The Three Feminist Waves

Gender Group
Resistance and Form of Control
What are feminists fighting for?
The Three Waves
The First Wave
What Started this Wave?

• Seneca Falls Convention in 1848.

• First major event to fight for women’s
rights.
• Elizabeth Cody Stanton
Major Events in the first wave
• In the United States and United Kingdom, the
first wave spanned from the mid 19th century till
the early 20th century
• Goal of the first wave:
• Besides the Seneca Falls Convention, the next
major event was the Married Women’s Property
Act of 1870.
• Contagious acts of 1864, 1866, and 1869.
• 19th amendment
Important Women During
the First Movement
Jane Addams
Madelie Albright
Susan B. Anthony
Clementina Black
Elizabeth Blackwell
Mary Wollsontcraft
First Wave Timeline
1903: Marie Curie
1911: Marie Curie
1914: Swimming
1916: Margaret Sanger
1918: Voting for Canada
1920: Voting in the USA
1921: Lila Acheson Wallace
1921: Edith Wharton
1923: Maud Howe Elliot & Laura
Richards
1923: Edna St. Vincent
1924: Nellie Ross
1928: Gertrude Ederie
1928: Olympic Events
1931: Margaret Sanger
1932: Amelia Earhart
1933: Frances Perkins
1939 – 1945 WWII
1945: Elle Fashion Magazine
What did the first wave offer
women?
• What areas did women benefit in this
wave?
The Second Wave
The purpose?
• The second wave was coined by Marsha Lear.
• Varied from highly-published activities, such as
protest against the Miss America Beauty contest
in 1968.
• In America, second wave feminism rose out of
the Civil Rights and anti-war movements in
which women began to band together to
contend against discrimination.
Timeline
• 1960-The Food and Drug Administration
approves birth control pills.
• 1976-The first marital rape law is enacted in
Nebraska, making it eligible for a husband to
rape his wife.
• 1978-The Pregnancy Discrimination Act bans
employment discrimination against pregnant
women.
Main activists during this wave.

• Harriet Tubman
• Susan B. Anthony
• Rosa Parks
• Betty Friedan
• Kate Chopin
• Sojourner Truth
• Gloria Steinem
What Did They Do?
• Harriet Tubman was a runaway slave, who
conducted the “Underground Railroad” and
helped many slaves become free.
• Susan B. Anthony worked hard for woman
suffrage movement.
• Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a
public bus to a white man.
• Betty Friedan wrote the best-seller, “The
Feminine Mystique.”
What Did They Do?

• Kate Chopin wrote her famous novel, “The

Awakening” in 1899.
• Sojourner Truth became the first African
American to win a slander action against whites
in 1836.
• Gloria Steinem appeared as a leader in the
women’s movement in the United States during
the 1960’s.
Conclusion

• The second wave was an opportunity to

change the way America viewed the roles
of women.