an essay on women's rights

138 Women’s Rights Research Questions and Essay Topics

🏆 best topics related to women’s rights, ⭐ simple & easy essay topics on women’s issues, 📌 most interesting research topics on women’s issues, 👍 good women’s rights research paper topics, ❓ research questions about women’s rights.

Women’s rights essays are an excellent way to learn about the situation of the female gender throughout the world and demonstrate your knowledge.

You can cover historical women’s rights essay topics, such as the evolution of girl child education in various countries and regions or the different waves of the feminism movement.

Alternatively, you can study more current topics, such as the status of women in Islam or the debate about whether women’s rights apply to transgender women.

In either case, there is a multitude of ideas that you can express and discuss in your paper to make it engaging and thought-provoking. However, you should not neglect the basic aspects of writing an essay, especially its structure and presentation.

The thesis statement is critical to your essay’s structure, as it has to be at the center of each point you make. It should state the overall message or question of your paper comprehensively but concisely at the same time.

Afterwards, every point you make should directly or indirectly support the claim or answer the question, and you should make the relationship explicit for better clarity.

It is good practice to make the thesis a single sentence that does not rely on context, being fully self-sufficient, but avoids being excessively long.

As such, writing a good thesis is a challenging task that requires care and practice. Do not be afraid to spend additional time writing the statement and refining it.

It is beneficial to have a framework of how you will arrange topics and formulate your points so that they flow into one another and support the central thesis before you begin writing.

The practice will help you arrange transitional words and make the essay more coherent and connected as opposed to being an assortment of loosely associated statements.

To that end, you should write an outline, which deserves a separate discussion. However, the basics are simple: write down all of the ideas you want to discuss, discard the worst or fold them into other, broader topics until you have a handful left, and organize those in a logical progression.

Here are some additional tips for your structuring process:

Frame the ideas in your outline using self-explanatory and concise women’s rights essay titles. You can then use them to separate different points in your essay with titles that correspond to outline elements. The outline itself will effectively become a table of contents, saving you time if one is necessary.
Try to keep the discussion of each topic self-contained, without much reference to other matters you discussed in the essay. If there is a significant relationship, you should devote a separate section to it.
Do not forget to include an introduction and a conclusion in your paper. The introduction familiarizes the reader with the topic and ends with your thesis statement, setting the tone and direction of the essay. The conclusion sums up what you have written and adds some concluding remarks to finish. The introduction should not contain facts and examples beyond what is common knowledge in the field. The conclusion may not introduce new information beyond what has been stated in the essay.

You can find excellent women’s rights essay examples, useful samples, and more helpful tips on writing your essay at IvyPanda, so visit whenever you are having trouble or would like advice!

Women’s Rights and Gender Inequality in Saudi Arabia Indeed, it is crucial to understand the importance of women’s rights, see the connections between the past, the present, the local, and the global, and realize how political and media discourse represents the social issue […]
Women’s Rights in the 21st Century: Education and Politics The lack of equity in the specified areas affect women’s lives on range of levels, depriving them of the opportunities that they are supposed to be entitled to and posing a tangible threat to the […]
Saudi Arabian Women’s Right to Drive: Pros and Cons The objective of this paper is to present the arguments from both sides of the discussion on the issue of whether women should be able to drive legally in Saudi Arabia.
“Women’s Rights Are Human Rights” by Hillary Clinton Hillary Clinton’s speech about women’s rights effectively convinces her audience that women rights are an indispensable part of human rights through the use of logical argument, repetition, historical facts, and emotional stories.
The Development of Women’s Rights However, she cannot agree to such distribution of the roles, and she calls upon all people to look again at the situation, connected to women’s rights, and provide all women with a chance to participate […]
What Causes Women’s Rights Violation? Most women have been abused in modern societies due to illiteracy and lack of exposure to their rights. Most developing nations are struggling to adopt democratic policies and forget that women deserve the right to […]
Women’s Rights in the Muslim World Ahmed first focuses on the gender pattern in the Middle East prior to the emergence of the Islam in order to gain ground to describe the Islamic doctrine on women that were practiced in the […]
The Success of Women’s Rights Movement They sought the equal treatment of women and men by law and fought for voting rights. The women’s rights movement was successful because they were united, had a strong ideological foundation, and organized campaigns on […]
Foot Binding in China in Terms of Women’s Rights The practice of foot binding in China can be traced back to the Sung Dynasty that prevailed between 960-1280 AD, supposedly as an imitation of an imperial concubine who was required to perform a dance […]
Utilitarian Permissive Concept for Women’s Right to Choose Abortion Utilitarians believe that the right to choose abortion should be protected under the law as a matter of justice since a woman should have the right to make decisions concerning her own body and health.
Women’s Rights: Democratic Perceptions Therefore, it is proper to claim that women would not be able to exercise their rights and freedoms as frequently without the efforts of Democrats.
Women’s Rights and the Advancement of Democracy The degree of citizen involvement in the political process, including the participation of various social groups in political parties and decision-making bodies, determines the quality of democracy in addition to the structure of current political […]
Abortion and Women’s Right to Control Their Bodies However, the decision to ban abortions can be viewed as illegal, unethical, and contradicting the values of the 21st century. In such a way, the prohibition of abortion is a serious health concern leading to […]
The Women’s Rights Movement and Indigenous People In this article, the author addresses the differences between the Euro-American and Native American societies and the role of women in them.
The Texas Abortion Law: A Signal of War on Women’s Rights and Bodies The purpose of this paper is to examine the structure and implications of the Texas Abortion Law in order to demonstrate its flaws.
Women’s Rights and Reform Impulses The reform impulses altered women’s place in society, making them equal to men in the ability to speak publicly, pursue their liberty, and attain their goals.
The Evolution of Women’s Rights Through American History From the property-owning women of the late 18th century to the proponents of the women’s liberation in the 1960s, women always succeeded in using the influential political theories of their time to eventually make feminist […]
Invisible Southern Black Women Leaders in the Civil Rights Movement Based on 36 personal interviews and multiple published and archived sources, the author demonstrates that black women in the South have played a prominent role in the struggle for their rights.
Injustices Women Faced in Quest for Equal Rights The source Alice Paul depicts the numerous contributions that she and her fellow suffragists made to the new rights of women.
Catharine Beecher and Women’s Rights Catharine Beecher’s “An Appeal to American Women” is a discussion kind of piece that considers the power of women in office and how the issue should be approached.
The Aftermath of the Progression of Women’s Rights Period At the end of the 1800s and the beginning of 1900s, women’s organizations and women struggled for social reforms, to gain the right to vote, and for diverse political and economic equality.
Lucy Parsons as a Women’s Rights Advocate and Her Beliefs She was a believer in anarchism and thought that it was the means to liberty and freedom. She wanted the constitution to be amended to say that men and women are equal in all aspects.
Women in Islam: Some Rights, No Equality Notwithstanding the principles of equality of men and women in Islamic tradition, women’s low status should be attributed not to the ideals set in the Quran but to the cultural norms of the patriarchal society.
Primary Source on Women’s Voting Rights The combination of statements that degrade the image of suffragettes and suffrage and quotes of leaders’ opinions is a way for the editor to influence the audience.
Syrian Conflict and Women Rights: Way to Equality or Another Discrimination The main reason for a low percentage of women in the workforce is Syrian social norms, which stereotypically reflect the role of women in homes serving their husbands and in the private sector.
Movement for Women’s Rights in Great Britain and the United States This essay analytically explores some of the conditions which helped bring about movement for women’s right in Great Britain and United States before the close of the last century. In addition, the most significant demand […]
Shirin Ebadi’s Perspective on Women’s Human Rights Activism and Islam It is worth noting that Shirin Ebadi’s self-identity as an Iranian woman and a Muslim empowers her experience and perspective in women’s rights activism.
Women in Colonial America: Fight for Rights Wives that happily accepted their role and conformed to Puritan societal standards were openly referred to and addressed as ‘goodwife.’ However, the authoritative figure in the family and throughout all facets of Puritan society was […]
Women’s Involvement and Their Rights in Nationalist Ireland The beginning of the seventeenth century and the eighteenth century saw the struggle of the Irish women for the struggle to attaining freedom.
Women’s Fight for Their Rights Maybe, but lots of researchers are coming to various conclusions: women are not selecting to stay out of the workforce due to a change in approaches, the state.
Women in the Struggle for Civil Rights In other instants, women in the struggle for civil rights can also file a case in a court of law demanding the lawmakers to enact some policies of which they feel when passed will protect […]
Refugee Women and Their Human Rights According to the researches have been made by UNHCR, 1998, found that 80% of the refugees immigrating to the United States and other countries of second asylum are women or children.
Women’s Rights Movement in the 19th Century In this paper, the peculiarities of women’s suffrage, its political and social background, and further reactions will be discussed to clarify the worth and impact of the chosen event.
Advocating for Women’s Employment Rights in the UAE and Saudi Arabia The position of women in the societies of the UAE and Saudi Arabia is a cause for endless controversy. Public relations between women and men are limited in the given countries, and women are required […]
Women Rights: New Data and Movements For example, whereas the women’s health rights movement is a global affair, the fact that events related to the movement are mainly held in the US means that other countries do not feel the impact […]
Women’s Rights in the United States History The leading cause of poverty in developing countries is the lack of skills and education to enable people to get employment.
Women’s Rights in Palestine and Neighboring Countries In a review of relevant literature, women’s rights in Palestine can be compared to women’s rights in three neighboring countries Jordan, Egypt, and Israel from the perspective of violence and discrimination, and specific differences, including […]
Planned Parenthood and Women’s Rights It took decades for the government to acknowledge the necessity of the services offered in these clinics and even longer for the public to accept a woman’s right to reproductive health care, the establishment of […]
Understanding Women’s Right in Islamic World The role of women in the Islamic society during and soon after the death of Prophet Mohammed was similar to that of men.
Arab Spring’s Impact on Women’s Rights and Security The aim of the research is to define the effects that the Arab Spring has had on the perception of women in the Arab society.
Women’s Rights Since Pre-History to 1600 A.D In this regard, most women from the medieval times could determine their social and political destiny, but the responsibility to others mainly rested on the men.
Women’s Fight for Equal Human Rights According to the readings assigned, the term feminist could be used to refer to people who fought for the rights of women.
Women in New France: Rights, Freedoms and Responsibilities However, the development of New France was quite distinct due to peculiarities of the gender roles in the North America and France.
Women’s Family and Social Responsibilities and Rights The uniqueness of Addams and Sanger’s approach to discussing the rights of females is in the fact that these authors discuss any social responsibilities of women as the key to improving their roles in the […]
Women’s Rights in the Great Depression Period The pursuit of the workplace equality and the protection of women from unfair treatment by the employers were quite unsuccessful and slow due to the major division in the opinions.
Women’s Roles and Rights in the 18-19th Century America We can only do the simplest work; we cannot have a good job because that is the men’s domain, and they have the necessary training to do it.
Debate Over Women’s Rights At times, the problem is that there is bias and discrimination about the strength of the woman and no chance has ever been given to them to prove if the allegation is wrong.
The Women of the Veil: Gaining Rights and Freedoms The author chides the activities of the Western colonies in Afghanistan in restoring the rights of the women of the veil.
The Role of African American Women in the Civil Right Movement The role of women in the Civil Rights Movement started to change in the 1960s. Women in the Civil Rights Movement: Trailblazers and Torchbearers.
Hip-Hop Music and the Role of Women in It: Fight for Women’s Rights in Society While looking at the various roles of women in hip hop and rap, it is also important to note that the way women are presented has various effects on society.
Gender Studies: Women’s Rights in Saudi Arabia This paper will review the a issue of women’s rights in Saudi Arabia from the perspective of four different groups including the modern Saudi women, traditional Saudi women, Government officials, and international women’s rights organizations.
African-American Women and the Civil Rights Movement The key factors that left the Black women unrecognized or led to recognition of just a few of them as leaders are class, race and gender biases.
Temperance, Women’s Rights, Education, Antislavery and Prison Reform: New Objectives, New Concerns Among the most memorable reforms of that time, the innovations in the system of treating the convicts and the prisoners must be the reform that reflected the very essence of the XIX-century social ideas.
The Opportunity to Succeed as Women Entrepreneurs in Saudi Arabia Compared With UK In addition, it is through the small businesses that new products and services are being developed to meet the growing needs of the population in the entire Kingdom.
Women’s Rights – Contribution of E. Cady Stanton and S.B. Anthony The first significant and most important move was made by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony, on the other hand, was born in a Quaker family and her father was also quite a successful […]
Oppression of Women’s Rights Affects the Economy of the Middle East For instance in Iceland, the high level of quality of life and health is one of the factors that lead to a GDP per capita of $54,291 On the contrary, there are situations where women […]
Reform-Women’s Rights and Slavery The colonizers felt that the movement was threatening their business and status in the society and began to ridicule and attack the families of the abolitionists.
Women’s Role in Contemporary Korea The effort of women to work in professional and high positions in different sectors, the government decided to boost their effort and maintain their morale.
Non Governmental Organization of Women’s Learning Partnership for Rights Development and Peace In most cases the rights of women which are mainly suppressed include the right to own property, the right to work or hold a public office, the right of receiving education, the right to vote […]
Jane Cunningham Croly: Fighting for Women Rights The problem of women inequality with men had been considered in the society and Jane Cunningham Croly was one of those who wanted to contribute to the movement, and her journalistic activity was that measure.
Women’s Suffrage Discussion The entrenchment of equal rights of women and men and more noticeably the right of every American woman to vote came into being after the enactment of the nineteenth amendment.
Disclosing the Aspects of Female Authorship as Presented in Woolf’s Professions for Women and Wollstonecraft’s A Vindication of the Right of Woman In their works called A Vindication of the Right of Woman and Professions of Women respectively, they express their vigorous desire to liberate women from the professional taboos to enter female authorship imposed by the […]
Power of Women’s Rights How the Anti-Slavery Movement Challenge Established Notions of Manhood and Womanhood Kathryn Kish Sklar’s general idea in the book is to enlighten people on the role of women in the society during the 19th century, […]
Afghan Women and Violation of Their Rights It is for this reason that the Taliban have been the party mostly blamed for the mistreatment of women in the country. The U.S.has the necessary resources to ensure that this is achieved therefore guaranteeing […]
Did Flappers Have a Positive Effect on Women’s Rights in America in the 1920s?
Abigail Adams’ Inspiring Rebellion for Women’s Rights
The Power of the Internet and Women’s Rights in Guatemala
Pencils and Bullets Women’s Rights in Afghanistan
Women’s Rights in Supreme Court Decisions of the 1960’s and 1970’s
Women’s Rights: A Path into the Society to Achieve Social Liberation
The Taliban: Deprivers of Women’s Rights in Afghanistan
Henrik Ibsen’s Description of Women’s Rights as Depicted in His Play, A Doll’s House
Perceptions on The Islamic Practice of Veiling: Relevance to the Quest for Women’s Rights
The Effects of Christianity on Women’s Rights in China
Women’s Rights in the 1920’s and Examples in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby
Pornography and Feminist Fight for Women’s Rights
The Progression of Women’s Rights from the Early 20th Century
Islamic Head Scarf: Women’s Rights and Cultural Sensibilities
The Women’s Rights Movement in England: 18th Century and Beyond
Comparing Cultures: the Development of Women’s Rights in China and Saudi Arabia
Mary Wollstonecraft and the Early Women’s Rights Movement
The Progression of Women’s Rights in the Middle East
Elizabeth Stanton’s Impact on Women’s Rights Movement
Women’s Rights in Latin America and the Caribbean
Women’s Rights and Their Importance to the Development of True Democracy
Women’s Rights Within A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
Every Woman Has Her Day: The Women’s Rights Movement in 19th Century
Evolution of Women’s Rights Since 19th Century
Integrating Equality – Globalization, Women’s Rights, Son Preference and Human Trafficking
Analysis of the View of Opinions of Authors Advocating for Women’s Rights
Abolition of Slavery is Conducive to Women’s Rights Movement
Women’s Rights Violations in Afghanistan
Feminism and Women’s Rights in Post Colonial Africa and France
Social Justice in America: Women’s Rights
Horace Walpole and Samuel Johnson, Champions of Women’s Rights
Muslims Women’s Rights to Practice Their Religion
Women’s Rights and Hills Like White Elephants
Rhetorical Analysis of Hillary Clinton’s Speech, Women’s Rights Are Human Rights
Euripides Support of Women’s Rights
Women’s Rights in Afghanistan 1996 to the Present
Women’s Rights & Their Impact on the Development of Iran
Women’s Rights Between 1750 and 1914
Exploring The Women’s Rights Movement With Good Man Is Hard to Find by Flannery O´Conner
Progressive Era: The Era of Immigration, Race, and Women’s Rights
Women’s Rights in the United States in the 1700s
Which Countries Violate Women’s Rights?
What Was the Aim of the Women’s Movement?
How Did the Anti-Slavery Movement Contribute to the Women’s Rights Movement?
Who Were the 4 Main Leaders of the Women’s Rights Movement?
How Does Gender Inequality Affect Women’s Rights?
Who Fought for Women’s Right to Work?
What Was the Biggest Women’s Rights Movement?
What Are the Colors for Women’s Rights?
Why Women’s Rights Lost Ground at the End of World War Two?
What Is the Role of Lesbians in the Women’s Movement?
How Far Women’s Rights Have Come?
What Laws Help Women’s Rights?
How Were the Abolition and Women’s Rights Movements Similar?
What Are the Most Important Events in Women’s Rights History?
Who Is Responsible for Women’s Rights?
What Is the History of Women’s Rights?
What Were 3 Major Events in the Women’s Rights Movement?
How Margaret Fuller and Fanny Fern Used Writing as a Weapon for Women’s Rights?
How Did Race Impact African American Women’s Experiences During the Women’s Suffrage Movement?
What Was the Cause of the First Woman’s Rights Convention?
Why Is Education Important for Women’s Rights?
How Are Women’s Rights Linked to Economic Development?
When Did the Women’s Rights Movement Start and End?
Why Did the Women’s Rights Movement Emerge in the USA During the 1950S and 1960S?
What Are Women’s Cultural Rights?
Who Was the First Black Women’s Rights Activist?
When Was the First Female Vote?
What Was the Movement for Women’s Rights in the 1800S?
Who Was the Black Woman Who Fought for Women’s Rights?
Who Was the Biggest Women’s Rights Activist?
Civil Rights Movement Questions
Gender Inequality Research Topics
Women’s Suffrage Essay Ideas
Childbirth Titles
Gender Discrimination Research Topics
Motherhood Ideas
Personal Identity Paper Topics
Reproductive Health Essay Titles
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Chicago (N-B)

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Essay On Women Rights

500 words essay on women rights.

Women rights are basic human rights claimed for women and girls all over the world. It was enshrined by the United Nations around 70 years ago for every human on the earth. It includes many things which range from equal pay to the right to education. The essay on women rights will take us through this in detail for a better understanding.

Importance of Women Rights

Women rights are very important for everyone all over the world. It does not just benefit her but every member of society. When women get equal rights, the world can progress together with everyone playing an essential role.

If there weren’t any women rights, women wouldn’t have been allowed to do something as basic as a vote. Further, it is a game-changer for those women who suffer from gender discrimination .

Women rights are important as it gives women the opportunity to get an education and earn in life. It makes them independent which is essential for every woman on earth. Thus, we must all make sure women rights are implemented everywhere.

How to Fight for Women Rights

All of us can participate in the fight for women rights. Even though the world has evolved and women have more freedom than before, we still have a long way to go. In other words, the fight is far from over.

First of all, it is essential to raise our voices. We must make some noise about the issues that women face on a daily basis. Spark up conversations through your social media or make people aware if they are misinformed.

Don’t be a mute spectator to violence against women, take a stand. Further, a volunteer with women rights organisations to learn more about it. Moreover, it also allows you to contribute to change through it.

Similarly, indulge in research and event planning to make events a success. One can also start fundraisers to bring like-minded people together for a common cause. It is also important to attend marches and protests to show actual support.

History has been proof of the revolution which women’s marches have brought about. Thus, public demonstrations are essential for demanding action for change and impacting the world on a large level.

Further, if you can, make sure to donate to women’s movements and organisations. Many women of the world are deprived of basic funds, try donating to organizations that help in uplifting women and changing their future.

You can also shop smartly by making sure your money is going for a great cause. In other words, invest in companies which support women’s right or which give equal pay to them. It can make a big difference to women all over the world.

Get the huge list of more than 500 Essay Topics and Ideas

Conclusion of the Essay on Women Rights

To sum it up, only when women and girls get full access to their rights will they be able to enjoy a life of freedom . It includes everything from equal pay to land ownerships rights and more. Further, a country can only transform when its women get an equal say in everything and are treated equally.

FAQ of Essay on Women Rights

Question 1: Why are having equal rights important?

Answer 1: It is essential to have equal rights as it guarantees people the means necessary for satisfying their basic needs, such as food, housing, and education. This allows them to take full advantage of all opportunities. Lastly, when we guarantee life, liberty, equality, and security, it protects people against abuse by those who are more powerful.

Question 2: What is the purpose of women’s rights?

Answer 2: Women’s rights are the essential human rights that the United Nations enshrined for every human being on the earth nearly 70 years ago. These rights include a lot of rights including the rights to live free from violence, slavery, and discrimination. In addition to the right to education, own property; vote and to earn a fair and equal wage.

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Essay on Women’s Rights

Students are often asked to write an essay on Women’s Rights in their schools and colleges. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic.

Let’s take a look…

100 Words Essay on Women’s Rights

Introduction.

Women’s rights are fundamental human rights that everyone should respect. They include the right to live free from violence, to be educated, to vote, and to earn a fair wage.

History of Women’s Rights

The fight for women’s rights began in the 1800s. Women protested for the right to vote, work, and receive equal pay. Their efforts led to significant changes.

Importance of Women’s Rights

Women’s rights are vital for equality. When women have the same rights as men, societies are fairer and more balanced.

There is still work to be done to ensure women’s rights worldwide. Everyone should strive to promote and protect these rights.

250 Words Essay on Women’s Rights

The historical context.

The fight for women’s rights has been a long-standing struggle. From the suffragettes of the early 20th century who fought for women’s right to vote, to the women’s liberation movement of the 1960s which sought economic and social equality, women’s rights have been a contentious issue throughout history.

Current Status

Despite significant progress, gender inequality persists in many parts of the world. Women are still underrepresented in political and corporate leadership, they are more likely to live in poverty, and they face higher levels of violence and discrimination.

Challenges and Solutions

The path to gender equality is fraught with obstacles, including deeply entrenched societal norms and institutions. However, change is possible. Education, legislation, and societal shifts in attitudes towards gender can play a significant role in promoting women’s rights.

The fight for women’s rights is a fight for human rights. As society evolves, it is crucial to continue advocating for gender equality, not just for the benefit of women, but for the betterment of society as a whole.

500 Words Essay on Women’s Rights

Women’s rights, a subject that has been at the forefront of social and political discussions for centuries, is a complex and multifaceted issue. It encompasses a wide range of topics, from the right to vote and work to reproductive rights and gender equality. This essay aims to delve into the evolution of women’s rights, the current state of these rights, and the challenges that remain.

The Evolution of Women’s Rights

Current state of women’s rights.

The progress made in the past century is undeniable. Women have achieved significant strides in political representation, educational attainment, and economic participation. However, the fight for equality is far from over. Globally, women still earn less than men, are underrepresented in positions of power, and are more likely to experience violence and discrimination.

Challenges and the Way Forward

The struggle for women’s rights faces numerous challenges. These include deeply entrenched patriarchal norms, religious and cultural beliefs, and structural inequalities that disadvantage women. To overcome these obstacles, it is essential to continue advocating for policy changes that promote gender equality, such as equal pay legislation, paid parental leave, and laws to prevent and punish gender-based violence.

In conclusion, while significant progress has been made in the fight for women’s rights, there is still much work to be done. The struggle for gender equality is not just a women’s issue; it is a human issue that affects us all. By continuing to advocate for policy changes and cultural shifts, we can create a world where all women have the opportunity to live free from discrimination and violence, and to realize their full potential.

That’s it! I hope the essay helped you.

Happy studying!

Essays on Women's Rights

Essay topics on women's rights and thesis statement examples, the history of women's suffrage movements.

Thesis Statement: The women's suffrage movement was a critical turning point in history, highlighting the persistent struggle for gender equality and laying the foundation for women's rights in various spheres of life.

Gender Pay Gap: Causes and Consequences

Thesis Statement: The persistent gender pay gap is a multifaceted issue rooted in historical discrimination, occupational segregation, and unequal opportunities, and addressing it is crucial for achieving economic gender equality.

The Role of Women in Politics: Challenges and Progress

Thesis Statement: While significant progress has been made in recent years, women still face unique challenges in the political sphere, including gender bias, underrepresentation, and the need for policy changes to promote gender equality in politics.

Violence Against Women: Causes, Consequences, and Solutions

Thesis Statement: The global issue of violence against women is deeply rooted in societal norms, gender stereotypes, and power dynamics, and combating it requires comprehensive strategies that address its underlying causes.

Women's Reproductive Rights and Health

Thesis Statement: Women's reproductive rights are fundamental to gender equality, encompassing access to safe and legal abortion, contraception, and comprehensive healthcare services, and safeguarding these rights is essential for women's autonomy and well-being.

Feminism and Its Impact on Society

Thesis Statement: Feminism has been a powerful social and cultural force that has challenged traditional gender roles, sparked social change, and continues to shape the discourse on women's rights and gender equality.

Intersectionality: The Interplay of Gender, Race, and Class in Women's Rights

Thesis Statement: Intersectionality recognizes the complex interactions between gender, race, and socioeconomic status in shaping women's experiences and inequalities, emphasizing the need for inclusive and intersectional approaches to women's rights advocacy.

Women in STEM: Breaking Barriers and Achieving Equality

Thesis Statement: Gender disparities in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields persist, but initiatives promoting diversity, mentorship, and educational reforms are gradually reducing these disparities and fostering women's success in STEM careers.

Media Representation of Women: Stereotypes and Effects

Thesis Statement: Media has a significant influence on society's perceptions of women, often perpetuating harmful stereotypes; therefore, addressing media representation and promoting diverse and empowering portrayals are vital for women's rights.

Global Initiatives for Women's Empowerment

Thesis Statement: International organizations, governments, and grassroots movements have made significant strides in promoting women's empowerment and gender equality worldwide, demonstrating the importance of collaborative efforts to advance women's rights.

Women's Rights Essay Outline: Media Representation of Women. Stereotypes and Effects

Introduction.

Hook: Start with a compelling anecdote or statistic related to media representation of women.
Background information on the topic.

Historical Context of Media Representation

Discuss how media portrayal of women has evolved over time.
Highlight significant milestones or events that shaped media representation.

Common Stereotypes of Women in Media

Identify and describe prevalent stereotypes perpetuated by the media.
Provide examples from various forms of media (e.g., movies, TV shows, advertising).

The Impact of Stereotypes on Society

Discuss how these stereotypes affect individuals, particularly women.
Explore the role of media in shaping societal norms and expectations.

The Importance of Accurate Representation

Explain why diverse and empowering portrayals of women are essential.
Discuss the relationship between media representation and women's rights.

Initiatives and Movements for Change

Highlight efforts to challenge harmful stereotypes and promote positive representation.
Mention campaigns, organizations, and individuals advocating for change.

Case Studies and Success Stories

Provide examples of media content that defied stereotypes and made a positive impact.
Discuss how these cases contributed to changing perceptions.

Challenges and Resistance

Acknowledge obstacles faced by those trying to change media representation.
Discuss any backlash or resistance to diversifying portrayals of women.

Future Directions and Recommendations

Offer suggestions for how media can better represent women.
Discuss potential policy changes or industry practices that could promote diversity and empowerment.
Summarize the key points made in the essay.
Reiterate the importance of addressing media representation for women's rights.
End with a call to action or a thought-provoking statement about the future of media portrayal of women.

"One Crazy Summer": an Analysis of Themes of Family and Activism

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Octavius and Atia Balba Caesonia: Mother-son Relationship

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Feminism and The Women's Rights Movement in America

Women’s rights in the past, women's rights around the world, reasons why advocacy of women’s right needs to be limited, get a personalized essay in under 3 hours.

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Women's suffrage

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Women's rights encompass the rights and privileges demanded by women and girls on a global scale. These rights have laid the foundation for the emergence of the women's rights crusade in the 1800s and the subsequent feminist movements that have persisted throughout the 20th and 21st centuries.

Equal employment, right to vote, property rights, freedom of movement, informing women about their legal rights, discrimination, right to health, right to education, reproductive rights, freedom from violence, family law.

The historical context of women's rights is rooted in the persistent struggle for gender equality throughout history. Notable events have played a crucial role in advancing the cause of women's rights. One landmark event was the Seneca Falls Convention held in 1848 in the United States, where activists such as Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott called for women's suffrage and equal rights. This convention marked the birth of the women's rights movement. Another significant moment was the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the United Nations in 1948, which recognized the importance of gender equality and women's rights on an international level. The suffragette movement, particularly in the early 20th century, fought tirelessly for women's right to vote in countries such as the United Kingdom, the United States, and several European nations. In 1979, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) was adopted by the United Nations, emphasizing the need to eliminate discrimination against women in all areas of life.

Susan B. Anthony, a prominent suffragist and women's rights advocate in the United States. Her instrumental role in the women's suffrage movement led to the eventual passage of the 19th Amendment, granting women the right to vote. Emmeline Pankhurst, a British political activist who founded the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU). Pankhurst's leadership and militant tactics were pivotal in advancing women's suffrage in the United Kingdom. Gloria Steinem, an American feminist and journalist, is renowned for her role in the feminist movement during the 1960s and 1970s. Through her writing and activism, Steinem has been a vocal advocate for gender equality and reproductive rights. Malala Yousafzai, a Pakistani activist, gained global attention for her advocacy of girls' education and women's rights. Despite facing adversity and surviving an assassination attempt, Yousafzai continues to be a powerful voice for female empowerment.

In modern America, women's rights have made significant strides, yet challenges and disparities persist. Women in the United States enjoy legal protections and have achieved notable advancements in various areas. The feminist movement and the activism of women's rights advocates have played crucial roles in bringing about positive changes. Legally, women have the right to vote, access education, and pursue careers in any field. The passage of landmark legislation, such as the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Title IX of the Education Amendments Act of 1972, has helped address discrimination and promote gender equality. However, despite these advancements, gender-based inequalities and obstacles persist. Issues such as the gender pay gap, underrepresentation of women in leadership positions, and limited access to affordable healthcare and reproductive rights continue to be areas of concern. Women's rights in modern America are the subject of ongoing debates and discussions, with advocacy groups and individuals striving to address the remaining challenges. The #MeToo movement has shed light on issues of sexual harassment and assault, further emphasizing the need for change and creating a platform for women to share their experiences.

Public opinion on women's rights varies widely and is shaped by diverse perspectives and cultural contexts. Over time, societal attitudes towards women's rights have undergone significant transformations. While progress has been made in many areas, public opinion remains multifaceted and often reflects differing ideologies, cultural beliefs, and personal experiences. In recent years, there has been an increased recognition of the importance of gender equality and the need to address issues such as gender-based violence, workplace discrimination, and reproductive rights. Many people, both women and men, strongly support women's rights and advocate for equal opportunities and treatment in all aspects of life. However, public opinion on women's rights is not universally positive. Some individuals hold traditional or conservative views that may limit or oppose certain aspects of women's empowerment. Debates and disagreements arise regarding topics such as abortion rights, gender roles, and policies promoting gender equality.

