Final answer:
The feminist movement saw significant gains in the 1960s and 1970s in employment equality, reproductive rights, and educational access, with global conferences underscoring its international impact.
Step-by-step explanation:
Throughout the feminist movement, several initiatives were highly successful, aside from the acquiring of the right to vote. The 1960s and 1970s were particularly thriving decades, witnessing significant gains in equal opportunity employment, access to contraceptive options, health clinics, shelters, and enhanced educational opportunities.
Betty Friedan remarked that what was once a feminist agenda had become an everyday reality with the achievements being incorporated into the lives of many women. These gains allowed for the closing of the gender pay gap, albeit it remained unequal.
Activism played a crucial role in the successes of the feminist movement. High-profile protests, such as the New York Radical Women's demonstration at the 1968 Miss America Pageant, highlighted societal issues like the objectification of women.
The movement was also global, as indicated by the United Nations Women's Conferences in locations such as Mexico City, Copenhagen, Nairobi, and Beijing, showing that the push for gender equality transcended national borders.
The feminist movement was also a springboard for women's involvement in other reform movements, such as the civil rights movement and antiwar protests.
Although initially sidelined, the treatment of women in these movements led to the consolidation of feminist groups and a strengthening of feminist ideologies, as seen with the publication of Shulamith Firestone's influential work 'The Dialectic of Sex: The Case for Feminist Revolution.'
Despite ridicule in the media and focus on more radical factions, the movement continued to leverage its collective voice for greater rights and representation.
The engagement of middle-class women in reform efforts from the late 1870s, including the temperance movement, eventually led to women rallying for suffrage as they realized the necessity of voting for systemic change.
These endeavors were foundational to the successes of early feminism and represent pivotal points within the progressive history of women's rights.