As Chang Hsiao-hung notes, the earliest "feminism" denoted the 19th century women's movement in the United States. And as Adrienne Rich once said, feminism grew out of a grass-roots movement.
張小虹曾提到，「女性主義」最早指十九世紀美國的女權運動；而安竺．瑞琪也說過，女性主義發源於草根運動。