Various forms of media, including books, films, and television shows, have explored women's rights issues, shedding light on the challenges women face and inspiring social change. Literature has been a powerful tool in portraying women's struggles and achievements. For example, in Margaret Atwood's novel "The Handmaid's Tale," the author depicts a dystopian society where women's rights are severely restricted, highlighting the importance of women's autonomy and reproductive rights. Another notable work is Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's essay "We Should All Be Feminists," which eloquently advocates for gender equality and challenges societal norms. In the realm of film, productions such as "Suffragette" and "Hidden Figures" have highlighted the historical contributions of women in the fight for equality. These films depict the resilience and determination of women who fought for their rights and challenged societal barriers. In the media, coverage of women's rights issues has grown over the years, with movements like #MeToo receiving significant attention. The exposure of systemic sexism and harassment in various industries has sparked important conversations about women's rights and the need for change.

1. According to the World Economic Forum's Global Gender Gap Report 2021, it is estimated that it will take another 135.6 years to close the gender gap worldwide. 2. A study conducted by McKinsey & Company found that advancing gender equality in the workforce could add $12 trillion to the global GDP by 2025. This demonstrates the economic benefits of empowering women and creating equal opportunities for their participation in the labor market. 3. According to the United Nations, women perform more than 75% of unpaid care and domestic work globally. This unequal distribution of unpaid labor reinforces gender disparities and limits women's ability to fully engage in paid employment and pursue their own goals and aspirations.

The topic of women's rights holds immense importance when writing an essay due to its significance in promoting equality, justice, and social progress. Examining women's rights allows us to understand the historical struggles and ongoing challenges faced by women in various societies. It provides an opportunity to shed light on issues such as gender discrimination, violence against women, unequal access to education and healthcare, and limited economic opportunities. Writing an essay about women's rights enables us to explore the achievements and contributions of women throughout history, highlighting their resilience and courage in fighting for equal rights. It allows us to delve into the intersectionality of women's experiences, considering how race, class, sexuality, and other factors shape their access to rights and opportunities. Moreover, addressing women's rights is not only a matter of justice and fairness but also has significant implications for societal progress as a whole. Gender equality and women's empowerment have been linked to improved social, economic, and political outcomes. By examining the topic of women's rights in an essay, we contribute to raising awareness, challenging existing norms, and fostering a more inclusive and equitable society for all.

1. Bunch, C. (1990). Women's rights as human rights: Toward a re-vision of human rights. Human rights quarterly, 12(4), 486-498. (https://www.jstor.org/stable/762496) 2. Doepke, M., Tertilt, M., & Voena, A. (2012). The economics and politics of women's rights. Annu. Rev. Econ., 4(1), 339-372. (https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/abs/10.1146/annurev-economics-061109-080201) 3. Osanloo, A. (2009). The politics of women's rights in Iran. In The Politics of Women's Rights in Iran. Princeton University Press. (https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/9781400833160/html?lang=en) 4. Coleman, I. (2004). The payoff from women's rights. Foreign Aff., 83, 80. (https://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?handle=hein.journals/fora83&div=48&id=&page=) 5. Al-Hibri, A. Y. (2001). Muslim women's rights in the global village: challenges and opportunities. Journal of Law and Religion, 15, 37-66. (https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-law-and-religion/article/abs/muslim-womens-rights-in-the-global-village-challenges-and-opportunities/F2AF7FAB0CD8E94D9233EB9A150C236C) 6. Agnes, F. (2001). Law and gender inequality: The politics of women's rights in India. (https://academic.oup.com/book/9051?sid=oup:oxfordacademic&genre=book&aulast=Agnes&aufirst=Flavia&title=Law+and+Gender+Inequality%3A+The+Politics+of+Women%27s+Rights+in+India&date=2001-05-31) 7. Hudson, N. F. (2009). Securitizing women's rights and gender equality. Journal of Human Rights, 8(1), 53-70. (https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14754830802686526) 8. Fernández, R. (2014). Women’s rights and development. Journal of Economic Growth, 19, 37-80. (https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10887-013-9097-x) 9. Al-Ali, N., & Pratt, N. (2011). Between nationalism and women’s rights: The Kurdish women’s movement in Iraq. Middle East Journal of Culture and Communication, 4(3), 339-355. (https://brill.com/view/journals/mjcc/4/3/article-p339_8.xml)

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Women Rights - Free Essay Samples And Topic Ideas

This has been a crucial topic of discussion for decades, and it continues to be relevant today. It’s an issue that is observed worldwide and has an impact on gender equality. Creating an essay on women rights can be a daunting task, which is why it’s essential to check out a finished women’s rights essay example.

Our experts have prepared a collection of persuasive and argumentative essays on women’s rights to help students understand the various issues surrounding this topic. Discrimination has been a struggle that women have faced for a long time. Through the feminist movement, women have fought for their freedom, speech, and equality. The ongoing push for equal treatment and opportunities has sparked important conversations and initiatives across societies globally.

When picking a research paper or college essay topics, consider the importance of a well-structured outline that includes an introduction, thesis statement, and conclusion. The essay’s introductions should provide the background and context of the topic, while thesis statements should present clear and concise concepts of the essay’s main argument.

In the body of the essay, students can discuss the different situations where the rights of a woman are affected and provide evidence to support their arguments. They can also explore the various titles that women have held and continue to hold.

Writing about women’s rights is essential, and it’s crucial to have a good understanding of the topic. By using our collection of essay samples, students can gain a more profound understanding of the relevant problems in today’s society and the various perspectives on this topic.

About Women Rights and Equality

Women’s rights are an important factor in understanding global well-being. Although a treaty was endorsed by most of the world’s nations a few decades ago, numerous issues still exist in most aspects of life, despite many successes in liberating women. It is an unfortunate case, how women are paid less than men, yet work more; throughout their lifetime, gender discrimination negatively affects girls and women; and women are often the ones who are in a state of poverty. It is […]

Women Rights in all Countries

One of the most important targets of humanity is that everyone benefits from human rights equally. Human rights are fundamental rights and these rights appeared with the beginning of humanity. Human rights can be considered natural rights because the origin of these rights is natural law. These rights were considered only for men in the past and women were excluded. This exclusion led to the emergence of feminism. These rights didn’t arise suddenly. They influenced by changes in history. Because […]

Abortion and Women’s Rights

In spite of women's activist desires, the matter of conceptive decision in the United States was not settled in 1973 by the important Supreme Court choice on account of Roe v. Wade. From the beginning there was animal-like restriction by the Catholic Church. Anyway, in the course of at least the last 20 years, the too early or soon birth discussion has changed into a definitely spellbound, meaningful debate between two differentiating societal talks that are moored to the problems […]

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Women Rights in Pakistan

Throughout history, the role of women has always been determined by the men in society. They have had very different experiences in different times. In some societies and times, the women were able to be powerful leaders and warriors. Yet, in other societies, they have had strict expectations placed on them that forced them to be seen as inferior to men. It wasn’t until recently in the 20th century that women began taking charge and determining what roles they want […]

Women’s Rights in the United States in the 1970s

In the 1940’s-1960’s, there was a blurred distinction between clinical and sexual exams within the medical field (Wendy Kline, She’s Beautiful When She’s Angry). For example, many male doctors would provide pelvic exams as a means to teach women sex instruction, and were taught to assert their power over their patients. This led to women instituting new training programs for proper examinations, creating a more gentle and greatly-respected method of examining women and their bodies. There was also an increase […]

Womens Rights in the French Revolution

Prior to the French revolution, events such as the Enlightenment also known as the “Age of Reason” sparked a new outlook on traditional french society. From this movement arose the spirit of question in which the people began to question just about everything including the manner in which they treat women. Throughout the 18th century concepts and principles established by both Catholic Church and Protestant authorities were highly valued. Therefore the “ideal” woman was perceived to be poise and subordinate […]

Women’s Rights in Pride and Prejudice

Do not consider me now as an elegant female intending to plague you, but as a rational creature speaking the truth from her heart."(Austen 94). Woman's rights have been a popular and important topic for the past three centuries, and will continue to be in the future. Jane Austen is widely known and praised for her controversial ideas and opinions in her literary fiction novel,Pride and Prejudice. Much before the time of the fight for women's rights, Jane Austen brought […]

Women’s Rights to Choose

Every person in the United States is granted inalienable rights, whether it be to practice their own religion or vote, which should include autonomy over their own bodies. A woman should have the right to choose what she does with her own body, and in 1973 that became a possibility for American women. In 1973 Roe v. Wade made it possible for women to legally choose to terminate unwanted pregnancies within their first two trimesters. The government finally took into […]

Equality between Men and Women

Men and women should have the equally right to vote, education, and respect. They should have the same rights because being a woman is just a gender. It does not change who we are as a person and it is very unfair. Through time, the way people look at women now has changed through some historical ways. The Salem Witch trials had a very powerful impact on women. Economic and voting oppurtunities for women were very limited. For example, most […]

An Issue of Women’s Reproductive Rights

We hold these truths to be self-evident: that men and women are created equal (Elizabeth Cady Stanton). In America this has been the basis of what our nation stands for. It is stated that every citizen has the right to equality that shall not be stripped away, in many cases that is not true. Whether man or women you should possess the same rights, but more often than not the women's rights are taken away. There are many instances in […]

Women’s Right and Abolitionist Movement

Women's rights and abolishment are two organizations that are fighting for their rights and equality, they were both facing with struggles and injustice. Women's rights and Abolitionist movement were wrapped together because both women and slaves wanted to be free, in their own different ways. Women wanted to have their right to vote, labor rights, reproductive rights and abortion. Slaves wanted to be free of their owners and live the life they want without being whipped and own by another […]

Elizabeth Stanton’s Impact on Women’s Rights Movement

Abstract For centuries, there have been several social issues that have been resolved by the actions of pioneers who stood for change. Whether the goal was to resolve violent bigotry or give equal rights to those without, these changes were vital in shaping our nation today. With every development in the system, more people became pursuant in advocating for change. The topic that will be discussed in this analysis revolves around the women's rights movement. The greatest advocate for the […]

Women’s Rights in the Middle East

Brigham Young once said, "You educate a man; you educate a man. You educate women; you educate a generation" (Digital Empowerment Foundation). Education is very important to the young women in the Middle East and religion can cause conflict, it is not just about private faith. There are many titles that a woman can be given such as, a woman's main job is to take care of their children, they are not allowed to show any hair of skin, and […]

History of Women’S Rights in India

Introduction Throughout time women have been neglected, they were treated lesser than men. Much of women's rights in the 21st century have been a direct result of the hard work women have done in the past. Women were forced to prove that they were capable of doing the same things a man can do. And yet still women are still not seen as equal to men. There are still differences in income, employment, and many other areas. Women have always […]

Women’s Rights in America

Throughout the sixties until this very day, woman have been actively trying to take charge of their future by securing the same rights that men have. Issues commonly associated with women's rights include the rights to: bodily integrity, to be free from sexual violence, to vote, enter legal contracts, to work, to fair wages or equal pay, to have reproductive rights, own property, obtain an education. The Womens's Rights movement of the 1960's and 1970's has changed the course of […]

The Battle Fight for the Equality and Rights of Women

The speech that was given by Elizabeth Cady Stanton of "The Solitude of Self," was in 1892 on January 18, at the U.S. Senate, Washington, D.C. as the first president of the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA). This is her retirement speech when she was retired from NAWSA in 1892 when she was 77 years old. The speech that she delivered, talks about gender equality each, that included education and suffrage. She opposed inequality for its many aspects and […]

Women’s Rights: a Huge Movement

Women’s Rights Gender equality, also known as sexual equality, is when your gender does not determine your access to opportunities and resources. There should also be equal valuing of aspirations, behaviors and decision-making, independent of gender. One issue in gender inequality is equal pay, there should be equal work equal pay. If a woman is putting in the same work as a man, she should get the same check. The law says there is equal pay but according to statistics […]

Question of Womens Educational Rights

What if you were not allowed to have a voice and share what you think just because of your gender? How would that make you feel? Well, this is a common thing that happens in our country and across the world. That is why I am focusing on Women's Rights as my Exhibition topic. I want this to stop. Our class Central Idea is, "Global opportunities may create conflict between people and other living things." Our groups Central Idea had […]

Early Development of Women’s Rights

Women's Rights was a very big issue back in the day, and still is even in present day. Women have been treated differently since the 1800's, but a huge women's rights movement sparked the change that they needed. These women had fought long enough for the rights they deserved. Even the people that didn't have rights when this country was started, like the slaves and the immigrants, had rights before the women did. Many things changed this though. Elizabeth Cady […]

The Status of Women’s Sexual and Reproductive Rights

The consequences of sexual behaviour between women and men have driven a desire and determination of women to control their fertility, yet in an environment in which anti-choice legislators and organizations do not protect women's reproductive rights, there is an ongoing dispute on who decides the fate of such rights. The status of women's sexual and reproductive rights remains controversial and while there have been many attempts to gain such basic human right, the fight for reproductive freedoms remains intense. […]

Equal Rights, Equal Opportunities

Throughout history, women have been suppressed and rendered unequal and weaker than men. With this occurrence, many women have spoken out about why this is wrong and have fought for their rights in many ways. Judith Sargent Murray was one of these women, and as an advocate for women’s rights and an adamant, professional essayist, her work of On the Equality of the Sexes shows us what she thought on the situation and how strongly she felt about it. The […]

An Issue of Women’s International Rights

The percentage of female CEOs of Fortune 500 companies has dropped 25 percent in the last year (Miller). The struggle to gain access to higher paid jobs for females has been notoriously difficult, so why are these women leaving their positions? The challenges they face are not a result of individual choices. That's because evidence shows there are larger forces at work, rooted in biases against women in power (Miller). Similarly, this number of women in power is declining because […]

Women’s Reproductive Rights are under Attack

Women's reproductive rights have always been threatened because of sexist beliefs. Recently, however, they're being threatened in America in a subtler, but potentially more dangerous way. Product manufacturers market items towards women and make them more expensive than similar items for men, politicians enact laws whose main goal is to limit women's reproductive rights, and medical professionals downplay women's pain in emergency rooms. Personally, I believe that everyone should have access to proper healthcare. Of course, there are some who […]

Understanding of Women’s Liberation Movement

In order to better understand the Women's Liberation Movement, the reason as to why it was launched must be explained. Oppression, the inability to vote or abort, unequal pay, and limited opportunities were just some of the reasons why feminists formed organizations to strive for change. According to Vicky Randall (1987), the Women's Liberation Movement first emerged in the year 1960 due to three important factors, which were the predisposing factors, the facilitating factors and the specific triggering effects (Hawkesworth, […]

The Question of Woman’s Role in the World

The question, area unit ladies in todays society less privileged than men or are they not? This question stemming from the term feminism, this term has been taken out of context. The term feminism in sociology is based mostly on gender equality, " being aware of a rising movement to create people perceive that gender may be a life- organizing principle. The fundamental conviction is that men and ladies have equal opportunities and respect."(Conley, 283) In today 's read of […]

Women’s Rights in China

Despite all the protest that international women's rights movement from the Seneca Falls in 1848 to the National American Woman Suffrage Association in 1890, and the National Women party in 1916. In China women never had the privilege to show what they are capable of doing because that was not a ladylike thing in their family. Women have always been the primary abduction target since the early 1900s to 2005 because it was unacceptable that they had a higher population […]

Main Issues of Women’s Rights

GENERAL PURPOSE: To Educate/To Inform SPECIFIC PURPOSE: To inform my audience on the differences in women's rights between the United States and Middle Eastern countries. CENTRAL IDEA: The United States and Middle Eastern countries differ greatly when it comes to women's rights, and the view/treatment of women in society. VISUAL AIDS: Powerpoint Slides Introduction (Greeting/Name) Thank you, the previous presenter, for the lovely introduction. Good morning everyone, my name is Emily Parker and I am here to inform you on […]

Culture Vs Human Rights Women Edition

Introduction Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), why does this method thrive in the heart of Africa, Asia and the Middle East? Some argue it's necessary while others strive to prevent the process from continuing throughout those areas. This brings up the question of whether FGM is a right of passage or violation of rights? According to the the World Health Organization, (1)"Female Genital Mutilation is a procedure to remove the female genital organs for non medical reasons." There are four different […]

A Comparative Analysis of Women’s Rights in Saudi Arabia and Japan

Introduction Ever since the birth of the women’s suffrage movement, and perhaps even before that, there has been a gradual shift in culture, politics, public relations, and government paradigms that have led us down the path of women’s empowerment. Although we are not fully there, western and developed states have made significant changes to their policies and overall attitudes to make for a more egalitarian society. Naturally, the cultural paradigm of feminism would eventually take hold and trickle down to […]

Pencils and Bullets Women’s Rights in Afghanistan

On March 19, 2015, two days before Afghan New Year's, 27-year-old Farkhunda Malikzada stopped by the Shah-e-Du Shamshira shrine, in Kabul, Afghanistan, to say her prayers. She got into an argument with the shrine keeper about his practice of selling charms, little scraps of paper with verses from the Quran. In retaliation, he falsely accuses her of being an American and burning a copy of the Quran. An angry crowd gathers, instantly believing the words of the shrine keeper. She […]

How To Write an Essay About Women Rights

Understanding women's rights.

Before starting an essay about women's rights, it is essential to understand the history and current state of women's rights globally. Women's rights encompass a range of freedoms and rights, which include the right to live free from violence and discrimination, enjoy the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health, be educated, participate in political life, and benefit from economic rights. Start your essay by providing a historical overview of women's rights, discussing significant movements like suffrage and feminism, and addressing key legal milestones. Also, consider the varying challenges faced by women in different societies and cultures and how these have evolved over time.

Developing a Thesis Statement

A strong essay on women's rights should be anchored by a clear, focused thesis statement. This statement should present a specific viewpoint or argument about women's rights. For instance, you might examine the progress made in women's rights over a particular period, analyze the impact of feminism on women's rights, or discuss the challenges still facing women's rights in certain areas of the world. Your thesis will guide the direction of your essay and provide a structured approach to your analysis.

Gathering Supporting Evidence

Support your thesis with relevant data, research findings, and historical examples. This might include statistics on gender equality, case studies of women's rights movements, examples of significant legal changes, or personal narratives. Use this evidence to support your thesis and build a persuasive argument. Remember to consider various perspectives, including international viewpoints, and address potential counterarguments to your thesis.

Analyzing the Impact of Women's Rights Movements

Dedicate a section of your essay to analyzing the impact of women's rights movements. Discuss how these movements have changed societal attitudes and legal frameworks, leading to improved rights and freedoms for women. Explore both the successes and ongoing challenges, considering the intersectionality of issues such as race, class, and sexuality. This analysis should demonstrate a comprehensive understanding of the multifaceted nature of women's rights.

Concluding the Essay

Conclude your essay by summarizing the main points of your discussion and restating your thesis in light of the evidence provided. Your conclusion should tie together your analysis and emphasize the importance of continuing to fight for women's rights. You might also want to suggest areas for future research or action needed to advance women's rights further.

Reviewing and Refining Your Essay

After completing your essay, review and refine it for clarity and coherence. Ensure that your arguments are well-structured and supported by evidence. Check for grammatical accuracy and ensure that your essay flows logically from one point to the next. Consider seeking feedback from peers, educators, or women's rights activists to further improve your essay. A well-crafted essay on women's rights will not only demonstrate your understanding of the topic but also your ability to engage critically with social and political issues.

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How to Write a Marvelous Women’s Rights Essay

Writing a women’s rights essay may sound too feminist. But don’t think this way! Essays and books that touch women’s rights issues have had great influence on society. Speeches, social activities, and publications are only a small part of the continuous struggle of women for their rights and freedoms. All these have turned women from mere housewives into persons with rights and freedoms. Women all over the world began to fight not only for the right to vote and work, but also for the voice in their own families.

Feminism is a recognition that people are treated differently depending on their biological sex and prevailing dominance of gender norms. Women face inequalities at schools, colleges, and work. Many of them have limited access to recourse and politics. Domestic and intimate partner violence and sexual assaults are conducted all over the world on regular basis. And feminism is a woman’s decision to fight these inequalities to create a more equitable society.

To be a feminist means to recognize a woman as an independent, full-fledged person. Both men and women can share feminist ideas. But if we consider feminism as women’s movement for rights and freedoms, then a man can be considered as their ally and a like-minded person.

What is a women’s rights essay

A women’s rights essay is an essay written on topics related to feminism and women’s rights movements. Writing a women’s rights essay may involve the research of historical aspects of women’s rights movements, investigating and analyzing the most urgent problems connected with limitation of women’s rights and freedoms, and highlighting solutions to the problems. To write a good women’s rights essay you need to use your skills to persuade, analyze, and think critically.

Usually, women’s rights essays are written in an analytical, descriptive, or persuasive style. As any academic assignment, these essays should be based on articles and publications from reliable sources. Every point of view should be supported by evidence with quotations, statistics, or facts. The essay should be properly cited and formatted according to the required formatting style.

In this article our essay writers want to share with you some approaches and ideas that may be helpful when writing a women’s rights essay.

Thesis ideas for a women’s rights essay

This type of essay can touch all spheres that are connected with women’s rights. You can discuss the role of women in a particular epoch, analyze women’s rights movements and organizations, explore the issues on women’s equality, and much more.

Usually essays are connected with the most urgent women’s rights issues. Below you can see the list of issues accompanied by thesis statements.

Child marriage.

Thesis: Child marriage should be banned, as it puts young girls at risk of early pregnancies with life-threatening conditions. Countries should use progressive programs to reduce child marriage.

Domestic violence.

Thesis: Violence from intimate partners can move from threats and verbal abuse to acts of violence. The paper will discuss the causes and consequences of violence from an intimate partner in hetero and gay couples.

Gender equality.

Thesis: The paper will discuss the need of quality maternal health care and health education in third world countries.

Sexual violence and rape.

Thesis: Sexual assault cannot be justified in any case. Students should learn how to minimize the risk of becoming a victim and how to help those who have been abused.

Women in the army.

Thesis: Women veterans are more prone to becoming homeless and committing suicide than civilian women. The paper discusses the ways to improve the life of women veterans.

Labor rights.

Thesis: Women are paid less than men, so the government should have great attention to controlling payment systems according to gender.

Sexual and reproductive rights.

Thesis: Women should have the right to decide whether to have an abortion or not. And if the woman will decide to leave the child, she should be supported by the government.

Women’s access to justice.

Thesis: To solve the problem of the poor access women have to justice, we should understand causes and consequences of this issue.

If you want more topic ideas for your essay – check our women’s rights topics . Our use our free AI essay writer tool to generate more ideas on this specific topic.

Women’s rights essay intro paragraph

Here is an example of an introduction paragraph for women’s rights essay.

Title: Intimate Partner Violence

One of the most common forms of violence against women is intimate partner violence. For more than a century ago, it was considered more of a normal thing to beat a woman. In many countries it’s still common. The problem of domestic violence has long been a taboo issue, and still it faces resistance from society on addressing this problem.

There are many myths about the problem of intimate partner violence, such as that violence occurs only in socially disadvantaged families, that there is a certain appearance and social position of women subjected to violence, etc. Violence exists in all social groups regardless of the level of income, education, position in society, class, race, culture, religion, and socioeconomic aspects.

Women’s rights essay examples

Also, you can find more ideas for your essay in our samples dedicated to women’s rights:

The role of women at the beginning of the 20th century
How the American Revolution influenced women’s rights in the 18th century
Views of Coco Chanel on women’s rights

Women’s rights essay sample

In the text below you can find a full example of a women’s rights essay. Consider the structure, transition phrases, and how the author approaches the topic.

Are We Still Fighting for Women’s Rights Today? Why or Why Not?

Apparently, the modern world finds itself amid the exaltation of another feminist movement wave. In fact, feminism as a global movement, and not only for women’s rights but for the equality of human rights, has been at the top of the list of every contemporary dispute all over the range of social groups. Feminism as a movement emerged at the dawn of the previous century and has had its growth and decline. In the last five years, it has become a trend to discuss the rights of women in terms of the equality of rights in general. However, the movement does not occur to limit itself within verbal disputes only, as it has spread in many other areas of actions, such as legal norms, mass media presentations, and many others. Accordingly, we are still fighting for women’s rights today.

Many apparent and less apparent reasons influence the fact that the struggle for the rights of women continues. Feminists all over the globe are implementing their discussions and actions in terms of various facets of the question of human rights (Shachar, 2006). The primary basis that grounds the discussion constitutes the argument of human rights that serves as a critical justification for the existence of the feminist movement (Bunch, 1990, p. 486). This way, an ordinary feminist would always claim that human rights and equality are a critical prerogative that encompasses the overall ideology of the feminist movement. As is underlined by Bunch, women being equal with men, which is the main slogan that represents the idea, includes the right of women within the given perspective. Accordingly, one might as well happen to claim that in spite of many victories on the side of the feminist movement, there is still an evident manifestation of the fact that the struggle continues, and women still fight for their rights.

It has already been mentioned that the fight for women’s rights continues within many facets of its perspective, as it encompasses the terms of legal implementation of norms, ideological persuasion through media, and simple alternation of the ethical norms conductions. Such a thing as the use of feminine words is one of the key examples that claim to interpret the struggle and its spread within the ideological perspective. Through the meager details that spread to the ethical norms of the professional environment, the alterations of which lead to the positive change from the initiative of the feminist movement, the ideology, and general perception spread itself (Shachar, 2006). For instance, as the manager shakes hands with male representatives of the work community and ignores merely the female part of the audience, people who appear to step up against the male-biased norm of the professional ethics ritual represent the evidence of the topicality of the feminist movement. One might also appear to claim that meager details that could as well seem to be irrelevant present the most critical element that allows asserting the fact that the fight for women’s rights continues.

It also occurs to be essential to realize that formality is never enough for the feminist movement to be active. This way, for the fight for equality, for human rights and for the rights of women to go on, it appears to be crucial to avoid empty promises and formal changes. Feminists must take into consideration the fact that implementing the legal changes on the official level is what the movement altogether must strive for. Making sure that women are paid as much as men, that administrative positions are occupied by women as much as by men, that women do get the same career chances as men, that politics allows for women to be equal opponents to men who can take the same positions at the governmental organs, is an evident change that claims the feminist movement to be successful in terms of their fight for human rights and equality. All in all, feminists who struggle in their battle for the right of not only women, but humanity as a whole, must look out for the empty promises and false changes; however, it is vital to concentrate on the fact of institutional change. For this reason, the women’s rights movement also considers the legal change to be institutional, as specified on this level the change in the community comes.

Nevertheless, the implementation of the initiative articulates itself quite evidently from the changes that follow from the initial steps that individuals make within a community. It occurs to be spoken of schools and kindergartens, but elementary schools specifically, where the children perceive the existent norm in their community, which they manage to impose on society in general. Thus, the changes in society that are perceived in early childhood influence the fact of the existence of the feminist movement and its success.

Eventually, by summing up, one has to underline the fact that there is an evident manifestation in modern society that the fight for women’s rights continues. The rise of the feminist movement wave, in which contemporary society appears to find itself, claims to have its success in various areas of the global range. It is vital that changes occur not only on the formal level, but also find their evident employment on the institutional level.

Bunch, Charlotte. “Women’s rights as human rights: Toward a re-vision of human rights.” Human Rights Quarterly, vol 12, no. 4, 1990, p. 486. JSTOR, doi:10.2307/762496. Shachar, Ayelet. Multicultural jurisdictions: Cultural differences and women’s rights. Cambridge Univ. Press, 2006.

Where to find additional information and inspiration for women rights essay

We are happy to provide lists of documents, books, and movies that may inspire you with ideas for your women’s rights essay. Also, you can find helpful information and facts.

Documents to study:

– Seneca Falls Convention (1848) – The Declaration of Sentiments (1848) – National Women’s Conference (1977) – Speech: “Ain’t I a Woman?” (1851)

Books to read:

– “The Yellow Wallpaper” (1892) – Charlotte Perkins Gilman – “The Second Sex” (1949) – Simone de Beauvoir – “The Feminine Mystique” (1963) – Betty Friedan – “The Bell Jar” (1967) – Sylvia Plath – “The Beauty Myth” (1990) – Naomi Wolf – “Desert Flower” (1998) – Waris Dirie – “Global Woman: Nannies, Maids, and Sex Workers in the New Economy” (2003) – Barbara Ehrenreich – “Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal?” (2011) – Jeanette Winterson – “The Second Shift” (2012) – Arlie Russell Hochschild

Movies to see:

– “The Life and Times of Rosie the Riveter” (1980) – “Ida B. Wells: A Passion for Justice” (1989) – “A League of Their Own” (1992) – “Ma Vie en Rose” (1997) – “The Contender” (2000) – “Whale Rider” (2002) – “Killing Us Softly 4: Advertising’s Image of Women” (2010) – “The Women’s Balcony” (2016) – “Battle of the Sexes” (2017)

Women’s rights essay help from writing experts

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A global story

This piece is part of 19A: The Brookings Gender Equality Series . In this essay series, Brookings scholars, public officials, and other subject-area experts examine the current state of gender equality 100 years after the 19th Amendment was adopted to the U.S. Constitution and propose recommendations to cull the prevalence of gender-based discrimination in the United States and around the world.

The year 2020 will stand out in the history books. It will always be remembered as the year the COVID-19 pandemic gripped the globe and brought death, illness, isolation, and economic hardship. It will also be noted as the year when the death of George Floyd and the words “I can’t breathe” ignited in the United States and many other parts of the world a period of reckoning with racism, inequality, and the unresolved burdens of history.

The history books will also record that 2020 marked 100 years since the ratification of the 19th Amendment in America, intended to guarantee a vote for all women, not denied or abridged on the basis of sex.

This is an important milestone and the continuing movement for gender equality owes much to the history of suffrage and the brave women (and men) who fought for a fairer world. Yet just celebrating what was achieved is not enough when we have so much more to do. Instead, this anniversary should be a galvanizing moment when we better inform ourselves about the past and emerge more determined to achieve a future of gender equality.

Australia’s role in the suffrage movement

In looking back, one thing that should strike us is how international the movement for suffrage was though the era was so much less globalized than our own.

For example, how many Americans know that 25 years before the passing of the 19th Amendment in America, my home of South Australia was one of the first polities in the world to give men and women the same rights to participate in their democracies? South Australia led Australia and became a global leader in legislating universal suffrage and candidate eligibility over 125 years ago.

This extraordinary achievement was not an easy one. There were three unsuccessful attempts to gain equal voting rights for women in South Australia, in the face of relentless opposition. But South Australia’s suffragists—including the Women’s Suffrage League and the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union, as well as remarkable women like Catherine Helen Spence, Mary Lee, and Elizabeth Webb Nicholls—did not get dispirited but instead continued to campaign, persuade, and cajole. They gathered a petition of 11,600 signatures, stuck it together page by page so that it measured around 400 feet in length, and presented it to Parliament.

The Constitutional Amendment (Adult Suffrage) Bill was finally introduced on July 4, 1894, leading to heated debate both within the houses of Parliament, and outside in society and the media. Demonstrating that some things in Parliament never change, campaigner Mary Lee observed as the bill proceeded to committee stage “that those who had the least to say took the longest time to say it.” 1

The Bill finally passed on December 18, 1894, by 31 votes to 14 in front of a large crowd of women.

In 1897, Catherine Helen Spence became the first woman to stand as a political candidate in South Australia.

South Australia’s victory led the way for the rest of the colonies, in the process of coming together to create a federated Australia, to fight for voting rights for women across the entire nation. Women’s suffrage was in effect made a precondition to federation in 1901, with South Australia insisting on retaining the progress that had already been made. 2 South Australian Muriel Matters, and Vida Goldstein—a woman from the Australian state of Victoria—are just two of the many who fought to ensure that when Australia became a nation, the right of women to vote and stand for Parliament was included.

Australia’s remarkable progressiveness was either envied, or feared, by the rest of the world. Sociologists and journalists traveled to Australia to see if the worst fears of the critics of suffrage would be realised.

