HISTORY OF FEMINIST THOUGHT: THE BIRTH AND CONSOLIDATION OF THE MOVEMENT

Abstract

Any cause which challenges the established order faces an uphill battle and history has demonstrated that it is a long road to success, particularly if the goal is nothing less than equality among human beings. This paper offers an overview of the first steps of the modern feminist movement and its eventual successes, tracing the history of feminism from its initial unity to later atomisation due to the conflicting liberal, socialist and communist ideologies that swept Europe and America throughout the 19th and 20th centuries. The movement, in the modern sense of the term, began in 1789. By the 20th century, the feminist cause had achieved notable successes thanks to its ability to unite countless individuals, while overcoming ideological divisions, to achieve a single objective: women’s right to vote. Subsequently, within the new international order arising out of the Second World War, these latent divisions played out on the international stage. However, gender equality and the rights of women has now become a central issue in international debate.