There is no debating that feminism was necessary back then. Socially and legally women were at a severe disadvantage and something had to be done. Of course it's a never-ending process as injustice will exist as long as humans exist, but the levels are very different nowadays in western countries compared to developing and exploited countries (no they aren't "developing" they are being held back, but that's a different topic).
At the same time, there was a lot of movement for social awareness and things like free love, queer acceptance, bodily autonomy, anti-racism movements, and a lot more were happening world-wide. France had massive left-wing protests and so did Germany. Many know of the movements in the US Black Panthers, MLK, Woodstock, Free Love, Flower Power, and turmoil that took place after Kennedy was shot in 1963. In Congo Patrice Lumumba was assassinated for his role in the independence of the country (leading to the Congo Crisis), Nigeria had its very own Nnamdi Azikiwe promoting an African Union (which came to be for a short while), and a lot more was happening.
One would have thought the world was going to radically change forever in the 60s, but then, very quickly, the biggest topic became feminism. It was on TVs, talkshows, streets, and much more. While other civil rights movements were being brutally stamped out, somehow feminism got bigger and had major support in the US by the Johnson administration (after Kennedy was shot) and (suprisingly) even the following president: Nixon (although he was still a fucking sleeze).
And thought by the 70s the social movements in the US were declining and still strong in Europe, feminism gained force.
Things have now changed significantly as feminism is now "evil" to right-wingers and religious types (with a return to rhetoric from their antagonists in the 60s) and still serves as a major distraction, but mostly because it is seen as a danger to the elite themselves. For a while, it served its purpose of distracting and also bringing more people into the workforce while successfully forcing the pay of single bread-winner to be insufficient and requiring two. The economical output doubled while remuneration halved (with inflation considered).
The bigger distraction now is "immigration". The elite and uberrich have now successfully shifted the focus away from themselves. Again.
No, first wave feminism was originally for the women who were wealthy and powerful.
People really underestimate how racist everyone used to be. The suffragettes were all for equal rights for all, but seethed when black men got voting rights before them, due to the implication that while middle class women were lesser than black people, who were viewed as subhuman.
Rebecca Felton was an major figure in the American suffragette movement, and was a proud slave owner that advocated for lynching instrumental in the establishing the Jim Crow South.
Hence the need for the subsequent waves of feminism.
Rebecca Latimer Felton - Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rebecca_Latimer_Felton
The Suffragettes Were Not Allies to Black Women, They Were Racist - https://www.edpost.com/stories/the-suffragettes-were-not-allies-to-black-women-they-were-racist