First Wave..

The first wave of feminism began in around 1848. The goal was to gain the right to vote and the right to practice birth control. Elizabeth Cady Stanton organized the Seneca Convention and her plan was "to discuss the social, civil, and religious condition and rights of woman." At that convention a Declaration of Sentiments was issued, objecting to the following:

1. Women were not allowed to vote.

2. Women had to submit to laws when they had no voice in their formation.

3. Married women had no property rights (and 90% of women over 25 were married at that time.)

4. Husbands had legal power over and responsibility for their wives to the extent that they could imprison or beat them with impunity.

5. Divorce and child custody laws favored men, giving no rights to women.

6. Women had to pay property taxes although they had no representation in the levying of these taxes.

7. Most occupations were closed to women and when women did work they were paid only a fraction of what men earned.

8. Women were not allowed to enter professions such as medicine or law.

9. Women had no means to gain an education since no college or university would accept women students.

10. With only a few exceptions, women were not allowed to participate in the affairs of the church.

11. Women were robbed of their self-confidence and self-respect, and were made totally dependent on men.

Source: National Women's History Project. " Living the Legacy: The Women's Rights Movement 1848 - 1998."

The Declaration of Sentiments was ridiculed in most society at the time. Patriots like Susan B. Anthony, Lucy Stone, and Sojourner Truth traveled the country over the next forty years, convincing people otherwise. These strong women weren’t scared of anything or anyone who stepped in their way. The stood by what they believed in till the end. Many women these days still get pushed around, if only we had women out there that were scared to get knocked down a couple times before succeeding. I know I would have a very hard time standing up for myself in a major issue like this. If I know that people hated me so much, and that my life was treated because of what I was standing up for, I don’t know if I would be able to handle it. These women have shaped history for women all over.