History of Feminism

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The first wave of feminism began in 1848. Elizabeth Cady Stanton and her friends held a convention to discuss the social, civil, religious rights of woman at Seneca Falls. They used the Declaration of Independence as the outline for writing a "Declaration of Sentiments. They wrote "We hold these truths to be self-evident; that all men and women are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." They discussed problems like the fact that women were not allowed to vote, married women had no property rights, and women were not allowed to enter professions such as medicine and law. Women eventually won the right to vote in 1920.
The second wave of feminism began in 1963. Betty Friedan published her book "The Feminine Mystique" which documented the emotional and intellectual oppression that women were experienced because of a limited number of options in life. In 1964 an act was passed prohibiting employment discrimination based on sex as well as race, religion, and national origin.