In Mary Wollstonecraft's "A Vindication of the Rights of Woman," she attacks the sexual double standard that exists between men and women. The period after her work is thought of as the first wave of feminism (McCullough).
The main goal of the first wave of feminism was to attain political and legal equality among men and women. The many supporters of the first wave of feminism, both male and female, lobbied for women's suffrage. The first country to introduce the right for women to vote was New Zealand in 1893, and much later in many other countries. It was not until 1916 that women were deemed democratically equal to men in some parts of Canada. Quebec, which lagged behind the rest of Canada, did not introduce women's suffrage until 1940. Other legal issues in Quebec continued to prevent basic women's rights for example women were not allowed to separate from their spouse on the grounds of adultery until 1955, and were not allowed to buy or sell goods or services without their husbands consent (McCullough).
Many, if not all, of the political issues that the feminists of the first wave of feminism encountered were overcome. As seen in Quebec, some of the political changes to grant women some of the political and legal rights that they deserve were overdue; however, they were still overcome (McCullough). .
Though many of the political and legal barriers of male and female equality were broken down during the first wave of feminism, the social barriers separating men and women still existed. This is why the second wave of feminism was necessary to relieve the burden on social constraints on women. This is where Catherine MacKinnon, a radical and socialist feminist, comes in (McCullough).
Catherine MacKinnon: Feminist Ideology.
Feminists thought of as radical and socialist rely on fundamental ideologies from anarchism and Marxism. From anarchism they draw upon challenging the structure and representatives of our democracies, as well as seeking new forms of decision making that are not as controlling as those of male dominated politics.
