Women's Roles: The First Feminist Movement

The first feminist movement started towards the end of the nineteenth century and centered on women’s right to vote. Before the movement, women were considered inferior to men and that was the normal way of life. Women were extremely limited when it came to their occupations, mostly either a nurse or a governess, a woman who cares for a child’s upbringing or education (Marks, 24). It is likely many more women became dependents who relied on extended family members to take for them as they had no job and could not live independently. Others worked with men in factories while some had to turn to prostitution in order to provide for their family (Marks, 25). According to a report from the New York Herald from November 16th, 1886, one-third of women were destitute, another one third were unemployed and roughly 20,000 were “engaged …show more content…
In one pamphlet, the author notes that since there was this large difference, men were able to select women “best-fitted to become wives” and hopefully this process of selection would lead “to the proper training of young girls” so that all women would be suitable housewives (Marks, 27). The women’s movement of this time aimed to change the everyday lives of women. They hoped to broaden the roles of women in the workforce and to change the view of women. Though to start, women needed to ensure that they would be seen as equals to men and that those in the government would understand their needs and fight for their equality. In order to accomplish that they needed the right to vote so that society would see women as equals as well as allowing women to choose who would represent their needs in both the state and federal government. One of the most memorable women of the movement was Susan B. Anthony. However, Anthony wasn’t always the face of women’s suffrage. During the beginning of the feminist movement, Elizabeth Cady Stanton was the spokeswoman for women’s right to vote while Anthony was just another avid