In 1902, Vida Goldstein was invited to meet President Theodore Roosevelt—the first Australian to ever meet a U.S. president in the White House. With more political rights than any American woman, Goldstein was a fascinating visitor. In fact, President Roosevelt told Goldstein: “I’ve got my eye on you down in Australia.” 3

Goldstein embarked on many other journeys around the world in the name of suffrage, and ran five times for Parliament, emphasising “the necessity of women putting women into Parliament to secure the reforms they required.” 4

Muriel Matters went on to join the suffrage movement in the United Kingdom. In 1908 she became the first woman to speak in the British House of Commons in London—not by invitation, but by chaining herself to the grille that obscured women’s views of proceedings in the Houses of Parliament. After effectively cutting her off the grille, she was dragged out of the gallery by force, still shouting and advocating for votes for women. The U.K. finally adopted women’s suffrage in 1928.

These Australian women, and the many more who tirelessly fought for women’s rights, are still extraordinary by today’s standards, but were all the more remarkable for leading the rest of the world.

A shared history of exclusion

Of course, no history of women’s suffrage is complete without acknowledging those who were excluded. These early movements for gender equality were overwhelmingly the remit of privileged white women. Racially discriminatory exclusivity during the early days of suffrage is a legacy Australia shares with the United States.

South Australian Aboriginal women were given the right to vote under the colonial laws of 1894, but they were often not informed of this right or supported to enroll—and sometimes were actively discouraged from participating.

They were later further discriminated against by direct legal bar by the 1902 Commonwealth Franchise Act, whereby Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people were excluded from voting in federal elections—a right not given until 1962.

Any celebration of women’s suffrage must acknowledge such past injustices front and center. Australia is not alone in the world in grappling with a history of discrimination and exclusion.

The best historical celebrations do not present a triumphalist version of the past or convey a sense that the fight for equality is finished. By reflecting on our full history, these celebrations allow us to come together, find new energy, and be inspired to take the cause forward in a more inclusive way.

The way forward

In the century or more since winning women’s franchise around the world, we have made great strides toward gender equality for women in parliamentary politics. Targets and quotas are working. In Australia, we already have evidence that affirmative action targets change the diversity of governments. Since the Australian Labor Party (ALP) passed its first affirmative action resolution in 1994, the party has seen the number of women in its national parliamentary team skyrocket from around 14% to 50% in recent years.

Instead of trying to “fix” women—whether by training or otherwise—the ALP worked on fixing the structures that prevent women getting preselected, elected, and having fair opportunities to be leaders.

There is also clear evidence of the benefits of having more women in leadership roles. A recent report from Westminster Foundation for Democracy and the Global Institute for Women’s Leadership (GIWL) at King’s College London, shows that where women are able to exercise political leadership, it benefits not just women and girls, but the whole of society.

But even though we know how to get more women into parliament and the positive difference they make, progress toward equality is far too slow. The World Economic Forum tells us that if we keep progressing as we are, the global political empowerment gender gap—measuring the presence of women across Parliament, ministries, and heads of states across the world— will only close in another 95 years . This is simply too long to wait and, unfortunately, not all barriers are diminishing. The level of abuse and threatening language leveled at high-profile women in the public domain and on social media is a more recent but now ubiquitous problem, which is both alarming and unacceptable.

Across the world, we must dismantle the continuing legal and social barriers that prevent women fully participating in economic, political, and community life.

Education continues to be one such barrier in many nations. Nearly two-thirds of the world’s illiterate adults are women. With COVID-19-related school closures happening in developing countries, there is a real risk that progress on girls’ education is lost. When Ebola hit, the evidence shows that the most marginalized girls never made it back to school and rates of child marriage, teen pregnancy. and child labor soared. The Global Partnership for Education, which I chair, is currently hard at work trying to ensure that this history does not repeat.

Ensuring educational equality is a necessary but not sufficient condition for gender equality. In order to change the landscape to remove the barriers that prevent women coming through for leadership—and having their leadership fairly evaluated rather than through the prism of gender—we need a radical shift in structures and away from stereotypes. Good intentions will not be enough to achieve the profound wave of change required. We need hard-headed empirical research about what works. In my life and writings post-politics and through my work at the GIWL, sharing and generating this evidence is front and center of the work I do now.

GIWL work, undertaken in partnership with IPSOS Mori, demonstrates that the public knows more needs to be done. For example, this global polling shows the community thinks it is harder for women to get ahead. Specifically, they say men are less likely than women to need intelligence and hard work to get ahead in their careers.

Other research demonstrates that the myth of the “ideal worker,” one who works excessive hours, is damaging for women’s careers. We also know from research that even in families where each adult works full time, domestic and caring labor is disproportionately done by women. 5

In order to change the landscape to remove the barriers that prevent women coming through for leadership—and having their leadership fairly evaluated rather than through the prism of gender—we need a radical shift in structures and away from stereotypes.

Other more subtle barriers, like unconscious bias and cultural stereotypes, continue to hold women back. We need to start implementing policies that prevent people from being marginalized and stop interpreting overconfidence or charisma as indicative of leadership potential. The evidence shows that it is possible for organizations to adjust their definitions and methods of identifying merit so they can spot, measure, understand, and support different leadership styles.

Taking the lessons learned from our shared history and the lives of the extraordinary women across the world, we know evidence needs to be combined with activism to truly move forward toward a fairer world. We are in a battle for both hearts and minds.

Why this year matters

We are also at an inflection point. Will 2020 will be remembered as the year that a global recession disproportionately destroyed women’s jobs, while women who form the majority of the workforce in health care and social services were at risk of contracting the coronavirus? Will it be remembered as a time of escalating domestic violence and corporations cutting back on their investments in diversity programs?

Or is there a more positive vision of the future that we can seize through concerted advocacy and action? A future where societies re-evaluate which work truly matters and determine to better reward carers. A time when men and women forced into lockdowns re-negotiated how they approach the division of domestic labor. Will the pandemic be viewed as the crisis that, through forcing new ways of virtual working, ultimately led to more balance between employment and family life, and career advancement based on merit and outcomes, not presentism and the old boys’ network?

This history is not yet written. We still have an opportunity to make it happen. Surely the women who led the way 100 years ago can inspire us to seize this moment and create that better, more gender equal future.

December 7,1894: Welcome home meeting for Catherine Helen Spence at the Café de Paris. [ Register , Dec, 19, 1894 ]
Clare Wright, You Daughters of Freedom: The Australians Who Won the Vote and Inspired the World , (Text Publishing, 2018).
Janette M. Bomford, That Dangerous and Persuasive Woman, (Melbourne University Press, 1993)
Cordelia Fine, Delusions of Gender: The Real Science Behind Sex Differences, (Icon Books, 2010)

This piece is part of 19A: The Brookings Gender Equality Series. Learn more about the series and read published work »

About the Author

Julia gillard, distinguished fellow – global economy and development, center for universal education.

Gillard is a distinguished fellow with the Center for Universal Education at the Brookings Institution. She is the Inaugural Chair of the Global Institute for Women’s Leadership at King’s College London. Gillard also serves as Chair of the Global Partnership for Education, which is dedicated to expanding access to quality education worldwide and is patron of CAMFED, the Campaign for Female Education.

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Women's Power in the Struggle for Freedom and Equal Rights

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“Democracy is a universally recognized ideal based on common values shared by people across the world, irrespective of cultural, political, social and economic differences. As recognized in the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action , democracy is based on the freely expressed will of the people to determine their own political, economic, social and cultural systems and their full participation in all aspects of their lives . Democracy, development, rule of law and respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms are interdependent and mutually reinforcing.” - United Nations, Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights

The principles of democracy insist on, especially from a twenty-first century perspective, the inclusion of all people, regardless of gender, race, sexual orientation, or ability. And yet governments around the world have a history of barring certain classes of people from being heard, seen, and fairly represented. Throughout history this has been especially true for women. And yet, despite repeated and ongoing attempts to sideline women in society, there has always been a consistent female force, fighting for freedom, equality, and democratic ideals.

For example, Chilean women who lived during Pinochet’s dictatorship were under the threat of constant danger, but they resisted by creating dissident art and forming the Moviemento Pro Emancipación de la Mujer. The Turkish coup of 1980 inspired a feminist movement that existed in open rebellion. They decried their loss of freedom and organized mass protests, including a 1987 march against gender-based violence. And here, in the United States of America, one of the oldest modern democracies in the world, it took a staggering 144 years for women in the US to be granted suffrage with the passage of the 19th amendment in 1920. It would take 45 more years for the Voting Rights Act of 1965 to be passed before Black women gained full access to the vote. But the right to vote was not just granted to women—they had to fight for it.

There are endless examples of “the fairer sex” doing anything in their power to be seen as the equal sex—these examples are a testament to women's impact on society, government, and history. As we celebrate Women’s History Month in March, Facing History has curated a list of resources to showcase female upstanders who have fought for freedom, human rights, and promoted the principles of democracy, even under oppressive regimes and laws restricting them from representation.

The American Revolution and Challenging the Ideals of a Fledgling Democracy

Elizabeth freeman.

Entering the world as Mum Bett in the mid-sixteenth century, Elizabeth Freeman was born into slavery. As the white men around her—and notably her enslaver, Colonel Ashley—spoke of rights and freedoms amidst the creation of the Declaration of Independence and war with England, the idea of her own freedom took root. Freeman acquired legal representation in Massachusetts and sued for her right to be free. She became the first African American to win her freedom from the courts in Massachusetts, leading to abolition of slavery in that state. Learn more about Freeman’s life from the National Women’s History Museum and from the New-York Historical Society .

Judith Sargent Murray

Born into a wealthy family in 1751, Judith Sargent Murray was curious and intelligent, but was not permitted to attend school because of her gender. Undeterred, she turned to her family’s extensive library and became a self-taught intellectual and writer. Murray was a radical (at the time) advocate for white women’s rights, declaring that men and women held equal ability if given equal access to education. Murray penned her first essay, “On the Equality of the Sexes,” in 1770—it was finally published 20 years later.

This Facing History Reading , included in our US History Curriculum Collection , excerpts “On the Equality of the Sexes” and offers questions and exercises for deeper reflection and connection to the text. The entire essay can be found here .

Learn more about Murray’s life from the National Women’s History Museum .

Suffragettes and the Right to Vote

Frances ellen watkins harper.

In 1825 Frances Ellen Watkins Harper was born to free African American parents. Following the death of her parents, she was raised by her aunt and uncle, the latter of whom was an impassioned abolitionist. As a young adult she was mentored by her uncle’s friend William Still known as the “father of the Underground Railroad.” Harper then became a strong voice in the anti-slavery movement and a fierce supporter of women’s rights, publishing works based on these ideals and delivering speeches across the country.

This Facing History Reading excerpts one of her most famous speeches and offers connection questions for deeper learning.

Learn more about Harper’s life from the National Women’s History Museum .

Emmeline Pankhurst

It is perhaps no surprise that Emmeline Pankhurst became among the most influential suffragists in Great Britain. Born in 1858, she was raised by parents committed to the full expansion of rights to women. She went on to found the Women’s Franchise League and later the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) whose famous slogan was “Deeds not Words.” Pankhurst threw her body and mind into the suffrage cause including participating in a hunger strike and being jailed on multiple occasions for her provocative protests.

This Facing History Handout on Women in Edwardian Society includes excerpts from Pankhurt’s “Freedom or Death” speech and offers a wide range of connection questions.

Learn more about Pankhurst’s life from the National Park Service .

The Pursuit for Civil Rights and Racial Equality

Anti-apartheid movement.

Apartheid is an Afrikaans word meaning “apartness.” South Africans abolished slavery in 1834, but the colonial influence on the country made segregation the de facto state. It wasn’t until the National Party, which ran on a platform of Afrikaner nationalism, won the 1948 South African election that segregation was codified by law. One way that Black women in South Africa pushed back on segregationist policies was to protest the limitations placed on the free movement of Black Africans in the country. The 1950s saw the formation of the Federation of South African Women. In 1956 this grassroots movement enjoined a crowd 20,000 strong to march to Pretoria. Facing History’s Confronting Apartheid Collection provides a comprehensive set of lessons to explore critical moments in South Africa's history. This collection includes the Reading: Women Rise Up Against Apartheid and Change the Movement .

Mamie Till-Mobley

Mamie Carthan was born in Mississippi in 1921, but as a toddler she moved just outside of Chicago, Illinois with her parents. On July 25, 1941 she gave birth to her only child, Emmett Till. In the summer of 1955, when Emmett was 14, Mamie dropped her son off at the train station in Chicago to go visit her Uncle Moses’s farm in Mississippi and spend some time with family. He never came home. On August 28 Emmett was brutally murdered by a group of white men, led by the husband of a shopkeeper who was incensed that the young boy had allegedly whistled at his wife. The horrific death of her son, and the subsequent acquittal of Emmett’s murderers, resulted in Mamie Till-Mobley’s emergence as a leading activist for the civil rights movement.

Facing History’s “I Wanted the Whole World to See”: The Murder of Emmett Till Unit includes the following moving accounts of Mamie Till-Mobley as a mother and a civil rights pioneer. Reading: “ I Knew I Had to Give Him the Talk ” Lesson: " A Rallying Cry and a Cause "

Today’s Global Advocates for Human Rights

Anti-war sudanese organizers.

During the 30 year rule of President Omar Hassan al-Bashir, Sudanese women came out multiple times to protest the abhorrent treatment of women under his regime, often in open defiance of their family or the law. In 2019 it was estimated that two-thirds of Sudanese protesters were women. The military coup d'état in 2019 prompted the current devastating civil war between rival factions in Sudan, and again women face the biggest obstacles among the violence. Almost 90% of Sudanese people seeking refugee status in neighboring Chad are women. Learn more about the plight of Sudanese women today in these articles from Al Jazeera and the Norwegian Refugee Council . A look at the freedom and peace efforts of Sudanese women can be seen in these reports from the Christian Michelsen Institute and ReliefWeb .

Protest against the Islamic Republic of Iran's Regime

The 2022 arrest and death of Kurdish Iranian woman Mahsa Jhina Amini at the hands of Iran’s morality police has led to what some are calling a new Iranian Revolution. Since Amini’s death the people of Iran—including a flood of girls and women who have risked the same fate—have crowded the streets to demand an end to the brutal tactics and oppressive laws of the theocratic, dictatorial government. Even as the street protests have decreased, Iranian women continue to fight back through acts of civil disobedience including not following the strict veiling regulations or opting to go out publicly without a hijab altogether. The protest call of “Zan, Zendegi, Azadi” (Woman, Life, Freedom - shown above in Kurdish) continues to galvanize the movement, garnering support and participation from Iranians of all backgrounds in Iran and abroad. Learn more about the Iranian women mobilizing government resistance in these articles from Ms. and the Wilson Center . These quotes collected by Women’s Voices Now provide an inspirational glimpse at some of the individuals pushing for change.

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5 Women Empowerment Essays Everybody Should Read

What does “women’s empowerment” mean? It refers to the process of giving women control over their choices and access to the opportunities and resources that allow them to thrive. While there’s been progress, gender inequality remains a persistent issue in the world. Empowering women politically, socially, economically, educationally, and psychologically helps narrow the gap. Here are five essays about women’s empowerment that everyone should read:

Women’s Movements and Feminist Activism (2019)

Amanda Gouws & Azille Coetzee

This editorial from the “Empowering women for gender equity” issue of the journal Agenda explores the issue’s themes. It gives a big picture view of the topics within. The issue is dedicated to women’s movements and activism primarily in South Africa, but also other African countries. New women’s movements focus on engaging with institutional policies and running campaigns for more female representation in government. Some barriers make activism work harder, such as resistance from men and funding, If you’re interested in the whole issue, this editorial provides a great summary of the main points, so you can decide if you want to read further.

Agenda is an African peer-viewed academic journal focusing on feminism. It was established in 1987. It publishes articles and other entries, and tutors young writers.

5 Powerful Ways Women Can Empower Other Women (2020)

Pavitra Raja

Originally published during Women’s History Month, this piece explores five initiatives spearheaded by women in the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship community. Created by women for women, these innovations demonstrate what’s possible when women harness their skills and empower each other. The initiatives featured in this article embrace technology, education, training programs, and more.

Pavitra Raja is the Community Manager for social entrepreneurs in Europe, North America, and Latin America. She’s consulted with the UN Economic Commission for Europe and also has experience in legal affairs and policy in the private and public sectors.

The Key to Improving Women’s Health in Developing Countries (2019)

Because of gender inequality, women’s health is affected around the world. Factors like a lower income than men, more responsibilities at home, and less education impact health. This is most clear in developing countries. How can this be addressed? This essay states that empowerment is the key. When giving authority and control over their own lives, women thrive and contribute more to the world. It’s important that programs seeking to end gender inequality focus on empowerment, and not “rescue.” Treating women like victims is not the answer.

Axa is a leading global insurer, covering more than 100 million customers in 57 countries. On their website, they say they strive for the collective good by working on prevention issues, fighting climate change, and prioritizing protection. The company has existed for over 200 years.

Empowering Women Is Smart Economics (2012)

Ana Revenga and Sudhir Shetty

What are the benefits of women’s empowerment? This article presents the argument that closing gender gaps doesn’t only serve women, it’s good for countries as a whole. Gender equality boosts economic productivity, makes institutions more representative, and makes life better for future generations. This piece gives a good overview of the state of the world (the data is a bit old, but things have not changed significantly) and explores policy implications. It’s based on the World Bank’s World Development Report in 2012 on gender equality and development.

Ana Revenga and Sudhir Shetty both worked at the World Bank at the time this article was originally published. Revenga was the Sector Director of Human Development, Europe and Central Asia. Shetty (who still works at the World Bank in a different role) was the Sector Director, Poverty Reduction and Economic Management, East Asia and Pacific.

The Side Of Female Empowerment We Aren’t Talking About Enough (2017)

Tamara Schwarting

In this era of female empowerment, women are being told they can do anything, but can they? It isn’t because women aren’t capable. There just aren’t enough hours in the day. As this article says, women have “more to do but no more time to do it.” The pressure is overwhelming. Is the image of a woman who can “do it all” unrealistic? What can a modern woman do to manage a high-stakes life? This essay digs into some solutions, which include examining expectations and doing self-checks.

Tamara Schwarting is the CEO of 1628 LTD, a co-working community space of independent professionals in Ohio. She’s also an executive-level consultant in supply chain purchasing and business processes. She describes herself as an “urbanist” and has a passion for creative, empowering work environments.

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WOMEN’S RIGHTS

Women’s rights are human rights.

We are all entitled to human rights. These include the right to live free from violence and discrimination; to enjoy the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health; to be educated; to own property; to vote; and to earn an equal wage.

But across the globe many women and girls still face discrimination on the basis of sex and gender. Gender inequality underpins many problems which disproportionately affect women and girls, such as domestic and sexual violence, lower pay, lack of access to education, and inadequate healthcare.

For many years women’s rights movements have fought hard to address this inequality, campaigning to change laws or taking to the streets to demand their rights are respected. And new movements have flourished in the digital age, such as the #MeToo campaign which highlights the prevalence of gender-based violence and sexual harassment.

Through research, advocacy and campaigning, Amnesty International pressures the people in power to respect women’s rights.

On this page we look at the history of women’s rights, what women’s rights actually are, and what Amnesty is doing.

WHAT ARE WE FIGHTING FOR?

three activists are at the forefront of an image of a large protest in Karachi. They appear to be celebrating with their arms waving joyously.

What do we mean when we talk about women’s rights? What are we fighting for? Here are just some examples of the rights which activists throughout the centuries and today have been fighting for:

Women’s Suffrage

During the 19th and early 20 th centuries people began to agitate for the right of women to vote . In 1893 New Zealand became the first country to give women the right to vote on a national level. This movement grew to spread all around the world, and thanks to the efforts of everyone involved in this struggle, today women’s suffrage is a right under the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (1979).

However, despite these developments there are still many places around the world where it is very difficult for women to exercise this right. Take Syria for example, where women have been effectively cut off from political engagement, including the ongoing peace process.

In Pakistan, although voting is a constitutional right, in some areas women have been effectively prohibited from voting due to powerful figures in their communities using patriarchal local customs to bar them from going to the polls.

And in Afghanistan, authorities recently decided to introduce mandatory photo screening at polling stations, making voting problematic for women in conservative areas, where most women cover their faces in public.

Amnesty International campaigns for all women to be able to effectively participate in the political process.

Sexual and Reproductive Rights

Everyone should be able to make decisions about their own body.

Every woman and girl has sexual and reproductive rights . This means they are entitled to equal access to health services like contraception and safe abortions, to choose if, when, and who they marry, and to decide if they want to have children and if so how many, when and with who.

Women should be able to live without fear of gender-based violence, including rape and other sexual violence, female genital mutilation (FGM), forced marriage, forced pregnancy, forced abortion, or forced sterilization.

But there’s a long way to go until all women can enjoy these rights.

For example, many women and girls around the world are still unable to access safe and legal abortions. In several countries, people who want or need to end pregnancies are often forced to make an impossible choice: put their lives at risk or go to jail.

In Argentina , Amnesty International has campaigned alongside grassroots human rights defenders to change the country’s strict abortion laws. There have been some major steps forward, but women and girls are still being harmed by laws which mean they cannot make choices about their own bodies.

We have also campaigned successfully in Ireland and Northern Ireland , where abortion was recently decriminalized after many decades of lobbying by Amnesty and other rights groups.

In Poland along with more than 200 human and women’s rights organisations from across the globe, Amnesty has co-signed a joint statement protesting the ‘Stop Abortion’ bill.

South Korea has recently seen major advances in sexual and reproductive rights after many years of campaigning by Amnesty and other groups, culminating in a ruling by South Korea’s Constitutional Court that orders the government to decriminalize abortion in the country and reform the country’s highly restrictive abortion laws by the end of 2020.

In Burkina Faso, Amnesty International has supported women and girls in their fight against forced marriage , which affects a huge number of girls especially in rural areas.

And in Sierra Leone, Amnesty International has been working with local communities as part of our Human Rights Education Programme, which focuses on a number of human rights issues, including female genital mutilation .

In Zimbabwe, we found that women and girls were left vulnerable to unwanted pregnancies and a higher risk of HIV infection because of widespread confusion around sexual consent and access to sexual health services. This meant that girls would face discrimination, the risk of child marriage, economic hardship and barriers to education.

In Jordan Amnesty International has urged authorities to stop colluding with an abusive male “guardianship” system which controls women’s lives and limits their personal freedoms, including detaining women accused of leaving home without permission or having sex outside marriage and subjecting them to humiliating “virginity tests”.

Freedom of Movement

Freedom of movement is the right to move around freely as we please – not just within the country we live in, but also to visit others. But many women face real challenges when it comes to this. They may not be allowed to have their own passports, or they might have to seek permission from a male guardian in order to travel.

For example, recently in Saudi Arabia there has been a successful campaign to allow women to drive, which had previously been banned for many decades. But despite this landmark gain, the authorities continue to persecute and detain many women’s rights activists, simply for peacefully advocating for their rights.

FEMINISM AND WOMEN’S RIGHTS

When looking at women’s rights it’s helpful to have an understanding of feminism. At its core, feminism is the belief that women are entitled to political, economic, and social equality. Feminism is committed to ensuring women can fully enjoy their rights on an equal footing with men.

Intersectional Feminism

Intersectional feminism is the idea that all of the reasons someone might be discriminated against, including race, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, economic class, and disability, among others, overlap and intersect with each other. One way of understanding this would be to look at how this might apply in a real world setting, such as Dominica , where our research has shown that women sex workers, who are often people of colour, or transgender, or both, suffer torture and persecution by the police.

HOW ARE WOMEN’S RIGHTS BEING VIOLATED?

Gender inequality.

Gender inequality could include:

Gender-Based Violence

Gender-based violence is when violent acts are committed against women and LGBTI people on the basis of their orientation, gender identity, or sex characteristics. Gender based violence happens to women and girls in disproportionate numbers.

Women and girls in conflict are especially at risk from violence, and throughout history sexual violence has been used as a weapon of war. For example, we have documented how many women who fled attacks from Boko Haram in Nigeria have been subjected to sexual violence and rape by the Nigerian military .

Globally, on average 30% of all women who have been in a relationship have experienced physical and/or sexual violence committed against them by their partner. Women are more likely to be victims of sexual assault including rape, and are more likely to be the victims of so-called “honour crimes”.

Violence against women is a major human rights violation. It is the responsibility of a state to protect women from gender-based violence – even domestic abuse behind closed doors.

Sexual Violence and Harassment

Sexual harassment means any unwelcome sexual behaviour. This could be physical conduct and advances, demanding or requesting sexual favours or using inappropriate sexual language.

Sexual violence is when someone is physically sexually assaulted. Although men and boys can also be victims of sexual violence, it is women and girls who are overwhelmingly affected.

Workplace Discrimination

Often, women are the subject of gender based discrimination in the workplace. One way of illustrating this is to look at the gender pay gap . Equal pay for the same work is a human right, but time and again women are denied access to a fair and equal wage. Recent figures show that women currently earn roughly 77% of what men earn for the same work. This leads to a lifetime of financial disparity for women, prevents them from fully exercising independence, and means an increased risk of poverty in later life.

Discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity

In many countries around the world, women are denied their rights on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity, or sex characteristics . Lesbian, bisexual, trans and intersex women and gender non-confirming people face violence, exclusion, harassment, and discrimination Many are also subjected to extreme violence , including sexual violence or so called “corrective rape” and “honour killings.”

WOMEN’S RIGHTS AND INTERNATIONAL LAW

The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) (1979) is a key international treaty addressing gender-based discrimination and providing specific protections for women’s rights.

The convention sets out an international bill of rights for women and girls, and defines what obligations states have make sure women can enjoy those rights.

Over 180 states have ratified the convention.

WHY IS IT IMPORTANT TO STAND UP FOR WOMEN’S RIGHTS?

Women’s rights are human rights.

It might seem like an obvious point, but we cannot have a free and equal society until everyone is free and equal. Until women enjoy the same rights as men, this inequality is everyone’s problem.

Protecting women’s rights makes the world a better place

According to the UN, “gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls is not just a goal in itself, but a key to sustainable development, economic growth, and peace and security”. Research has shown this to be the case – society gets better for everyone when women’s rights are upheld and taken seriously.

We’re stronger when we work together

Although grassroots movements have done so much to effect change, when everyone comes together to support women’s rights we can be so much stronger. By working alongside individual activists and campaigners on the ground as well as running our own targeted campaigns, movements such as Amnesty International can form a formidable vanguard in the fight for women’s rights.

two women are in the focus of a photo taken at a protest. The one on the left has a purple Venus symbol painted on her cheek and has one of her hands in the air in a fist.

137 Women’s Rights Essay Topics

🏆 best essay topics on women’s rights, ✍️ women’s rights essay topics for college, 👍 good women’s rights essay topics to write about, 🎓 most interesting women’s rights research titles, 💡 simple women’s rights essay ideas, ❓ women’s rights research questions.

