Women's Timeline Women's Movement Timeline

The following paragraphs describe eight incredible women who lived from the 1700's through the present. This paper also includes a timeline to better place into perspective these women's incredible effort and their success at initiating change and giving women first, a voice, then, rights equal to those of men.

Mary Wollstonecraft (1759-1797)

In 1792, Wollstonecraft published the most important piece relating to women's rights, a pamphlet entitled Vindication on the Rights of Women. This work advocated equality of the sexes, and elaborated upon what was later to become the central idea of the Women's Movement across Europe and America. According to scholars, Wollstonecraft "ridiculed prevailing notions about women as helpless, charming adornments in the household" and instead suggested the women should be educated and not be slavish dependents of their husbands. In fact, Wollstonecraft was one of the first women to advocate women's education above everything as a means and a path towards establishing a balanced society.

Source: "Mary Wollstonecraft, 1759-1797." Mary Wollstonecraft, 1759-1797. Web. 29 May 2012. .

2. Martha Moore Ballard (1735-1812)

Martha Ballard, the first American to be written about here, lived predominantly in the 18th century in what is now the state of Maine. Ballard's most important contribution to the life of women and the generations that would follow and that would start the women's movement, was her diary, through which she described and categorized daily events not only in her life, but also in the field of medicine. As Ballard was a midwife, she knew this field well, and it is due...

29 May 2012. .
3. Mercy Otis Warren (1728-1814)

Mercy Otis Warren was one of the women who, during the American revolution and thereafter, utilized her position in society in order to advocate for women's education. She was encouraged by her own father to learn more than what was prescribed for her 'sex' at the time. Warren became an advisor to John Adams, and influenced many other early American politicians with her writing and conversations. Researchers state that Warren "continued to write and publish [throughout her life], and in 1790, her collection of Poems: Dramatic and Miscellaneous was published in Boston. In 1805, her History of the... American Revolution was published in Boston." Warren is yet another woman in early American history whose valuable input helps us understand this time so well today.

Source: "American Revolution: Mercy Otis Warren." ThinkQuest. Oracle Foundation. Web. 29 May 2012. .

4. Angelina Grimke (1805-1879)

Grimke was an abolitionist and a very early Southern feminist activist. She was "famous for her path-breaking speaking tour of 1837-1838," according to research, in which she truly believed as an abolitionist and as a Southerner who was among the few privileged and the even fewer women who spoke against slavery. The story of Grimke's participation in this movement starts with her enlistment in the abolitionist movement in 1835 "by writing a letter to William Lloyd Garrison, which he printed in the Liberator. As a…