Women’s March on Versailles (5 October 1789)

Women participated in this march demanding bread, arms and ammunitions.

The march in itself pressured Louis 16 to come back to Paris which was a decisive step of the French Revolution. It shows women played a part in changes made in France although they didn't have political rights.

-> Women's political movements as well as club started emerging more in France.

August 1790= Family courts finally have all the rights on the matters of settling family disputes and conflicts.

Men are not allowed to lock up their wives or children anymore.

Change in Marital law= civil marriage established as a legitimate civil contract which changed the way men/women relationships worked.

Equality between wives and husbands was proclaimed which also gave women the possibility to divorce.

April 1971= Egalitarian inheritance ( boys and girls had the same rights to inheritance ).

Olympes de Gouges who is considered as one of the first feminist, wrote and published The Declaration of the rights of Woman and the Female Citizen as a counterpart to the previous one.

In the Declaration she asserted that women should have the same rights as men.

She challenged established gender roles and called for equal citizenship rights for women ( for what she was considered a radical ).

The Treaty of Rome is the foundational treaty of the European Union. It established the European Economic Community (EEC) and the European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC or Euratom).

Articles like article 119 established new rights for women like equal pay for equal work ( it was mostly France's idea as they had already installed it in 1946 ).

Generally speaking, the treaty made gender equality in European countries a European issue.

The European Parliament decided to establish a permanent Committee on Women's Rights.

Its purpose was to monitor the application of directives on equal opportunities and to consider issues like education, employment, and new technologies concerning women.

A large women's suffrage demonstration took place in Paris on July 5, 1914, led by journalist Séverine. Approximately 5,000 to 6,000 people marched from the Jardin des Tuileries to the statue of Nicolas de Condorcet, advocating for women's right to vote.

Last country in Europe to establish women's suffrage rights.

There is still one place in Europe where women are not allowed to vote and it's in Vatican as only cardinals ( so to speak men ) are allowed to vote.

It was an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that prohibited any less favourable treatment between men and women in terms of pay and conditions of employment.

It is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that legalised abortion in Great Britain on certain grounds by registered practitioners, and regulated the tax-paid provision of such medical practices through the National Health Service (NHS).

Factory abuses were really common with the development during the Industrial revolution.

Working women fought for better working rights for themselves as well as in general.

This act established mandatory schooling for child workers as well as child labour limits.

British law that prohibited women and young person aged from 13 to 18 years old to work more than ten hours a day.

New rights for women who had no rights to their wages and worked hard in industries.

For instance, out of all workers inEnglish cotton mills in 1834-1847, about one quarter are adult men, over half were women and girls ( it was easier to underpay them ) and the last quarter were boys under 18.

However, they couldn't earn normal degrees, just certificates of proficiency.

The London National Society for Women’s Suffrage and the Manchester National Society for Women’s Suffrage started early campaigns for women's rights to vote.

Both the LNSWS and the MNSWS began by petitioning and circulating pamphlets.

At the time, it was unusual for women to speak publicly, thus, the public meeting held by the MNSWS on April the 14th, 1868 at the Manchester free trade was a big event and big turning point in the start of the battle for women's rights.

Women were now allowed to hold their own property and could use their income for their own separate wants, independently from her husband.

Married women were also allowed to inherit property in their own names.

The Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) was founded in 1903 by Emmeline Pankhurst and her daughters in Manchester, England, with the aim of advocating for women's suffrage.

In 1905, they had their first public protest ( mostly for women's right to vote and take a part of the public and political life ), Emmeline Pankhurst and followers chained themselves to railings at the House of Commons, it drew a lot of media attention.

In 1897, the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies (NUWSS) was formed in Britain by uniting various regional suffrage groups. Led by Millicent Fawcett, the organisation was non-militant and aimed to achieve women's right to vote through peaceful and legal means like lobbying and public meetings.

On 18 November 1910, the police responded aggressively as 300 Suffragettes tried to enter the House of Commons. Black Friday, as it became known, only made the votes for women campaign more radical.

After Black Friday, many WSPU campaigners wouldn’t risk large marches. Instead, Suffragettes went underground to take more severe action against the government.

Many Suffragettes became bolder after their experiences. They felt betrayed by the government and were now ready to meet state violence with extreme militancy.

Women were not fully banned from voting before this law.

Some women then managed to vote.

A new law authorising only man to have suffrage was established.

17 articles for human liberties

Although it was a charter for human rights, women's rights were not included as they weren't as free as men.

In 1975, France enacted the "Loi Veil" that decriminalised abortion. The law is named for its champion Simone Veil, who was the first French woman minister of health and an advocate for women's rights.