Women Role in the Civil Rights Movement
Prenuptial Agreements and Islamic Women’s Rights in the US and UK
Betty Friedan and Her Contribution to Fight for Women’s Rights
Globalization’s Role in Improving Women’s Rights
Abortion: Women’s Health as Their Integral Right
Feminist Movement: Women’s Rights Are Human Rights
Women’s Rights: Judy Brady’s “I Want a Wife”
Abolitionist and Women’s Rights Movements During the 19th century, the abolitionist movement was developing in the United States, which set itself the goal of putting an end to slavery.
American Women’s Rights Discussed in Lyrics This paper analyzes four pieces created by women in different genres (country, rap, poetry, jazz) that discuss women’s rights and role in society.
Women’s Rights in the Ottoman Empire The topic of women’s rights before the 20th century has been a very concerning one, requiring a significant amount of nuance and context.
Women’s Rights in the United Arab Emirates This paper aims to explore women’s rights in the UAE while highlighting the difference between the country and other Arab nations, as well as how it has achieved equality.
Women’s Rights: Annotated Bibliography This paper discusses the articles “A Vindication of the Rights of Woman” and “Women’s Needs in New Global Sustainable Development Policy Agendas.”
Women’s Rights Pioneers Monument The Women’s Rights Pioneers Monument was installed in Central Park in New York a year ago, being the first public artwork dedicated to women.
Women’s Rights Movement in the Last Century While the 19th Amendment granted most white women the right to vote, this was not the case for many women of color.
Islam and Women’s Rights in Iran After 1979 Women’s rights are a major concern of contemporary societies. Iran, through the 1979 Islamic revolution, underwent a significant political shift.
Women’s Rights in Latin America There has been a significant advancement in women’s rights in Latin America. However, the biggest challenge that numerous women in Latin America face is income disparity.
Women’s Rights, Abolition of Slavery, and Nationalism in the US This paper examines such important events in the US history as women’s rights convention, the abolition of slavery, and nationalism development.
Perspectives on Muslim Women’s Rights and Feminism The purpose of the chapter written by Nash is to identify the problems associated with feminism in the context of the Middle East.
Seneca Falls Convention: The Origins of Women’s Rights Movement in the US It is important to note that U.S. civil society has come a long way to ensure that all people are equal in their rights, regardless of race or gender.
Nationalist Ideology on Women’s Reproductive Rights in Ireland and Iran Irish literature entails oral and published literature of the inhabitants of Ireland, which is geographically part of the UK.
Women’s Right to Abortion: Religious Perspective Some religious people are right to accept the US court decision on limiting women’s right to abortion. They believe that the act is murder because life starts at conception.
Ethics: Women’s Right to Abortion In the current paradigm of medicine and healthcare, abortion has become a relatively safe operation due to the increased quality of competencies and equipment.
The History of Women’s Rights Movement The Women’s Rights movement began as the women’s fight for a vote and resulted in many other movements that affected America in the mid to late 1800s.
The Women Rights Movement and Modern Politics The women’s rights movement was the most important because it led to more women engaging in politics. Their participation is crucial for the nation’s development.
Women’s Rights from Islamic and Judaism Perspectives The Islamic and Judaism perspectives on women’s rights are often used as a tool to deny women equal rights and perpetuate gender discrimination.
Global Women’s Health and Rights The paper states that it is essential to ensure a woman’s general and medical rights. Women still have problems with the quality of healthcare.
Gender Equality: Do Women Have Equal Rights? Although developed countries demonstrate higher levels of gender equality than states that openly discriminate against women, the equality climate in the U.S. remains imperfect.
Women’s Bodies, Women’s Rights: A Case for Abortion If one holds that a woman has the moral right to make decisions about her health and existence, the only reasonable conclusion is to acknowledge the right to abortion.
Evolution, Not Revolution: Gender Law and Women Rights in Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabian government should enact policies that promote women to take professional courses such as engineering, medicine among others.
The Women’s Rights: The Movement for Equal Society This essay will reflect on how the current state of Women’s rights was shaped throughout the movement’s equal society history.
Women’s Rights: Suffrage Movement The research argues that understanding the connection between the anti-slavery movement and the women’s suffrage movement is instrumental in realizing the core of both movements.
Women’s Rights. Miss Representation Documentary I selected the film “Miss Representation” because the topics of women’s rights and gender equality are interesting to me.
Muller v. Oregon and Women’s Rights Advocacy The case Muller v. Oregon was discussed in the context of women’s rights protection in the early 20th century. This document is the most compelling evidence of legal procedures.
Women Have the Right to Decide the Abortion This work aims to describe abortion as a controversial phenomenon that always causes significant public resonance.
The Controversy About Abortion Prohibition and Women’s Rights The ability to access abortion and contraception is a basic human right for women, yet prohibitions are being put on these rights.
Women Have the Right to Decide Whether to Have an Abortion One of the controversial and ambiguous topics is the right to abortion as a phenomenon that has always caused significant public resonance.
Women’s Demands: Seneca Falls in 1848 and Civil Rights Movement No matter the amount of difference between the demands of women at Seneca Falls in 1848 with the demands of women in the 1960s-70s, at the fundamental demand they were the same.
Global Politics: Women’s Rights, Economy, Globalization Globalization is a critical phenomenon in global politics. It is the integration of the people of the world through economic, socio-cultural, and technological forces.
Rape Shield Laws and Women’s Rights in Canada This paper argues that for all its controversy, the rape shield has had a positive impact on women’s rights in Canada.
Sociology of Power and Women’s Rights History At some point in humanity’s early history, women were equal to men, if not superior. The paper evaluates the social evolution of women in relation to the sociology of power.
Female Genital Mutilation: Moral Decay and Women’s Rights Nowadays the practice of Female Genital Mutilation still exists in Asia, Middle East, Africa and in some local communities all over the world.
Women’s Rights in Chopin’s, Updike’s, Auburn’s Works Not many of us think about the way life was hundred, or fifty, or even ten years ago. Even less of us ponder on the topic of the change in society, for example, human rights.
Gender Equality and Women’s Rights The issue of gender equality in society has gained popularity in the course of the precedent century with the rise of the feminist movement and women’s struggle for equal rights.
Canadian Abortion Laws and Women’s Rights Section 251.9 of Canada’s Criminal Code prohibited abortions and was not constitutional since it violated women’s right as spelt out in the Charter of Human Rights and Freedom.
The Ethics of Abortion: Women’s Rights The argument about the legitimacy of abortion has been in existence for quite a while. The proponents of prohibiting abortions are nowadays labeled as the pro-life movement.
Women’s Rights Movement in the Anti-Discrimination Activities The women’s movement is not just about the gender issue. It is a significant part of the common activity aimed at the protection of any discriminated group.
Muslim Women’s Rights: Misunderstood
Emily Murphy: Canadian Women’s Rights Activist
Women’s Rights and the Early American Republic
Anne Bradstreet and Phyllis Wheatley: Pioneers for Women’s Rights
The Early Women’s Rights Movement and the Men’s Mockery of It
Women’s Rights and the Social Status Within Saudi Arabia and Iran
The Fight for Women’s Rights in American History
Women’s Rights and Empowerment
Black Suffrage and Women’s Rights
Women’s Brain Drain and Gaps in Women’s Rights in the US
First Women’s Rights Convention Held in 1848
Latvia: Education and Women’s Rights
Muslim Women’s Rights Today
Women’s Rights Organizations and Human Trafficking
1848 Women’s Rights Convention
Women’s Rights: How Small Strides Were Made During the Renaissance
Chairman Mao and Women’s Rights in China
Slavery, Women’s Rights and Inequality in America
Women’s Rights During the Victorian Era
The 1960s and 1970s’ Women’s Rights Movement
Women’s Rights, Working Hours, and the 1908 Case of Muller v.s Oregon
The Women’s Rights and Government Responsibility in the United States of America
Early Civilization Women’s Rights
Pride and Prejudice and Women’s Rights in the Nineteenth Century
Lucy Stone and the Awsa’s Affect on American Women’s Rights
How Far Women’s Rights Have Come?
Women’s Rights vs. Men Rights During the Iranian Revolution
Aristotle and Islam: Two Views of Women’s Rights
Women’s Rights and the Impact of Technology
The Enlightenment Period and the Value of Women’s Rights
Alice Paul’s Fearless Fight for Women’s Rights
Gender Equality and Women S Rights in Yemen
The Economics and Politics of Women’s Rights
Women’s Rights During the Cold War
Gender Wage Gap and Women’s Rights
The Taliban’s War Against Women: Women’s Rights Inhumanly Denied
Women’s Rights Are Limited and Suppressed in Indian Society
Women’s Rights and Latin America
Can the Law Secure Women’s Rights To Land in Africa?
Globalization, Labor Standards, and Women’s Rights: Dilemmas of Collective Action in an Interdependent World
Post-1900 International Women’s Rights
Feminism and the Women’s Rights Movement in America
Reconstruction Through Black Suffrage and Women’s Rights
The Fight for Women’s Rights During the Cold War
Women’s Rights Speeches Throughout Time
The Fight for Women’s Rights in Saudi Arabia
Women’s Rights and the Great Awakening
Women’s Rights During French Revolution
How and Why Did Women’s Rights to Property and Marriage Change in China Between 960 and 1400?
Chinese Women’s Rights and the Impact of Christianity
The Necessity for Women’s Rights Worldwide
Oppression Isn’t Sexy: Women’s Rights in the 21st Century
Women’s Rights and Abolitionism
Radical Feminism: Radical Feminists Think They’re Advocating for Women’s Rights
Pregnant Women’s Rights and Fetuses’ Rights
Abortion and Women’s Rights in the United States
Female Genital Mutilation in Ethiopia and Respect Women’s Rights
Women’s Rights and the U.S. Constitution’s Fourteenth Amendment
Post-Taliban Women’s Rights and Government Implementation
Can the Law Secure Women’s Rights to Land in Africa?
Why Did the Women’s Rights Movement Emerge in the USA During the 1950s and 1960s?
What Type of Issue Is Women’s Rights?
What Are Current Women’s Rights Issues in America?
What Are Some Issues That Are Considered Women’s Rights Issues?
Is Women’s Rights a Global Issue?
Why Women’s Rights Lost Ground at the End of World War Two?
Is There Any Problems With Women’s Rights in Saudi Arabia?
What Are Women’s Rights in the Taliban?
What Are Women’s Rights Like in Saudi Arabia?
Why Did the Taliban Ban Women’s Rights?
What Women Can and Can’t Do in Saudi Arabia?
What Has Afghanistan Done for Women’s Rights?
Does Saudi Arabia Support Women’s Rights?
When Did the Women’s Rights Movement Start in India?
What Does the UN Do for Women’s Rights?
Who Is the Head of Women’s Rights in the UN?
How Did the Wars Affect Women’s Rights?
What Did the Women’s Rights Fight For?
What Did Women’s Rights Accomplish?
What Were Three Major Events in the Women’s Rights Movement?
Who Fought for Women’s Rights?
What Is the Most Important Event in Women’s Rights History?
When Did the Women’s Rights Movement First Become an Issue?
How Betty Friedan and the Women’s Rights Movement Helped Women Across the World?
How Far the Women’s Rights Movement Come?
How Margaret Fuller and Fanny Fern Used Writing as a Weapon for Women’s Rights?
What Was the Women’s Rights Movement Called?
Why Do We Celebrate Women’s Rights Day?

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Table Of Contents

women’s rights movement , diverse social movement , largely based in the United States , that in the 1960s and ’70s sought equal rights and opportunities and greater personal freedom for women . It coincided with and is recognized as part of the “second wave” of feminism . While the first-wave feminism of the 19th and early 20th centuries focused on women’s legal rights, especially the right to vote ( see women’s suffrage ), the second-wave feminism of the women’s rights movement touched on every area of women’s experience—including politics, work, the family , and sexuality . Organized activism by and on behalf of women continued through the third and fourth waves of feminism from the mid-1990s and the early 2010s, respectively. For more discussion of historical and contemporary feminists and the women’s movements they inspired, see feminism .

In the aftermath of World War II , the lives of women in developed countries changed dramatically. Household technology eased the burdens of homemaking, life expectancies increased dramatically, and the growth of the service sector opened up thousands of jobs not dependent on physical strength. Despite these socioeconomic transformations, cultural attitudes (especially concerning women’s work) and legal precedents still reinforced sexual inequalities. An articulate account of the oppressive effects of prevailing notions of femininity appeared in Le Deuxième Sexe (1949; The Second Sex ), by the French writer and philosopher Simone de Beauvoir . It became a worldwide best seller and raised feminist consciousness by stressing that liberation for women was liberation for men too.

The first public indication that change was imminent came with women’s reaction to the 1963 publication of Betty Friedan ’s The Feminine Mystique . Friedan spoke of the problem that “lay buried, unspoken” in the mind of the suburban housewife: utter boredom and lack of fulfillment. Women who had been told that they had it all—nice houses, lovely children, responsible husbands—were deadened by domesticity, she said, and they were too socially conditioned to recognize their own desperation. The Feminine Mystique was an immediate best seller. Friedan had struck a chord.

Initially, women energized by Friedan’s book joined with government leaders and union representatives who had been lobbying the federal government for equal pay and for protection against employment discrimination . By June 1966 they had concluded that polite requests were insufficient. They would need their own national pressure group—a women’s equivalent of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). With this, the National Organization for Women (NOW) was born.

The organization was not an instant success. By the end of its second year, NOW had just 1,035 members and was racked by ideological divisions. When the group tried to write a Bill of Rights for Women, it found consensus on six measures essential to ensuring women’s equality: enforcement of laws banning employment discrimination; maternity leave rights; child-care centres that could enable mothers to work; tax deductions for child-care expenses; equal and unsegregated education; and equal job-training opportunities for poor women.

Two other measures stirred enormous controversy: one demanded immediate passage of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) to the U.S. Constitution (to ensure equality of rights, regardless of sex), and the other demanded greater access to contraception and abortion . When NOW threw its support behind passage of the ERA, the United Auto Workers union—which had been providing NOW with office space—withdrew its support, because the ERA would effectively prohibit protective labour legislation for women. When some NOW members called for repeal of all abortion laws, other members left the fledgling organization, convinced that this latest action would undermine their struggles against economic and legal discrimination.

NOW’s membership was also siphoned off from the left. Impatient with a top-heavy traditional organization, activists in New York City, where half of NOW’s membership was located, walked out. Over the next two years, as NOW struggled to establish itself as a national organization, more radical women’s groups were formed by female antiwar, civil rights , and leftist activists who had grown disgusted by the New Left ’s refusal to address women’s concerns. Ironically, sexist attitudes had pervaded 1960s radical politics, with some women being exploited or treated unequally within those movements. In 1964, for example, when a woman’s resolution was brought up at a Student Nonviolent Coordination Committee (SNCC) conference, Stokely Carmichael flippantly cut off all debate: “The only position for women in SNCC is prone.”

While NOW focused on issues of women’s rights, the more radical groups pursued the broader themes of women’s liberation. Although they lacked the kind of coherent national structure NOW had formed, liberation groups sprang up in Chicago, Toronto, Seattle, Detroit, and elsewhere. Suddenly, the women’s liberation movement was everywhere—and nowhere. It had no officers, no mailing address, no printed agenda. What it did have was attitude. In September 1968 activists converged on Atlantic City , New Jersey , to protest the image of womanhood conveyed by the Miss America Pageant . In February 1969 one of the most radical liberation groups, the Redstockings, published its principles as “The Bitch Manifesto.” Based in New York City , the Redstockings penned the movement’s first analysis of the politics of housework, held the first public speak-out on abortion, and helped to develop the concept of “consciousness-raising” groups—rap sessions to unravel how sexism might have coloured their lives. The Redstockings also held speak-outs on rape to focus national attention on the problem of violence against women, including domestic violence .

Responding to these diverse interests, NOW called the Congress to Unite Women, which drew more than 500 feminists to New York City in November 1969. The meeting was meant to establish common ground between the radical and moderate wings of the women’s rights movement, but it was an impossible task. Well-dressed professionals convinced that women needed to reason with men could not unite with wild-haired radicals whose New Left experience had soured them on polite discourse with “the enemy.” NOW’s leadership seemed more comfortable lobbying politicians in Washington or corresponding with NASA about the exclusion of women from the astronaut program, while the young upstarts preferred disrupting legislative committee hearings. NOW leaders were looking for reform. The more radical women were plotting a revolution.

The Fight for Women's Rights in the Past and Present

Understanding How the Treatment of Women Has Changed Over Time

History Of Feminism
Important Figures
Women's Suffrage
Women & War
Laws & Womens Rights
Feminist Texts
American History
African American History
African History
Ancient History and Culture
Asian History
European History
Latin American History
Medieval & Renaissance History
Military History
The 20th Century

United Nations Convention on Rights of Women

The now statement of purpose, the 1855 marriage protest.

Seneca Falls Women's Rights Convention
Women's Rights in the 1700s

Treatment of Women in the Ancient World

B.A., Mundelein College
M.Div., Meadville/Lombard Theological School

The meaning of "women's rights" has varied through time and across cultures. Today, there is still a lack of consensus about what constitutes women's rights. Some would argue a woman's ability to control family size is a fundamental women's right. Others would argue women's rights fall under workplace equality or the chance to serve in the military in the same ways that men do. Many would argue that all of the above should be deemed women's rights.

The term typically refers to whether women are treated as men's equals, but sometimes it specifically refers to special circumstances that affect women, such as job protection when they take time off for maternity leave, though men in the U.S. are increasingly taking paternity leave. While men and women may both be victims of social ills and violence related to human trafficking and rape, protection against these crimes is often described as beneficial to women's rights.

The implementation of various laws and policies over the years paints a historical picture of the benefits that were considered to be "women's rights" at one time. Societies in the ancient, classical, and medieval worlds show how women's rights, even if not referred to by that term, differed from culture to culture.

The 1979 Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, signed by many United Nations member states, asserts that women's rights belong to the "political, economic, social, cultural, civil" realms. According to the convention text, which became an international treaty in 1981 :

"Any distinction, exclusion or restriction made on the basis of sex which has the effect or purpose of impairing or nullifying the recognition, enjoyment or exercise by women, irrespective of their marital status, on a basis of equality of men and women, of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social, cultural, civil or any other field."

The declaration specifically addresses eliminating prejudice in public education, giving women full political rights to vote and run for public office, as well as marriage and divorce rights that equal men's. The document also called for the elimination of child marriage and sex trafficking while also mentioning equality for women in the criminal justice system and in the workplace.

In 1966, the National Organization for Women (NOW) formed and wrote a statement of purpose that summarizes key women's rights issues of that time. The rights outlined were based on the idea of equality as an opportunity for women to "develop their fullest human potentials" and to put women into the "mainstream of American political, economic and social life." The women's rights issues identified included those in these areas of employment and economics, education, family, political participation, and racial justice.

In their 1855 marriage ceremony , women's rights advocates Lucy Stone and Henry Blackwell refused to honor laws that interfered with the rights of married women in particular. They advocated for wives to be able to legally exist outside of a husband's control, to inherit and own real estate , and have the right to their own wages. Stone and Blackwell also campaigned for wives to be able to choose their own names and place of residence and to sign contracts. They demanded that married mothers be granted custody of their children and be able to sue in court as well.

Seneca Falls Women's Rights Convention

In 1848, the first known women's rights convention in the world took place in Seneca Falls, New York. There, organizers of the convention declared that "men and women are created equal." As such, the feminists gathered demanded that women immediately be given the rights and privileges due to them as U.S. citizens.

In their " Declaration of Sentiments ," the Seneca Falls participants insisted that women should be able to vote, have property rights , including the right to the income they earned, and to pursue higher education and a variety of professions, such as theology, medicine, and law.

Women's Rights in the 1700s

In the 1700s, influential women also spoke out about women's rights from time to time. Abigail Adams , the wife of U.S. founding father and second President John Adams, asked her husband to " remember the ladies " in a letter in which she discussed disparities in women's and men's education.

Hannah Moore, Mary Wollstonecraft , and Judith Sargent Murray focused especially on women's right to an adequate education. They used their writing to advocate for women having influence over social, religious, moral, and political decisions. In "A Vindication of the Rights of Woman" (1791–1792), Wollstonecraft called for women to be educated, have equality in marriage, and have control over family size.

In 1791 during the French Revolution , Olympe de Gouges wrote and published the "Declaration of the Rights of Woman and of the Citizen." In this document, she called for women to have free speech, including the right to name the father of their children and equality for out-of-wedlock children, a demand that suggested that women had the same right as men to have sexual relationships outside of marriage.

In the ancient, classical, and medieval world, women's rights differed somewhat from culture to culture. In some cases, women were essentially regarded as enslaved adults or children under the authority of their husbands or fathers. Women were largely confined to the home and lacked the right to come and go as they pleased. They also had been deprived of the right to choose or refuse marriage partners or end a marriage. Whether women could dress as they liked was an issue during this time as well.

A number of these concerns and others continued to be problems for women in the centuries that followed. They included a lack of custodial rights over children, especially after a divorce; the inability of women to own property, run businesses, and control their own wages, income, and wealth. Women in the ancient, classical, and medieval world also faced employment discrimination, barriers to education, a lack of voting rights, and the inability to represent themselves in lawsuits and court actions.

In the centuries since, women have advocated for these rights and more, but the struggle for equality hasn't ended. Women still face employment discrimination and barriers to healthcare, while single mothers are at great risk of falling into poverty.

A History of the Seneca Falls 1848 Women's Rights Convention
National Woman's Rights Conventions
Seneca Falls Declaration of Sentiments: Women's Rights Convention 1848
We Now Demand Our Right to Vote (1848)
Seneca Falls Resolutions: Women's Rights Demands in 1848
Top 10 Women's Suffrage Activists
Frederick Douglass Quotes on Women's Rights
Top 20 Influential Modern Feminist Theorists
Biography of Lucretia Mott
Profile of Amelia Bloomer
Biography of Lucy Stone, Abolitionist and Women's Rights Reformer
A Short History of Women's Equality Day
15 Surprising Facts About Susan B. Anthony
Biography of Olympe de Gouges, French Women's Rights Activist
Biography of Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Women's Suffrage Leader
Profile of the National Organization for Women (NOW)

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Feminist perspectives on human rights.

Laura Parisi Laura Parisi Department of Women's Studies, University of Victoria
https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190846626.013.48
Published in print: 01 March 2010
Published online: 30 November 2017

Feminism has provided some new perspectives to the discourse on human rights over the years. Contemporary feminist scholarship has sought to critique the liberalism on which the conception of formal “equality” in the international human rights laws has been derived on a number of grounds. Two of the most pertinent critiques for this discussion are: the androcentric construction of human rights; and the perpetuation of the false dichotomy between the public and private spheres. This exploration of the relationship between liberalism and women’s human rights constitutes a significant shift in which many feminists had realized that the emphasis on “sameness” with men was limited in its utility. This shift rejected the “sameness” principle of the liberal feminists and brought gender-specific abuses into the mainstream of human rights theory and practice. By gender mainstreaming international institutions and future human rights treaties, specific women’s rights could be defined as human rights more generally. Feminists have since extended their critique of androcentrism and the public–private dichotomy to the study of gender inequalities and economic globalization, which is an important systemic component of structural indivisibility. In particular, the broader women’s human rights movement has come to realize that civil-political liberties and socioeconomic rights are inextricable, though there is disagreement over the exact nature of this relationship.

human rights
women’s rights
international human rights laws
androcentrism
public–private dichotomy
economic globalization
civil-political liberties
democratization

Introduction

Feminist critiques of human rights seek to dismantle several hierarchies present in the human rights regime. By critiquing the basic assumptions of human rights as they were formulated in 1945–8 , feminists have revealed that these definitions are inadequate, that men and women have different relationships with the state, and that rights are not fixed and immutable. Rather, they are historically, socially, culturally, and economically contingent. This essay explores feminist contributions to the human rights discourse in several ways. The first half of the essay chronicles and analyzes the evolution of the “women’s rights are human rights” discourse as well as the development of the notion of the indivisibility of rights. The second half of the essay looks the feminist debates with regards to women’s human rights in three issue areas or contexts: globalization, democratization, and culture. The essay concludes with a discussion of the current challenges with regards to data collection in measuring the achievement of women’s human rights.

Although there are multiple feminisms, the terms feminist and feminism are used in a broad sense in this essay to connote a shared goal of seeking to re-articulate human rights in an effort to achieve gender equality, even though theoretical entry points into the discourse and resulting strategies may vary widely among feminists (Tong 2008 ). Similarly, the concept of human rights has been contested in many ways, but it is beyond the scope of this essay to delve into these debates. Rather, the focus will be on what feminists have understood human rights to be in theory and in practice.

Women’s Rights Are Human Rights: Evolution of the Discourse

During the “first wave” of feminism (loosely defined as late nineteenth century to early twentieth century ), theorists and activists paid particular attention to the gendered construction of citizenship that was employed to deny civil and political liberties to women and other minority groups. Writings by theorists and activists such as Mary Wollstonecraft , John Stuart Mill and Harriet Taylor , Lucretia Mott , Elizabeth Cady Stanton , and Susan B. Anthony dominated early feminism. However, many of the debates that took place during the first wave also spilled over to the immediate post–World War II era, particularly during the process of creating the United Nations (UN) as well as the drafting of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). The central liberal feminist tenet that carried over to the post–World War II period is that men and women are the same in rational ability and capacity for individual autonomy and self-determination and therefore should be afforded full citizenship and its attendant rights, protections, and opportunities.

Yet, there were others who argued that women should be conceptualized as a group marked by sexual difference and that special protection was needed to “level the playing field”; only in this way could women advance individual self-determination and self-governance (Rupp 1997 :105; Lake 2001 :255). For many first wave liberal feminists, the primary way to achieve sexual equality (or parity) was through legislative means, i.e., suffrage, education, labor rights, etc. The liberal feminist ideal of “sameness” laid the groundwork for the future of women’s international human rights in the institutional arrangements in the United Nations as well as the drafting of the UDHR in 1948 . However, as we shall see, the theoretical tension between the competing feminist agendas of nondiscrimination and special protections had long-lasting effects in the women’s human rights movement.

The UDHR does not specifically address women’s rights but it does briefly address the idea of sexual equality in Article 2: “Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status.” Those who insisted on the inclusion of “sex” in Article 2 hoped that it would address the inequality of women by putting them on an “equal footing” with men (Johnson 1998 :61). There were, of course, others who felt the inclusion of the word “sex” was unnecessary given that the UDHR explicitly states the rights delineated in the document apply to “everyone.”

Although these may seem like minor occurrences and debates, they laid the theoretical groundwork for policy making within the UN Committee on the Status of Women (CSW) and the UN High Commissioner on Human Rights (UNHCHR) for many decades. In the years that followed the creation of CSW and the ratification of the International Bill of Rights, liberal feminists paid particular attention to securing civil and political liberties for women. It is important to note that the emphasis on civil and political liberties was pervasive throughout the UN system, particularly by Western powers and those countries allied with the United States during the Cold War. Consequently, given the power of the United States in the international system during the 1950s and 1960s, it is not surprising that several other human rights conventions which specifically addressed the status of women, such as the Convention on the Political Rights of Women ( 1952 ), emphasized civil and political liberties as the way to achieve sexual equality. Like the UDHR, these covenants emphasized “sameness” and did not take into account men’s and women’s qualitatively different experiences in the public sphere nor did they tackle structures that perpetuated gender hierarchies.

Contemporary feminist scholarship has sought to critique the liberalism on which the conception of formal “equality” in the UDHR and other international human rights laws has been derived on a number of grounds. Two of the most pertinent critiques for this discussion are: the androcentric construction of human rights; and the perpetuation of the false dichotomy between the public and private spheres. The public–private split “refers to the (artificial) distinction between home (private or reproductive sphere) to which women are assigned, and the workplace (the public or productive sphere) to which men are assigned” (Peterson and Runyan 1999 :259). These concepts are connected with both the radical feminism and the socialist feminism of the 1970s that was a response to the perceived inadequacies of liberal feminism. The issue of the relationship between gender and the public and private spheres is briefly touched upon in the 1979 UN Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), which was developed during the UN Decade for Women ( 1975–85 ) in order to have a “single, comprehensive and internationally binding instrument to eliminate discrimination against women” (UNDAW n.d. ). However, it was not until the late 1980s that this relationship was fully theorized in terms of women’s human rights, development, and international law. The end result has been a major theoretical shift in both theory and practice.

Both androcentrism and the public–private split are embedded in patriarchy (another core theoretical concept of radical and socialist feminisms), understood here to mean the degree to which society is “male-dominated, male-identified, and male-centered” (Johnson 1997 :5). Many contemporary feminist analyses of human rights laws, institutions and practice are grounded in critiques of the broader construct of patriarchy. Since rights themselves are socially constructed in that they reflect a “distinctive, historically unusual set of social values and practices,” the context in which human rights were/are developed is an important analytical tool (Donnelly 1999 :81). For example, Charlesworth ( 1995 :103) suggests that

because the law-making institutions of the international legal order have always been, and continue to be, dominated by men, international human rights law has developed to reflect the experiences of men and largely to exclude those of women, rendering suspect the claim of objectivity and universality in human rights law.

The claim of androcentrism in the development of human rights is predicated on two issues that are raised by Charlesworth. The first surrounds the issue of the position of the speaker; it is important to evaluate who is making rights claims and on whose behalf (Rao 1995 ). In the case of human rights discourse, the historical record reflects that mainstream human rights has largely been influenced by masculinist liberal ideology, which reflects what is desirable or ideal, such as individual autonomy, in the social construction of human rights. Hence, the claim of objectivity must be questioned.

The second issue revolves around the liberal ideological foundations of human rights, inalienability and universality. These concepts are largely derived from John Locke ’s Second Treatise on Government ( 1690 ), in which he argues for the natural and inalienable rights of human beings – rights one has simply by virtue of being human. Cast in this light, rights of individual humans appear to be universal and should take precedence above all else (Locke 1980 ). State governance should not be guided by the “greater good” principle because it encroaches upon individual “opportunity to make fundamental choices about what constitutes the good life (for them), who they associate with, and how” (Donnelly 1999 :80). Embedded in this notion of the individual is the idea that individuals are rational enough to exercise these rights. During Locke’s era the “criteria” for rationality was ownership of private property, which excluded women, low-wage workers, and slaves from exercising rights, thereby severely undermining the notion of universality. Furthermore, since the principles of inalienability and universality were theorized in the context of elite male experience, the current traditional construction of human rights excludes the experiences of women and other marginalized groups. The male experience with, and definition of, human rights came to be accepted as the “norm,” and it is this social construction of human rights that feminists have sought to challenge and rearticulate.

The individualism and egalitarianism that are crucial to Locke’s liberalism may at first seem contradictory to patriarchy, which is predicated on gender hierarchies that presume that the subordination of women to men is based on “natural” characteristics. However, as Pateman ( 1989 :33–57) observes, Locke also provides a theoretical basis for the exclusion of women from individualist arguments. Locke makes a distinction between the political power of the public sphere and paternal power in the private sphere of the family. This move is grounded in his view that women’s subordination to their husbands in the private sphere is natural and non-political, and perhaps also “pre-political” (Rao 1996 :445). This “natural” subordination of women, which is condoned and supported by the state, suggests that they cannot at the same time be free and equal individuals. Therefore, Locke’s separation between public and paternal power effectively relegates women to the private sphere (Pateman 1989 :33–57), where they have little ability to claim rights in the public sphere (Romany 1994 ). In this way, the state is able to protect both the public and private interests of men (Peterson and Parisi 1998 :147).

The public–private distinction also rests on fundamentally different conceptions of citizenship for men and women that date back to the time of the ancient Greek polis and continue to be firmly embedded in liberal thought (Grant 1991 :12–13). As a result, “human rights law was gendered male: it protected a male subject, who experienced violations primarily directed at men, in largely male spaces” (Friedman 2006 :480–1). Since the public sphere is associated with masculinity, “the duties and activities of citizenship have strongly depended on manliness” (Voet 1998 :7). As citizens, men are/were accorded certain rights that women, relegated to the private sphere, are/were not. The association of the feminine with the private sphere has historically identified and still continues to identify women as non-citizens, and, hence, as less than fully autonomous beings. For example, laws governing the nationality of children in countries such as Kenya, which deem that the citizenship of children is determined by the father’s citizenship (and not the mother’s), reinforce the concept of citizen as male. The association of the feminine with the private sphere identifies women as non-citizens, and hence, as less than fully autonomous beings unable to make claims to rights (Romany 1994 ).

The emphasis on the public sphere as the proper realm of human rights depoliticizes women’s experiences in the private and reinforces androcentric constructions of human rights. The artificial distinction between the public and the private spheres also allows for the appearance of the state as non-gendered, and masks how formal legal equality in the public sphere contributes to states’ complicity in facilitating gender hierarchies in the private sphere. In general, states are discouraged by international law from intervening in the private sphere given the primacy placed on the sanctity of the family and the right to privacy (Sullivan 1995 :127). The result is that states are held accountable only for the human rights abuses they perpetrate and not for the conduct of individuals in the private sphere, where most gender-based violence occurs. Hence, gender-based violence in the home, until recently, was not considered to be a human rights abuse (Bunch 1990 ).

For example, marital rape has historically often not been considered a criminal act by the state, and this idea is still prevalent in many countries, such as the Bahamas and Zambia, where marital rape has yet to be criminalized. Although the International Bill of Rights guarantees the right of everyone to be free from torture and enslavement by the state, and explicitly prohibits rape of and assault against women in times of conflict, it does not guarantee women freedom from domestic abuse, which for many women is a form of torture and/or enslavement (Copelon 1994 ). The subordination of women in the private sphere is justified and naturalized as the patriarchal state, in accordance with the liberal maxim of individual freedom and the protection of private property, protects the private, individual interests of men. Under international human rights laws, states have often not been held accountable for their inaction (or inadequate action) that has enabled gender-based violence in the private sphere.

Due to feminist activism and scholarship in this area, gender-specific violence is now considered a legitimate human rights issue (Bunch 1990 ; Copelon 1994 ; Keck and Sikkink 1998 ; Joachim 2003 ; Merry 2006 ). As a result, there is now the UN Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women ( 1993 ), a UN Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women, and the statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) has further codified violence against women as a punishable offense. Although these are all very positive developments, many feminists, such as Ratna Kapur ( 2005 ), worry about the implications of the framing of women as primarily victims of violence. Kapur ( 2005 :99) argues that while “the victim subject […] provides a shared location from which women from different cultural and social contexts can speak” and also “provides women with a subject that repudiates the atomized, decontextualized and ahistorical subject of liberal rights discourse, while at the same time furnishing a unitary subject that enables women to makes claims based on a commonality of experience,” the end result is a conceptualization of “women” that falls prey to gender essentialism, producing another type of “universal” subject that “resembles the uncomplicated subject of the liberal discourse, which cannot account for multi-layered existences and experiences” (Kapur 2005 :99). Kapur, and others such as Mohanty ( 1991 ) and Narayan ( 1997 ), also argue that the focus on the victim subject results in cultural essentialism, which will be explored in more detail at the end of this essay.

Another implication of the feminist critique of the public–private dichotomy is the presumed heterosexuality of the family unit in the private sphere (Rao 1996 ; Peterson and Parisi 1998 ). The UDHR’s Article 16 protects the right of adult men and women to freely and consensually marry, and the right to found a family, “without any limitation due to race, nationality or religion” (UDHR 1948 ). Article 16.3 locates the family as the “natural and fundamental group unit of society and [it] is entitled to protection by society and the state.” Although the UDHR does not specify that marriage must be between a man and a woman or that families must be heterosexual units, Article 16 specifies nondiscrimination only on the basis of race, nationality, and religion and excludes sexuality. The exclusion of sexuality as the basis for nondiscrimination in marriage reveals a hidden (or presumed) heterosexist bias, and also raises the question of what types of families should be protected. However, the Western, liberal construction of the heterosexual family has prevailed as the dominant interpretation of Article 16 because it maps neatly onto the gendered dichotomy of the public–private split, and the “family is viewed normatively as an arena for something other than rights” since it is “pre-political,” “sentimental,” and “noncontractual” (Rao 1996 :245). As a result, heterosexism has become naturalized and normalized in many mainstream international human rights documents, and this interpretation precludes protection of any other sexual identities by rendering them outside the “fundamental group unit of society” (Peterson and Parisi 1998 ). This positioning outside the protection of the human rights framework, as is well known, has had deleterious effects on sexual minorities in not only asserting their right to sexualities, but also in making claims to other individual and group rights (LaViolette and Whitworth 1994 ; Dorf and Perez 1995 ; Peterson and Parisi 1998 ).

