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Liberal feminism is an individualistic form of feminist theory, which focuses on women’s ability to maintain their equality through their own actions and choices. Liberal feminists argue that society holds the false belief that women are, by nature, less intellectually and physically capable than men; thus it tends to discriminate against women in the academy, the forum, and the marketplace. Liberal feminists believe that "female subordination is rooted in a set of customary and legal constraints that blocks women’s entrance to and success in the so-called public world". They strive for sexual equality via down-to-earth political and legal reform.〔Tong, Rosemarie. 1989. Feminist Thought: A Comprehensive Introduction. Oxon, United Kingdom: Unwin Human Ltd. Chapter 1〕 In the United States, liberal feminism was quiet for four decades after winning the vote in 1920. In the 1960s during the civil rights movement, liberal feminists drew parallels between systemic race discrimination and sex discrimination.〔Tong, Rosemarie. 1989. Feminist Thought: A Comprehensive Introduction. Oxon, United Kingdom: Unwin Human Ltd. Chapter 1〕 Groups such as the National Organization for Women, the National Women's Political Caucus, and the Women's Equity Action League were all created at that time to further women's rights. In the U.S., these groups have worked for the ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment or "Constitutional Equity Amendment", in the hopes it will ensure that men and women are treated as equals under the democratic laws that also influence important spheres of women's lives, including reproduction, work and equal pay issues. Other issues important to liberal feminists include but are not limited to reproductive rights and abortion access, sexual harassment, voting, education, fair compensation for work, affordable childcare, affordable health care, and bringing to light the frequency of sexual and domestic violence against women.〔hooks, bell. "Feminist Theory: From Margin to Center" Cambridge, MA: South End Press 1984〕 ==Writers== Popular feminist writers associated with this theory are Mary Wollstonecraft, John Stuart Mill, Helen Taylor; Second Wave feminists Betty Friedan and Gloria Steinem; and the Third Wave feminist Rebecca Walker. Mary Wollstonecraft (1759–1797) has been very influential in her writings as ''A Vindication of the Rights of Woman'' commented on society's view of the woman and encouraged women to use their voices in making decisions separate from decisions previously made for her. Wollstonecraft "denied that women are, by nature, more pleasure seeking and pleasure giving than men. She reasoned that if they were confined to the same cages that trap women, men would develop the same flawed characters. What Wollstonecraft most wanted for women was personhood."〔Tong, Rosemarie. 1989. Feminist Thought: A Comprehensive Introduction. Oxon, United Kingdom: Unwin Human Ltd. Chapter 1〕 Elizabeth Cady Stanton (November 12, 1815 – October 26, 1902) was one of the most influential women in first wave feminism. An American social activist, she was instrumental in orchestrating the Seneca Falls Convention, the first women's rights convention, which was held in Seneca Falls, New York. Not only was the suffragist movement important to Stanton, she also was involved in women's parental and custody rights, divorce laws, birth control, employment and income rights, amongst others.〔Baker, Jean H. Sisters: The Lives of America's Suffragists. Hill and Wang, New York, 2005. ISBN 0-8090-9528-9.〕 Her partner in this movement was the equally influential Susan B. Anthony. Together, they fought for a linguistic shift in the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments to include “female”.〔Evans, Sara M. 1997. Born For Liberty: A History of Women in America. New York, NY: Free Press Paperbacks.〕 Additionally, in 1890 she founded the National American Woman Suffrage Association and resided as president until 1892.〔Evans, Sara M. 1997. Born For Liberty: A History of Women in America. New York, NY: Free Press Paperbacks.〕 Despite never authoring a feminist text, she produced many speeches, resolutions, letters, calls, and petitions that fed the first wave and kept the spirit alive.〔Elizabeth Cady Stanton, “Address to the New York State Legislature, 1854” in Feminism: The Essential Historical Writings, New York: Vintage Books, 1994. 110.〕 By gathering a large number of signatures, she aided the passage of the Married Women's Property Act of 1848. John Stuart Mill (May 20, 1806 – May 8, 1873) believed that both sexes should have equal rights under the law and that "until conditions of equality exist, no one can possibly assess the natural differences between women and men, distorted as they have been. What is natural to the two sexes can only be found out by allowing both to develop and use their faculties freely."〔Mill, John Stuart (1869). The Subjection of Women (1869 first ed.). London: Longmans, Green, Reader & Dyer. Retrieved 10 December 2012.〕 Mill frequently spoke of this imbalance and wondered if women were able to feel the same "genuine unselfishness" that men did in providing for their families. This unselfishness Mill advocated is the one "that motivates people to take into account the good of society as well as the good of the individual person or small family unit.〔Tong, Rosemarie. 1989. Feminist Thought: A Comprehensive Introduction. Oxon, United Kingdom: Unwin Human Ltd. 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