WOMEN'S RIGHTS MOVEMENTS
June 15, 2022
By Katelyn Lee
For centuries, countless movements and discussions have strived for gender equity and women’s rights. Below is a timeline of some major women’s rights movements that have changed the world for the better:
1791 (France): Olympe de Gouges, a French political activist and playwright, wrote “The Declaration of the Rights of Women and Female Citizens” to urge women to take action against the inequalities they endured.
1792 (United Kingdom): Mary Wollstonecraft wrote A Vindication of the Rights of Woman which advocated for women to have the same access to education as men, suggesting that women need to participate in society as much as men for a nation’s well-being.
1848 (United States): Seneca Falls Woman's Rights Convention (July 19-20, 1848) - Wesleyan Chapel, Seneca Falls, NY. This is the first Women's Rights Convention, which three hundred women and men attended. By the end of the convention, one hundred participants (68 women and 32 men) signed a pledge (Declaration of Sentiments by Elizabeth Cady Stanton) to continue movements and to push for the equality of men and women.
1851 (United States): Sojourner Truth delivers her famous speech, “Ain’t I A Woman?”, speaking about equal rights for black women during the Civil War.
1869 (United States): Esther Morris, the first woman to serve as Justice of the Peace, led the first successful state campaign for women’s suffrage in Wyoming.
1885 (New Zealand): The Women’s Christian Temperance Union was established and was led by founder Kate Sheppard, a leading figure in women’s suffrage in New Zealand.
1893 (New Zealand): The Electoral Act was passed, allowing women to vote. Within two months after the act was passed, over 109,461 women enrolled to vote, and 90,290 women voted in the general election on November 28.
1911 (Austria, Denmark, Germany, Switzerland): International Women's Day is honored for the first time. More than one million people attend rallies for women's rights and to end discrimination.
1915 (the United States, European countries): The first International Congress of Women was created and made up of women in the U.S. and eleven other European countries; over 3,000 women participated.
1920 (United States): Congress ratified the 19th amendment to grant women the right to vote, and the Women’s Bureau of the Department of Labor was created to advocate for safer working conditions for women.
1923 (United States): Alice Paul, leader of the National Woman’s Party, drafts the Equal Rights Amendment for the United States Constitution (equality of rights for all, no matter what gender one is)
1972 (United States): The Equal Rights Amendment was reintroduced to Congress. Millions of women across the nation became active in Women’s Rights Movements in their communities. Meanwhile, women’s rights organizations assembled fundraisers and staged marches, meetings, and walk-a-thons.
1975 (Iceland): On October 24th, 90% of women in Iceland took work off to protest economic inequality in Iceland. They left their work and household responsibilities to rally for equal rights. This strike has since happened six times in Iceland. Today, this day is known as Women’s Day Off.
1975 (International): The first UN conference for women, the World Conference of the International Women's Year, was held in Mexico City. They discussed issues on eliminating gender discrimination and the integration of women, increasing women’s contribution towards strengthening world peace.
2017 (International): Women’s March on Washington, DC has become an international march for women’s rights, often including workshops on topics from leadership to inequalities. These marches of up to hundreds of thousands are held in cities globally, including Nairobi in Kenya, Bangkok in Thailand, and Buenos Aires in Argentina.
Even with all the groundbreaking movements, to improve equality and equity, there is still so much to be done. In places around the world, women and young girls still face discrimination, gender inequity, violence, and more. It is important, in the present more than ever, to continue working together, to strive for a just world, and to remember that even little actions can make a difference, such as donating to organizations that align with your values.
Works Cited
Eisenberg, Bonnie, and Mary Ruthsdotter. “History of the Women’s Rights Movement | National Women’s History Alliance.” National Women’s History Alliance, nationalwomenshistoryalliance.org/history-of-the-womens-rights-movement. Accessed 1 June 2022.
Kvenréttindafélag Íslands. “Women’s Day Off.” Kvenréttindafélag Íslands, 25 Nov. 2021, kvenrettindafelag.is/en/resources/womens-day-off.
“Sojourner Truth - Women’s Rights National Historical Park (U.S. National Park Service).” National Park Service, 2 Sept. 2017, www.nps.gov/wori/learn/historyculture/sojourner-truth.htm.
Team, Gale Review. “Exploring the History of Women’s Suffrage in New Zealand.” The Gale Review, 16 Sept. 2021, review.gale.com/2021/09/19/new-zealand-trailblazers-in-womens-suffrage.
“Timeline: Women of the World, Unite!” UN Women, interactive.unwomen.org/multimedia/timeline/womenunite/en/index.html#/1840. Accessed 1 June 2022.
Vogelstein, Rachel. “Landmarks in the Global Movement for Women’s Rights: A Timeline.” Council on Foreign Relations, 24 Jan. 2017, www.cfr.org/blog/landmarks-global-movement-womens-rights-timeline.