first wave

• The first wave of feminism was concerned with political and legal equality, most notably the right to vote. Of our key thinkers, Charlotte Perkins Gilman (liberal feminist) falls here.
•  Female suffrage was its principal goal because it was believed that if women could vote all other forms of sexual discrimination or prejudice would quickly disappear. 
• • First wave liberal feminists’ demanded equal rights on the enlightenment principle that they were human beings and it was not rational for them to be denied this.
  • The emphasis was on individualism as the basis for gender equality
• • Mary Wollstonecraft argued for an equal right to a good education and a professional career, later reinforced by Charlotte Gilman, who attacked the “slavery” of housework.
  • John Stuart Mill advocated the same foundational rights for everyone, which should not be based on ‘accidents of birth’.