women into” all aspects of
“social, political, and economic
life” (Kesselman 557)
“We want simply to be ourselves…not just our little female selves but our whole big
human selves” –Marie Jenny Howe, 1914

12. First-Wave Feminism: After the Vote
 Legal and accessible birth control
 Expansion of educational
opportunities
 Crusade against lynching and other
race-based violence and injustice
 Fight for improved working
conditions
Goals of the women’s
movement became more
diverse, with leaders
organizing smaller
groups focused on other
issues affecting women:

13. First-Wave Feminism: Backlash and Indifference
1930s
The women’s movement loses
numbers and influence
Many women are indifferent to their
newfound right to vote
Women who do vote, work outside the
home, and/or participate publicly in
political movement are harshly criticized
The Great Depression results in
legislation restricting the employment of
married women (Ruth 499)

14. First-Wave Feminism: The Legacy
1940s
World War II prompts patriotic
movement that relies on women’s
work in factories to support war
efforts. Two major consequences are:
A lasting shift in attitudes about
women’s aptitudes and proper roles
Married women workers
demonstrated work-family balance

15. First-Wave Feminism: The Legacy, cont’d.
1950s
With war over and men needing to return to their jobs (and thus their
“proper” gender roles), the focus returns to the nuclear family, which requires
women back in the home.
These images were advertisements designed to encourage women to buy household items
that could then be used to signify what good mothers and wives they were, as evidenced
by their clean houses and shiny new appliances. Redirecting women’s attention to what
they could buy was supposed to make the idea of returning to the domestic sphere a more
appealing idea.