A brief history of the women's movement.



"Purple is to lavender as woman is to feminist" - Alice Walker


Organized feminism did not really kick off until the first Women's Conference hed in Seneca Falls, America, in 1848. To begin with, the Women's Movement evolved out of social reform groups such as the Abolition of Slavery, the Social Purity and Temperance movements. Women began to realize that in order to transform society they would need their own organizations to do so. They campaigned upon a whole range of issues; from guardianship of infants, property rights, divorce, access to higher education and the medical professions, to equal pay and protective legislation for women workers - many of which women are still campaigning for today!

The Suffragettes

Increasingly, women recognized that campaigning was limited whilst women could not make their voices heard directly. The vote took 70 years to gain. It was not until 1928 that all women - not just those over 30 and of the right property qualifications - could legally vote. Despite arguments that women should accept merely local suffrage, or universal male suffrage, or limited suffrage, the suffragettes persevered. The rise of the Militant suffragettes and the contribution of a mass of women workers during war time pressurized the Government to grant limited suffrage. Now it is debatable as to how much impact the vote has actually had in campaigning for women's rights. But it was a CRUCIAL LANDMARK IN OUR HISTORY.

1940s and 1950s

The war had challenged stereotypes in the workplace and so women began to enter the employment market in much larger numbers. It soon became apparent that some of the burden of family responsibility needed to be shifted onto the state. Together with the trade unions, the women's movement fought hard for a welfare state system which would provide this and act as a safety net for society's most vulnerable. This is perhaps one of the GREATEST ACHIEVEMENTS OF THE CENTURY.