History of feminism
Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott met in 1840 while en route to London where they were shunned as women by the male leadership of the first World's Anti-Slavery Convention. In 1848, Mott and Stanton held a woman's rights convention in Seneca Falls, New York, where a declaration of independence for women was drafted. Lucy Stone helped to organize the first National Women's Rights Convention in 1850, a much larger event at which Sojourner Truth, Abby Kelley Foster, and others spoke sparked Susan B. Anthony to take up the cause of women's rights. In December 1851, Sojourner Truth contributed to the feminist movement when she spoke at the Women’s Convention in Akron, Ohio. She delivered her powerful “Ain’t I a Woman” speech in an effort to promote women’s rights by demonstrating their ability to accomplish tasks that have been traditionally associated with men. Barbara Leigh Smith met with Mott in 1858, strengthening the link between the transatlantic feminist movements.
European Feminist Forum
The EFF had its origins in 2004, when several European feminists met in Amsterdam, and were worried that the promises of the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women had not been met. Several groups became involved in the forum after receiving an invitation to join in December 2004. These groups included Mama Cash, Women in Development Europe (WIDE), European Women's Lobby, Network of East-West Women, the International Information Centre and Archives for the Women's Movement (IIAV) and others. These organizations and the individuals representing them began to plan the form of the EFF, and in 2006, created a steering committee and IIAV decided to host the forum.