The "Veil Act" decriminalised voluntary termination of pregnancy before the end of the tenth week of gestation, with certain conditions.

Simone Veil is a French Holocaust survivor who had a great impact on politics and women's rights in France as well as in Europe.

In 1979, after years of career as the French Minister of Health, she became the first woman to be elected as the President of the European Parliament.

However, it was not a mistake as Veil's ideas had revolutionised women's life.

For instance, she fought for abortion rights which were given to women under certain circumstances by the Veil Act in 1975 which decriminalised abortion.

Moreover, as a member of the European Parliament she fought for human rights among others important matters. She was a part of elected official who helped shaped the "Modern Europe" in which women's rights are central.

It put divorce into Civil Courts for the first time in Britain.

The Act was still leaning in favour of men granting them the right to divorce their wives for adultery whereas women could only divorce their husbands in some specific case like incest.

Law that gave women the right to petition for the custody of their child for the first time.

It is on of the Three acts of Parliament that emerged from the Caroline Norton affair.

Women are allowed to leave their husbands if they are found to be violent.

The National Federation of Women Workers (1906-1920) (NFWW) was formed in 1906 by Mary Macarthur mostly to fight for minimal equal wages for women.

February 1848, in France King Louis-Philippe is overthrown. As the Second Republic emerges women created new clubs and newspapers such as "La Voix des Femmes" = fighting for rights like suffrage, education...

March/May 1848, in Germany and Austria uprisings appear:

1. Louise Otto-Peters and Mathilde Franziska Anneke publish the "Frauen-Zeitung" (1849) demanding women’s education and work opportunities.

2. In Vienna, women march and petition for press freedom and equality.

After the failed revolutions of 1848, monarchy was mostly restored and conservative forces fought against women.

Clubs of women previously created were banned and their leaders exiled.

French Civic code which legally established women’s subordination in marriage.

The French Revolution gave hope to women for a change, however, the laws went backwards and women kept losing more rights.

Founded by Louise Otto-Peters and Auguste Schmidt in Leipzig on 18 October 1865, the association helped women to gain rights.

For instance, Mario Von Linden who then became Germany's first female professor, was previously helped to be admitted as a guest student into university by the association.

The Norwegian Association for Women’s Rights (Norsk Kvinnesaksforening, NKF) is Norway’s oldest and preeminent women’s and girls’ rights organisation.

NKF was founded on the initiative of Gina Krog in 1884 by 171 prominent women and men, including half a dozen Norwegian Prime Ministers. NKF has successfully campaigned for women’s right to education, the right to vote, the right to work and the establishment of what is now the Equality and Anti-Discrimination Ombud.

At the time of the First World War, most women were barred from voting or serving in military combat roles. Women were still fighting for their basic human rights. Thus, many saw the war as an opportunity to not only serve their countries but to gain more rights and independence.

Women filled manufacturing and agricultural positions on the home front. Others provided support on the front lines as nurses, doctors, ambulance drivers, translators and, in rare cases, on the battlefield.

After WW1 many countries across Europe started granting voting rights to women.

Women over the age of 30 who met certain property rights were given the vote.

Similarly as during WW1, women got more involved in jobs they weren't allowed to do before.

Women served in military, resistance and intelligence.

After WW2, other countries such as France decided to grant women the rights to vote.

Caroline Norton married George Chapple Norton in 1827, nine years later she left him as he was attempting to subsist on her income generated from her writing. Following the laws of the time, he was able to confiscate her income.

She responded by running up bills and sending the creditors to her husband, stating that wives had no legal personality separate from their husbands.

George Chapple Norton then abducted his own children and initiated a legal case, accusing his wife of having an affair. The case became the talk of London society.

Caroline Norton became an extremely important feminist figure and her case allowed three new Acts of Parliament supporting women's rights to emerge.

During the Industrial Revolution women had no rights of their own. What was seen as the aim of a women's life at that time was a good marriage.

The first role married women had was to take care of the wellness of their home. Indeed, at that time women started losing more of their rights and were not considered a human being on their own.

However, Middle Class and Upper Class women did have additional "jobs" as they were volunteering a lot.

Working Class Married or unmarried women on the other hand had to work in disastrous conditions, for long hours and without even being able to always receive their own wages. Indeed, if married, their wages were sent to their husband.

Women started realising they could have more and they shouldn't be treated as poorly and they started fighting.

Indeed, it's among others this era of labour that gave women and especially working class women the power to fight for rights.

It is important to note that many reforms that were made on labor were initiated or proposed or fought for by women.