First-wave Feminism - Timeline of First-wave Feminism Worldwide

Timeline of First-wave Feminism Worldwide

1809

• USA, Connecticut: Married women were allowed to execute wills.

1810

• Sweden: The informal right of an unmarried woman to be declared of legal majority by royal dispensation was officially confirmed by parliament.

1811

• Austria: Married women were granted separate economy and the right to choose their professions.
• Sweden: Married businesswomen were granted the right to make decisions about their own affairs without their husband's consent.

1821

• USA, Maine: Married women were allowed to own and manage property in their own name during the incapacity of their spouse.

1827

• Brazil: The first elementary schools for girls and the profession of school teacher were opened.

1829

• India: Sati was banned.
• Sweden: Midwives were allowed to use surgical instruments, which were unique in Europe at the time and gave them surgical status.

1833

• USA, Ohio: The first co-educational American university, Oberlin College, was founded.
• Guatemala: Divorce was legalized; this was rescinded in 1840 and reintroduced in 1894.

1835

• USA, Arkansas: Married women were allowed to own (but not control) property in their own name.
• Pitcairn Islands: The Pitcairn Islands granted women the right to vote.

1838

• USA, Kentucky: Kentucky gave school suffrage (the right to vote at school meetings) to widows with children of school age.
• USA, Iowa: Iowa was the first U.S. state to allow sole custody of a child to its mother in the event of a divorce.

1839

• USA, Mississippi: Mississippi was the first U.S. state that gave married women limited property rights.
• Great Britain: The Custody of Infants Act 1839 made it possible for divorced mothers to be granted custody of their children under seven, but only if the Lord Chancellor agreed to it, and only if the mother was of good character.
• USA, Mississippi: The Married Women's Property Act 1839 granted married women the right to own (but not control) property in their own name.

1840

• USA, Texas: Married women were allowed to own property in their own name.

1841

• Bulgaria: The first secular girls school in Bulgaria was opened, making education and the profession of teacher available for women.

1842

• Sweden: Compulsory elementary school for both sexes was introduced.

1844

• USA, Maine: Maine was the first U.S. state that passed a law to allow married women to own separate property in their own name (separate economy) in 1844.
• USA, Maine: Maine passed Sole Trader Law which granted married women the ability to engage in business without the need for their husbands' consent.
• USA, Massachusetts: Married women were granted separate economy.

1845

• Sweden: Equal inheritance for sons and daughters (in the absence of a will) became law.
• USA, New York: Married women were granted patent rights.

1846

• Sweden: Trade- and crafts works professions were opened to all unmarried women.

1847

• Costa Rica: The first high school for girls opened, and the profession of teacher was opened to women.

1848

• USA, State of New York: Married Women's Property Act grant married women separate economy.
• USA, on June 14–15, third-party presidential candidate Gerrit Smith made women's suffrage a plank in the Liberty Party platform.
• Persia (now called Iran): The Conference of Badasht was held June–July.
• USA, State of New York: A women's rights convention called the Seneca Falls Convention was held in July. It was the first American women's rights convention.

1849

• USA: Elizabeth Blackwell, born in England, became the first female medical doctor in American history.

1850

• England: The first organized movement for English feminism was the Langham Place Circle of the 1850s, including among others Barbara Bodichon (née Leigh-Smith) and Bessie Rayner Parkes. They also campaigned for improved female rights in employment, and education.
• Haiti: The first permanent school for girls was opened.
• Iceland: Equal inheritance for men and women was required.
• USA, California: Married Women's Property Act granted married women separate economy.
• USA, Wisconsin: The Married Women's Property Act granted married women separate economy.
• USA, Oregon: Unmarried women were allowed to own land.
• The feminist movement began in Denmark with the publication of the feminist book Clara Raphael, Tolv Breve, meaning "Clara Raphael, Twelve Letters," by Mathilde Fibiger.

1851

• Guatemala: Full citizenship was granted to economically independent women, but this was rescinded in 1879.
• Canada, New Brunswick : Married women were granted separate economy.