At the Beijing conference, the issues of gender, sexual orientation, and the definition of family were hotly contested. The use of gender came under fire by conservative groups and states who rejected a social constructivist approach to the term in order to exclude sexual orientation from being read into the definition (Chappell 2007 :515). Instead, “gender” in the Platform For Action (PFA), and other international documents since then, is now understood to mean “the two sexes, male and female, within the context of society” (ibid.). While there are numerous problems with this definition of gender, for the purposes of this discussion, it is important to highlight that the intense wrangling had two significant and related impacts on the PFA. First, all explicit references to sexual orientation in the document were dropped. Second, the use of the term family, rather than families, stayed intact. Thus, the naturalized, patriarchal, heterosexual family delineated in the UDHR is preserved. It was feared that the inclusion of specific rights for sexual minorities would result in not passing the PFA at all. Although the PFA claims the right of women to freely determine their sexuality and recognizes the family in “various forms,” for many this wording is too ambiguous and hollow given that it also acknowledges that cultural, religious, national, and regional particularities must be considered in the implementation of these rights (Steans and Ahmadi 2005 :241). By invisibilizing sexualities, the PFA precluded the delineation of more explicit rights for sexual minorities with regards to property rights, children, and so forth.

Yet, at the same time, there has been considerable discussion about whether or not advancing of the agenda of sexual minorities in a rights based framework is useful and desirable (LaViolette and Whitworth 1994 ; Morgan 2001 ; Mertus 2007 ). Mertus ( 2007 ), in her study of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) advocacy in the US, demonstrates the reluctance of many groups to adopt a rights based approach since it may require them to accept set identity categories. LaViolette and Whitworth ( 1994 ) identify a similar tension more globally. Finally, Morgan ( 2001 ) also asks whether or not it is at all desirable to fight for inclusion in a decidedly heteronormative system in the first place. This response parallels the concerns of radical feminists working to achieve women’s rights in a system that is inherently patriarchal and not worthy of being retained in their point of view (Brems 1997 ). Instead, it might be more productive to disrupt patriarchal and heteronormative systems rather than focusing on inclusion in them (Morgan 2001 ).

Ultimately, however, the exploration of the relationship between liberalism and women’s human rights constituted a significant shift in which many feminists (especially cultural feminists) realized that the emphasis on “sameness” with men was limited in its utility. The shift entailed focusing on gender relations as a category of analysis, a valuing of difference, and delineating gender-specific experiences (Brems 1997 ). This tactic rejected the “sameness” principle of the liberal feminists and brought gender-specific abuses into the mainstream of human rights theory and practice. By gender mainstreaming international institutions and future human rights treaties, specific women’s rights could be defined as human rights more generally (Bunch 1990 ).

The Structural Indivisibility of Rights

By the 1970s the limitations of the emphasis on civil and political liberties for women became increasingly clear as the UN struggled with the issues of poverty, malnutrition, and population as it began its preparations for the World Food Conference ( 1974 ) and the World Population Conference ( 1974 ). The failure of the liberal feminist assumption that the achievement of political and civil liberties would translate into economic opportunity for women prompted a re-articulation of the relationship between civil and political liberties and socioeconomic rights for women. The argument shifted to the idea that women who lack food, shelter, education, property, health services, etc. cannot fully enjoy and exercise their civil and political liberties (Parisi 2002 ). In addition, the publication of Ester Boserup’s ( 1970 ) Woman’s Role in Economic Development , in which she documented the negative consequences of modernization programs on women’s lives, influenced liberal feminists to expand their focus on rights to include economic and labor issues. This approach eventually became known as “Women in Development” (WID) and it marked the beginning of the UN Decade for Women ( 1975–85 ).

Yet, the WID approach was roundly criticized by socialist-Marxist feminists and third world feminists for its adherence to the liberal framework of “sameness” discussed earlier by promoting an “add women and stir” model of development aimed at achieving gender equality. This approach fails to examine the structures that caused and perpetuated this inequality in the first place. In response to this critique and to the lack of a more cohesive vision for women’s rights and well-being, the fledgling “global” women’s movement began to develop an explicit vision of the indivisibility of human rights. This vision was ultimately reflected in the theme of the UN Decade for Women: “Equality – Development – Peace” (FLS 1985 : paragraphs 11–13). The three objectives formed a more sophisticated basis for women’s human rights and were, and still are, viewed as “internally interrelated and mutually reinforcing, so that the advancement of one contributes to the advancement of the others” (Pietilä and Vickers 1996 :49). The first attempt at encapsulating these ideals resulted in the World Plan of Action (WPA) that in turn provided an impetus and basis for the drafting of CEDAW, which passed in the UN in 1979 , and entered into force in 1981 . (For a comprehensive history of the events leading up to the UN Decade for Women and of the drafting of CEDAW, see Fraser 1999 .)

CEDAW extends women’s rights provisions in the International Bill of Human Rights in that it created an “international bill of women’s rights” that defines and addresses all forms of discrimination against women and is guided by the principle of what Otto ( 2001 :54) calls “structural indivisibility.” Structural indivisibility stresses “interconnections between the political, economic, environmental, and security priorities of the international order and violations of human rights” (ibid.). This vision is somewhat different than Bunch’s ( 1990 ) emphasis on the necessary interconnectedness between political, civil, socioeconomic and cultural rights in that it takes into account the systemic factors which link and influence the achievement of these rights.

The majority of the 30 articles of CEDAW are concerned with social, economic, and cultural rights embedded in the liberal feminist WID and non-discrimination framework that relies heavily on the principle of equality before the law; only four articles deal explicitly with the political and civil liberties of women. However, the preamble and some of the articles of CEDAW address additional concerns important to third world feminists, Marxist feminists, and radical feminists. For example, it reiterates the call for a New International Economic Order (NIEO) to tackle global economic inequality and demands the right to cultural self-determination and the end of imperialism, colonization, and racism. CEDAW also affirms the right of women to space their children – a victory for radical feminists involved in reproductive rights movements. Finally, and perhaps most significantly, it acknowledges the contributions to society that women make in the home, thus breaking down the distinction between the public and private spheres (the personal is political) and highlighting how traditional gender roles can be a source of women’s oppression.

The mission behind CEDAW is to recast women as subjects rather than objects of development, recognizing them as fully autonomous beings entitled to human rights widely enjoyed by men, yet at the same time recognizing that there are indeed differences between men and women, such as the ability to bear children, that have historically served as justification for discrimination against women. CEDAW is thus cast in a seemingly paradoxical framework that uses both the “measure of man” as a benchmark for equal rights and correctives to move the discourse from being gender-neutral to being gender-specific (Kaufman and Lindquist 1995 ; Friedman 2006 ; Arat 2008 ). As a result, feminists challenged the patriarchal and androcentric way in which mainstream human rights treaties had been conceptualized, which largely ignored the experiences of women and other marginalized groups, but also reaffirmed some of the androcentric conceptualizations of human rights. However, in acknowledging the contributions to society that women make in the home, CEDAW breaks down the artificial distinction between the public and private spheres (the personal is political) and highlights how traditional gender roles can be a source of women’s oppression. This important claim in CEDAW has been crucial in the CEDAW committee’s ability to identify and broaden the scope of violations of women’s human rights and to redress them through their general recommendations (Arat 2008 )

Gender and Human Rights in the Context of Globalization

One important systemic component of structural indivisibility is economic globalization. Feminists have extended their critique of androcentrism and the public–private dichotomy so pervasive in the human rights discourse to the study of gender inequalities and economic globalization (Youngs 2000 ). Although there are many issues that fall under this area of study, this section will focus exclusively on the topic of the relationship between gender inequality in socioeconomic rights and economic globalization. The next section deals with democratization and will make the link between socioeconomic and civil and political rights. Feminist human rights scholars have been concerned with how the deepening of capitalism affects the state and the state’s ability to fulfill its human rights obligations. However, the crucial point of departure in this literature is its explicit focus on how this transformation is gendered and has gendered consequences (Lothian 1996 ; Sen 1997 ; Sassen 1998 ; Peratis et al. 1999 ; Bayes et al. 2001 ; Rittich 2001 ; Elson 2002 ). More explicitly, economic globalization not only produces gender inequalities, but also maintains and relies upon these inequalities in a variety of contexts in order to deepen capitalism, as well as to rearticulate the state.

As Rittich ( 2001 :96–7) notes, there are several concerns to address when assessing the relationship between the state and the achievement of women’s human rights. One issue is the recognition that the women’s rights discourse and movement was and still is deeply embedded in and reliant upon the state-centered model of human rights. Even though feminist critiques of both the human rights regime and the state have revealed both their androcentrism and their complicity in preserving the public–private split which is profoundly gendered, the solutions posed by many feminists depend on the state to change its perspective, and consequently its behavior. As such, Chappell ( 2000 :245) suggests that feminists have moved to a middle ground with regards to the state, viewing it neither as “inherently patriarchal and oppressive” nor as “gender neutral,” but rather the emphasis is now on the “interaction between the state and gender,” in which each shapes the other. For example, Weldon’s ( 2002 ) research on cross-national variations of state policy responsiveness with regards to violence against women issues shows that strong, autonomous women’s movements have significant influence on state policy change.

Regardless, the state becomes the primary agent in promoting and implementing effective strategies to eradicate gender inequalities. Yet, implicit in this design is the assumption of an economically prosperous, democratic state or, at the very least, an effectual one that subscribes to a neoliberal economic agenda. Although the international covenants on human rights allow for “progressive realization” of human rights, this concept also hinges on the notion that states will consistently and persistently search for ways to reallocate resources to further the enjoyment of human rights. For feminists, this means taking seriously the ways in which the state contributes to gender inequality through its social policies, and relying on the state to correct itself.

This perspective, of course, is not unproblematic. As Sassen ( 1998 :94) suggests, the state is still viewed as the legitimate representative of the population in the international law arena, diminishing the contributions and limiting the participation of other nonstate actors. Furthermore, access to and influence over state policies is not uniform among women’s rights and human rights groups, and states are also subject to lobbying from other special interest groups, which may or may not be supportive of human rights based initiatives (Rittich 2001 :97). In addition to these problems, as Chappell ( 2000 :246–7) notes, there is a historic disjuncture among women’s rights activists in the first and third worlds, who have quite different views regarding the utility of achieving rights through the state, given the wide variation of states with regards to resources, effectiveness, and openness/repressiveness. However, given that the Beijing PFA ( 1995 ), which now operates as the dominant referent in international women’s rights law, places responsibility with states to realize and protect women’s rights in the face of potential negative consequences of globalization (rather than challenging globalization itself), and the increasingly “economistic turn” in the gender and development literature that conceptualizes “empowerment” as economic empowerment (Marchand 1996 :580), it appears that the “national-management framework” (Bergeron 2001 :993) is the primary one in place in both the first and third worlds, as an interactive site of resource allocation and resistance.

It is important to note, however, the framework utilized by the PFA has been challenged on many fronts, most notably by indigenous women, who, in their response to the PFA, roundly criticized globalization as recolonization and responsible for environmental degradation and continued poverty in indigenous lands and nations (Vinding 1998 ). They are explicit in their rejection of the strategy of trying to mitigate the negative effects of globalization, which is embedded in the interlocking systems of oppression of capitalism, patriarchy, and colonization (Kuokkanen 2008 ). Rather, for many indigenous women, there needs to be not only recognition of the structural violence that globalization perpetuates and sustains, but also a recognition of how the PFA and the contemporary discourses on women’s rights are complicit in maintaining this system.

A second, highly interrelated issue is markets. As Elson ( 2002 :80–1) suggests, the traditional neoliberal orthodoxy that began in the 1970s and prevailed in the 1980s, “presumes that the best way to give substance to human rights is to reduce the role of the state, liberate entrepreneurial energy, achieve economic efficiency, and promote faster economic growth.” The neoliberal emphasis on the retrenchment of the state as the best way to ensure the fulfillment of human rights seems contradictory to the human rights regime’s insistence of proactive state involvement in meeting its human rights obligations. Yet, as Bayes et al. ( 2001 :3) note, both economics and politics are linked through the rhetoric if not the practice of neoliberalism, which defines the current period. They argue that in theory, neoliberal economics assumes a separation between states and markets, in which markets operate with little intervention from the state. Brodie ( 1996 :384) suggests further that this theoretical relationship between states and markets is actually one of the public and private, in which the private is made up of two realms that are presumed to be out of the “natural” purview of the state: the capitalist economy and the patriarchal family.

However, as discussed earlier, the notion of a rigid public–private divide in the human rights regime has largely been deconstructed by feminists, and in using a similar line of reasoning, feminists suggest that the globalizing neoliberal capitalist world economy rests not on a division between the state (public) and the markets (private) but rather that economic globalization, in its current form, requires an interconnection between states and markets to further its goals. That is, economic globalization requires governments to “provide for the free movement of capital, the free movement of goods, unrestricted labor markets, responsible banking systems, stable monetary policies, limited fiscal policies, attractive investment opportunities, and political stability” (Bayes et al. 2001 :3). Through these practices, the “family and other aspects of private life [are subjected to] new forms of state scrutiny, regulation, and assistance” (Brodie 1996 :385). Thus, the “boundaries” of the public–private are renegotiated, rearticulated, and blurred through the interaction of states (especially liberal democratic ones) and markets.

Although state entrenchment with regards to the economy may be a conscious and pro/re-active strategy on the part of governments as a route to economic prosperity that in theory promotes the progressive realization of socioeconomic rights through more resource allocation, the neoliberal ideology effectively shifts the responsibility away from states to markets as the guarantors of rights. Markets have little accountability and regulation in the human rights regime, insofar as multinational corporations, a major force behind globalization, have little oversight in international law and, in many cases, national law. This development poses particular challenges for feminists, who argue that the neoliberal democratic state, coupled with international human rights law, represents the best hope for the redistribution of resources guided by prioritizing the goal of gender equality. This is not to imply that feminists view the neoliberal democratic state as “gender neutral” or unproblematic. Rather, as the earlier discussion of the human rights discourse reveals, many feminists find the liberal democratic state profoundly gendered.

Another major point of feminist theorizing about globalization is that economic globalization not only produces gender inequality but also requires gender inequality to flourish and to sustain itself. Indeed, there appears to be a general consensus that globalization exacerbates gender inequality, and thus the fulfillment of women’s socioeconomic rights in relation to men’s, in important ways. There are numerous other areas in which feminists have examined globalization’s impact on gender inequality and rights, such as household relations (Kromhout 2000 ; Gonzalez 2001 ; Sircar and Kelly 2001 ; Soni-Sinha 2001 ), migrants/migration (Anderson 2000 ; Chang and Ling 2000 ; Kofman 2000 ), sex work/trafficking (Pettman 1996 ; Hanochi 2001 ), informal labor (Prügl 1999 ; Benería 2003 ), resistance (Runyan 1996 ; Karam 2000 ; Lind 2000 ; Rowbotham and Linkogle 2001 ; Naples and Desai 2002 ) and identity (Peterson 1996 ; Kuokkanen 2008 ). However, these topics are beyond the scope of this project and, as such, will not be discussed in depth here.

As noted earlier, in order for states to remain economically competitive, they adopt strategies that increase the power of the private sector at the expense of the public sector. The result is the weakening of “many institutions that in the past have assumed responsibility for human welfare – while passing on to others burdens they cannot be expected to bear” (UNRISD 1995 :128). For many women, this situation is especially problematic because in order for states to uphold their obligations under CEDAW and the Beijing PFA, they must allocate resources for social welfare programs.

There have been two major responses by states facing the choice of economic competitiveness or guaranteeing socioeconomic rights. Industrialized countries such as the United States and the United Kingdom have deregulated the labor market and wages and cut social welfare programs in order to stimulate economic growth and employment (UNRISD 1995 :131). Developing countries have often adopted structural adjustment programs that implement severe economic austerity measures with the aim of jump-starting the economy at the expense of “non-profitable” public service programs. Feminist economists have shown that structural adjustment programs (SAP) have a differential impact on men and women in that women tend to absorb most of the shock of SAPs by increasing their domestic labor (through caregiving, altering the household consumption habits, subsistence farming, informal economic activities) and by entering the labor force to provide more income for the family (Elson 1991 ; Bakker 1994 ; Benería 2003 ; Çagatay 2003 ). As a result, there has been an increase in women’s poverty and economic inequality, and this constitutes a violation of women’s socioeconomic rights (Sadasivam 1997 ).

A second, interrelated issue is how economic globalization depends on a gendered sexual division of labor. The international sexual division of labor is predicated on the public–private split in which men’s work is considered to be “human” or real work, and women’s work is determined by their “nature” (Mies 1999 :46). Work is defined as a public masculine activity and women’s work (or non-work) is defined as a private sphere activity. However, women’s work in the private sphere is extremely important to the functioning of the capitalist system, yet despite this important role, women are undervalued in both the public and private spheres because of their identification as housewives, rather than as “workers” (Mies 1999 :116). Indeed, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) estimates that “the non-monetized invisible contribution of women is $11 trillion a year” (UNDP 1995 :6). This identification with the home as a site of “non-work” for women is also complicit in the violation of the rights of women who do work in the home for monetary gain, such as piecework. Because it is conducted in the “private sphere,” there is little international labor regulation around home based work, with the exception of the 1996 International Labor Organization Convention on Homework (Prügl 1999 ). However, only five countries have ratified it, which underscores the pervasiveness of the masculinized ideal of real, productive work that takes place only in the public sphere.

The sexual division of labor and its resulting sexism also helps maintain capitalism as system (Wichterich 2000 ; Campillo 2003 ). This has important consequences for women, because even when they do work outside the home they are usually cast in unequal terms. The implication is that capitalism necessarily depends on a certain amount of low-wage and unpaid labor to keep it functioning (Peterson 2003 ), as the “labor input in non-wage work ‘compensates’ the lowness of the wage-income and therefore in fact represents an indirect subsidy to the employers of wage laborers in those households” (Wallerstein 1988 :8). The identification of women with the private sphere helps keep capitalism’s costs low and at the same time provides a justification for this strategy.

The end result is limited economic opportunity for women since their labor is in the form of underpaid or unpaid labor in the capitalist system of profits and capital accumulation. Many labor sectors have become feminized, particularly the garment and electronics industries. Women are the preferred “workers” because they do not have to be paid as much as men. This is due in part to the devaluation of women’s labor (or the seeing of their paid labor as a natural extension of the private sphere) and the assumption that their wages are used for “extras” rather than to support the family (Mies 1999 :116). The state is complicit in perpetuating this sexism because of its need to stay competitive in global markets. Many women have their basic economic rights, such as the right to safe labor conditions and pay equity, denied because states would find it too costly to provide these opportunities to women. If the cost of production of goods increases, products would be less competitive on the international market. States are reluctant to hold multinational corporations accountable for their labor practices because the pressure for revenue is too great and the threat of relocation by multinational corporations (MNC) is real (Sen 1997 ).

The bottom line for many feminists is that economic globalization, operating within a neoliberal frame, both produces and exacerbates some forms of gender inequality. States are responding to globalization by shifting the burden onto women (and other marginalized sectors of society) to create their own social safety net. However, because women’s work is usually undervalued or unpaid given their identification with the private sphere, meeting basic needs requirements of food, shelter, health care, and clothing becomes especially challenging. In light of these gendered inequities, some feminist scholars, such as Elson ( 2006 :3) have suggested applying a gendered and rights based approach to the analysis of government budgets in order to “identify gender inequalities in budget processes, allocations and outcomes; and assess what States are obliged to do to address these inequalities” as a way to keep states accountable and responsive to women in the context of globalization.

Democratization

While the broader women’s human rights movement is in tacit agreement that civil-political liberties and socioeconomic rights are inextricable, there is disagreement over the exact nature of this relationship. Furthermore, if one takes the notion of structural indivisibility seriously, a rather complex picture of the relationship between the liberal democratic state, democratization processes, globalization, socioeconomic rights, and gender emerges. Utilizing Huntington ( 1991 ), some feminist analyses of democracies and democratization reveal that one important factor to consider with regards to gender equality is whether or not the state in question is in a period of democratic transition or of democratic consolidation (Jaquette and Wolchik 1998 ; Bystydzienski and Sekhon 1999 ; Hawkesworth 2001 ; Yoon 2001 ; Goetz and Hassim 2002 ). Many, but not all, of these studies show that women fare better in the transition phase (shifting from a nondemocratic type of government to a democratic one) than in the consolidation phase, which involves the establishment of rules, institutions, and political culture. However, there are also cases, such as in the post-communist states, where women have lost considerable economic and political power during the democratic transition phase (see, for example, Wolchik 1998 ).

Hawkesworth ( 2001 :223–6) suggests that the democratic consolidation phase in conjunction with liberal capitalist development has deleterious effects on gender equality, and thus the achievement of women’s rights, for two main reasons. First, developing countries, through modernization programs, are pressured to adopt a neoliberal capitalist model of development. This connects to the earlier discussion of economic development in the sense that modernization theory presumes that the adoption of capitalism will in turn produce a liberal democratic state, partially because liberal democracies are necessary to guarantee the private property rights that are crucial to global capitalism. A further assumption is that the combination of the deepening of capitalism and the consolidation of a liberal democracy will in fact elevate human rights fulfillment for the citizenry.

However, and this is Hawkesworth’s second point, the dominant model of Western liberal democracy that many countries seek to emulate has a weak record in achieving gender equality. With the exception of the Scandinavian countries, which Hawkesworth argues are more properly thought of as “social” democracies rather than liberal, women in advanced industrialized countries are still vastly underrepresented in the upper echelons of the public sphere. Although the advanced industrialized democracies guarantee equal rights for women and minorities, in reality the consolidation process has worked to produce and institutionalize a patriarchal elite class that undermines the principle of government for the people by the people. As the democratic consolidation process is coupled with the deepening of capitalism, political participation becomes the privilege of those who are economically empowered.

In her analysis, Hawkesworth ( 2001 :224) concludes that “democratization produces gendered redistribution of resources and responsibilities that make women worse off.” Given this scenario, it is not surprising that some feminists have linked the twin processes of globalization and democratization as detrimental to the achievement of human rights for women. Although one consequence of globalization is that more women are in the paid labor force, women have not been able to translate this into political empowerment because these economic “opportunities” are the result of having to make up for states’ inabilities to provide for basic needs. And, as noted earlier, gendered notions around work preclude the idea that more women in the labor force is a sign of increasing gender equality (Elson 2002 ). In short, globalization disempowers women economically, which in turn disempowers them politically by leaving little time, money, or energy to fully exercise civil and political rights.

Why, then, the insistence by the broader women’s human rights regime that the liberal democratic state remains the best hope for the achievement of gender equality in human rights? There are several answers to this conundrum that shed light on the further complexity of globalization, democratization, and women’s human rights achievement. First, no country has completed the process of democratic consolidation, and given that many of the countries do in fact guarantee civil and political rights, there are potential avenues to reshape the consolidation process to demand accountability. For example, feminist scholars have tracked the global diffusion of two notable policies: (1) the adoption of gender quotas in electoral processes, which more than fifty countries have done as a way to increase women’s participation in public life (Bauer 2008 ; Dahlerup 2008 ; Krook 2008 ; Sacchet 2008 ); and (2) the development of women’s policy agencies within the state (also known as “state feminism”) in over 165 countries (True and Mintrom 2001 ; Lovenduski 2005 ). While there are significant disagreements among feminists about the quality of women’s representation in these spheres as well as about the utility of both of these developments for the achievement of gender equality and women’s rights, they are cautiously viewed as positive developments nonetheless.

Second, and closely related to the first point, although globalization has had negative consequences, it also opens up spaces for women’s informal and formal political empowerment (Sassen 1998 ; Moghadam 1999 ; Bayes et al. 2001 ). Sassen ( 1998 :94) suggests that “globalization is creating new operational and formal openings for the participation of non-state actors and subjects,” which in turn provides for the possibility of reshaping ideas about representation, power, and authority. Third, although the role of the state appears to be diminishing or transforming in the wake of globalization, the unevenness of globalization has also ensured that human rights are a part of the permanent global agenda, and thus states are still crucial actors in this regard.

Fourth, and finally, as Rittich ( 2001 :96) observes, “human rights are now often mentioned in the same breath as market reform and development.” Some feminists have recognized this linking of human rights and markets as an opportunity to press for a refined state-management approach coupled with collective global governance to mitigate the negative effects of the global economy. However, others, such as Bergeron ( 2001 ), are skeptical of this approach because of the way feminist appeals to the state for “protection” frame the subjectivities and agency of women. Bergeron ( 2001 :995) suggests that when women are depicted as victims of globalization, an unintended consequence can be that the state will move to adopt “the traditional masculine role of protecting women and families.” This result is ultimately contrary to many feminist goals in achieving rights, and further points out the limitations of “victimization” rhetoric, as mentioned earlier, in accomplishing such goals.

Feminists have utilized the idea of indivisibility to challenge embedded gender hierarchies in the human rights regime to greatly expand the inclusiveness and, therefore, universality of rights (Otto 2001 :54–5). In particular, feminists have shown how the private and public spheres are interconnected, suggesting that economic, social, and political rights are necessarily linked – each one is key to the enjoyment of the other. Feminists have also identified international structures, such as security regimes and the global economy, as key variables to be examined, understood, and accounted for in relation to gender inequality in human rights. The “structural indivisibility” framework easily extends to all contemporary human rights regimes in that it provides an analytic tool for evaluating the impacts of globalization on gender inequality and socioeconomic rights.

The Question of Culture

The topic of cultural practice, traditions, and customary laws has occupied a central place of importance in feminist critiques and understandings of human rights. A central, well-known tension is between universal and cultural relativist positions on human rights. The universal position decrees human rights as inalienable and held by all members of the “human family,” whereas the cultural relativist position argues that “members of one society may not legitimately condemn the practices of societies with different traditions, denying that there can be valid external critiques of culturally-based practices and that no legitimate cross-cultural standards for the evaluating the treatment of rights exist” (Mayer 1995 :176). Many justifications for the denial of women’s human rights are framed in cultural relativist terms, and often positioned as an anti-Western, anti-imperialist response (Rao 1995 ; Brems 1997 ; Narayan 1998 ; Shacher 2001 ; Kapur 2005 ; Winter 2006 ; Bovarnick 2007 ). This paradoxical position frequently results in conflict between women’s individual rights and group cultural rights. Women may agree with the right of their cultural group to practice their culture, while at the same time disagreeing with how these cultural practices affect their personal autonomy and agency. Winter ( 2006 :385) notes that cultural relativist arguments are disproportionately deployed on the question of women’s rights, in that “those articles in UN treaties in favor of religious and cultural rights and the elimination of race discrimination do not appear to be as problematically ‘Western’ as those which defend women’s rights.” The literature on the topic of culture is vast and complex, and due to space constraints, there will be only a cursory and oversimplified overview of it here.

An important contribution of the feminist literature in this area is a deconstruction of the term “culture” itself. Rao ( 1995 :173) argues that culture is “a series of constantly contested and negotiated social practices whose meanings are influenced by the power and status of their interpreters and participants.” By identifying culture as a dynamic, political practice, it allows for a move away from cultural essentialism, or the idea that culture is somehow a homogeneous, static, internally consistent, natural, prediscursive given. Cultural essentialism, as such, is a form of cultural relativism in that it often positions itself as “traditional” and “authentic” and therefore not subject to critical examination. Furthermore, cultural essentialism can also mask “synecdochic substitutions” in which “‘parts’ of a practice come to come to stand in for a whole” and obscure the harmful nature of these “traditional” practices (Narayan 1998 :95). By defining culture as an ongoing process, feminist human rights scholars have revealed the gendered power dynamics embedded in the construction and perpetuation of cultural and religious practices. As Rao ( 1995 :168) notes, by understanding culture in this way, one can ask to what degree members of a cultural group are able to participate in the defining of culture as well as who benefits from a particular version of culture.

There is also considerable emphasis on the tension between universalism and cultural relativism (Brems 1997 ; Okin 1998 ; Bovarnick 2007 ; Freedman 2007 ; Steans 2007 ). Some feminist scholars suggest that the application of universal human rights has had little applicability in non-Western contexts. Bovarnick’s ( 2007 ) study of rape in Mexico and Pakistan reveals important insights into the question of cultural context and particularity when assessing whether or not universal human rights are useful in addressing violence against women. Positioning Mexico and Pakistan as non-Western countries in this study, her analysis reveals that while discourses around violence against women in both of these countries are in fact quite particularized, there are transcultural connections that can be made through the commonalities of “how traditional social mechanisms legitimize and reproduce violence against women” (Bovarnick 2007 :61). Despite their vast cultural differences, the two countries appropriate and regulate women’s bodies and sexuality in a similar fashion, highlighting the importance of addressing the global mechanism of which these different manifestations of violence against women are a part (Bovarnick 2007 ). Bovarnick seems to be suggesting that there are other transcultural universals emerging out of non-Western contexts that need to be taken into account in order to render a potentially different understanding and potential acceptance of universal rights.

Narayan ( 1998 ), however, suggests that for feminists to even use categories such as “Western” and “non-Western” is a culturally essentialist move in itself that can play right into the hands of third world fundamentalists, who often use cultural relativist and anti-imperialist justifications to deny women’s human rights, as well as of “Western cultural supremacists,” who support the idea that the West is morally and politically superior to all “Others” (Narayan 1998 :97). Furthermore, she takes issue with the notion that “equality” and “human rights” are inherently “Western values” to begin with. Narayan (ibid.) argues that “as a result of political struggles by […] various excluded groups in both Western and non-Western contexts […] doctrines of equality and rights have slowly come to be perceived as applicable to them, too.” For Narayan (ibid.), conceptualizations of rights and equality are not just products of Western imperialism but can be considered as products of struggles against internal and external forms of Western imperialism.

Many other feminist scholars are also currently engaged with trying to reconcile universalism with cultural particularism as a way to move past this polarizing dichotomy and to advance the goals of women’s human rights and gender equality. Nussbaum ( 2000 :100) argues for the capabilities approach which focuses on “what people are actually able to do and to be” rather than on what rights or resources individuals have, as one way to traverse this dichotomy. She builds a very complex argument that is oversimplified here due to space constraints, but at the crux of her work is development of the capabilities model, which is informed by the work of Amartya Sen , Marx , and Aristotle and others. Nussbaum argues that her list of basic human functional capabilities (life; bodily health; bodily integrity; senses, imagination, and thought; emotions; practical reason; affiliation; other species; play; control over one’s environment) are cross-culturally recognizable and desirable as well as necessary to the flourishing of human life ( 2000 :78–80). She suggests that by using capabilities, rather than rights, as the goals to be achieved, we will have the tools for developing a cross-cultural consensus for “determining a decent social minimum in a variety of areas” (Nussbaum 2000 :75). In her view, the capabilities approach is universal but not ethnocentric, for “ideas about activity and ability are everywhere, and there is no culture in which people do not ask themselves what they are able to do, what opportunities they have for functioning” ( 2000 :100). She further buttresses her claims by applying the capabilities criteria to the lives of two Indian women, and concludes they are already thinking, speaking, and acting in accordance with the language of capabilities ( 2000 :106–10). She also argues that capabilities can be realized in multiple ways according to context, etc., and that by positioning capabilities as the goal, the choice is left open whether or not to pursue the accompanying function ( 2000 :105). Nussbaum does not reject human rights discourse altogether, which she also suggests is not exclusively Western, even though it is often thought to be. Rather, she sees human rights frameworks as an important way to achieve capabilities because rights discourses can recognize and justify human capabilities, make claims of entitlement vis-à-vis the democratic state, and emphasize individual choice and autonomy.

To be sure, there have been many critiques of Nussbaum’s work, and I will address only a few critiques in cursory way here. Phillips ( 2001 ) worries that the capabilities approach takes us too far from an agenda of equality, which has been a central preoccupation for many feminists working in the human rights arena. Phillips warns that the capability approach is too focused on the question of freedom of choice, and this can result in unequal outcomes between the sexes. Phillips concludes as well that that there would be little redress for gendered inequalities that the capabilities approach might produce, if in fact a minimum standard of capabilities was in place for everyone. This does not imply equal capabilities but rather relational ones that could be fundamentally premised on sustaining gender inequalities.

