The most important pre‐1979 women's movements in Nicaragua were first‐wave feminism and the right‐wing Somocista women's movement. I argue that it is useful to examine these two movements jointly in order to assess their legacy with regard to struggles over the relationship between women's organisations and political parties, age/generational differences, electoral democracy versus clientelism, and class and leadership. I conclude that while the pre‐1979 women's movements brought about women's suffrage and increased opportunities for some women, their collective legacy was, in some fundamental ways, undemocratic.