1852

• USA, New Jersey: Married women were granted separate economy.

1853

• Colombia: Divorce was legalized; this was rescinded in 1856 and reintroduced in 1992.
• Sweden: The profession of teacher at public primary and elementary school was opened to both sexes.

1854

• Norway: Equal inheritance for men and women was required.
• USA, Massachusetts: Massachusetts granted married women separate economy.
• Chile: The first public elementary school for girls was opened.

1855

• USA, Iowa: The University of Iowa became the first coeducational public or state university in the United States.
• USA, Michigan: Married women were granted separate economy.

1857

• Denmark: Legal majority was granted to unmarried women.
• Denmark: A new law established the right of unmarried women to earn their living in any craft or trade.
• UK: The Matrimonial Causes Act 1857 enabled couples to obtain a divorce through civil proceedings.
• Netherlands: Elementary education was made compulsory for both girls and boys.
• Spain: Elementary education was made compulsory for both girls and boys.
• USA, Maine: Married women were granted the right to control their own earnings.

1858

• Russia: Gymnasiums for girls were opened.
• Sweden: Legal majority was granted to unmarried women if applied for; automatic legal majority was granted in 1863.

1859

• Canada West: Married women were granted separate economy.
• Denmark: The post of teacher at public school was opened to women.
• Russia: Women were allowed to audit university lectures, but this was retracted in 1863.
• Sweden: The posts of college teacher and lower official at public institutions were opened to women.
• USA, Kansas: The Married Women's Property Act granted married women separate economy.

1860

• USA, New York: New York passed a revised Married Women's Property Act which gave women shared ownership of their children, allowing them to have a say in their children's wills, wages, and granting them the right to inherit property.

1861

• South Australia: South Australia granted property-owning women the right to vote in local elections.
• USA, Kansas: Kansas gave school suffrage to all women. Many U.S. states followed before the start of the 20th century.

1862

• Sweden: Restricted local suffrage was granted to women in Sweden. In 1919 suffrage was granted with restrictions, and in 1921 all restrictions were lifted.

1863

• Finland: In 1863, taxpaying women were granted municipal suffrage in the country side, and in 1872, the same reform was given to the cities.

1869

• United Kingdom: The UK granted women the right to vote in local elections.
• USA, Wyoming: Wyoming granted women the right to vote, the first US state to do so.

1870

• USA, Utah: The Utah territory granted women the right to vote, but it was revoked by Congress in 1887 as part of a national effort to rid the territory of polygamy. It was restored in 1895, when the right to vote and hold office was written into the constitution of the new state.
• England: The Married Women’s Property Act was passed in 1870 and expanded in 1874 and 1882, giving English women control over their own earnings and property.

1872

• Finland: In 1872, taxpaying women were granted municipal suffrage in the cities.

1881

• Isle of Man: The right to vote was extended to unmarried women and widows who owned property, and as a result 700 women received the vote, comprising about 10% of the Manx electorate.

1884

• Canada: Widows and spinsters were the first women granted the right to vote within municipalities in Ontario, with the other provinces following throughout the 1890s.

1886

• USA: All but six U.S. states allowed divorce on grounds of cruelty.
• Korea: Ewha Woman's University, Korea’s first educational institute for women, was founded in 1886 by Mary F. Scranton, an American missionary of the Methodist Episcopal Church.

1891

• Australia: The New South Wales Womanhood Suffrage League was founded.

1893

• USA, Colorado: Colorado granted women the right to vote.
• New Zealand: New Zealand became the first self-governing country in the world in which all women had the right to vote in parliamentary elections.
• Cook Islands: The Cook Islands granted women the right to vote in island councils and a federal parliament.

1894

• South Australia: South Australia granted women the right to vote.
• United Kingdom: The United Kingdom extended the right to vote in local elections to married women.

