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.
Women in Sweden
Women's organization, initially charitable, took a more radical form when the feminist movement was established. In 1848, Sophie Sager aroused controversy when reporting a rape attempt and winning the case in court, after which she became the first woman in Sweden to tour and make public speeches in favor of feminism. In 1855, women arguably organized for the first time to deal with an issue within women's rights, when Josefina Deland founded the "Svenska lärarinnors pensionsförening" (The Society for Retired Female Teachers) to provide for retired female teachers and governesses, and from 1856, the "Tidskrift för hemmet" became the first regular feminist spokes organ. During the second half of the century, the women's movement organized with the Married Woman's Property Rights Association (1873) and the Fredrika-Bremer-Förbundet (1884), and started to make demands of their own.
From the 1880s, women such as Emilie Rathou, Elma Danielsson, Alina Jägerstedt and Kata Dahlström engaged in the temperance movement, the working class movement, the trade unions and the political press and media.