Research Paper on:
The History and Rise of Feminism

Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
lists 10 sources. TGwomen.rtf Feminism Through the Ages: Little Consensus by Tracy Gregory, August 2001 -- for more information on using this  paper properly! Feminism is hardly a new concept. It has been eloquently expressed in literature for centuries, officially beginning with Mary Wollstonecrafts defiant late eighteenth-century treatise, A  Vindication of the Rights of Woman, in which she declared, "The first object of laudable ambition is to obtain a character as a human being, regardless of the distinction of  sex" (141). Historically, feminism has been rather ambiguously defined as "equal rights" for men and women. However, there has never been any type of consensus as to how  these equal rights are to be achieved, for feminism is not a singular entity, but stretches over political, social and economic spheres. There has never been one complete definition  that encompasses all that feminism is; therefore it has resulted in many largely unsatisfactory definitions. For this reason, feminism as a movement and as a school of thought was  and remains fragmented, with several viewpoints claiming to be definitive. This lack of cohesiveness is due primarily to conflicts within class and race, generational differences, along with the evolution  of science and technology. As a result, there have been three waves of reform in historical feminism beginning first in the middle nineteenth century, then the early twentieth century,  and more recently, the late twentieth century. Professor Nancy Wolochs voluminous Women and the American Experience is an invaluable tool in gaining historical perspective into the complexities of  feminism through the ages. She provided much insight into how the conflict between races and classes intensified during the mid-nineteenth century. Aristocratic northern women began embracing the cause