View source for Women's rights

{{Short description|Rights claimed for women and girls worldwide}}
{{For|the album by Childbirth|Women's Rights (album)}}
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{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2020}}
[[File:Annie Kenney and Christabel Pankhurst.jpg|thumb|upright=1.0|[[Annie Kenney]] and [[Christabel Pankhurst]] campaigning for [[women's suffrage]] in 1908]]
{{Rights}}

'''Women's rights''' are the [[rights]] and [[Entitlement (fair division)|entitlement]]s claimed for [[women]] and [[girl]]s worldwide. They formed the basis for the women's rights movement in the 19th century and the [[feminist movement]]s during the 20th and 21st centuries. In some countries, these rights are institutionalized or supported by law, local custom, and behavior, whereas in others, they are ignored and suppressed. They differ from broader notions of [[human rights]] through claims of an inherent historical and traditional bias against the exercise of rights by women and girls, in favor of men and boys.<ref name="Hosken">Hosken, Fran P., 'Towards a Definition of Women's Rights' in ''Human Rights Quarterly'', Vol. 3, No. 2. (May 1981), pp. 1–10.</ref>

Issues commonly associated with notions of women's rights include the right to [[bodily integrity]] and [[autonomy]], to be free from [[sexual violence]], to [[Women's suffrage|vote]], [[Right to public participation|to hold public office]], [[Freedom of contract|to enter into legal contracts]], to have equal rights in [[family law]], [[Right to work|to work]], to [[Fair wage|fair wages]] or [[Equal pay for equal work|equal pay]], to have [[reproductive rights]], to [[Right to property|own property]], and [[Right to education|to education]].<ref name=quarterly>Lockwood, Bert B. (ed.), ''Women's Rights: A "Human Rights Quarterly" Reader'' (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2006), {{ISBN|978-0-8018-8374-3}}.</ref>

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== History ==
{{See also|Legal rights of women in history|Timeline of women's rights (other than voting)}}

=== Ancient history ===

==== Mesopotamia ====

[[File:Disk of Enheduanna (2).jpg|thumb|Ancient [[Sumer]]ian bas-relief portrait depicting the poet [[Enheduanna]]]]

Women in ancient [[Sumer]] could buy, own, sell, and inherit property.<ref name=Kramer1963>{{citation|last1=Kramer|first1=Samuel Noah|title=The Sumerians: Their History, Culture, and Character|year=1963|publisher=University of Chicago Press|location=Chicago, Illinois|isbn=978-0-226-45238-8|page=[https://archive.org/details/sumerianstheirhi00samu/page/78 78]|url=https://archive.org/details/sumerianstheirhi00samu/page/78}}</ref> They could engage in commerce,<ref name=Kramer1963/> and testify in court as witnesses.<ref name=Kramer1963/> Nonetheless, their husbands could [[divorce]] them for mild infractions,<ref name=Kramer1963/> and a divorced husband could easily remarry another woman, provided that his first wife had borne him no offspring.<ref name=Kramer1963/> Female deities, such as [[Inanna]], were widely worshipped.<ref name=Nemet1998>{{citation|last=Nemet-Nejat|first=Karen Rhea|author-link=Karen Rhea Nemet-Nejat|year=1998|title=Daily Life in Ancient Mesopotamia|publisher=Greenwood|isbn=978-0313294976|url=https://archive.org/details/dailylifeinancie00neme}}</ref>{{rp|182}} The [[Akkadian Empire|Akkadian]] poet [[Enheduanna]], the priestess of Inanna, is the earliest known poet whose name has been recorded.<ref>{{cite book|last=Binkley|first=Roberta|year=2004|title=Rhetoric before and beyond the Greeks|publisher=SUNY Press|isbn=9780791460993|page=47|chapter=Reading the Ancient Figure of Enheduanna}}</ref> 

[[First Babylonian dynasty|Old Babylonian]] law codes permitted a husband to divorce his wife under any circumstances,<ref name=Nemet1998/>{{rp|140}} but doing so required him to return all of her property and sometimes pay her a fine.<ref name=Nemet1998/>{{rp|140}} Most law codes forbade a woman to request her husband for a divorce and enforced the same penalties on a woman asking for divorce{{Undue weight inline|date=October 2024}} as on a woman caught in the act of [[adultery]].<ref name=Nemet1998/>{{rp|140}} Some Babylonian and [[Assyria]]n laws, however, afforded women the same right to divorce as men, requiring them to pay the same fine.<ref name=Nemet1998/>{{rp|140}} The majority of [[East Semitic]] deities were male.<ref name=Nemet1998/>{{rp|179}}
==== Egypt ====
{{Main|Women in ancient Egypt}}