1895

• USA: Almost all U.S. states had passed some form of Sole Trader Laws, Property Laws, and Earnings Laws, granting married women the right to trade without their husbands' consent, own and/or control their own property, and control their own earnings.

1896

• USA, Idaho: Idaho granted women the right to vote.

1900

• Western Australia: Western Australia granted women the right to vote.
• Belgium: Legal majority was granted to unmarried women.
• Egypt: A school for female teachers was founded in Cairo.
• France: Women were allowed to practice law.
• Korea: The post office profession was opened to women.
• Tunisia: The first public elementary school for girls was opened.
• Japan: The first women's university was opened.
• Baden, Germany: Universities opened to women.
• Sweden: Maternity leave was granted for female industrial workers.

1901

• Bulgaria: Universities opened to women.
• Cuba: Universities opened to women.
• Denmark: Maternity leave was granted for all women.
• Sweden: The first Swedish law regarding parental leave was instituted in 1900. This law only affected women who worked as wage-earning factory workers and simply required that employers not allow women to work in the first four weeks after giving birth.
• Commonwealth of Australia: The First Parliament was not elected with a uniform franchise. The voting rights were based on existing franchise laws in each of the States. Thus, in South Australia and Western Australia women had the vote, in South Australia Aborigines (men and women) were entitled to vote and in Queensland and Western Australia Aborigines were explicitly denied voting rights.

1902

• China: Foot binding was outlawed in 1902 by the imperial edicts of the Qing Dynasty, the last dynasty in China, which ended in 1911.
• El Salvador: Married women were granted separate economy.
• El Salvador: Legal majority was granted to married women.
• New South Wales: New South Wales granted women the right to vote in state elections.
• England: A delegation of women textile workers from Northern England presented a petition to Parliament with 37,000 signatures demanding votes for women.

1903

• Bavaria, Germany: Universities opened to women.
• Sweden: Public medical offices opened to women.
• Australia: Tasmania granted women the right to vote.
• England: The Women's Social and Political Union was founded.

1904

• Nicaragua: Married women were granted separate economy.
• Nicaragua: Legal majority was granted to married women.
• Württemberg, Germany: Universities opened to women.
• England: The suffragette Dora Montefiore refused to pay her taxes because women could not vote.

1905

• Australia: Queensland granted women the right to vote.
• Iceland: Educational institutions opened to women.
• Russia: Universities opened to women.
• England: On October 10th, Cristabel Pankhurst and Annie Kenney became the first women to be arrested in the fight for women's suffrage.

1906

• Finland granted women the right vote. It was the first country in Europe to do so.
• Honduras: Married women were granted separate economy.
• Honduras: Legal majority was granted to married women.
• Honduras: Divorce was legalized
• Korea: The profession of nurse was allowed for women.
• Nicaragua: Divorce was legalized.
• Sweden : Municipal suffrage, since 1862 granted to unmarried women, was granted to married women.
• Saxony, Germany: Universities opened to women.
• England: A delegation of women from both the Women's Social and Political Union and the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies met with the Prime Minister, Sir Henry Bannerman.
• England: The word suffragette, intended as an insult to women in the Women's Social and Political Union, was used for the first time, by the Daily Mail.
• Britain: The National Federation of Women Workers was established by Mary MacArthur.

1907

• France: Married women were given control of their income.
• France: Women were allowed guardianship of children.
• Norway: Women were granted the right to stand for election, although this was subject to restrictions until 1913.
• Finland: The first female members of parliament in world history were elected in Finland in 1907.
• Uruguay: Divorce was legalized.
• England: The National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies organized its first national demonstration, which became known as the "mud march" because of the terrible weather at the time.
• England: Emmeline Pethwick Lawrence and her husband Frederick launched the suffragette newspaper "Votes for Women".
• England: The Women's Freedom League was formed when Charlotte Despard and others broke away from the Women's Social and Political Union.
• England: The Qualification of Women Act allowed women to be elected as mayors and to borough and city councils.

