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First-wave feminism
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{{Short description|Period of feminist activity, 19th and early 20th centuries}} {{Feminism sidebar |history}} '''First-wave feminism''' was a period of [[feminist]] activity and thought that occurred during the 19th and early 20th century throughout the [[Western world]]. It focused on [[De jure|legal]] issues, primarily on securing [[women's right to vote]]. The term is often used synonymously with the kind of feminism espoused by the [[liberal feminism|liberal]] women's rights movement with roots in the first wave, with organizations such as the [[International Alliance of Women]] and its affiliates. This feminist movement still focuses on equality from a mainly legal perspective.<ref>Tong, Rosemarie (2018). ''Feminist Thought: A More Comprehensive Introduction''. Routledge. ISBN 9780429974878.</ref> The term ''first-wave feminism'' itself was coined by journalist Martha Lear in a ''[[New York Times Magazine]]'' article in March 1968, "The [[second-wave feminism|Second Feminist Wave]]: What do these women want?"<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9B05E3DD1539E63ABC4852DFB5668383679EDE&legacy=true|title=The Second Feminist Wave: What do these women want?|last=Lear|first=Martha Weinman|date=March 10, 1968|work=The New York Times|access-date=2018-07-27|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=W4U4Ss1OZGoC&pg=PA58 |page=58 |title=Not My Mother's Sister: Generational Conflict and Third-Wave Feminism |last=Henry |first=Astrid |year=2004 |publisher=Indiana University Press |isbn=978-0-253-11122-7}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://bccfeministphilosophy.wordpress.com/tag/first-wave-feminism/ |title=First Wave Feminism |website=BCC Feminist Philosophy|access-date=2021-10-25}}</ref> First- wave feminism is characterized as focusing on the fight for women's political power, as opposed to ''[[de facto]]'' unofficial inequalities. The first wave of feminism generally advocated for [[Equal opportunity#Formal equality of opportunity|formal equality]], while later waves typically advocated for [[substantive equality]].<ref name="v819">{{cite book | last=Whelehan | first=Imelda | title=Modern Feminist Thought: From the Second Wave to 'Post-Feminism' | publisher=Edinburgh University Press | date=1 June 1995 | isbn=978-0-7486-3208-4 | doi=10.1515/9780748632084 | page=}}</ref> The wave metaphor is well established, including in academic literature, but has been criticized for creating a narrow view of women's liberation that erases the lineage of activism and focuses on specific visible actors.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Hewitt|first=Nancy A.|title=No Permanent Waves: Recasting Histories of U.S. Feminism|date=2010|publisher=Rutgers University Press|isbn=978-0-8135-4724-4|location=|pages=1β12|jstor=j.ctt1bmzp2r}}</ref> The term "first-wave" and, more broadly, the wave model have been questioned when referencing women's movements in non-Western contexts because the periodization and the development of the terminology were entirely based on the happenings of Western feminism and thus cannot be applied to non-Western events in an exact manner. However, women participating in political activism for gender equity modeled their plans on western feminists demands for legal rights. This is connected to the Western first-wave and occurred in the late 19th century and continued into the 1930s in connection to the anti-colonial nationalist movement.
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