First-wave feminism

**First-wave feminism** was a time of feminist activity and thought in the Western world.  It happened during the 19th and early 20th century. It focused on laws about women, mainly giving women the right to vote.  Later waves of feminism would focus on things like economic equality and social equality.

Journalist Martha Lear was the first to call it *first-wave feminism*. She did this in an article she wrote for *New York Times Magazine* in March 1968.  It was called "The Second Feminist Wave: What do these women want?" First-wave feminism focused on women's power under law.  Second-wave feminism was about economic and social power, for example, equal pay for equal work.

In her book *The Second Sex,* Simone de Beauvoir wrote that the first woman to "take up her pen in defense of her sex" was Christine de Pizan. Christine de Pizan wrote in the 15th century. Feminists Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa and Modesta di Pozzo di Forzi worked in the 16th century.

; 1811

* Austria: Married women were granted separate economy and the right to choose their jobs.
* Sweden: Married businesswomen were allowed to make decisions for their businesses without their husband's permission.

; 1821

* US, Maine: Married women were allowed to own and manage property in their own name if their spouse could not.

; 1827

* Brazil: The first elementary schools for girls opened.

; 1829

* Sweden: Midwives were allowed to use surgical tools, which were unique in Europe at the time and gave them surgical status.

; 1832

* Brazil: Dionísia Gonçalves Pinto, under the pen name Nísia Floresta Brasileira Augusta, published her first book. It was a translation of *Woman not Inferior to Man*, often attributed to Mary Wortley Montagu.

; 1833

* US, Ohio: The first co-educational American university, Oberlin College, was founded.
* Guatemala: Divorce was made legal; this was rescinded (reversed) in 1840 and made legal again in 1894.

; 1835

* US, Arkansas: Married women were allowed to own, but not control, property in their own name.

; 1838

* US, Kentucky: Kentucky gave school suffrage (the right to vote at school meetings) to widows with children of school age.
* US, Iowa: Iowa was the first U.S. state to allow sole custody of a child to its mother in the event of a divorce.

; 1839

* US, Mississippi: Mississippi was the first U.S. state that gave married women limited property rights.
* US, Mississippi: The Married Women's Property Act 1839 granted married women the right to own (but not control) property in their own name.

; 1840

* US, Texas: Married women were allowed to own property in their own name.

; 1842

* Sweden: Compulsory elementary school for both sexes was introduced.

; 1844

* US, Maine: Maine was the first U.S. state that passed a law to allow married women to own separate property in their own name (separate economy) in 1844.
* US, Maine: Maine passed Sole Trader Law which let women engage in business without the need for their husbands' consent.

; 1845

* Sweden: Equal inheritance for sons and daughters (in the absence of a will) became law.
* US, New York: Married women were granted patent rights.

; 1846

* Sweden: Trade and crafts works professions were opened to all unmarried women.

; 1847

* Costa Rica: The first high school for girls opened, and women could become teachers.

; 1848

* US, State of New York: Married Women's Property Act grant married women separate economy.
* US, on June 14–15, third-party presidential candidate Gerrit Smith made women's suffrage a plank in the Liberty Party platform.
* US, State of New York:  A women's rights convention called the Seneca Falls Convention was held in July. It was the first American women's rights convention.

; 1849

* US: Elizabeth Blackwell, born in England, became the first female medical doctor in American history.

; 1850

* United Kingdom: The first organized movement for English feminism was the Langham Place Circle of the 1850s. They also campaigned for improved female rights in employment, and education.
* Haiti: The first permanent school for girls was opened.
* Iceland: Equal inheritance for men and women was required.
* US, California: Married Women's Property Act granted married women separate economy.
* US, Wisconsin: The Married Women's Property Act granted married women separate economy.

; 1851

* Guatemala: Full citizenship was granted to economically independent women, but this was rescinded in 1879.
* Canada, New Brunswick: Married women were granted separate economy.

; 1852

* US, New Jersey: Married women were granted separate economy.

; 1854

* Norway: Equal inheritance for men and women was required.

; 1855

* US, Iowa: The University of Iowa became the first coeducational public or state university in the United States.
* US, Michigan: Married women were granted separate economy.
* Netherlands: Elementary education was made compulsory for both girls and boys.
* Spain: Elementary education was made compulsory for both girls and boys.
* US, Maine: Married women were granted the right to control their own earnings.
* Sweden: Legal majority was granted to unmarried women if applied for; automatic legal majority was granted in 1863.
* Russia: Women were allowed to audit university lectures, but this was retracted in 1863.
* US, Kansas: The Married Women's Property Act granted married women separate economy.

; 1861

* South Australia: South Australia granted property-owning women the right to vote in local elections.
* US, Kansas: Kansas gave school suffrage to all women. Many U.S. states followed before the start of the 20th century.

; 1863

* Finland: In 1863, taxpaying women were granted municipal suffrage in the country side, and in 1872, the same reform was given to the cities.

; 1869

* United Kingdom: The UK granted women the right to vote in local elections.
* US, Wyoming: the Wyoming territories grant women the right to vote, the first part of the US to do so.

; 1870

* US, Utah: The Utah territory granted women the right to vote, but it was revoked by Congress in 1887 as part of a national effort to rid the territory of polygamy. It was restored in 1895, when the right to vote and hold office was written into the constitution of the new state.
* United Kingdom: The Married Women's Property Act was passed in 1870 and expanded in 1874 and 1882, giving women control over their own earnings and property.

; 1884

* Canada: Widows and spinsters were the first women granted the right to vote within municipalities in Ontario, with the other provinces following throughout the 1890s.

; 1886

* US: All but six U.S. states allowed divorce on grounds of cruelty.

; 1891

* Australia: The New South Wales Womanhood Suffrage League was founded.