Others, such as Quillen ( 2001 ) and Charusheela ( 2008 ), trouble Nussbaum’s attempts at developing a non-ethnocentric universal ethic by which to conceptualize the “human” in the capabilities model. Quillen ( 2001 :89) argues that Nussbaum’s adherence to liberal humanism actually undermines her project because it is an inadequate framework for understanding the intersections and sources of structural oppressions as well as for analyzing the self (see Nussbaum 2001 for her response to Quillen’s critiques). Charusheela ( 2008 ) argues that Nussbaum’s arguments for universality are in fact ethnocentric, due to their location in modernism, which posits a normative ideal based on Western liberal conceptualizations of the democratic state and capitalist system, and their attendant institutions, as the best way to deliver on capabilities. For Charusheela ( 2008 :13) the capabilities approach therefore rests on “an underlying set of assumptions about human nature that masquerades as universal – cognition expressed in particular ways, decisions made in specific ways, reason and voice deployed in ways appropriate to these institutions ” (emphasis in the original). Both Charusheela and Quillen suggest that we should be utilizing postcolonial feminist theories as the way to build a more collective response to social inequalities.

Some feminist human rights theorists are looking to social activism as a way to resolve the tensions between the particular and the universal. Ackerly ( 2001 ) argues that women’s human rights activists generate a cross-cultural theory of human rights that both invokes and contributes to the universal human rights project while at the same time being able to advocate these ideals in locally appropriate ways. Steans ( 2007 ) makes a similar point in her analysis, highlighting the role that conflict, contestation, and reflection play in feminist transnational advocacy networks in forging new understandings about the basis of collective identities and “shared” interests. She suggests that rather than challenging the notion of universal human rights for women, the conflict generated over cultural differences in feminist transnational advocacy networks serves to buttress universality as these conflicts potentially lead to resolutions that are “both more inclusive and better reflect the actual diversity of women” (Steans 2007 :17).

Reilly ( 2007 ) approaches this question through the lens of cosmopolitan feminism and argues that this theoretical perspective rejects the notion that women are united by a common identity or common experience, and can serve as a transformative political framework. Offering up the ICC NGO Women’s Caucus for Gender Justice and PeaceWomen Project focused on the passage and implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1325 (which gender mainstreams security issues) as examples, Reilly suggests that cosmopolitan feminism is a “process-oriented framework wherein the direction and content of feminist practice is determined in cross-boundaries dialogue within and across women’s movements” ( 2007 :182). Reilly suggests that through this framework, a global feminist consciousness can be developed that challenges “false universalisms” predicated on false, but powerful, binaries that construct and maintain gender, race, and class inequalities ( 2007 :187). In challenging these binaries through an intersectional framework, cosmopolitan feminism can “critically [reinterpret] universal values such as the rule of law, human rights, and secular democratic politics” ( 2007 :193).

The feminist cosmopolitan approach is not without its critics, however. Both Kaplan ( 2001 ) and Grewal ( 2005 ) argue that the global feminism envisioned by feminist cosmopolitanism produces a new type of Orientalism that is heavily predicated on rescue discourses, which serve to maintain, rather than transform, existing power inequalities. For example, Kaplan ( 2000 :222) suggests that the “cross-cultural dialogues” central to feminist cosmopolitanism are predicated on the view that “patriarchy and other forms of oppression are […] largely overcome in the metropolitan centers of the West,” necessitating a shift “to the spaces of ‘tradition’ and ‘barbarism’ in the margins – the ‘orient’ or the Third World.” Using Hillary Rodham Clinton ’s appearance at the 1995 Beijing Conference on Women as a focal point of her analysis, Kaplan illustrates how cosmopolitan feminism and its attendant discourses on human rights (which Kaplan argues are still primarily liberal in theoretical orientation) “travel” (literally and figuratively) to “other” parts of the world to facilitate cross-cultural dialogue, which ultimately feminizes and positions the third world as space that needs to be saved, or rescued (Grewal 2005 ).

As a result, “the ‘West’ is uncritically assumed to embody ‘equality’, ‘democracy’, and ‘freedom’ despite its serious involvement and investments in […] systems of oppression and power” (Russo 2006 :573). These critiques are amply demonstrated in two case studies of the Feminist Majority Foundation’s (FMF) work in relation to Afghani women’s rights, in which the FMF relied on rescuing and saving discourses while simultaneously highlighting its work with the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA) as a project of global (cosmopolitan) feminism throughout its Campaign to End Gender Apartheid (Farrell and McDermott 2005 ; Russo 2006 ).

Grewal’s ( 2005 ) and Kaplan’s ( 2001 ) contention that the cosmopolitan feminist women’s human rights framework constructs difference and produces particular discourses of power and subjects in ways that exempt the West from critical interrogation of their roots in creating and maintaining interlocking systems of oppression are important points to consider in light of Reilly’s arguments, above, in terms of intersectional frameworks. How is difference in terms of intersecting identities as well as agency understood? And, does this approach enable the transcendence of binaries, or recast them, (re)producing both old and new inequalities? Finally, assuming these binaries are contested and transformed, whose “universal” values will be reinterpreted, by whom, and for what ends?

Feminist Futures: Measuring the Achievement of Women’s Human Rights

This essay points to a number of controversies, such as issues regarding culture, sexuality, and neo-imperialism, which need further consideration by feminists. However, the essay has not addressed methodological issues, which are also important for the study and achievement of women’s human rights. Data collection is an important component for a variety of methodological approaches and, as such, deserves further scrutiny here.

During the UN Decade for Women, feminist transnational networks argued for the need to collect sex-disaggregated data. Although heralded by many feminists at the time as a major breakthrough, this has increasingly come under scrutiny. First, there are many provisions in both women’s rights and human rights documents that guarantee a wide range of civil and political liberties and socioeconomic rights but there are actually few data to measure these particular rights. As argued in this essay, feminists conceptualize human rights as something far more complex than the equitable distribution of the presumed benefits and resources of economic development, globalization, and democratization, such as individual empowerment and capacity building, which are difficult to quantify.

Second, because human rights data are often outcomes based and reflect the performance of states, they are actually defined by the public sphere (as are data focused on legally based indicators). As noted earlier in this essay, one of the key insights of feminist human rights scholarship on gender inequality has been its insistence on the interaction of the public and private spheres, and the rejection of this binary as mutually exclusive. That is to say, what happens in the public sphere has ramifications for gender ideology and roles in the private sphere. As such, these measures simply cannot capture the gendered dynamics of the private sphere, which have ideological, physical, and material consequences for the achievement of rights. Because of their inability to capture gendered interactions between the public and private spheres as well as gendered relations within those spheres, the data are at best capturing sex discrimination within the confines of the neoliberal global order rather than the structural feature of gender oppression. In this case, sex is operationalized as an empirical category and gender is an analytical one; yet the sex-disaggregated data are being used as a substitute for “gender.”

Many human rights indicators (though not all) use male experience as the norm, and the achievement of women’s human rights is seen as relative to the rights that men have already achieved. Thus, the typical human rights data show that women are discriminated against in so far as they have not achieved the same rights as men, despite the efforts put forth by many feminists to expand and reframe notions of rights that take into account the difference of women’s and men’s lived realities. Barriteau ( 2006 ), in her study of the Commonwealth Caribbean, argues that composite human rights indicators, such as the Gender Development Index (GDI) and the Gender Empowerment Measure (GEM), place too much emphasis on the material relations of power (and empowerment) to the exclusion of the social and ideological relations of power. Thus, the high score of the Commonwealth Caribbean countries on both the GDI and GEM masks the daily realities of gender based oppression in many women’s lives. Because of this, it looks as if women’s human rights have been achieved, and therefore it is very difficult to mount a critical challenge against the indicators. Many feminists are concerned that this type of outcome creates “an impression that women no longer require assistance and that men are now much more needy beneficiaries” and as a result, there will be a “re-masculinization” of both the development and human rights discourses (McIlwaine and Datta 2003 :375).

Adding to these concerns about the type of data used to measure the success or failure of gender mainstreaming human rights, Wood ( 2005 ) raises the important point that the overall ideology of gender mainstreaming human rights in fact homogenizes both men and women and that this homogenization is often mistaken for commonality. Wood argues that the cost of the homogenization of gender in the policy process, even though it is an efficient and expedient way to gender mainstream human rights and development, is the neglect of “difference” within these homogenized categories of men and women. This is a crucial point because the rationale around gender mainstreaming is to understand how certain social and economic policies impact men and women differently, and the data constructed to evaluate this difference reflect this focus. Wood argues that in order for gender mainstreaming to be more effective, more attention must be paid to the differences among women (and by extension among men) in terms of class, race, ethnicity, sexuality, etc. By this logic, data collection would have to be transformed. For example, it is not enough to point to the increased numbers of women in parliaments and call it gender mainstreaming human rights success. Additional data need to be known about which women are in these positions, which women are not, and why. This would also tell us something about how patriarchal systems can accommodate a certain amount or type of women seeking power while excluding others (hooks 2000 ).

Gender inequality is not separate from class, race, ethnicity, age, and sexual inequalities. Yet, given the current construction of data, we are forced to construct and evaluate gender equality and the achievement of human rights in very narrow and rigid ways. Though this is already happening to some degree, a future task for feminist scholars and activists is to conceptualize and advocate for human rights data that can capture gender inequality in multidimensional and intersectional ways.

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Links to Digital Materials

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UN Office of the Special Advisor on Gender Issues and Advancement of Women Gender Mainstreaming Page. At www.un.org/womenwatch/osagi/gendermainstreaming.htm , accessed May 11, 2009. This page provides information on the concepts and definitions used to guide the practice of gender mainstreaming of women’s human rights in the UN system. Provides examples of good practices.

UN WomenWatch. At www.un.org/womenwatch/ , accessed May 11, 2009. Inter-agency information center on all women’s issues at the UN. Provides links to news and highlights, events, current campaigns, publications, websites and videos, statistical data, and all agencies working on issues related to women’s rights, development, and gender mainstreaming.

Women, Environment, and Development Organization (WEDO). At www.wedo.org/ , accessed May 11, 2009. A women’s human rights and development NGO which features an extensive online library on a variety of topics ranging from climate change to trade and their impact on achieving gender equality. Also provides in-depth reports and fact-sheets.

Acknowledgments

Special thanks to: Brooke Ackerly , the editor of the FTGS section’s contribution to the compendium, and Andrea Gerlak , Managing Editor of the ISA compendium, for their encouragement and support; Zehra Arat, for her helpful suggestions and coordination of the reviewers’ comments; the two anonymous reviewers, whose comments helped sharpen and deepen this essay; Shannon Mcleod , for her editorial and research assistance; and Mindy McGarrah Sharp , for her administrative assistance. All remaining errors and inaccuracies are, of course, attributable solely to the author.

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May 14, 2024

May 13, 2024

Afghan women protest in Kabul on August 13, 2022.

Kay Eady, Community-Based Researcher, Baker County:

Do I go to the doctor or do I buy groceries? You shouldn’t have to make that kind of decision.

Olivia Coley-Pearson, Community-Based Researcher, Coffee County:

Black women are being left out of healthcare infrastructure and resources. African American women are twice as likely to die from cervical cancer, as opposed to white women. To find out these alarming numbers about Black women dying from something that is preventable, is very disturbing.

Community-Based Researchers:

Hi. How’s everybody doing?

When approached about becoming a community-based researcher, I just knew I was going to be asking questions and surveys to women in the community about cervical cancer issues and health issues.

So, when I heard about the barriers of transportation, health care and finances, I must admit I was a little shocked.

Teretha White, Research Participant, Baker County Resident:

The health insurance I applied for was like over $200 [a month] and that’s just too much.

I can’t afford, how would I live? A lot of times, you know, I don't go to the doctor because then if I did come down with something, I wouldn’t be able to treat it. So, I just don’t go.

Baker County is located in southwest Georgia, away from Interstate 75. in southwest Georgia, away from Interstate 75. So, there’s not a lot of industry or trade or anything there.

It has a community of individuals that are supportive of each other. Unfortunately, it's an area dominated by poverty. The income is low. There are not really any jobs within Baker County.

Sometimes the health center only has one physician to see all of the patients. There is not a regular OB-GYN in Baker County.

Janet Anderson, Nurse, Baker County Primary Health Care:

When we talk about reproductive cancer, when you reach a certain age, making sure that you get your mammograms, your Paps, all of that should be done.

But if you don’t have health insurance, nobody’s going to do it for you.

If you don't get the health care you need for one problem, it could lead to another problem.

I've seen this happen with a patient. She was turned down for Medicare or Medicaid. She didn't get the health care that she needed. I think she may have lasted maybe two or three years [and] passed away. And that's the kind of stuff that really just bothers me.

Based upon the research that we conducted, Black women in Georgia are more apt to be diagnosed with cervical cancer in the later stages because they have not received preventive treatment.

And we found out that the majority are not aware that there is the HPV vaccine, which would actually prevent cervical cancer.

Most of them are not informed by their doctors. What do you do if you feel that you're being discriminated against where you feel that you were not given the information you should have been given because you're Black or because you're low-income?

That's a great barrier and it has a traumatic effect on Black women in rural communities.

Coming up with resolutions at the grassroot level is key in any community because everybody in that community knows everyone, especially when you're talking about a community as small as Baker.

Grace Miller, Baker County Resident:

We need to have some programs to educate the women about how to take care of their body, how to go to the doctor and get themselves seen about it. Because one thing about it, cancer don’t care who it is.

Kay Eady, Community-Based Researcher:

It doesn’t care.

You’ve got to keep yourself checked.

On the federal level, we need to have more accountability. So, the government's responsibility is to make sure that all women, regardless of their socioeconomic status, are afforded resources and solutions.

Shouldn’t have a high incidence of cervical cancer. It’s one of the few diseases that we have that can be eradicated. I strongly believe in you take care of the people that need it most. We cannot afford to repeat the cycle of cervical cancer.

“Grace”, Survivor:

He (my husband) used to take advantage during the lockdown, because he knew I couldn’t go anywhere.

He beat me up so badly, something he was used to doing. That day I thought he was going to severely hurt me, because he kept saying he’ll kill me one day.

Nereah Akoth, Counselor, Center for Rights Education and Awareness (CREAW):

Gender-based violence has become a national disaster in this nation and therefore, it needs to be dealt with as a national disaster.

Nairobi, Kenya

When COVID came, it came with that component of social distance.

If you are in a situation where the husband is the one who is working, now, he uses the power

which is having the money to now manipulate or abuse this other person.

So home became a danger in the sense that you are forced in one way or the other to be with the perpetrator, with limited options.

The Kenyan government should ensure women and girls at risk of gender-based violence have access to adequate medical and mental health services, safe spaces, financial support and justice.

This is particularly critical during pandemic-related lockdowns.

We were supporting so many clients who were going through GBV [gender-based violence].

We are now having around 1,500 cases. That's already triple the number compared to 2019.

Shelters were overwhelmed because of lack of resources. They are understaffed.

Trans Mara East, Kenya

In 2020, Gladys Koskey received a call from the police about a child who had been abused.

Gladys Koskey, Community Activist:

The child is small, the mother is sick in the hospital and they are poor. The police asked Gladys to care for the child.

The community activists, they become the first responder. And then now that also raises issues of child protection, how safe is this child with this, with this activist? Because probably they are not trained in issues of protection.

But even if they are trained, they need extra support because you find out that they rescue using their own finances.

When she was brought to me, her condition was not good, she could not walk. She was afraid to go out and play because she did not have the strength to walk. What really helped the girl was talking to her and counseling. It took her about two months to recover. She then started going out to play with the neighbors.

The government has never given me anything. They just ask me to live with the child as my own, as they sort out the case. I volunteer to take care of these children because if I don’t, they will be oppressed.

It's the government's responsibility to take care of its people.

Violence has a way of affecting somebody's mental well-being to a point of sometimes even making smaller decisions becomes very difficult.

So, by the time a woman is deciding to come out of an abusive relationship, there needs to be a lot of support.

I made a decision to leave. I went to the hospital and then went directly to the police station. I used to live a life of fear. At least here, I’m able to relax. The counselor comes to talk with me.

We went to the Chief, because we refused to see our fellow women being battered. We said we want to go around teaching and sensitizing our women (to the problem).

Those in government, all they do is talk. We want the government to intervene because personally, it’s overwhelming.

The Department of Children Services should set up a child protection referral system, with adequate monitoring and support for community organizations, extended family or foster families when children are placed in their care.

Community activists like Gladys who foster survivors, should be equipped with the skills and tools, including financial support, to provide these services.

Illustration of a prison yard with buildings on fire

In Harm’s Way

How Michigan’s Forced Parental Consent for Abortion Law Hurts Young People

A girl stands in front of a judge in a courtroom

Yemen: Warring Parties Restrict Women’s Movement

Movement Barriers Violate Political, Social, Economic Rights

Women walk at the “Change Square” outside Sanaa University’s gate, Sanaa, Yemen.

“My Marriage was Mistake after Mistake”

The Impact of Unregistered Marriages on Women’s and Children’s Rights in Iraq

A woman looks at wedding dresses in a store window

“Girls Shouldn’t Give Up On Their Studies”

Pregnant Girls’ and Adolescent Mothers’ Struggles to Stay in School in Mozambique

Letter to the UN, Security Council and Member States on Women’s Rights in Afghanistan

Anti-loitering laws will not help california fight human trafficking.

Reinstating Abusive Bans Would Harm Marginalized Groups

Activists across the United States have worked to repeal laws which disproportionately criminalize Black and LGBT communities and subject them to police violence, including anti-loitering legislation in California and New York. Above, protesters gather in Union Square in New York City on May 30, 2020.

Trinidad and Tobago: Bring Home Children, Women Held in Iraq

Boys Forcibly Separated from Mother Highlights Health Concerns

Women and children wait in a holding cell

Joint Statement – Civil Society Reaction to the Adoption of the EU Directive on Combating Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence

Kazakhstan: new law to protect women improved, but incomplete.

Increases Protections, But More Reforms Needed

Activists hold a rally to support women's rights on International Women's Day in Almaty, Kazakhstan, March 8, 2023.

Armenia Strengthens Domestic Violence Law

New Amendments Address Gaps in Protection, Accountability Measures

Taguhi shows scars on her neck and shoulder.

Statement to the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child

43rd Session

Justa Libertad: A Movement to Decriminalize Abortion in Ecuador

The Green Wave Continues to Make Strides in Latin America

Women from different organizations that are part of the Justa Libertad movement raise green scarves outside the Constitutional Court of Ecuador in Quito, March 19, 2024.

Chinese Women from the Countryside: Views on Marriage

Promotion of China’s one-child policy visible on the outer wall of a government office in Bobai, Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, China, August 26, 2021.

Submission to the UN Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women and Girls in Sport

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NnokoMewanu

WheelerSkye

Daily Brief

Jun 10, 2024

Taliban Halves Afghanistan’s Potential; Quick Takes: Brazil; Tunisia; Ukraine; Readers’ Recommendations; Daily Video.

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A Century After Women Gained the Right To Vote, Majority of Americans See Work To Do on Gender Equality

About three-in-ten men say women’s gains have come at the expense of men

Table of contents.

Acknowledgments
Methodology

Pew Research Center conducted this study to understand Americans’ views of the current state of gender equality and the advancement of women around the 100th anniversary of women getting the right to vote. For this analysis, we surveyed 3,143 U.S. adults in March and April 2020, including an oversample of Black and Hispanic respondents. The adults surveyed are members of the Ipsos Public Affairs KnowledgePanel, an online survey panel that is recruited through national random sampling of residential addresses and landline and cellphone numbers. KnowledgePanel provides internet access for those who do not have it and, if needed, a device to access the internet when they join the panel. To ensure that the results of this survey reflect a balanced cross section of the nation, the data are weighted to match the U.S. adult population by gender, age, education, race and ethnicity and other categories. The survey was conducted in English and Spanish.

Here are the questions used for this report , along with responses, and the report’s methodology .

References to white and Black adults include only those who are non-Hispanic and identify as only one race. Hispanics are of any race.

All references to party affiliation include those who lean toward that party. Republicans include those who identify as Republicans and independents who say they lean toward the Republican Party. Democrats include those who identify as Democrats and independents who say they lean toward the Democratic Party.

References to college graduates or people with a college degree comprise those with a bachelor’s degree or more. “Some college” includes those with an associate degree and those who attended college but did not obtain a degree.

Views on how far the country has come on gender equality differ widely by gender and by party

A hundred years after the 19th Amendment was ratified, about half of Americans say granting women the right to vote has been the most important milestone in advancing the position of women in the country. Still, a majority of U.S. adults say the country hasn’t gone far enough when it comes to giving women equal rights with men, even as a large share thinks there has been progress in the last decade, according to a new Pew Research Center survey.

About three-quarters of Americans who say country has work to do on gender equality see sexual harassment as a major obstacle

Among those who think the country still has work to do in achieving gender equality, 77% point to sexual harassment as a major obstacle to women having equal rights with men. Fewer, but still majorities, point to women not having the same legal rights as men (67%), different societal expectations for men and women (66%) and not enough women in positions of power (64%) as major obstacles to gender equality. Women are more likely than men to see each of these as a major obstacle.

Many of those who say it is important for men and women to have equal rights point to aspects of the workplace when asked about what gender equality would look like. Fully 45% volunteer that a society where women have equal rights with men would include equal pay. An additional 19% say there would be no discrimination in hiring, promotion or educational opportunities. About one-in-ten say women would be more equally represented in business or political leadership.

In terms of the groups and institutions that have done the most to advance the rights of women in the U.S., 70% say the feminist movement has done at least a fair amount in this regard. The Democratic Party is viewed as having contributed more to the cause of women’s rights than the Republican Party: 59% say the Democratic Party has done at least a fair amount to advance women’s rights, while 37% say the same about the GOP. About three-in-ten (29%) say President Donald Trump has done at least a fair amount to advance women’s rights, while 69% say Trump has not done much or has done nothing at all. These views vary considerably by party, with Republicans and Republican leaners at least five times as likely as Democrats and those who lean Democratic to say the GOP and Trump have done at least a fair amount and Democrats far more likely than Republicans to say the same about the Democratic Party.

Seven-in-ten say the feminist movement has done at least a fair amount to advance women’s rights

Views of the role the feminist movement has played in advancing gender equality are positive overall, though fewer than half of women say the movement has been beneficial to them personally. About four-in-ten (41%) say feminism has helped them at least a little, while half say it has neither helped nor hurt them. Relatively few (7%) say feminism has hurt them personally. Democratic women, those with a bachelor’s degree or more education and women younger than 50 are among the most likely to say they’ve benefitted personally from feminism.

Views about how much progress the country has made on gender equality differ widely along partisan lines. About three-quarters of Democrats (76%) say the country hasn’t gone far enough when it comes to giving women equal rights with men, while 19% say it’s been about right and 4% say the country has gone too far. Among Republicans, a third say the country hasn’t made enough progress, while 48% say it’s been about right and 17% say the country has gone too far in giving women equal rights with men.

There is also a gender gap in these views, with 64% of women – compared with 49% of men – saying the country hasn’t gone far enough in giving women equal rights with men. Democratic and Republican women are about ten percentage points more likely than their male counterparts to say this (82% of Democratic women vs. 70% of Democratic men and 38% of Republican women vs. 28% of Republican men).

The nationally representative survey of 3,143 U.S. adults was conducted online from March 18-April 1, 2020. 1 Among the other key findings:

More cite women’s suffrage than other milestones as the most important in advancing the position of women in the U.S. About half of Americans (49%) say women gaining the right to vote has been the most important milestone in advancing the position of women in the U.S.; 29% cite the passage of the Equal Pay Act, while smaller shares point to the passage of the Family and Medical Leave Act (12%) or the availability of the birth control pill (8%) as the most important milestone.

A majority of Americans say feminism has had a positive impact on the lives of white, Black and Hispanic women. About six-in-ten or more U.S. adults say feminism has helped the lives of white (64%), Black (61%) and Hispanic (58%) women at least a little. But more say feminism helped white women a lot (32%) than say it’s done the same for Black (21%) or Hispanic (15%) women. About a quarter (24%) say feminism has helped wealthy women a lot; just 10% say it’s been equally helpful to poor women.

About four-in-ten Republican men think women’s gains have come at the expense of men. Most Americans (76%) say the gains women have made in society have not come at the expense of men, but 22% think these gains have come at the expense of men. That view is more common among men (28%) than women (17%). Republican and Democratic men are more likely than their female counterparts to say the gains women have made in society have come at the expense of men. About four-in-ten Republican men (38%) say women’s gains have come at the expense of men, compared with 25% of Republican women, 19% of Democratic men and 12% of Democratic women.

Democrats are more likely than Republicans to say that, when it comes to gender discrimination, the bigger problem is discrimination being overlooked. Two-thirds of U.S. adults say the bigger problem for our country today is people not seeing gender discrimination where it really does exist; 31% say people seeing gender discrimination where it really does not exist is the bigger problem. More than eight-in-ten Democrats (85%) point to people overlooking gender discrimination as the bigger problem; 46% of Republicans say the same.

Most Americans favor adding the ERA to the U.S. Constitution, even as many don’t think this would make much difference for women’s rights. About eight-in-ten U.S. adults (78%), including majorities of men and women and Republicans and Democrats alike, say they at least somewhat favor adding the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) to the U.S. Constitution. When asked about the impact they think adopting the ERA would have on women’s rights in the U.S., 44% say it would advance women’s rights, while 5% say this would be a setback for women’s rights and 49% say it would not make much of a difference. Even among those who favor adopting the amendment, 44% say doing so wouldn’t have much of an impact on women’s rights (54% say it would advance women’s rights).

A majority of Americans say the country has not gone far enough in giving women equal rights with men

The vast majority of Americans across demographic and partisan groups agree that women should have equal rights with men. More than nine-in-ten U.S. adults say it is very important (79%) or somewhat important (18%) for women to have equal rights with men in this country. Just 3% of Americans say gender equality is not too or not at all important.

Democrats and those who lean to the Democratic Party (86%) are more likely than Republicans and Republican leaners (71%) to say it is very important for women to have equal rights with men. Still, majorities of Republicans and Democrats, including at least two-thirds of men and women in each party, say this is very important.

Majority of Americans say the U.S. has work to do to give women equal rights with men

When it comes to giving women equal rights with men, a majority of adults (57%) think our country has not gone far enough, while 32% say things have been about right; 10% of Americans say the country has gone too far in giving women equal rights with men.

Women (64%) are more likely than men (49%) to say the country hasn’t made enough progress on gender equality. However, there is also a sizable party gap. Roughly three-quarters of Democrats (76%) say the country hasn’t gone far enough when it comes to giving women equal rights with men, compared with 33% of Republicans. Instead, 48% of Republicans – compared with 19% of Democrats – say things are about right when it comes to gender equality and 17% say the country has gone too far; just 4% of Democrats say things have gone too far.

Across parties, women are more likely than men to say the U.S. has not gone far enough in giving women equal rights with men. About four-in-ten Republican women (38%) say that gender equality has not come far enough, compared with 28% of Republican men. Still, about half of Republican men (51%) and 45% of Republican women say things are about right in the country when it comes to gender equality.

Among Democrats, 82% of women, compared with 70% of men, say the country still has work to do on gender equality. About a quarter of Democratic men (24%) say things are about right in the country when it comes to giving women equal rights with men, compared with 14% of Democratic women who say the same.

Growing share of Americans say the country has not gone far enough in giving women equal rights with men

Among Democrats, those with at least some college education are more likely than those with no college experience to express dissatisfaction with the current state of gender equality. About eight-in-ten Democrats with a bachelor’s degree or more education (82%) and 77% of those with some college education say the country hasn’t gone far enough when it comes to giving women equal rights with men, compared with 71% of Democrats with a high school diploma or less education. Among Republicans, there is generally more agreement across levels of educational attainment.

Overall, Americans express more dissatisfaction with the state of gender equality now than they did in 2017, when this question was last asked. Then, half said the country hadn’t gone far enough in giving women equal rights with men, while 39% said things were about right and 10% said the country had gone too far. Attitudes have shifted among men and women and Republicans and Democrats alike.

Most Democrats and Republicans say the country has made progress in giving women and men equal rights over the last 10 years

Majorities across parties, genders say U.S. has made progress in gender equality over last 10 years

While many Americans say there’s still work to be done to achieve gender equality, most say there’s been progress over the past decade. Majorities of men and women say the U.S. has made progress in the last 10 years when it comes to giving women equal rights with men. Still, 25% of Americans say things are the same as they were 10 years ago, and one-in-ten say the country has lost ground when it comes to equal rights for women.

Majorities of Democrats (60%) and Republicans (71%) say that, in the last 10 years, the country has made progress on gender equality. However, Democratic women are the least likely to say this: 58% of Democratic women say this, compared with 63% of Democratic men and 71% of both Republican men and Republican women. Instead, 28% of Democratic women say things are about the same as they were 10 years ago (21% of Republican women say the same).

About three-in-ten U.S. men think women’s gains have come at the expense of men

About four-in-ten Republican men say women’s gains in society have come at the expense of men

When it comes to the gains that women have made in society, most Americans (76%) say the gains have not come at the expense of men, but 22% – including 28% of men – think these gains have come at the expense of men.

Republican men (38%) are twice as likely as Democratic men (19%) to say the gains women have made have come at the expense of men. A quarter of Republican women also say this, less than the share of their male counterparts but higher than the shares of Democratic men and women (12%) that hold this view.

Among women, those without a bachelor’s degree are about twice as likely as college graduates to say gains have come at the expense of men (21% vs. 10%); educational differences are less pronounced, though still significant, among men: 30% of men with some college or less education say the gains women have made in society have come at the expense of men, compared with 24% of men with at least a bachelor’s degree.

Most who say the country still has work to do on gender equality say equality is likely in the future

On the whole, the majority of Americans who say that the country has not gone far enough to give women equal rights with men think it is very or somewhat likely that women in our country will eventually have equal rights with men. More than eight-in-ten Americans who say the country hasn’t made enough progress say this is very likely (31%) or somewhat likely (53%); just 16% say they think it is not too likely or not at all likely.

Higher share of men than women say gender equality is very likely

Large majorities of men and women and Republicans and Democrats who say the country has not yet achieved gender equality say it is at least somewhat likely that men and women will eventually have equal rights, but men (37%) are considerably more likely than women (26%) to say it is very likely.

Among Republicans who say the U.S. has work to do to achieve gender equality, 36% say gender equality is very likely, compared with 29% of Democrats. This difference is driven in part by Democratic women, who are among the least likely to say they expect men and women to eventually have equal rights. Among Democratic women who say the country hasn’t gone far enough to achieve gender equality, 23% say they think it is very likely that there will eventually be gender equality; 38% of Democratic men say the same.

Even among the small share of Americans who say the country has lost ground on gender equality in the last 10 years, 76% say it is very or somewhat likely that women will eventually have equal rights with men.

More cite equality in the workplace than any other example as a sign of a society where men and women are equal

Equal pay widely cited as a marker of a society with gender equality

When those who say it is important for women to have equal rights with men are asked what a society with gender equality might look like, about half give examples that focus on equality in the workplace: 45% specifically say equal pay, 19% cite no discrimination in hiring and promotion, 5% say men and women getting equal respect in the workplace, and 2% say better paid leave and paternity and maternity support are things they would expect to see in a society where women have equal rights with men.

About one-in-ten cite more or equal representation of women in leadership, with 6% specifically mentioning political leadership and 5% mentioning business leadership. Relatively few point to reproductive rights (4%) and less traditional gender norms (4%) as markers of a society where women have equal rights with men. (Respondents were asked to answer this question in their own words; for respondents who gave multiple examples, up to three responses were coded.)

For the most part, men and women who say equal rights are important have a similar picture of what a society with gender equality would look like, but a larger share of women than men cite equal pay (51% vs. 40%). Still, the gender pay gap tops the list for both men and women who say gender equality is important.

