widespread until the mid-1800s. People regarded women as inferior as and less important than men. Such people believed a woman’s proper place was in the home. The law at that time reflected this opinion. For example, women were barred by law from voting in elections. Most professional careers were also closed to women. Despite strong opposition, feminism emerged as a powerful movement during the 1800s and 1900s and won a number of new rights for women. After obtaining the right to vote, feminism gradually started to die out. However, during the mid-1900s, an increasing number of women joined the work forces. They discovered that there were restrictions and limitations that curtailed their freedom. As a result, they could not accomplish much. This discovery re-ignited the feminist movement during the 1960s. The organizations such as NOW (National Organization for Women) were created and are even now fighting the good fight. …show more content…
The label ‘feminist’ arose out of the diverse campaigns for female emancipation fought throughout the nineteenth century—campaigns for the right to vote, for access to education and professions, for the right of married women to own property and have custody of their children, for the abolition of discriminatory laws concerning female prostitution. While the character and success of these movements varied from country to country (for example, women’s suffrage was introduced in New Zealand in 1893, Finland in 1906 and Britain in 1918) they all drew upon and generated arguments about the nature and capacities of women and the character of their oppression, and entertained, explicitly or implicitly, images of what a better condition would be