1908

• Belgium: Women were allowed to act as legal witnesses in court.
• Denmark: Unmarried women were made legal guardians of their children.
• Peru: Universities opened to women.
• Prussia, Alsace-Lorraine and Hesse, Germany: Universities opened to women.
• Denmark: Denmark granted women over 25 the right to vote in local elections.
• Australia: Victoria granted women the right to vote in state elections.
• England: On the 17th of January suffragettes chained themselves to the railings of 10 Downing Street. Emmeline Pankhurst was imprisoned for the first time. The Women's Social and Political Union also introduced their stone-throwing campaign.

1909

• Sweden: Women were granted eligibility to municipal councils.
• Sweden: The phrase "Swedish man" was removed from the application forms to public offices and women were thereby approved as applicants to most public professions.
• Mecklenburg, Germany: Universities opened to women.
• England: In July, Marion Wallace Dunlop became the first imprisoned suffragette to go on a hunger strike. As a result, force-feeding was introduced.
• Women were first elected to the procurer of the Bahá'í Local Spiritual Assembly of Chicago - the Bahai Temple Unity. Of the nine members elected by secret ballot three were women with Corinne True (later appointed as a Hand of the Cause) serving as an officer.

1910

• Denmark: The Socialist International, meeting in Copenhagen, established a Women's Day, international in character, to honor the movement for women's rights and to assist in achieving universal suffrage for women.
• USA, Washington: Washington granted women the right to vote.
• Ecuador: Divorce was legalized.
• England: November 18th was "Black Friday", when the suffragettes and police clashed violently outside Parliament after the failure of the first Concilation Bill. Ellen Pitfield, one of the suffragettes, later died from her injuries.

1911

• England: Dame Ethel Smyth composed "March of the Women", the suffragette song.
• Portugal: Legal majority was granted to married women (rescinded in 1933.)
• Portugal: Divorce was legalized.
• USA, California: California granted women the right to vote.
• Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland: International Women's Day was marked for the first time in Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland on the 19th of March. More than one million women and men attended IWD rallies campaigning for women's rights to work, vote, be trained, hold public office and be free from discrimination.
• South Africa: Olive Schreiner published Women and Labor.

1912

• USA, Oregon, Kansas, Arizona: Oregon, Kansas, and Arizona granted women the right to vote.
• England: Sylvia Pankhurst established her East London Federation of Suffragettes.
• The all-male administrative bodies in the United States of the Bahá'í Faith were completely dissolved by `Abdu'l-Bahá during his visit to America replacing them with integrated institutions.
• Palestine: During the periods her brother was away in America, Bahíyyih Khánum was empowered as the acting head of the Bahá'í Faith, which was a rare position for a woman to be in at that time.

1913

• Russia: In 1913 Russian women observed their first International Women's Day on the last Sunday in February. Following discussions, International Women's Day was transferred to 8 March and this day has remained the global date for International Women's Day ever since.
• USA, Alaska: Alaska granted women the right to vote.
• Norway: Norway granted women the right to vote.
• Japan: Public universities opened to women.
• England: The suffragette Emily Davies was killed by the King's horse at the Epsom Derby.
• England: 50,000 women taking part in a pilgramamge organized by the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies arrived in Hyde Park on July 26th.

1914

• Russia: Married women were allowed their own internal passport.
• USA, Montana, Nevada: Montana and Nevada granted women the right to vote.
• England: The suffragette Mary Richardson entered the National Gallery and slashed the Rokeby Venus.

1915

• Denmark: Denmark granted women the right to vote.
• Iceland: Iceland granted women the right to vote,subject to conditions and restrictions.
• USA: In 1915 the American Medical Association began to admit women as members.
• Wales: The first Women's Institute in Britain was founded in North Wales at Llanfairpwll.

1916

• Canada: Alberta, Manitoba and Saskatchewan granted women the right to vote.
• USA: Margaret Sanger opened America's first birth control clinic in 1916.
• England: The Cat and Mouse Act was introduced for suffragettes who refused to eat.