Among women, references to equal pay differ by age. Women ages 50 and older (56%) are more likely than women under 50 (45%) to mention equal pay when describing a society where men and women have equal rights.

Democrats who say gender equality is important are more likely than their Republican counterparts to cite equal pay when asked about a society with gender equality: 50% of Democrats say this, compared with 41% of Republicans. Democrats are also more likely than Republicans to say that more or equal representation in business and politics is a marker of equality (12% vs. 5%).

Wide party and gender gaps in views of the obstacles women face in achieving gender equality

About three-quarters cite sexual harassment as a major obstacle to gender equality

When Americans who say the country has not gone far enough in giving women equal rights with men are asked about the obstacles to achieving equal rights, sexual harassment tops the list: 77% say this is a major obstacle for women. Roughly two-thirds say women not having the same legal rights as men (67%) and the different expectations that society has for men and women (66%) are major obstacles, and 64% say the same about not enough women in positions of power. Some 43% point to family responsibilities as a major obstacle, while fewer cite men and women having different physical abilities (19%) and women not working as hard as men (13%) as major obstacles. Roughly two-thirds (64%) of those who say the country has work to do on gender equality say women not working as hard as men is not an obstacle to gender equality.

Perceptions of the obstacles to gender equality vary across genders. For example, while 71% of women who say the country hasn’t gone far enough in giving women equal rights with men cite not enough women in positions of power as a major obstacle to gender equality, 55% of men say the same.

Men and women differ over major obstacles to women having equal rights

A majority of women who say the country hasn’t made enough progress on gender equality also point to women not having the same legal rights as men (73%) and different societal expectations for men and women (72%) as major obstacles to women having equal rights with men. Fewer men who say this see each of these as major obstacles to gender equality (59% and 58%, respectively).

When it comes to the role sexual harassment plays in men and women having equal rights, women who say the country hasn’t gone far enough when it comes to gender equality (82%) are more likely than men who say the same (72%) to cite this as a major obstacle, though large majorities of both groups say this.

Among women who say the country hasn’t made enough progress on gender equality, those with at least a bachelor’s degree are more likely than those who have attended some college or less to say different societal expectations (81% vs. 67%) and not enough women in positions of power (80% vs. 66%) are major obstacles.

Among those who say there’s work to be done on gender equality, a majority of Democrats, but fewer than half of Republicans, see not enough women in power as a major obstacle

Democrats and Republicans differ over major obstacles to women having equal rights

Among those who say there’s more work to be done in giving women equal rights with men, Democrats and Republicans differ on the extent to which certain factors are holding women back. A higher share of Democrats than Republicans point to not enough women in positions of power (72% vs. 41%), women not having the same legal rights as men (73% vs. 51%), sexual harassment (81 % vs. 66%) and different societal expectations (69% vs. 57%) as major obstacles to women having equal rights with men.

Republicans who say the country has not gone far enough to give women equal rights (27%) are more likely than similarly minded Democrats (17%) to say differences in the physical abilities of men and women are a major obstacle to women having equal rights with men, although relatively small shares of each group say this is the case. Meanwhile, there are no significant partisan gaps when it comes to views of family responsibilities (44% of Democrats and 40% of Republicans see it as a major obstacle) or women not working as hard as men (13% and 15%, respectively).

Republican, Democratic women differ over extent to which not enough women in power hinders equality

Democratic women are particularly likely to see some of these as major obstacles, while Republican men tend to be the least likely to do so. For example, 78% of Democratic women say women not having the same legal rights as men is a major obstacle to equal rights, as do 65% of Democratic men and 58% of Republican women. In contrast, 42% of Republican men say this is a major obstacle.

And while 77% of Democratic women, 65% of Democratic men and 50% of Republican women say not enough women in positions of power is a major obstacle to gender equality, just 31% of Republican men say the same.

Democrats are nearly twice as likely as Republicans to say there are problems with gender discrimination being overlooked

Most Americans say bigger problem is gender discrimination being overlooked

When it comes to gender discrimination, by more than a two-to-one margin Americans say the bigger problem for the country is people not seeing discrimination where it really does exist, rather than people seeing gender discrimination where it really does not exist (67% vs. 31%).

The vast majority of Democrats (85%) say the bigger problem is people not seeing gender discrimination where it really exists. In contrast, more Republicans say the bigger problem is people seeing discrimination where it doesn’t exist (53%) than say the people overlooking discrimination is the bigger problem (46%).

There is a wide gender gap among Republicans. While a majority of Republican men (61%) say the bigger problem is people seeing gender discrimination where it doesn’t exist, fewer than half of Republican women (44%) say the same. Democratic men are also more likely than their female counterparts to say this (19% vs. 11%), but 80% of Democratic men and 89% of Democratic women agree that the bigger problem is people overlooking gender discrimination.

More cite women gaining the right to vote than other milestones as the most important in advancing the position of women

About half of U.S. adults see women’s suffrage as the most important milestone in advancing the position of women

When asked about milestones they see as important in advancing the position of women in the U.S., about half of Americans (49%) point to women gaining the right to vote as the most important milestone, a view that is more common among men (52%) than women (46%). Roughly three-in-ten U.S. adults (29%) cite the passage of the Equal Pay Act, while smaller shares say passage of the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) and the availability of the birth control pill are the most important milestones in advancing the position of women (12% and 8%, respectively).

White adults, as well as those with at least a bachelor’s degree, are more likely than Black and Hispanic adults and those with less education to see women’s suffrage as the most important milestone in advancing the position of women in the U.S. Some 53% of white adults say women getting the right to vote has been a more important milestone than the passage of the Equal Pay Act, passage of the FMLA or the availability of the birth control pill. Black and Hispanic adults are about as likely to cite the passage of the Equal Pay Act as they are to cite women gaining the right to vote.

Among those with at least a bachelor’s degree, 59% see women’s suffrage as the most important milestone, compared with 48% of those with some college education and 41% of those with less education. Even so, across educational attainment, more point to women getting the right to vote than to the other milestones as the most important in advancing women’s rights in the U.S.

White men and male college graduates are the most likely to cite women’s suffrage as most important milestone

These differences by race and ethnicity and educational attainment are also evident when looking separately at the views of men and women. A majority of white men (57%) cite women gaining the right to vote as the most important milestone, compared with 39% of Black men and 43% of Hispanic men. And while white women are less likely than their male counterparts to say this (49% do so), even smaller shares of Black (36%) and Hispanic (38%) women point to women’s suffrage as the most important milestone.

Similarly, men with at least a bachelor’s degree (64%) are more likely than women with the same level of educational attainment (54%) to say women gaining the right to vote was the most important milestone. Both are more likely than their less educated counterparts to say this.

Views on this vary little, if at all, by age or partisanship, but Democrats and those who lean to the Democratic Party are about twice as likely as Republicans and Republican leaners to say the availability of the birth control pill has been the most important milestone in advancing the position of women in the U.S. (11% vs. 5%). Similar shares of Democratic women (12%) and men (11%) say this, compared with 6% of Republican women and an even smaller share of Republican men (3%).

A third of Americans know what year women in the U.S. gained the right to vote

One-third of Americans correctly cite 1920 as the year U.S. women gained the right to vote

When asked in an open-ended format what year women in the U.S. gained the right to vote, 47% offer a year between 1915 and 1925 (within five years of the correct answer), including 33% who correctly identify 1920 as the year women gained the right to vote. About three-in-ten Americans (31%) say women gained the right to vote in 1926 or later, while just 7% say this happened before 1915. (Some 14% didn’t provide an answer.) Men and women give similar answers.

Those who say women gaining the right to vote has been the most important milestone in advancing women’s rights in the U.S. are not necessarily more knowledgeable about the timing of this milestone. An identical share of those who cite women’s suffrage or the availability of the birth control pill as the most important milestones correctly identify 1920 as the year women gained the right to vote (38% each). Similar shares in these groups offer a year between 1915 and 1925.

Educational attainment is related to knowledge of the year women in the U.S. gained the right to vote. About six-in-ten adults with at least a bachelor’s degree (61%) give a year between 1915 and 1925, with 41% correctly identifying 1920 as the year women gained the right to vote. Smaller shares of those with some college (47%) or with a high school diploma or less education (36%) give an answer within five years of the correct year, and a third and quarter, respectively, give the correct answer.

Adults ages 65 and older are more likely than those who are younger to give an answer within five years of the correct year. More than half of those ages 65 and older (55%) say U.S. women gained the right to vote between 1915 and 1925, compared with 49% of those ages 50 to 64, 42% of those ages 30 to 49 and 47% of adults younger than 30.

Majorities say the feminist movement and the Democratic Party have done at least a fair amount to advance women’s rights in the U.S.

Seven-in-ten Americans say the feminist movement has done a great deal (22%) or a fair amount (48%) to advance women’s rights in the U.S.; 59% say the same about the Democratic Party, including 12% who say it has done a great deal. In contrast, most Americans say the Republican Party (61%) and Donald Trump (69%) have not done much or have done nothing at all to advance women’s rights.

Wide partisan gaps in views of how much the parties, the feminist movement and Trump have done to advance women’s rights

Women (73%) are more likely than men (67%) to say the feminist movement has done at least a fair amount to advance the rights of women in the U.S., but large majorities of each group say this. Meanwhile, a larger share of men (40%) than women (34%) say the GOP has done at least a fair amount in this area.

There are far wider partisan gaps than gender gaps when it comes to these views. About three-quarters of Democrats and those who lean Democratic (73%) say the Democratic Party has done at least a fair amount to advance women’s rights in the U.S.; fewer than half of Republicans and those who lean to the Republican Party (42%) say the same. Conversely, two-thirds of Republicans – but only 13% of Democrats – say the GOP has done a great deal or a fair amount in this area. Similarly, a majority of Republicans (59%) say Donald Trump has done at least a fair amount to advance women’s rights, while just 6% of Democrats say the same.

When it comes to the feminist movement’s impact, majorities of Democrats and Republicans say it has done at least a fair amount. Still, Democrats are far more likely than Republicans to say this (80% vs. 58%).

For the most part, views on this don’t vary considerably by gender within each party. Republican women (62%) are more likely than Republican men (55%) to say the feminist movement has done a great deal or a fair amount to advance women’s rights, but more than half of both say this. And while Democratic men are more likely than their female counterparts to say their party has done at least a fair amount, about seven-in-ten or more of each group share this view (76% of Democratic men and 71% of Democratic women). Republican men and women give similar views when it comes to how much each of the political parties and Donald Trump have done, and there are no significant differences between Democratic men and women in views of the feminist movement, the Republican Party or Trump.

Majorities say feminism has helped white, Black and Hispanic women

More say feminism has helped white women a lot than say it has done the same for black or Hispanic women

In addition to saying the feminist movement has done at least a fair amount to advance women’s rights in the U.S., a majority of Americans think feminism has had a positive impact on the lives of specific groups of women. For example, about six-in-ten or more say feminism has helped the lives of white (64%), Black (61%) and Hispanic (58%) women at least a little, although there are more pronounced differences in the shares saying feminism has helped each of these groups a lot (32% vs. 21% and 15%, respectively). 2 Notably, just 41% of women say the movement has helped them personally.

A majority of Americans (57%) also think feminism has helped lesbian and bisexual women at least a little, including 23% who say it’s helped this group a lot. By comparison, 41% say feminism has helped transgender women, with just 11% saying this group has been helped a lot. About one-in-five (21%) say feminism has hurt transgender women, and 17% say the same about its impact on lesbian and bisexual women.

When asked about the impact of feminism on the lives of wealthy and poor women, 49% say it has helped each of these groups at least a little, but while 24% say feminism has helped wealthy women a lot , just one-in-ten say the same about the impact it’s had on the lives of poor women.

Opinions about how feminism has impacted each of these groups of women don’t differ significantly between men and women. In fact, the shares of men and women saying feminism has helped each of these groups at least a little vary only by 3 percentage points or less.

Majorities of white and Hispanic adults say feminism has helped white, Black and Hispanic women at least a little. Some 64% of Black adults also say feminism has helped white women, more than the shares who say it’s helped Black (49%) or Hispanic (48%) women. Black adults are the most likely to say feminism has helped white women a lot: 42% say this, compared with 34% of Hispanics and an even smaller share of white adults (29%).

Consistent with the difference in the shares of Republicans and Democrats who say the feminist movement has done at least a fair amount to advance women’s rights, Democrats are far more likely than Republicans to say feminism has helped each of these groups of women.

About four-in-ten women say feminism has helped them personally

Women with a bachelor’s degree more likely than those with less education to say feminism has helped them

When asked about the impact of feminism on their own lives, 41% of women say it has helped them at least a little, with one-in-ten saying feminism has helped them a lot; 7% say feminism has hurt them, while half say it has neither helped nor hurt. 3

Some 55% of women with at least a bachelor’s degree say feminism has helped them personally, compared with 41% of women with some college education and an even smaller share of those with a high school diploma or less education (30%). In turn, six-in-ten of those with no college experience and half of those with some college say feminism has neither helped nor hurt them; 36% of women with a bachelor’s degree or more education say the same.

Hispanic women (46%) are more likely than Black women (36%) to say feminism has helped them personally; white women fall somewhere in the middle (41% say feminism has helped them). There are also differences by age, with 47% of women younger than 50 saying feminism has helped at least a little, compared with 35% of those ages 50 and older.

Among Democratic women, half say feminism has helped them personally, while just 5% say it has hurt them and 43% say it has neither helped nor hurt. By comparison, 28% of Republican women say feminism has helped them, while a majority (60%) say it’s neither helped nor hurt; 9% of Republican women say feminism has hurt them.

Most Americans favor adding the ERA to the U.S. Constitution

In January 2020, Virginia became the 38th state to pass the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) , nearly half a century after it passed the Senate in 1972. While the ERA has now been ratified by three-fourths of the states, the number required for amending the U.S. Constitution, it is likely to face legal challenges as the deadline for ratification has passed.

Majorities of Democrats and Republicans support adding the ERA to the U.S. Constitution

The survey finds widespread support for adding the ERA to the U.S. Constitution: About eight-in-ten Americans (78%) say they favor it, including 35% who strongly favor it being added to the Constitution. Women are more likely than men to say they strongly favor adding the ERA to the Constitution (39% vs. 31%), but about three-quarters or more in each group say they favor it at least somewhat.

Democrats overwhelmingly favor adding the ERA to the U.S. Constitution, with roughly nine-in-ten saying they favor it strongly (51%) or somewhat (37%). There’s less support among Republicans: 66% say they favor adopting the ERA, with 16% expressing strong support for this. Republican women (75%) are far more likely than Republican men (58%) to say they favor adding the ERA to the Constitution. Views on this do not differ by gender among Democrats, but they do vary across other dimensions, including educational attainment, race and ethnicity, and age.

Large majorities of Democrats across levels of educational attainment say they favor adding the ERA to the Constitution, but those with at least a bachelor’s degree are the most likely to express strong support: 62% say they strongly favor adopting the ERA, compared with 55% of Democrats with some college and a smaller share of those of those with a high school diploma or less education (37%).

Among white Democrats, 58% say they strongly favor adding the ERA to the U.S. Constitution. About four-in-ten Black and Hispanic Democrats say the same (42% each). These gaps remain when taking differences in educational attainment into account.

And while more than eight-in-ten Democrats across age groups support adopting the ERA, those ages 65 and older are more likely than those who are younger to express strong support. About six-in-ten Democrats ages 65 and older (63%) say they strongly favor adding the ERA to the Constitution, compared with 46% of Democrats ages 18 to 29 and ages 30 to 49 and 52% of those 50 to 64.

These differences by age, educational attainment and race and ethnicity are present among Democratic men and women. Among Republicans, the only notable demographic split on views of adopting the ERA is along gender lines.

Many say adding the ERA to the Constitution wouldn’t make much difference for women’s rights

Many say adding ERA to the U.S. Constitution would not make much difference for women’s rights

Despite widespread support for adding the ERA to the U.S. Constitution, 49% of Americans say this would not make much of a difference when it comes to women’s rights in the country; 44% say this would advance women’s rights and 5% think this would be a setback for women’s rights.

Even among those who favor adding the ERA to the Constitution, a sizable share (44%) is skeptical that this would have much of an impact, while 54% say it would advance women’s rights and just 2% see it as a potential setback. Democratic supporters of the ERA are far more likely than their Republican counterparts to say this would advance women’s rights in our country (63% vs. 38%). A majority of Republican ERA supporters (59%) say adding it to the Constitution wouldn’t make much difference.

Overall, male and female supporters of the ERA offer similar assessments of the impact adding the amendment to the Constitution would have on women’s rights; 54% of women and 53% of men who favor adopting the ERA say this would advance women’s rights in the U.S. Women ages 18 to 29 are more optimistic than women in older age groups to say adding the ERA to the Constitution would advance women’s rights. About six-in-ten women younger than 30 who support the ERA (63%) say adopting the amendment would advance women’s rights, compared with about half of older women who favor the ERA.

For the most part, adults who oppose adding the ERA to the U.S. Constitution say doing so wouldn’t make much difference for women’s rights (69% say this), while 20% think this would be a setback for women’s rights and 10% say it would advance women’s rights.

For more details, see the Methodology section of the report. ↩
The shares who say feminism has helped each group of women at least a little may not add to the shares who say “a lot” and “a little” as shown in the chart due to rounding. ↩
The shares of women who say feminism has helped them personally at least a little may not add to the shares who say “a lot” and “a little” as shown in the chart due to rounding. ↩

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Women's Rights

The rights and roles of women in society continue to evolve and vary considerably across the globe. Read the overview below to gain a balanced understanding of the issue and explore the previews of opinion articles that highlight many perspectives on feminism.

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Women's rights topic overview.

"Women's Rights." Opposing Viewpoints Online Collection , Gale, 2023.

Movements for the equal rights of women in the United States have been shaped in response to a system of patriarchal social norms and laws that formed the basis of US cultural, political, and economic life. Patriarchy refers to a society in which fathers or male elders hold legal authority over dependent women and children or, more broadly, to a society in which a disproportionately large share of power is held by men. Issues related to the rights of women in the United States largely fell under three categories: economic independence, or the rights to education, work, and property ownership; bodily autonomy, or the rights to control one's own sexual and reproductive choices; and political participation, or the rights to organize, vote, and run for office.

The patriarchal concept of coverture , which came to North America from England with colonial settlers, determined women's lesser status by forming colonial law and subsequent state laws. As a doctrine, coverture refers to the idea that women do not have legal identities but are instead "covered," first by their fathers' identities and later, ostensibly, by their husbands' identities. Through coverture's influence, men's authority was codified in law and suffused throughout everyday life. With no legal individual identity, women could not enter into business contracts by themselves, own property or inherit it in most cases, retain control of earned wages, claim rights to their children, or withhold consent to sexual intercourse.

Though the formalized US women's rights movement did not take shape until the mid-nineteenth century, a long tradition of women working for greater autonomy had begun in the Colonial and Revolutionary eras. The arguments for women's rights were shaped by the Declaration of Independence, which declared "all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights." The US Constitution guaranteed these rights. However, the rights proclaimed to "all men" by the Constitution were limited to white, property-holding men, who were allowed to vote and participate in government. At the same time, a variety of legal and social sanctions continued to limit women's involvement in public and civic life.

The first document to emerge from an organized women's rights collective in the United States was the Declaration of Sentiments, which was drafted using the Declaration of Independence as a model and ratified at the first convention of women's rights advocates in Seneca Falls, New York, in 1848. Historians trace the origins of the movement for US women's suffrage (voting rights for women) to the Seneca Falls Convention, where Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Frederick Douglass argued in favor of granting women the right to vote. Women's suffrage was finally achieved more than seventy years later with the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment in 1920.

Despite the achievements of women's rights activists throughout the twentieth century, feminist scholars argue that the remnants of coverture still operate in legal and social institutions in the first decades of the twenty-first century. According to the United Nations, no country in the world had achieved gender equality as of 2022, and no countries were on track to achieve it by 2030. Beginning in March 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic has disproportionately affected women, reviving debates about the value of unpaid and underpaid domestic and caretaking work performed predominantly by women. The pandemic widened pre-existing social inequalities, including health disparities among women based on race, class, ethnicity, sexual orientation and gender identity, and disability.

Many advocates consider the June 2022 US Supreme Court ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization a significant setback for women's rights. Dobbs eliminated the federally protected right to abortion and gave state legislature broad authority to determine abortion law. In the decision, the conservative majority in the court overturned Roe v. Wade (1973), which had prohibited states from intervening in people's reproductive health care choices through the first trimester of pregnancy. According to the Guttmacher Institute, as of August 2022, 58 percent of US girls and women ages thirteen to forty-four lived in states that were either hostile or extremely hostile to abortion.

Women's rights issues in the United States primarily fall under three broad categories: economic independence, bodily and sexual autonomy, and political participation.
Patriarchy refers to a society in which men hold a disproportionately large share of power. Laws and norms are considered to be patriarchal when they perpetuate this gendered imbalance of power.
Coverture , which shaped how women's lesser status was written into law, is the concept that female persons do not have legal identities but are instead "covered" by their fathers' or husbands' identities.
Consent is central to women's rights, especially in the contexts of marriage and relationships, reproductive autonomy, health care, sexual harassment and assault, and rape.
Concerns over consent and women's rights have extended into the workplace, where sexual harassment remains prevalent across industries, as amplified by the #MeToo movement.
Pursuing greater and more diverse political representation has been a primary strategy for achieving women's rights. Research suggests responses to COVID-19 were more effective in places where women held leadership positions.
Many advocates believe that the Supreme Court's overturning of Roe v. Wade , the landmark ruling that legalized abortion at the federal level, in 2022 represents a major setback for women's rights and may lead to the erosion of other achievements by the women's movement.

ECONOMIC INDEPENDENCE

Stemming from coverture, the doctrine of separate spheres defined the gendered divisions of US society from before industrialization until the latter half of the twentieth century. Women and men were relegated to separate, largely segregated roles and social spaces. While it was seen as both appropriate and proper for men to participate in the economic, political, and social life of the public sphere , women were consigned to domestic and family-oriented roles in the private sphere . The doctrine of separate spheres primarily governed white women of the middle and upper classes, as women of color and poor and working-class white women often had no choice but to seek employment outside the home. These women were often employed as domestic workers in wealthy white households or in factories, where employers could legally pay women lower wages than men for the same job.

Married women argued for property rights, which could provide a measure of economic security if a woman was widowed or abandoned by her husband. Connecticut passed a law allowing women to write wills as early as 1809, but more comprehensive legislation intended to undo coverture's most strict provisions did not come until 1848 when New York state enacted the Married Women's Property Act. In the following decade other states passed similar laws, often modeled upon the New York statute. These early laws ranged from allowing women to retain separate ownership of property to extending widows' rights to defining the circumstances in which a woman could bring a lawsuit. Through the slow acquisition of married women's property rights, more women, both married and unmarried, gained the ability to survive independently from men.

The undoing of coverture persisted well into the twentieth century, with federal laws such as the Equal Credit Opportunity Act of 1974 and the Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978 continuing the work of expanding women's capacity to secure financial independence. The former act prohibited financial institutions from discriminating against women in credit and loan approvals, and the latter prohibited employers from discriminating against employees who become pregnant. In 1969 California became the first state to legalize no-fault divorce, which removed the legal requirement of providing evidence of wrongdoing (such as adultery or abuse) before being granted a divorce, a system that had often functioned to keep women in unwanted or unsafe marriages. New York became the last state to legalize no-fault divorce in 2010.

Activists in the 1970s also revived the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), which was first proposed in the 1920s and would have amended the US Constitution to guarantee women's equal rights. The ERA passed Congress in 1972, but only thirty-five of the necessary thirty-eight states had ratified it by the extended 1982 deadline. The ratification effort was renewed in the wake of the 2016 US presidential election. Nevada, Illinois, and Virginia ratified the ERA in 2017, 2018, and 2020, respectively, bringing the total to thirty-eight states. Lawmakers have made efforts to remove the 1982 deadline for state ratification and to restart the state-by-state ratification process. As of July 2022, however, their attempts remained stalled in the US Senate.

BODILY AND SEXUAL AUTONOMY

The economic circumstances of women have always influenced their health and safety, and women's legal status has historically limited their sexual agency and bodily autonomy. The status of enslaved Black women in the antebellum period enabled white people to commit a range of physical, sexual, and psychological abuses against them with impunity. Women working in factories during the Industrial and Progressive Eras risked injury and death under the same unsafe working conditions as men yet did so at significantly lower wages. Predominantly Latina farmworkers in the 1960s and onward became ill from pesticide contamination that also made it likelier their children would be born with congenital birth defects.

Consent is central to bodily autonomy. Under coverture, marital rape was legally impossible, underscoring how patriarchal understandings of sex and gender have deprived girls and women of agency , or the capacity to act or exert power. Because a woman was absorbed into her husband's identity, she did not have the capacity to withhold or grant consent to sex. By 1993 marital rape had become illegal in every state, but the beliefs that marriage implies consent and that nonconsensual sex cannot exist within marriage persist.

The idea that women are property has arguably extended into women's professional worlds where sexual harassment is prevalent. The #MeToo movement, referring to a social media hashtag introduced by social activist Tarana Burke in 2006, emerged as an influential anti-harassment campaign in late 2017. Women from all walks of life took to social media to share their stories of sexual harassment, assault, and rape. These stories brought wide public acknowledgment to the prevalence of sexual harassment and assault in workplaces, homes, and public spaces.

Access to health care and reproductive autonomy , or the freedom to control one's own reproductive future, remain pillars of the movement for women's rights. Reproductive autonomy relies on access to knowledge and tools for preventing and terminating pregnancy as well as freedom from coercive or forced sterilization. The US Supreme Court ruling in Griswold v. Connecticut (1965) prohibits the state from banning contraceptives on the basis that decisions regarding pregnancy and parenthood are private matters. Historians and activists, however, cite sterilization programs that existed in several states during the twentieth century to illustrate how marginalized women have been deprived of these decisions. Such programs attempted to control the reproduction of populations considered "less desirable" by sterilizing incarcerated women, Black women, Latinas, immigrants, and women with disabilities without their knowledge or consent.

Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization (2022), which challenged a Mississippi law prohibiting nearly all abortions beyond fifteen weeks of pregnancy, was the first case regarding pre-viability gestational age the Supreme Court had agreed to hear since Roe v. Wade . In its decision, the court rejected the reasoning of Roe v. Wade , denying any constitutional right to abortion, and returning the authority to legislate abortion to state lawmakers. The Dobbs ruling intensified advocates' concerns the conservative majority on the court will target other rulings that serve as cornerstones of women's reproductive autonomy, such as Griswold v. Connecticut (1965).

The Dobbs decision was the culmination of a decades-long project by antiabortion activists; politicians, lawyers and judges, and reproductive rights advocates had had been preparing for the overturning of Roe v. Wade . Before the court released its decision in Dobbs , some states had moved to protect access to abortion, many others had moved to ban or severely restrict access in the event Roe was overturned, and yet others were poised to revert to pre-1973 abortion law. In 2010 the Guttmacher Institute classified ten states as "hostile" and zero states as "very hostile" to abortion rights. By 2021 it had classified fifteen states as "hostile" and six states as "very hostile." As of August 2022, legal abortions were nearly impossible to obtain in twelve states.

CRITICAL THINKING QUESTIONS

What is the doctrine of separate spheres, and how does it affect gender norms and roles in the United States in the twenty-first century?
Why do you think increased women's representation in Congress has not resulted in federal legislation to protect abortion and reproductive rights nationwide? Explain your answer.
What steps, if any, should your state government take to compensate women for unpaid or underpaid domestic labor? Explain your reasoning.

POLITICAL PARTICIPATION AND WOMEN'S LEADERSHIP

Commentators noted a marked rise in women's political and social activism in the wake of the 2016 election of US president Donald Trump. Many women's rights supporters credit opposition to Trump and his administration with fueling historic results of the 2018 midterm elections. Prior to the November 2018 election, eighty-four women were serving in the House and twenty-three women were serving in the Senate. In January 2019, nearly a century after women gained the right to vote, more than one hundred seats in the US House of Representatives (out of a total of 435) and twenty-five seats in the Senate (out of a total of one hundred) were occupied by women for the first time. Representative Nancy Pelosi (D-CA)—the first woman elected to serve as Speaker of the House, serving in the post from 2007 to 2011—reclaimed the speakership in 2019. With the inauguration of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris in 2021 and Pelosi continuing to serve as Speaker, women held the second and third positions in the line of presidential succession. As of August 2022, 122 women served in the House of Representatives and twenty-four women served in the Senate. Women held twelve cabinet-level positions in the Biden administration and four of nine seats on the Supreme Court. Despite these gains, women filled only about 27 percent of all national congressional seats, about 30 percent of all state legislative seats, and 18 percent of state governorships.

Because women lack equity in political representation and continue to face societal hurdles, they have been hit harder economically and socially by the COVID-19 pandemic than men. Women in the United States have taken on a greater share of unpaid child and elder care responsibilities, suffered greater job losses, and left the workforce at rates higher than men. According to a 2021 Pew analysis, Black women and Latinas represented 46 percent of all women who had left the workforce despite representing less than 33 percent of the total female US labor force. Nevertheless, the presence of women in decision-making roles, both in government and other sectors, is associated with more effective pandemic responses. A 2020 analysis published in the Journal of Applied Psychology , for instance, found lower COVID-19 fatality rates during the first several months of the pandemic in US states where women were serving as governors than in states with male governors.

With the majority of Americans opposed to the reversal of Roe v. Wade , the Supreme Court's decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization sparked immediate and widespread protest. Girls, women, and supporters of women's and reproductive rights demonstrated across the country. Advocates outside the United States staged marches in solidarity with American women. Many Democratic lawmakers and leaders including President Biden, Vice President Harris, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi condemned the ruling. However, efforts to pass a law protecting abortion access nationwide failed in the Senate. Women's and reproductive rights advocates have predicted the court's overturning of Roe v. Wade will motivate record voter turnout among young voters in the 2022 midterm elections.

Women's rights should be enshrined in the us constitution.

"What's more, political fallout from the current administration, as well as the #MeToo and #SheShouldRun movements, have created momentum and transformed a long-languishing Amendment effort into a new, pressing matter."

Tina Rodia is a freelance writer and editor based in West Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

In the following viewpoint, she discusses the revived efforts to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), which was first proposed nearly a century ago. The ERA would enshrine the equal rights of women into the United States Constitution, Rodia argues, and would offer greater protections and recourse to women than the constellation of federal equal rights laws that currently bar sex and gender discrimination. Although Congress passed the ERA in 1972, only thirty-five states ratified it—three short of the number needed for enactment—before the 1982 deadline. However, the author contends, a renewed focus on women's rights following the 2016 US presidential election may be enough to see a new iteration of the ERA enacted.

The Equal Rights Amendment is dead. It should stay that way

"[C]an a legislative cadaver be ratified?"

George F. Will is a political columnist for the Washington Post .

In the following viewpoint, Will criticizes the repeated attempts by legislators to pass the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) to the US Constitution, which would guarantee equal rights for all American citizens regardless of sex. The author faults Congress for passing the ERA in 1972 without understanding the implications of its passage, for granting states a seven-year time limit for ratification, and for extending that time limit when the required numbers of states had not yet ratified. Comparing the time allotted for the ERA's ratification to other amendments, Will asserts that the proposed amendment's inability to secure ratification within the ample time provided by Congress demonstrates its irrelevance.

Excluding Transwomen from Feminism Is Transphobic

“It must be hard to be called a bigot when you have fought against male supremacy in your actions and in your heart throughout your life.”

Josephine Livingstone is a staff writer at the New Republic .

In the following viewpoint, Livingstone responds to an essay about feminism and transgender women published in The American Conservative . The essay’s author, Natasha Vargas-Cooper, suggests that the needs of transgender women do not belong as part of the collective feminist platform. Livingstone takes issue with Vargas-Cooper’s assertions that the certain demands of transgender rights activists are unrealistic and that women’s rights are not tied to transgender women’s rights. Livingstone argues that conflict between feminists and transgender activists serves to strengthen the control of the patriarchy.

