WOMEN'S HISTORY
A Timeline of Feminism With Literary Influences Dive into the waves of feminism in celebration of Women’s History Month PAIGE ADAMS
JESSICA DEMARCO-JACOBSON
proto-feminism The term proto-feminism is used to refer to the early philosophies of feminism in a time when the word was not yet used. These women were the pioneers of feminism; they were the swell before the waves that crashed upon the rocky shores of the patriarchy.
Mary Wollstonecraft - A Vindication of the Rights of Woman 1792 Wollstonecraft took a daring leap when she responded to several male views on human rights and women’s rights in what was one of the earliest works in the philosophical school of feminism, “A Vindication of the Rights of Woman.” Wollstonecraft boldly argued for the proper education of women in ways that unapologetically called out specific works for their incredulously sexist views. Wollstonecraft set the stage for many feminists to come and initiated a declarative demand of freedom for feminists. 12 | The Saber | SPRING 2020
First Wave - 1848-1950’s Amid the beginnings of feminism came the first wave, introduced by the famed Seneca Falls Convention in New York in 1848, organized by Elizabeth Cady Stanton who was a leading activist in the early women’s rights movement. The Declaration of Sentiments brought forth at this convention set in motion the demand for women’s rights in matters of marriage, education, and mainly, the right to vote. The conversation had long been started, but this marked the moment that the voices demanded to be heard.
“It is time to effect a revolution in female manners - time to restore to them their lost dignity - and make them, as a part of the human species, labour by reforming themselves to reform the world. It is time to separate unchangeable morals from local manners.”