; 1893

* US, Colorado: Colorado granted women the right to vote.
* New Zealand: New Zealand became the first self-governing country in the world in which all women had the right to vote in parliamentary elections.
* Cook Islands: The Cook Islands granted women the right to vote in island councils and a federal parliament.

; 1894

* South Australia: South Australia granted women the right to vote.

; 1895

* US: Almost all U.S. states had passed some form of Sole Trader Laws, Property Laws, and Earnings Laws, granting married women the right to trade without their husbands' consent, own and/or control their own property, and control their own earnings.
* US, Idaho: Idaho granted women the right to vote.

; 1900

* Western Australia: Western Australia granted women the right to vote.
* Belgium: Legal majority was granted to unmarried women.
* Egypt: A school for female teachers was founded in Cairo.
* France: Women were allowed to practice law.
* Korea: The post office profession was opened to women.
* Tunisia: The first public elementary school for girls was opened.
* Baden, Germany: Universities opened to women.
* Sweden: Maternity leave was granted for female industrial workers.

; 1901

* Bulgaria: Universities opened to women.
* Cuba: Universities opened to women.
* Denmark: Maternity leave was granted for all women.
* Sweden: The first Swedish law regarding parental leave was instituted in 1900. This law only affected women who worked as wage-earning factory workers and simply required that employers not allow women to work in the first four weeks after giving birth.
* Commonwealth of Australia: The First Parliament was not elected with a uniform franchise. The voting rights were based on existing franchise laws in each of the States. Thus, in South Australia and Western Australia women had the vote, in South Australia Aborigines (men and women) were entitled to vote and in Queensland and Western Australia Aborigines were denied voting rights.

; 1902

* China: Foot binding was outlawed in 1902 by the imperial edicts of the Qing Dynasty, the last dynasty in China, which ended in 1911.
* El Salvador: Married women were granted separate economy.
* El Salvador: Legal majority was granted to married women.
* United Kingdom: A group of women textile workers from Northern England gave a petition to Parliament with 37,000 signatures demanding votes for women.

; 1903

* Bavaria, Germany: Universities opened to women.
* Australia: Tasmania granted women the right to vote.
* United Kingdom: The Women's Social and Political Union was founded.

; 1905

* Australia: Queensland granted women the right to vote.
* Iceland: Educational institutions opened to women. It was the first country in Europe to do so.
* Honduras: Married women were granted separate economy.
* Nicaragua: Divorce was made legal.
* Saxony, Germany: Universities opened to women.
* France: Women were allowed guardianship of children.
* Finland: The first female members of parliament in world history were elected in Finland in 1907.
* United Kingdom: The National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies organized its first national demonstration, which became known as the "Mud March" because of the terrible weather at the time.
* Prussia, Alsace-Lorraine and Hesse, Germany: Universities opened to women.
* Australia: Victoria granted women the right to vote in state elections.
* United Kingdom: On January 17, suffragettes chained themselves to the railings of 10 Downing Street.
* Denmark: The Socialist International, meeting in Copenhagen, established a Women's Day, international in character, to honor the movement for women's rights and to help in achieving universal suffrage for women.
* US, Washington: Washington granted women the right to vote.
* Ecuador: Divorce was made legal.
* Portugal: Divorce was made legal.
* Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland: International Women's Day was marked for the first time in Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland on 19 March. More than one million women and men attended IWD rallies campaigning for women's rights.
* South Africa: Olive Schreiner published Women and Labor.
* United Kingdom: Sylvia Pankhurst established her East London Federation of Suffragettes.
* Japan: Public universities opened to women.
* United Kingdom: The suffragette Emily Davison was killed by the King's horse at The Derby.
* Wales: The first Women's Institute in Britain was founded in North Wales at Llanfairpwll.
* US: Margaret Sanger opened America's first birth control clinic in 1916.
* United Kingdom: The Cat and Mouse Act was introduced for suffragettes who refused to eat.
* Mexico: Legal majority for married women.
* Russia: The Russian SFSR granted women the right to vote.

; 1918

* Cuba: Divorce was made legal.
* Thailand: Universities opened to women.
* United Kingdom: In 1918 Marie Stopes published *Married Love*.
* US, Michigan, South Dakota, Oklahoma: Michigan, South Dakota, and Oklahoma granted women the right to vote.
* United Kingdom: The Representation of the People Act was passed which allowed women over the age of 30 who had property to vote. This let only 40% of British women vote.
* United Kingdom: The Parliament (Qualification of Women) Act 1918 was passed allowing women to stand as members of parliament.
* Italy: Women gained more property rights, including control over their own earnings, and access to some legal positions.
* United Kingdom: The Sex Disqualification (Removal) Act 1919 became law. In a broad opening statement it specified that, "[a] person shall not be disqualified by sex or marriage from the exercise of any public function, or from being appointed to or holding any civil or judicial office or post, or from entering or assuming or carrying on any civil profession or vocation".
* Luxembourg: Luxembourg granted women the right to vote.
* Canada: Women were granted the right to be candidates in federal elections.
* Netherlands: The Netherlands granted women the right to vote. The right to stand in election was granted in 1917.
* New Zealand: New Zealand allowed women to stand for election into parliament.
* United Kingdom: Nancy Astor became the first woman to take her seat in the House of Commons.
* Haiti: Women could become pharmacists.
* United Kingdom: The Law of Property Act 1922 was passed, giving wives the right to inherit property equally with their husbands.
* United Kingdom: The Matrimonial Causes Act gave women the right to petition for divorce on the grounds of adultery.

; 1925

* United Kingdom: The Guardianship of Infants Act gave parents equal claims over their children.

; 1934

* Turkey: Women gained the right to vote and to become a nominee to be elected equally in 1934 after reformations for a new civil law.

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