Liberal Feminism - Liberal Feminist Writers

Liberal Feminist Writers

Popular feminist writers associated with this theory are Mary Wollstonecraft, John Stuart Mill; Second Wave feminists Betty Friedan and Gloria Steinem; and the Third Wave feminist Rebecca Walker.

Mary Wollstonecraft (1759-1797) has been very influential in her writings as A Vindication of the Rights of Woman commented on society's view of the woman and encouraged women to use their voices in making decisions separate from decisions previously made for her. Wollstonecraft "denied that women are, by nature, more pleasure seeking and pleasure giving than men. She reasoned that if they were confined to the same cages that trap women, men would develop the same flawed characters. What Wollstonecraft most wanted for women was personhood."

Elizabeth Cady Stanton (November 12, 1815-October 26, 1902) was one of the most influential women in first wave feminism. An American social activist, she was instrumental in orchestrating the first women's rights convention in Seneca Falls, New York. Not only was the suffragist movement important to Stanton, she also was involved in women's parental and custody rights, divorce laws, birth control, employment and income rights, amongst others. Her partner in this movement was the equally influential Susan B. Anthony. Together, they fought for a linguistic shift in the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments to include “female”. Additionally, in 1890 she founded the National American Woman Suffrage Association and resided as president until 1892. Despite never authoring a feminist text, she was produced many speeches, resolutions, letters, calls, and petitions that fed the first wave and kept the spirit alive. By gathering a large number of signatures, she aided the passage of the Married Women's Property Act of 1848.

John Stuart Mill (May 20, 1806-May 8, 1873) believed that men are not intellectually above women and much of his research centered on the idea that women, in fact, are superior in knowledge than men. Mill frequently spoke of this imbalance and wondered if women were able to feel the same "genuine unselfishness" that men did in providing for their families. This unselfishness Mill advocated is the one "that motivates people to take into account the good of society as well as the good of the individual person or small family unit.