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For many years women didn't have any rights and were treated like house slaves, because they were expected to just do chores around the house. Women lost the majority of their rights after they were married and were practically owned by their husbands, because their husband could abuse them and anything they owned became their husbands. It was really bad, so many women around the country started pushing towards a reform on the law to give women rights such as voting. They mainly started pushing for reform when two women attended a convention in London and were prohibited from talking. One of the women decided to host a convention about women's rights due to her poor treatment in London, because of her gender. Out of this convention came the Declaration of Sentiments which was a proposal on women's rights. The Seneca Falls Convention was a convention that demanded equal rights for women. The two main leaders of this movement were Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton.

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Women's rights are the social, political, and legal rights that women have in countries around the world. Women's rights include voting, equal access to education, equality in employment and wages, reproductive freedom, and social equality. Although women have made great progress in achieving equal rights to men, women's rights remain an important and difficult issue even today. While women in some countries enjoy a status that is equal or nearly equal to that of men, many other women around the world are still struggling to achieve equality and gain access to basic rights and freedoms.

Fast Facts

The American women's rights movement began with a 1848 Seneca Falls convention led by activist Elizabeth Cady Stanton.

Wyoming became the first US state to give women the right to vote in 1890.

In the 1970s, women's rights activists worked to promote a proposed law called the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) that was designed to ensure full equality for women. Although the ERA passed both the US House of Representatives and the Senate, it failed to win enough support from the states to be officially added to the Constitution.

Some key laws that helped to advance women's rights included the Equal Pay Act of 1963, which required employers to give men and women equal pay for equal work, and the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which made it illegal for employers to reserve some jobs for men and some for women.

Women's Rights in History

Women have been denied equal rights throughout most of human history. Until the last few centuries, women were usually treated like servants or even slaves who were much less respected than men. In many places, people believed that women were not as smart or as strong as men were. Because of this, women often had fewer rights and freedoms than men.

Early on, there were only a few civilizations in which women were given special rights. In Mesopotamia, for example, the Code of Hammurabi gave women the right to serve as judges, witnesses, and scribes. Elsewhere, women were much less fortunate. In ancient Rome, women were treated as property and were not allowed to choose who they married or even when they had children. Some of the first important improvements in women's rights came when Islamic social reforms were introduced in the seventh century AD. These reforms led to women being given the right to inherit property and the ability to consent to or reject a marriage. However, many of these advances were short-lived because they were at odds with the customs of the different cultures where Islam took hold over time.

The first major advances in women's rights did not come until the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. By that time, people were beginning to talk about women's rights and question laws that prevented women from being treated as equals to men. A growing number of women began to fight for the right to earn money and own property. Most importantly, women also began to fight for the right to vote and participate in politics. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, women in many European and North American countries managed to secure the right to vote and, in doing so, won the right to have their voices heard.

Connections: National Organization for Women

The National Organization for Women (NOW) is one of the leading activist organizations in the women's rights movement. Founded in 1966, NOW is a grassroots organization that works to achieve positive social change; end discrimination; and protect women's social, political, and economic rights. With hundreds of chapters and thousands of members across the country, NOW is also the largest women's rights group in the United States. Some of the many issues on which NOW focuses its time and attention include violence against women, reproductive rights, racial justice, and the continued pursuit of a constitutional equality amendment.

Women's Rights Issues

The most important women's rights issue remains the right to vote. A significant amount of progress in this area has already been made. In the United States, getting women the right to vote was the main goal of the original American women's rights movement that started in the mid-nineteenth century. The fight for suffrage was long and slow. Although some states began allowing women to vote as early as 1869, women were not granted the right to vote nationwide until the Nineteenth Amendment was passed in 1920. This breakthrough achievement came only two years after women over the age of thirty won the right to vote in the United Kingdom. Elsewhere, it took even longer for women to win equal voting rights. In Switzerland, for example, women were not granted the right to vote until 1971. In some Middle Eastern countries, women are still fighting for the right to vote in the early twenty-first century.

Social and economic equality is another major women's rights issue. While most women in developed Western countries enjoy equal access to education, jobs, and health care, many women in developing countries still face roadblocks to these advantages. Even in countries where they do generally enjoy equal standing alongside men, however, women are not always treated as true equals. Women are often subject to gender discrimination, which means that they may be paid less than men for doing the same job or may be denied equal access to education. As a result, the women who face these challenges often find themselves left out of the job market and trapped in poverty.

Certain types of violence and abuse are also considered to be women's rights issues. Women are especially likely to be the victims of crimes such as sexual assault and domestic violence. In some developing countries where there are limits on gender equality, women who are involved in adultery (having sexual relations with someone other than a spouse) or other similar wrongdoings can be put to death to protect their family's honor. Women's rights activists work to protect women around the world from these types of violent crimes and unjust punishments.

One of the most significant modern women's rights issues is access to reproductive health care. In many countries, women have limited or no access to birth control, protection from sexually transmitted diseases, and other important reproductive health care services. Resources like these help women by giving them the ability to control when they have children and how many children they have. They also give women a greater sense of control over their own bodies. For similar reasons, abortion is also often seen as a key women's rights issue.

Words to Know

activism

The practice of taking action in support of or against a particular issue.

discrimination

Treating a person or a group of people unfairly because they are different.

reform

An effort or plan designed to improve something.

reproductive

Related to sexual activity and the production of babies.

suffrage

The right to vote in an election.

Source Citation

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Women's rights are the social, political, and legal rights that women have in countries around the world. Women's rights include voting, equal access to education, equality in employment and wages, reproductive freedom, and social equality. Although women have made great progress in achieving equal rights to men, women's rights remain an important and difficult issue even today.

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