New Woman

The New Woman was a feminist ideal that emerged in the late 19th century and had a profound influence on feminism well into the twentieth. The term "New Woman" was popularized by American writer Henry James, to describe the growth in the number of feminist, educated, independent career women in Europe and the United States. The New Woman pushed the limits set by male-dominated society, especially as modeled in the plays of Norwegian Henrik Ibsen (1828–1906). "The New Woman sprang fully armed from Ibsen's brain," according to a joke by Max Beerbohm (1872–1956). New Women were active in the Suffragette movement and were disappointed by the emergence of the frivolous flapper in the 1920s.