 The mid-twentieth century women’s movement—so-called second wave feminism—began as a liberation movement (see the entry on  feminist political philosophy).  The idea was that women are entitled to be free and equal citizens—as free as men to participate in their societies, to pursue their ambitions and determine their own lives. A starting place for achieving equal citizenship was political equality. Despite the facts that political equality had been defended by the Seneca Falls Convention in 1848 and by and  Harriet Taylor Mill  in the “Enfranchisement of Women” in 1851, and that women’s suffrage had been achieved in the United States and in many other countries by the early 20th century, at mid-century political equality remained a radical idea that led to some radical legal reform. And it remains a deeply contested concept nearly 75 years later.