[[File:Hatshepsut.jpg|thumb|left|Statue of the female pharaoh [[Hatshepsut]] on display at the [[Metropolitan Museum of Art]]|144x144px]]

In ancient Egypt, women enjoyed the same rights under the law as a man, however rightful entitlements depended upon [[social class]]. Landed property descended in the female line from mother to daughter, and women were entitled to administer their own property. Women in ancient Egypt could buy, sell, be a partner in [[legal contract]]s, be executors in wills and witnesses to legal documents, bring court action, and adopt children.<ref>{{cite news|author=Joshua J. Mark |url=https://www.worldhistory.org/article/623/ |title=Women in Ancient Egypt |newspaper=[[World History Encyclopedia]] |date = 4 November 2016|access-date=26 July 2017}}</ref>

==== India ====
{{Main|Women in India}}

Women during the early [[Vedic period]]<ref name="infochange_women">{{cite news | last = Madhok | first = Sujata |title=Women: Background & Perspective |url=http://www.infochangeindia.org/WomenIbp.jsp |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080724121920/http://www.infochangeindia.org/WomenIbp.jsp | work = InfoChange India |archive-date=24 July 2008 | url-status = usurped |access-date=24 December 2006 }}</ref> enjoyed [[gender equality|equal status]] with men in all aspects of life.<ref name="vedam_towards_gender">{{cite book | last = Mishra | first = R. C. | title = Women in India: towards gender equality | publisher = Authorspress | location = New Delhi | year = 2006 | isbn = 9788172733063 }} [https://web.archive.org/web/20101029125524/https://www.vedamsbooks.com/no43902.htm Details.]</ref> Works by ancient Indian grammarians such as [[Patanjali]] and [[Katyayana]] suggest that women were educated in the early Vedic period.<ref>''Varttika'' by [[Katyayana]], 125, 2477</ref><ref>Comments to Ashtadhyayi 3.3.21 and 4.1.14 by [[Patanjali]]</ref> Rigvedic verses suggest that women married at a mature age and were probably free to select their own husbands in a practice called [[swayamvar]] or live-in relationship called [[Gandharva marriage]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Majumdar |first1=R.C. |last2=Pusalker |first2=A.D. |author-link1=R. C. Majumdar |year=1951 |contribution=Chapter XX: Language and literature |editor-last1=Majumdar |editor-first1=R.C. |editor-last2=Pusalker |editor-first2=A.D. |editor-link1=R. C. Majumdar |title= The history and culture of the Indian people, volume I, the Vedic age |page=394 |publisher=Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan |location=Bombay |oclc=500545168 |title-link=The History and Culture of the Indian People }}</ref>

==== Greece ====
{{Main|Women in Greece}}

{{multiple image|align=right|total_width=300
| image1=Clothes washing Louvre G547.jpg|width1=2050|height1=1990|alt1=Photograph of a red-figure vase showing two women washing clothes
| image2=Street vendor Pan Painter MAN.jpg|width2=1750|height2=2625|alt2=Photograph of a red-figure vase showing a woman selling food
| footer=Respectable Athenian women were expected to involve themselves in domestic tasks such as washing clothes (left); in reality, many worked (right).
}}
Although most women lacked political and equal rights in the [[city states]] of ancient Greece, they enjoyed a certain freedom of movement until the [[Archaic Greece|Archaic age]].<ref name=":10">{{Cite book|title = Women of Ancient Greece|url = https://archive.org/details/worldhistoryseri00donn_0|url-access = registration|last = Nardo|first = Don|publisher = Lucent Books|year = 2000|location = San Diego|page = [https://archive.org/details/worldhistoryseri00donn_0/page/28 28]|isbn = 9781560066460}}</ref> Records also exist of women in ancient [[Delphi]], [[Gortyn]], [[Thessaly]], [[Megara]], and [[Sparta]] owning land, the most prestigious form of [[private property]] at the time.<ref>{{Cite book| last = Gerhard| first = Ute| title = Debating women's equality: toward a feminist theory of law from a European perspective| publisher = Rutgers University Press| year = 2001| page = 33| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=XMohyLfGDDsC&q=women+right+to+property| isbn = 978-0-8135-2905-9}}</ref> However, after the Archaic age, legislators began to enact laws enforcing gender segregation, resulting in decreased rights for women.<ref name=":10" />

