- Even in the earliest societies, different roles were assumed by men and women. According to "Cradle & Crucible" by David Fromkin et al, evidence dating from around 8500 B.C suggests that in Ancient Egyptian society's work was divided along gender lines with the women assuming agricultural duties and the men taking on the role of hunter/gatherer.
However, the delineation of work responsibilities did not extend to the modern day conception of 'rights'. A study of Ancient Egypt by the University of Chicago's Janet H. Johnson notes that Egyptian women were, among other things, able to own property and land, enter into private contracts and serve on juries, which put them on an equal legal footing with men. Any subjugation of those rights was a social phenomenon and not supported by law.
The comparative freedom of Ancient Egypt was in direct opposition to the experience of women in Ancient Greece where they had almost no rights at all. Formal education was unavailable and, as stated by an essay from Minnesota State University, female children were taught only domestic skills in anticipation of marriage, which usually took place in their early teens. - According to the website Middle-ages.org.uk, as time passed women's rights began to depend on their social status: a woman born into poverty could expect no rights at all, whilst those of noble blood had some, including the right to a basic education. In addition to reading and writing, young noblewomen were taught household duties like food preparation, dressmaking and, in some cases, archery and languages.
Social graces, too, rose in importance during that era as they were thought to be valuable assets in the search for a husband, so a noblewoman's education was expanded to include the teaching of etiquette.
However, even those with a more privileged background were still subservient to the male members of their family, and were given little, if any, choice in who they married. Once wed, a woman effectively became the property of her husband. - The mid-19th Century saw the first Women's Rights Convention in Seneca Falls, NY. Elizabeth Cady Stanton and her close friend Lucretia Mott organized the event, which took place in July of 1848. During the convention the Declaration of Sentiments, authored and read by Stanton, was signed by many of the attendees.
The wording of the Declaration of Sentiments is reminiscent of the Declaration of Independence. Its text states that "all men and women are created equal" and that the truths laid out in it are "self-evident". It also outlines how women's rights had been oppressed and that the time had come to demand redress. Specifically, the Declaration stated the unalienable rights afforded to men---voting, education, employment opportunities---were either wholly denied or unfairly weighted against women. It also argues that the standards of moral behavior expected of women were either inapplicable to men, or far less strictly enforced.
As described in Legacy98.org's detailed timeline, after further decades of disenfranchisement that included the U.S Supreme Court ruling that states can bar women from practicing law (Bradwell v. Illinois, 83 U.S. 130, 1872) and voting (Minor v Happersett, 88 U.S. 162, 1875), in 1890, Wyoming became the first State to grant women full voting rights. - In the first half of the 20th Century, many laws were passed that established rights for women in public life, the workplace and with regards to birth control.
In 1918, reproductive rights advocate Margaret Sanger won a lawsuit in New York that led to doctors being able to advise patients on the use of contraceptives. 1938 saw the passage of the the Fair Labor Standards Act which set a minimum wage regardless of the sex of the employee. In 1947 the U.S Supreme Court ruled that women were fit to serve on juries.
The latter half of the 20th Century was marked by more progress for the women's rights movement. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 barred the exclusion of employment candidates based on sex, and the outcome of Roe vs. Wade in 1973 ruled that reproductive rights were protected under the Constitution, thereby legalizing abortion.
These two victories are considered particularly important in the history of women's rights. - Progress has been made over the decades, but there is still debate over some aspects of women's rights and the extent to which they have effectively redressed the prior imbalance. In a 2009 report published by the Department of Labor, it is stated that on average women earn approximately 80 percent of the salary a man is paid for the same job. Whilst this is an improvement from 30 years before, when a woman earned 62 percent of a man's salary, it does still not represent full parity.
Reproductive rights are also a contested issue with opinions divided on whether abortion should remain legal. In a 2009 poll by CBS news, 23 percent of respondents believed abortion should be illegal versus 34 percent fully supportive of abortion without constraint, and 40 percent in favor of keeping the practice legal but with stricter controls.
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