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See also: Second-wave feminism and Third-wave feminism

First-wave feminism refers to a period of feminist activity during the nineteenth century and early twentieth century in the United Kingdom and the United States. It focused on de jure (officially mandated) inequalities, primarily on gaining the right of women's suffrage. The term, "first-wave," was coined retroactively after the term second-wave feminism began to be used to describe a newer feminist movement that focused as much on fighting de facto (unofficial) inequalities as it did de jure inequalities.

In the UK, Mary Wollstonecraft, published the first feminist treatise A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792), in which she advocated the social and moral equality of the sexes. Her later unfinished work "Maria, or the Wrongs of Women" earned her considerable criticism as she dared to acknowledge the existence of women's sexual desires, which was taboo in Georgian England.

Wollstonecraft is regarded as the grandmother of British feminism and her ideas shaped the thinking of the Suffragettes. The Suffragettes campaigned for the women's vote, which was eventually granted − to some women in 1918 and to all in 1928 (However women who belonged to various visible minority groups were not given the vote in 1928, some received it as late as 1960) − as much because of the part played by British women during the First World War, as of the efforts of the Suffragettes.

In the United States prominent leaders of this movement include Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony, who each campaigned for the abolition of slavery prior to championing women's right to vote. Anthony and other activists (such as Victoria Woodhull and Matilda Joslyn Gage) made attempts to cast votes prior to their legal entitlement to do so, for which many of them faced charges. Other important leaders include Lucy Stone, Olympia Brown, and Helen Pitts.

First-wave feminism involved a wide range of women, some belonging to conservative Christian groups (such as Frances Willard and the Woman's Christian Temperance Union), others resembling the diversity and radicalism of much of second-wave feminism (such as Matilda Joslyn Gage and the National Woman Suffrage Association).

In the United States, the end of first-wave feminism is often linked with the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution (1920), granting women the right to vote. This was a major victory of the movement which also included reforms in higher education, in the workplace and professions, and in healthcare.

• second-wave feminism
• third-wave feminism
• Feminism in France
• Timeline of Womens Rights (other than voting)
• Oberlin College, the first American college to regularly admit women
• Seneca Falls Convention

• Biography of Mary Wollstonecraft with links to works.
• Woodhull & Claflin's Weekly
• Woodhull's attempt to run for President.