1917

• Cuba: Married women were granted separate economy.
• Cuba: Legal majority was granted to married women.
• Netherlands: Women were granted the right to stand for election.
• Mexico: Legal majority for married women.
• Mexico: Divorce was legalized.
• USA, New York: New York granted women the right to vote.
• Belarus: Belarus granted women the right to vote.
• Russia: The Russian SFSR granted women the right to vote.

1918

• Cuba: Divorce was legalized.
• Russia: The first Constitution of the new Soviet State (the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic) declared that “women have equal rights to men.”
• Thailand: Universities opened to women.
• England: In 1918 Marie Stopes, who believed in equality in marriage and the importance of women's sexual desire, published Married Love, a sex manual that, according to a survey of American academics in 1935, was one of the 25 most influential books of the previous 50 years, ahead of Relativity by Albert Einstein and The Interpretation of Dreams by Sigmund Freud.
• USA, Michigan, South Dakota, Oklahoma: Michigan, South Dakota, and Oklahoma granted women the right to vote.
• Austria: Austria granted women the right to vote.
• Canada: Canada granted women the right to vote on the federal level (the last province to enact women's suffrage was Quebec in 1940.)
• United Kingdom: The Representation of the People Act was passed which allowed women over the age of 30 who met a property qualification to vote. Although 8.5 million women met this criteria, it only represented 40 per cent of the total population of women in the UK. The same act extended the vote to all men over the age of 21.
• United Kingdom: The Parliamentary Qualification of Women Act was passed allowing women to stand as Members of Parliament.
• Czechoslovakia: Czechoslovakia granted women the right to vote.

1919

• Germany: Germany granted women the right to vote.
• Azerbaijan: Azerbaijan granted women the right to vote.
• Italy: Women gained more property rights, including control over their own earnings, and access to some legal positions.
• Great Britain: The Sex Disqualification (Removal) Act 1919 became law. In a broad opening statement it specified that, “ person shall not be disqualified by sex or marriage from the exercise of any public function, or from being appointed to or holding any civil or judicial office or post, or from entering or assuming or carrying on any civil profession or vocation”. The Act did provide employment opportunities for individual women and many were appointed as magistrates, but in practice it fell far short of the expectations of the women’s movement. Senior positions in the civil service were still closed to women and they could be excluded from juries if evidence was likely to be too “sensitive”.
• Luxembourg: Luxembourg granted women the right to vote.
• Canada: Women were granted the right to be candidates in federal elections.
• Netherlands: The Netherlands granted women the right to vote. The right to stand in election was granted in 1917.
• New Zealand: New Zealand allowed women to stand for election into parliament.
• England: Nancy Astor became the first woman to take her seat in the House of Commons.

1920

• China: The first female students were accepted in Peking University, soon followed by universities all over China.
• Haiti: The apothecary profession was opened to women.
• Korea: The profession of telephone operator, as well as several other professions, such as store clerks, were opened to women.
• Sweden: Legal majority was granted to married women and equal marriage rights were granted to women.
• USA: The 19th Amendment was signed into law, granting all American women the right to vote.
• England: Oxford University opened its degrees to women.

1921

• England: The Six Point Group was founded by Lady Rhondaa to push for women's social, political, occupational, moral, economic, and legal equality.

1922

• China: International Women's Day was celebrated in China from 1922 on.
• United Kingdom: The Law of Property Act 1922 was passed, giving wives the right to inherit property equally with their husbands.
• England: The Infanticide Act was passed, ending the death penalty for women who killed their children if the women's minds were found to be unbalanced.

1923

• Nicaragua: Elba Ochomogo became the first woman to obtain a university degree in Nicaragua.
• England: The Matrimonial Causes Act gave women the right to petition for divorce on the grounds of adultery.

1925

• UK: The Guardianship of Infants Act gave parents equal claims over their children.

1928

• UK: The right to vote was granted to all UK women equally with men in 1928.