It was in the mid-1800s when the first signs of the feminist movement came about. In 1861, a man named John Stuart Mill wrote The Subjection of Women, which was said to have spawned the ideology of the Women’s Rights Movement (Ryan 11). He discussed the role of women is society during that time, pointing out how the patriarchy placed such an intense limit on what women could do. Patriarchy is the system in which the ale race governs societal views, and this practice has been in existence since the dawn of time.
This work raised the consciousness of many women, but the first hints of an organized movement did not come about until the approach of the twentieth century. It has been said the Black Abolition Movement was the encouragement that women needed to go after what they believed in (Ryan 10). In 1898 came the beginnings of Women’s Suffrage, which was the movement intended to allow women the right to vote.
During this time, over 500 separate campaigns were launched with the goal of attaining this right. Females such as Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony spoke all over the country on women’s rights and suffrage, gaining many supporters along the way (Ryan 9). The National American Women’s Suffrage Association (NAWSA) was soon formed, and Stanton was its first president. She helped to begin extensive mobilizing efforts and put a strong foot forward in the suffrage movement (Ryan 22).
