Introduction The following work should give a short overview about the First Wave Feminism. It was the first recognized movement of women for equal treatment and for a society that must become aware of the special needs and desire of women which are not limited to the important question of suffrage. The essay is divided into five paragraphs under different titles. Firstly, I will introduce some main ideas of the ideology of the early women's movement and their fight for the right to vote through brief history. The paragraphs go under the titles of the term feminism, through the situation of women before the rise of feminism to the description of rising the feminist movement. I will try to describe the first wave of feminism itself and point out which new and important thoughts the feminists of the late 18 th and early 19 th century shared and which goals they tried to achieve. This goes under the title gender and power in the first wave of feminism. Secondly, I will focus on feminism in literature and reflection of the first wave of feminism in women's writing. My work concentrates on Kate Chopin's Work "The Awakening", as her probably best-known novel, dealing with a woman who demands her own direction and chooses her own freedom. But also her short stories contain a lot of feministic themes and questions. With a closer look at the main themes and the feministic attitude at one of her shortest but most radical short stories, I will show what kind of feminism is ´hidden ´ in "The Awakening . Thirdly, the interpretation of Charlotte Perkins Gilman's "The Yellow Wallpaper  will follow the same pattern as the interpretation of Kate Chopin's "The Awakening". At last I will sum up the results and see what impact the First Wave Feminism has had on women's progress in society, literature and on women writers in the late 18 th and the early 19th century and, on the women of today. The Term Feminism and Women's Liberation in the USA Historian and activist Cheris Kramarae once famously remarked that "feminism is the radical notion that women are human beings." Feminism, as a movement, is about women living on equal terms with men--and not pushed down, by law or by culture, into a subservient role. Feminism has been largely centered on the realities that women experience as the "other  gender. Some critics argue that the notion of difference has become the dominant focus of feminism, even replacing equality as the central concern of feminist theory.1 Traditional feminism divides the world into two groups: men and women. Feminists further subcategorize with the most common examples being the public versus private spheres and nature versus culture. Motivated by the harm created by societal positioning, the feminist movement has achieved greater public recognition and increased opportunities for women on many levels.2 The term feminism can be used to describe a political, cultural or economic movement aimed at establishing equal rights and legal protection for women. Feminism involves political and sociological theories and philosophies concerned with issues of gender difference, as well as a movement that advocates gender equality for women and campaigns for women's rights and interests. Although the terms "feminism" and "feminist" did not gain widespread use until the 1970s, they were already being used in the public parlance much earlier; for instance, Katherine Hepburn speaks of the "feminist movement" in the 1942 film Woman of the Year. 3 Modern feminist theory has been extensively criticized as being predominantly, but not exclusively, associated with western middle class academia. Feminist activism, however, is a important movement which crosses class and race boundaries. Also concerning the feminism, the phrase "Women's Liberation" was first used in the United States in 1964 and first appeared in print in 1966. By 1968, although the term Women's Liberation Front appeared in the magazine Ramparts, it was starting to refer to the whole women's movement. Bra-burning also became associated with the movement, though the actual prevalence of bra-burning is debatable. One of the most vocal critics of the women's liberation movement has been the African American feminist and intellectual Gloria Jean Watkins (who uses the pseudonym "bell hooks") who argues that this movement glossed over race and class and thus failed to address "the issues that divided women." She highlighted the lack of minority voices in the women's movement in her book Feminist theory from margin to center (1984). 4 Situation of Women Before the Rise of Feminism Most of all, Feminism is a politics. It is the recognition of the historical and cultural subordination of women. The only world-wide majority that was (or still is) treated as a minority. Therefore the situation of women before the Women's Rights Movement (WRM) was different from what it is today or after the so called "first wave  of feminism. Women at the end of the 18 th