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Did the feminist movement begin in the twentieth century?

If feminists are defined as people who believe that women should have equal economic, political, and social equality with men, then feminism has been alive throughout history. However, the contemporary western feminist movement has its roots primarily in Great Britain and the United States in the middle part of the nineteenth century. At that time women in both countries formed organizations that called for the right to vote (suffrage). Previously, women had been subjugated (enslaved) by law, theology (religion), and social norms that restricted their freedom. They could not own property, engage in business, or control the fates of their children or themselves.

The first feminist proclamation was A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, published in 1792 by British author and educator Mary Wollstonecraft (1759–1797). She was the mother...

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