<P> The first wave of Australian feminism, which dates back to the late 19th century, was chiefly concerned with suffrage (women's right to vote) and consequently with women's access to parliaments and other political activities . </P> <P> In 1882, Rose Scott, a women's rights activist, began to hold a weekly salon meetings in her Sydney home, left to her by her late mother . Through these meetings, she became well known amongst politicians, judges, philanthropists, writers and poets . In 1889, she helped to found the Women's Literary Society, which later grew into the Womanhood Suffrage League in 1891 . Leading politicians hosted by Scott included Bernhard Ringrose Wise, William Holman, William Morris Hughes and Thomas Bavin, who met and discussed the drafting of the bill that eventually became the Early Closing Act of 1899 . </P> <P> The first women's movement was led by the Dansk Kvindesamfund ("Danish Women's Society"), founded in 1871 . Line Luplau was one of the most notable woman in this era . Tagea Brandt was also part of this movement, and in her honor was established the Tagea Brandt Rejselegat or Travel Scholarship for women . The Dansk Kvindesamfund's efforts as a leading group of women for women led to the existence of the revised Danish constitution of 1915, giving women the right to vote and the provision of equal opportunity laws during the 1920s, which influenced the present - day legislative measures to grant women access to education, work, marital rights and other obligations . </P> <P> Early New Zealand feminists and suffragettes included Maud Pember Reeves (Australian - born; later lived in London), Kate Sheppard and Mary Ann Müller . In 1893, Elizabeth Yates became Mayor of Onehunga, the first time such a post had been held by a female anywhere in the British Empire . Early university graduates were Emily Siedeberg (doctor, graduated 1895) and Ethel Benjamin (lawyer, graduated 1897). The Female Law Practitioners Act was passed in 1896 and Benjamin was admitted as a barrister and solicitor of the Supreme Court of New Zealand in 1897 (see Women's suffrage in New Zealand). </P>

Difference between first wave second wave and third wave feminism