“Marketplace Feminism” and the Commodification of Empowerment

“The various media and pop culture industries whose bread and butter has rested on making women hate themselves are now not only not insulting them but even celebrating their strength and smarts.”

Susan J. Douglas is a professor of communications at the University of Michigan. She is the author of several books, including Where the Girls Are: Growing Up Female with the Mass Media and Enlightened Sexism: The Seductive Message that Feminism’s Work Is Done .

In the following viewpoint, Douglas argues that advertising that promotes female empowerment advances a superficial and depoliticized version of feminism. The author cites recent examples in both advertising and more general pop culture that use feminism as a marketing ploy, depicting the political movement as an identity that can be achieved by purchasing certain products. While others have identified the popularity of feminist tropes as an indication of widespread acceptance of feminist ideals, the author worries that celebrating feminism’s current status as a trendy accessory can distract society from the need to address to systemic gender inequality.

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Earnest Lives and Fearless Words: The Literature and Ideals of the Women’s Rights Movement

The modern women's rights movement arose in a time of revolution and culminated in the winning of suffrage in a world shaken by war. From 1792, when Mary Wollstonecraft's A Vindication of the Rights of Women appeared in London, to 1920, when ratification by the Kentucky legislation assured enactment of the 19th Amendment, women strove to achieve political, legal, social, economic, and educational equality. They sought to overthrow the customs and prejudices of centuries, not through war but through persuasion. It was, in some ways, the great revolution of the 19th century. Their texts were as varied as the women and men themselves, crossing genres and national boundaries. Out of the many tracts, treatises, novels, plays, journals, and essays written on the subject of women's rights which proved the most influential? A Vindication of the Rights of Women (1792) is the first great landmark title of the modern women's movement. Mary Wollstonecraft educated herself despite an alcoholic, wastrel father and she saw education as key to women's dilemma. Vindication's first words established her theme: "I have turned over various books written on the subject of education, and patiently observed the conduct of parents and the management of schools; but what has been the result? -a profound conviction that the neglected education of my fellow-creatures is the grand source of the misery I deplore; and that women, in particular, are rendered weak and wretched by a variety of concurring causes..." The book appeared in January of 1792, received two printings in the United States that fall, was published in Dublin the following year and reprinted in both London and American through 1796. The education of women was the theme of Emma Willard's 1819 "An Address to the Public; Particularly to the Members of the Legislature of New-York; Proposing a Plan for Improving Female Education." Emma Willard wanted not only for women to be educated, but their education to be a matter of public policy. Thomas Jefferson, James Monroe and John Adams approved the proposal, but Willard had to establish her Troy Female Seminary without monies from New York State. ("An Address," we should point out, is a rarity of the first order.) The American suffrage movement directly arose out of the abolitionist campaign. In 1837, sisters Sarah and Angelina Grimké travelled throughout Massachusetts speaking to small audiences of men and women ("promiscuous" gatherings in the terms of their contemporaries) of their experiences with slavery. Chided by the clergy and others for publicly exposing themselves and speaking on issues better left to men, Sarah fired off a series of letters pointing out that in the eyes of God women were as fully moral beings as men, and as obligated as men to address moral ills. Her 1838 Letters on the Equality of the Sexes, and the Condition of Woman influenced Lucretia Mott, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucy Stone who would lead the early women's rights movement in the United States. As much as the words of Grimké and others, the determination of the men leading the abolitionist movement to control and limit women's activities eventually spurred rebellion among the women. Margaret Fuller, for one, refused to allow abolitionists off the hook. How could the men justify suppressing women while declaring the essential right of all human beings to freedom? Fuller, unlike Mary Wollstonecraft, had a loving father who encouraged his brilliant daughter. Yet he could not disguise his disappointment that such brilliance had been wasted on a woman who could do so much less than a man. As a young woman, she became a friend and colleague of Ralph Waldo Emerson, James Clarke and other Transcendalists. As editor of the Transcendentalist journal, The Dial , she published an essay on the position of woman. Horace Greeley urged her to expand the piece; and in 1842 her Woman in the Nineteenth Century , in printed green wrappers, was published by Greeley & McElrath as part of their "Useful Books for the People" series. Fuller urged women to see themselves as whole, complete beings independent of their relationship to men-a concept, of course, which is the foundation of 20th century feminism. It immediately inspired contemporaries. Though not present at the 1848 Seneca Falls Convention, Margaret Fuller's spirited arguments for the equality of women were in the minds of Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton as they formulated "The Declaration of Sentiments." Stanton shocked her colleagues, including Mott, by declaring that women needed more than some laws revised; they needed to make the laws; they needed the vote. Harriet Taylor Mill at once appreciated that American women were moving the question of women's rights from the theoretical into the political arena. When the Americans held their first women's rights conferences, she seized the opportunity to write on the nascent movement and its implications. In July, 1851 the Westminster Review printed "The Enfranchisement of Women" in which she reported that for the first time women were demanding legal and political equality with men. In essence, "[t]he real question is, whether it is right and expedient that one-half of the human race should pass through life in a state of forced subordination to the other half." Mill's essay appeared without her name; many assumed her husband John Stuart Mill had written it. American women eagerly read the piece and adopted its language into the resolutions at their next women's rights conventions. It was the first direct interchange between the budding women's rights movements in England and the United States. The American women reprinted the essay as one of a series of tracts supporting women's rights. Only in 1868 did "The Enfranchisement of Women" receive its first separate publication, after Harriet's death, when John Stuart Mill published his The Subjection of Women . Like his wife, Mill argued for the equality of women in all spheres and pointed out that the lack of suffrage had an invisible but pernicious effect upon them. The treatise became a key text. As late as 1911, the National American Woman Suffrage Association printed a new edition of The Subjection of Women with a foreword by Carrie Chapman Catt. The question of woman's sphere, of course, was not confined to treatises and essays. Inevitably it began to leach into the literature. Though Louisa May Alcott's Little Women (1869) neither preached nor scolded, it did reflect the writer's belief that women had talents and abilities they should pursue to become full, mature adults. The popularity of the books suggests a public beginning to acknowledge that women were more than beings to be trained as wives and mothers. (A shift in public attitude that may be attributed directly to the Civil War during which American women shouldered an impressive array of private and public responsibilities.) The immediate success of Part I of the novel took aback both the writer and her publisher; they had agreed that Part II would be issued only if warranted by sales of the first. The small printing of Part I, the lapse between the publication of Part I and Part II and the enthusiastic and thorough readings of the books themselves make Little Women one of the most difficult women's titles to find in collector's condition. A decade later Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House (1878) shocked theatre audiences with its portrayal of a woman who, though a wife and a mother, is little more than a human pet. Nora herself pointed out that as such she is scarcely fit to raise children much less be a worthy companion for her husband and leaves her family to begin the process of becoming a real person. 1892 also saw publication of Frances E.W. Harper's Iola Leroy , one of the first novels published by an African American woman. An ardent and effective supporter of abolitionism and woman suffrage, Harper expressed her ideas about woman and marriage as well as racism in her groundbreaking novel.

Anthony promoted History by tirelessly seeking contributions to support its publication and by sending copies to libraries throughout the country. After her death in 1906, her sister Mary wrote History was "the result of years of labor by my sister Susan B. Anthony, and was sincerely believed by her to be the richest and best legacy she could leave to the coming generations." Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Matilda Joslyn Gage gave homage to the women who preceded them by dedicating their great work "To the Memory of Mary Wollstonecraft, Frances Wright...Margaret Fuller, Sarah and Angelina Grimké...whose earnest lives and fearless words in demanding political rights for women have been, in the preparation of these pages, a constant inspiration..." These titles represent only the most significant texts upon which to build a woman's rights collection. Many of the women involved in the movement wrote autobiographies and personal accounts of their work, such as Sylvia Pankhurst's The Suffragette Movement (1931) or Anna Howard Shaw's The Story of a Pioneer (1915). Others wrote plays, poems and novels intended to promote the votes for women campaign, such as Elizabeth Robins' Votes for Women (1907, expanded into the novel, The Convert the following year) or Alice Duer Miller's collection of verse Are Women People? A Collection of Rhymes for Suffrage Times (1915). Then there are numerous titles which take a position on women's rights, such as Harriet Beecher Stowe's A Pink and White Tyranny (1871) which depicted a wife taking advantage of a generous husband. Caroline Dall, Sojourner Truth, Elizabeth Farnham, Frances Cobbe, Millicent Fawcett, Frances Willard among many others wrote important texts which prodded changes in public attitudes. While bibliographies have been compiled for the English and the American suffrage movement (and antisuffrage movement), no comprehensive bibliography of feminist literature exists. A women's collection is of necessity a voyage of discovery and self-education. But I think that is what Mary Wollstonecraft and Margaret Fuller and Harriet Taylor Mill envisioned for us.

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Alerts in effect, the 19th amendment: a crash course.

Radical Optimism features an overview of generations of women who dedicated themselves to the struggle for women’s voting rights.

Amendment In 1848 women and men met in Seneca Falls, New York to advance the cause for women’s rights. The convention, organized by Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucretia Mott, Martha Wright, Mary Ann M'Clintock, and Jane Hunt marked the beginning of a formal women’s suffrage movement. The men and women of the movement made speeches and petitioned Congress, pressuring government officials to recognize the woman’s right to vote. Stanton, Mott, and suffrage advocate did not live to see women get the right to vote. Instead, they paved the way for future suffragists like , , and .

The women leading the women’s suffrage movement were not always unified. Some suffragists thought only white women should exercise their right to vote. Others like , , and knew women of color also had a right to participate in electing government officials.

The first constitutional amendment to secure votes for women was introduced to congress in 1878. It failed. By 1919, suffragists get another amendment introduced to congress that would secure women's right to vote. The 19 Amendment passed both the House and Senate. The states ratified the 19 Amendment in 1920, officially recognizing women’s right to vote. Amendment, women are still advocating for their rights. This activism would be impossible without the power of the vote that enables women to have a say in the democracy they live in. The 19 Amendment is a milestone in American history. Amendment The first Woman’s Rights Convention takes place in Seneca Falls. Suffrage is part of the resulting Declaration of Sentiments - The 15 Amendment is ratified, guaranteeing the right to vote regardless of race, color, or previous condition of servitude. A women’s suffrage amendment is introduced to Senate. It fails in 1887. Another women’s suffrage amendment is introduced. It also fails. The 19 Amendment passes the House and then fails in the Senate by 2 votes. The 19 Amendment fails in the Senate by 1 vote. The 19 Amendment passes in the House. The 19 Amendment passes in the Senate. Wisconsin and Michigan are the first states to ratify the 19 Amendment. Tennessee is the 36 State to ratify the 19 Amendment law, passing the three-fourths threshold requirement for the amendment to become law. The 19 Amendment is adopted as part of the US Constitution. Amendment - Native Americans deemed US citizens, but states continue to decide who votes. Many continue to disenfranchise Native Americans.

- Chinese in America granted the right to become citizens, and therefore to vote (the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 previously prevented this)

Utah is the last state to enfranchise Native Americans.

- African Americans and Native Americans continued to face exclusion from voting through mechanisms like poll taxes, literacy tests, and intimidation. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 eliminated many of these.

Amendment
Amendment page to discover more about this landmark legislation. For primary source documents and more resources check out the Amendment Web Guide.

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Women’s Rights Essay | Essay on Women’s Rights for Students and Children in English

February 13, 2024 by Prasanna

Women’s Rights Essay: Ever since time unknown, there have been differences between the two genders. The issue of women empowerment or women rights women’s Rights Essay | Essay on Women’s Rights for Students and Children in English e not something new and have been continuing from a very long time.

There are feminists worldwide who argue that men get more privileges than women. Today it is right to say that the gender roles have somewhat become equal than what it was in the past, yet there is still a long way to go.

You can also find more Essay Writing articles on events, persons, sports, technology and many more.

Long and Short Essays on Women’s Rights for Students and Kids in English

We are providing students with samples of essay on an extended piece of 500 words and short writing of 150 words on the topic “Women’s Rights Essay” for reference.

Long Essay on Women’s Rights 500 Words in English

Long Essay on Women’s Rights is usually given to classes 7, 8, 9, and 10.

Feminism is a movement that has always stood up for women’s rights. It recognises the idea that individuals are treated differently based on their biological identities, and they still exist a dominance of the male gender. No matter what the environment is, be it a school or work, women are treated in a subordinate manner.

Across time and culture, women rights movement have changed in form and perspective. Many argue for the notion that women’s rights are in the domain of workplace equality. Still, many say that even domestic equality is in the niche of women’s rights.

There are exceptional circumstances like in case of maternity leave that women require unique treatments. In the USA the concept of maternity leave came up long back, and nowadays the idea has reached to the developing countries. Women of many countries are subjected to social ills, but if there are special provisions for the safeguard of women, then there can be women equality ensured.

The history of women rights movements could be traced back to the 1700s and the 1800s. The first-ever convention to take place in favour of women’s rights was in Seneca Falls, situated in New York. Later, the marriage protest of 1855 by Lucy Stone and Henry Blackwell advocated the rights of women. They protested against the laws that bound women in their husband’s control and supported that women should have their own identity and should exist outside the control of their husbands.

The National Organization for Women or more commonly known as NOW was another step forward in women rights movements. It took place in 1966 and were entirely based on the idea of equality. This organisation wanted to provide equal opportunity to women so that as humans, their full potentials could develop.

In 1979, a United Nations Convention took place for discussing women’s rights. The main focus of this convention was to take suitable measures for removing all discrimination against women, which was a significant step forward in the women’s right movement. This convention made it clear that gender equality should exist in all sphere, no matter if it is economical, political, civil, social, or cultural. This convention looked forward to reducing all the prejudices against women, the abolition of sex trafficking or child marriages.

Europe saw the first-ever proto-feminist movements in the 19th century. This movement propounded the ideals of feminism, and such a concept inspired many women. The most well-known effect of this proto-feminist movement is the Female Moral Reform Society which gave the women a significant representation.

Ever since the historical times, women have actively participated in building the society. Several women took place in the first and the second world wars, and their works received not much recognition. The several waves of feminism that took place throughout the timeline reflected the contribution of women, and therefore we must realise their importance. We should build a society of equality and harmony where women are not in the suffering end.

Short Essay on Women’s Rights 150 Words in English

Short Essay on Women’s Rights is usually given to classes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6.

The issue of women rights is not something new and have been a source of constant struggle since time immemorial. The concepts of feminism, gender equality and women’s rights are intertwined, and one cannot address either topic disregarding another.

The first wave of feminism took place as early as the 1800s and raised numerous challenges that later contributed to the women rights movement. The first and second waves raised questions on racial discrimination and inequality in society. Other than the feminist movements, there have been numerous conventions and organisations that have taken up this issue on their hands. There are multiple well-known feminists, like Alice Walker, who have stated that social activism is a step forward in promoting women equality and feminist ideals.

Numerous pieces of evidence can prove in favour of the argument that women are the essential contributors in historical development. It is time to acknowledge such a contribution and change our goals to make a better society.

10 Lines on Women’s Rights Essay in English

1. The women rights’ struggle is going on for a long time. 2. The progression of Egyptian women have been the greatest. 3. People must address women rights’ issue 4. proto-feminist movements started in Europe. 5. There are many historical events in favour of women rights. 6. Women took essential roles during the first world war. 7. The first feminist wave came in the late 1800s. 8. The 1960s saw the second feminist wave. 9. Women right movements led to social reconstruction. 10. Women rights issue can create chaos worldwide.

FAQ’s on Women’s Rights Essay

Question 1. How can women achieve their rights?

Answer: There are numerous ways to achieve this, the first and the essential being raising one’s voice against injustice. By sharing the workload, and by supporting each other, we can reach women rights too.

Question 2. When did movements start for women rights?

Answer: These movements started in the 1800s, specifically between 1848 and 1920.

Question 3. What is the need for gender equality?

Answer: We can achieve a peaceful and better society with gender equality, as well as full human potential and overall development.

Question 4. Who are some eminent leaders of women rights?

Answer: There is Thelma Bate, Eva Cox in Australia, Cai Chang in China, B. R. Ambedkar, Manasi Pradhan in India, Jane Addams, Antoinette Brown Blackwell, Lucy Stone in the USA. These are only a few names from the long list of eminent leaders.

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Goal 5: Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls

Gender equality is not only a fundamental human right, but a necessary foundation for a peaceful, prosperous and sustainable world. There has been progress over the last decades, but the world is not on track to achieve gender equality by 2030.

Women and girls represent half of the world’s population and therefore also half of its potential. But gender inequality persists everywhere and stagnates social progress. On average, women in the labor market still earn 23 percent less than men globally and women spend about three times as many hours in unpaid domestic and care work as men.

Sexual violence and exploitation, the unequal division of unpaid care and domestic work, and discrimination in public office, all remain huge barriers. All these areas of inequality have been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic: there has been a surge in reports of sexual violence, women have taken on more care work due to school closures, and 70% of health and social workers globally are women.

At the current rate, it will take an estimated 300 years to end child marriage, 286 years to close gaps in legal protection and remove discriminatory laws, 140 years for women to be represented equally in positions of power and leadership in the workplace, and 47 years to achieve equal representation in national parliaments.

Political leadership, investments and comprehensive policy reforms are needed to dismantle systemic barriers to achieving Goal 5 Gender equality is a cross-cutting objective and must be a key focus of national policies, budgets and institutions.

How much progress have we made?

International commitments to advance gender equality have brought about improvements in some areas: child marriage and female genital mutilation (FGM) have declined in recent years, and women’s representation in the political arena is higher than ever before. But the promise of a world in which every woman and girl enjoys full gender equality, and where all legal, social and economic barriers to their empowerment have been removed, remains unfulfilled. In fact, that goal is probably even more distant than before, since women and girls are being hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Are they any other gender-related challenges?

Yes. Worldwide, nearly half of married women lack decision-making power over their sexual and reproductive health and rights. 35 per cent of women between 15-49 years of age have experienced physical and/ or sexual intimate partner violence or non-partner sexual violence.1 in 3 girls aged 15-19 have experienced some form of female genital mutilation/cutting in the 30 countries in Africa and the Middle East, where the harmful practice is most common with a high risk of prolonged bleeding, infection (including HIV), childbirth complications, infertility and death.

This type of violence doesn’t just harm individual women and girls; it also undermines their overall quality of life and hinders their active involvement in society.

Why should gender equality matter to me?

Regardless of where you live in, gender equality is a fundamental human right. Advancing gender equality is critical to all areas of a healthy society, from reducing poverty to promoting the health, education, protection and the well-being of girls and boys.

What can we do?

If you are a girl, you can stay in school, help empower your female classmates to do the same and fight for your right to access sexual and reproductive health services. If you are a woman, you can address unconscious biases and implicit associations that form an unintended and often an invisible barrier to equal opportunity.

If you are a man or a boy, you can work alongside women and girls to achieve gender equality and embrace healthy, respectful relationships.

You can fund education campaigns to curb cultural practices like female genital mutilation and change harmful laws that limit the rights of women and girls and prevent them from achieving their full potential.

The Spotlight Initiative is an EU/UN partnership, and a global, multi-year initiative focused on eliminating all forms of violence against women and girls – the world’s largest targeted effort to end all forms of violence against women and girls.

Facts and figures

Goal 5 targets.

With only seven years remaining, a mere 15.4 per cent of Goal 5 indicators with data are “on track”, 61.5 per cent are at a moderate distance and 23.1 per cent are far or very far off track from 2030 targets.
In many areas, progress has been too slow. At the current rate, it will take an estimated 300 years to end child marriage, 286 years to close gaps in legal protection and remove discriminatory laws, 140 years for women to be represented equally in positions of power and leadership in the workplace, and 47 years to achieve equal representation in national parliaments.
Political leadership, investments and comprehensive policy reforms are needed to dismantle systemic barriers to achieving Goal 5. Gender equality is a cross-cutting objective and must be a key focus of national policies, budgets and institutions.
Around 2.4 billion women of working age are not afforded equal economic opportunity. Nearly 2.4 Billion Women Globally Don’t Have Same Economic Rights as Men
178 countries maintain legal barriers that prevent women’s full economic participation. Nearly 2.4 Billion Women Globally Don’t Have Same Economic Rights as Men
In 2019, one in five women, aged 20-24 years, were married before the age of 18. Girls | UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Violence Against Children

Source: The Sustainable Development Goals Report 2023

5.1 End all forms of discrimination against all women and girls everywhere

5.2 Eliminate all forms of violence against all women and girls in the public and private spheres, including trafficking and sexual and other types of exploitation

5.3 Eliminate all harmful practices, such as child, early and forced marriage and female genital mutilation

5.4 Recognize and value unpaid care and domestic work through the provision of public services, infrastructure and social protection policies and the promotion of shared responsibility within the household and the family as nationally appropriate

5.5 Ensure women’s full and effective participation and equal opportunities for leadership at all levels of decisionmaking in political, economic and public life

5.6 Ensure universal access to sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights as agreed in accordance with the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development and the Beijing Platform for Action and the outcome documents of their review conferences

5.A Undertake reforms to give women equal rights to economic resources, as well as access to ownership and control over land and other forms of property, financial services, inheritance and natural resources, in accordance with national laws

5.B Enhance the use of enabling technology, in particular information and communications technology, to promote the empowerment of women

5.C Adopt and strengthen sound policies and enforceable legislation for the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls at all levels

He for She campaign

United Secretary-General Campaign UNiTE to End Violence Against Women

Every Woman Every Child Initiative

Spotlight Initiative

United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF)

UN Population Fund: Gender equality

UN Population Fund: Female genital mutilation

UN Population Fund: Child marriage

UN Population Fund: Engaging men & boys

UN Population Fund: Gender-based violence

World Health Organization (WHO)

UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights

UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)

UN Education, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO)

UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Gender Statistics

Fast Facts: Gender Equality

Infographic: Gender Equality

The Initiative is so named as it brings focused attention to this issue, moving it into the spotlight and placing it at the centre of efforts to achieve gender equality and women’s empowerment, in line with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

An initial investment in the order of EUR 500 million will be made, with the EU as the main contributor. Other donors and partners will be invited to join the Initiative to broaden its reach and scope. The modality for the delivery will be a UN multi- stakeholder trust fund, administered by the Multi-Partner Trust Fund Office, with the support of core agencies UNDP, UNFPA and UN Women, and overseen by the Executive Office of the UN Secretary-General.

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Global We the Women survey reveals women’s resolve to champion rights and representation in government

NEW YORK, 30 MAY 2024 – A large majority of women polled around the world say they are resolved to contribute to efforts to advance the rights and participation of women in government, according to a new United Nations survey released today.

The “We the Women” survey reveals that despite facing a global backlash against women’s rights, 85 per cent of more than 25 000 women surveyed across 185 countries express willingness to contribute to advancing their rights.

Sixty per cent believe that women’s representation in leadership roles in their respective countries will improve over the next decade. Moreover, more than two-thirds of women worldwide assert the necessity of enhanced representation in leadership positions at both national and global levels to influence the future. An overwhelming 85 per cent of women identify themselves as advocates for women’s rights.

The new survey, conducted by the United Nations Office of Partnerships and the polling company John Zogby Strategies, reveals widespread optimism among women regarding a range of issues, even amidst the world’s concurrent pressing challenges, conflicts, and crises.

“This survey shows that even in the face of persistent pushback to advancing women’s rights and representation, women everywhere are showing determination and commitment to effect change and to deliver on the Sustainable Development Goals,” said United Nations Deputy Secretary-General Amina J. Mohammed. “Women know that it is imperative to have a seat at the table and have decision-making power to get things done.”

“We started the We the Women Campaign to encourage women and girls worldwide to serve as role models and leaders”, said German Federal Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development Svenja Schulze. “To shine a light on women’s stories and how they broke through glass ceilings. To unlock the potential of every girl to improve her own life and her community. I am deeply impressed by the incredible number of women from all around the globe who have participated in the survey. They show that women around the world are calling for change and are willing to act. This is an inspiring call to action for all of us. I will continue to work hard together with my fellow sisters to answer this call and to improve women’s rights and gender equality.”

The survey serves as the cornerstone of the We the Women Campaign, launched by Deputy Secretary-General Mohammed and Minister Schulze in September 2023, on the margins of the SDG Summit. It is hoped that the insights obtained from the survey will inform the international community’s efforts to address global issues in the years ahead, including at the Summit of the Future scheduled for September 2024.

Majority of women see improvements in quality of life

Most women report experiencing some level of progress in their lives over the past five years and anticipate further improvement in the next five — a solid majority (57 per cent) expect a better quality of life, with only nine per cent expecting it to worsen. Younger women exhibit a 20-points difference compared to older women about their future. This prevailing optimism pervades every region with the highest levels in Africa (67 to 8 per cent), followed by Latin America (60 to 10 per cent), Western Europe and North America (53 to 12 per cent), and Eastern Europe (46 to 10 per cent).

Climate and conflict are top concerns

Despite optimism, significant challenges lie ahead. Roughly half of the women surveyed cite climate change, economic insecurity, and gender inequality as major concerns.

A striking 86 per cent of women globally anticipate being affected by climate change or foresee its impact on their health due to deteriorating air and water quality and increased occurrences of natural disasters.

More than half of the women respondents — and 70 per cent of women in Eastern Europe — express concerns about being affected by armed conflict or war in the next decade.

Women identified several barriers to realizing their potential, with mental health being a primary concern cited by 46 per cent, followed closely by family and childcare responsibilities (42 per cent), gender inequality in household tasks (41 per cent), inadequate access to sexual and reproductive health and rights (29 per cent), and domestic violence (27 per cent).

When it comes to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), women prioritized SDG 3 on Good Health and Well-Being as most important to them (40 per cent), followed closely by SDG4 on Quality Education (38 per cent) and SDG 16 on Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions (38 per cent).

On the issue of technology and artificial intelligence, about twice as many (45 per cent) view it as an opportunity rather than a threat, but women expect negative effects in certain areas of life. Two-thirds of women think AI is positive for their education, while less than one-third believe it can have a positive effect on their security and civil liberties.

More international cooperation urgently needed

The survey reveals a widespread dissatisfaction with the lack of international collaboration in addressing global challenges. Only 19 per cent believe countries are adequately cooperating to resolve conflicts, 21 per cent to tackle economic insecurity, and 30 per cent to address gender inequality — highlighting a perceived lack of effective multilateral action.

More than two-thirds of the survey’s respondents said women should have more leadership positions in international organizations, national and local governments (69 per cent), and that greater efforts are needed to collect women’s voices and aspirations on a regular basis (48 per cent) and have more consultations with women’s networks on global matters (41 per cent).

The We the Women Global Survey Report can be found here .

Global Survey methodology

The polling company, Zogby Strategies, did not employ a method of random probability sampling. Networks of the United Nations and partners, as well as Online Volunteers, were used to disseminate the survey. The survey was offered in the six official United Nations languages (Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian, and Spanish) plus Portuguese.

For the full Zogby Strategies report, click here .

Frequency report, click here .

Crosstabs, click here.

Master copy of survey, click here .

About We the Women

We the Women is a campaign of Women Rise for All, an initiative by the United Nations Deputy Secretary-General recognizing the transformative leadership of women leaders in keeping the promise of the SDGs.

The campaign, managed by the United Nations Office for Partnerships (UN Partnerships), aims to engage women around the world in shaping global solutions into the future.

To learn more about the campaign, click here .

About UN Office for Partnerships

UN Partnerships serves as the global gateway through which organizations and individuals from all parts of society, and across the UN System, co-create solutions to deliver the SDGs, bring about transformational change, and build a fairer world for people and the planet, ensuring no one is left behind.

Through the global survey, which served as the central piece of the We the Women campaign, the Office gathered the voices of women around the world on women’s perspectives about global priorities and how the international community can address them.

Media Contacts

UN Office for Partnerships

For more information, please contact Esra Sergi Bertani at [email protected]

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Guest Essay

Melinda French Gates: The Enemies of Progress Play Offense. I Want to Help Even the Match.

A photo illustration showing Melinda French Gates amid a dollar bill broken up into squares on a grid.

By Melinda French Gates

Ms. French Gates is a philanthropist and the founder of the charitable organization Pivotal.

Many years ago, I received this piece of advice: “Set your own agenda, or someone else will set it for you.” I’ve carried those words with me ever since.

That’s why, next week, I will leave the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation , of which I was a co-founder almost 25 years ago, to open a new chapter in my philanthropy. To begin, I am announcing $1 billion in new spending over the next two years for people and organizations working on behalf of women and families around the world, including on reproductive rights in the United States.

In nearly 20 years as an advocate for women and girls, I have learned that there will always be people who say it’s not the right time to talk about gender equality. Not if you want to be relevant. Not if you want to be effective with world leaders (most of them men). The second the global agenda gets crowded, women and girls fall off.

It’s frustrating and shortsighted. Decades of research on economics , well-being and governance make it clear that investing in women and girls benefits everyone. We know that economies with women’s full participation have more room to grow. That women’s political participation is associated with decreased corruption. That peace agreements are more durable when women are involved in writing them. That reducing the time women spend in poor health could add as much as $1 trillion to the global economy by 2040.

And yet, around the world, women are seeing a tremendous upsurge in political violence and other threats to their safety, in conflict zones where rape is used as a tool of war, in Afghanistan where the Taliban takeover has erased 20 years of progress for women and girls, in many low-income countries where the number of acutely malnourished pregnant and breastfeeding women is soaring.

In the United States, maternal mortality rates continue to be unconscionable , with Black and Native American mothers at highest risk. Women in 14 states have lost the right to terminate a pregnancy under almost any circumstances. We remain the only advanced economy without any form of national paid family leave. And the number of teenage girls experiencing suicidal thoughts and persistent feelings of sadness and hopelessness is at a decade high.

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Watch CBS News

Trump's potential VP picks just received vetting documents. Here's who got the papers.

By Fin Gómez , Jacob Rosen

Updated on: June 6, 2024 / 12:18 PM EDT / CBS News

Former President Donald Trump's search for a vice president is formally underway, and there's been an increased focus on four candidates, although his shortlist is not yet complete, and the vetting process is continuing.

Florida Sen. Marco Rubio , North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum , South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott and Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance have received vetting materials and are the candidates most frequently discussed internally by Trump and his campaign, a source familiar with the process said, but added that the former president may still choose another candidate. NBC News first reported a winnowing of the field.

A source close to one contender downplayed the report, and a senior Trump official said of any narrowing of the shortlist, "Anyone who tells you they know who, how or when is a liar unless it's Donald J. Trump."

These four candidates have received vetting documents, including financial background inquiries, as part of the Trump campaign's search process, Republican sources familiar with the vetting said, but others have also received the comprehensive vetting materials: New York Rep. Elise Stefanik , Florida Rep. Byron Donalds, former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson and Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton . However, the list may still grow, and others may also receive the vetting forms.

Burgum is especially well-liked and respected by the Trump campaign. It is not lost on Trump allies and his campaign that the North Dakota governor is the potential running mate who has traveled the most with Trump on the campaign trail. Burgum and his wife have traveled regularly on the former president's campaign plane. He and Vance are also the only two of the four most frequently discussed contenders who also went to Manhattan to attend and support Trump during the "hush money" trial, where he was convicted of falsifying business records related to a payment to buy the silence of adult film star Stormy Daniels.

Marco Rubio
Elise Stefanik
Donald Trump

Fin Gómez is the political director for CBS News. Fin oversees the day-to-day political coverage for CBS News. He has covered five presidential political cycles and multiple presidential campaigns. He was formerly a member of the CBS White House unit.

More from CBS News

Trump and Biden neck and neck nationally and in battlegrounds — CBS News poll

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Clarence Thomas discloses trips with GOP donor as justices file new reports

Hunter Biden's lawyers to announce whether he will testify at gun trial

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