Roots of Feminism

The first documented women who advocated for feminism was known by Olympe de Gouges.  She wrote a book entitled A Declaration of the Right of Woman and Citizen.  In this book she declares that women should be entitled to the same pay, same rights, and same respect in French society that men are afforded.

Women's Suffrage

It was only until 1848 in the Western World that the movement for Women's Suffrage began to be organized by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott.  However, Women's Suffrage was not seen until the early 20th century with the ratification of the 19th Amendment on August 18, 1920.

Soon after the French Revolution ended, in 1918, Crystal Eastman wrote an article called the Birth Control Review in which she extensively discusses the topic of Birth Control and discussing how women should be allowed to have birth control. “In short, if feminism, conscious and bold and intelligent, leads the demand, it will be supported by the secret eagerness of all women to control the size of their families, and a suffrage state should make short work of repealing these old laws that stand in the way of birth control.”  This truly sparked a movement within both the dance world and within societal movements.

Ladies Home Journal

Beginning in the issue of November 1909, writers for the Ladies Home Journal, sparked by the Women's Suffrage Movement, began to write articles about the depression associated with being married.  There is one passage by writer Connie Davis in which she states that "Marriage isn't fair to women. It isn't an equal relationship... When a woman marries she begins a life sentence of work."