Second Wave

677 Words2 Pages

During the 1850s through the 1960s started a major wave for feminist throughout many countries. The women fought for inequalities and mainly to gain women’s suffrage (the right to vote). They were willing to do whatever it took to get what they wanted, such as picketing, starting a hunger strike and etc. These women fought to bring light to women’s issues to the national level. They encouraged others to think what the meaning of human rights really means. They wish for individuals to end the double standard between the sexes as between the classes (Suzanne Kelly, Women Images and Realities, 2012, p. 566).
One of the major events in the first-wave was the Seneca Falls Women’s Rights Convention lead by Elizabeth Stanton and Lucretia Mott This meeting was important to the start of the first-wave because women were often not allowed to speak in public, and the women gained knowledge about laws, and discussed the role of women in society (Suzanne Kelly, Women Images and Realities, 2012, pp. 555-561). Seneca Falls was viewed to be the beginning of women fighting for equality. During the Seneca Falls Convention there was a Declaration of Sentiments that was signed. The Declaration of Sentiments is a document that describes the woman’s role to be more suitable than just being the “house wife”. In this document it states about fifteen different ways that men have objectified women, which leads to telling how they want the issues resolved (Suzanne Kelly, Women Images and Realities, 2012, pp. 561-565). This document was a significant event to the start of women’s suffrage, because this was a blueprint for the movement.
Many women attended the Seneca Falls convention, but the most significant speech given was by an emancipated s...

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...ng him cook his dinner maybe refusing to have sex with him. If I held some type of job then I would quit it if a man who held the same position as me were being paid more and picket for equal pay.
Throughout the first wave feminism many women have fought hard for the equal rights they gained. This was a very important stepping-stone for women, because its showed women that they can step up and voice their opinion. Seeing how passionate women were during this time period makes you want to go out and do more for equal rights. This wave was more than gaining the right to vote, but it gave way to start changing laws such as education, women in the workplace, and women in the home. Without the first wave woman probably would never have gained everything that we have now.

Works Cited

Suzanne Kelly, G. P. (2012). Women Images and Realities. NY, NY: McGraw- Hill.

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