[[Women in Classical Athens]] had no legal personhood and were assumed to be part of the ''[[oikos]]'' headed by the male ''[[Kurios|kyrios]]''. Until marriage, women were under the guardianship{{Cn|date=October 2024}} of their father or another male relative. Once married, the husband became a woman's ''kyrios''. As women were barred from conducting legal proceedings, the ''kyrios'' would do so on their behalf.<ref name="google114">{{Cite book| last = Blundell| first =Sue| title = Women in ancient Greece, Volume 1995, Part 2| publisher = Harvard University Press| year = 1995| page = 114| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=Xfx1VaSIOgQC&q=women+ancient+greece| isbn = 978-0-674-95473-1}}</ref> Athenian women could only acquire rights over [[property]] through gifts, dowry, and inheritance, though her ''kyrios'' had the right to dispose of a woman's property.<ref>{{Cite book| last = Blundell| first =Sue| title = Women in ancient Greece, Volume 1995, Part 2| publisher = Harvard University Press| year = 1995| page = 115| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=Xfx1VaSIOgQC&q=women+ancient+greece| isbn = 978-0-674-95473-1}}</ref> Athenian women could only enter into a contract worth less than the value of a "''[[medimno]]s'' of barley" (a measure of grain), allowing women to engage in petty trading.<ref name="google114"/> Women were excluded from ancient [[Athenian democracy]], both in principle and in practice. Slaves could become Athenian citizens after being freed, but no woman ever acquired citizenship in ancient Athens.<ref>{{Cite book| last = Robinson| first = Eric W.| title = Ancient Greek democracy: readings and sources| publisher = Wiley-Blackwell| year = 2004| page = 302| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=Jug6crxEImIC&q=Aristophanes+ecclesiazusae+women%27s+rights| isbn = 978-0-631-23394-7 }}</ref>

In [[classical Athens]] women were also barred from becoming poets, scholars, politicians, or artists.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|url = http://digitalcommons.apus.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1030&context=saberandscroll|title = Social and Political Roles of Women in Athens and Sparta|last = Pry|first = Kay O|year = 2012|journal = Sabre and Scroll |volume=1 |issue=2|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170513082146/http://digitalcommons.apus.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1030&context=saberandscroll|archive-date = 13 May 2017|url-status = dead}}</ref> During the [[Hellenistic period]] in Athens, the philosopher [[Aristotle]] thought that women would bring disorder and evil, therefore it was best to keep women separate from the rest of the society. This separation would entail living in a room called a ''[[gynaeceum|gynaikeion]]'', while looking after the duties in the home and having very little exposure to the male world. This was also to ensure that wives only had legitimate children from their husbands. Athenian women received little education, except home tutorship for basic skills such as spinning, weaving, cooking, and some knowledge of money.<ref name=":0" />

Although [[Spartan]] women were formally excluded from military and political life, an extremely small group enjoyed considerable status as mothers of Spartan warriors. As men engaged in military activity, women took responsibility for running estates. Following protracted warfare in the 4th century&nbsp;BC, Spartan women owned approximately between 35% and 40% of all Spartan land and property.<ref name="Pomeroy" /><ref>{{Cite book| last = Tierney| first = Helen| title = Women's studies encyclopaedia, Volume 2| publisher = Greenwood Publishing Group| year = 1999| pages = 609–10| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=2bDxJW3x4f8C&q=spartan+women| isbn = 978-0-313-31072-0}}</ref> By the Hellenistic Period, some of the wealthiest Spartans were women.<ref>Pomeroy, Sarah B. ''Spartan Women''. Oxford University Press, 2002. p. 137 [https://books.google.com/books?id=c3k2AN1GulYC&q=ethnicity]</ref> Spartan women controlled their own properties, as well as the properties of male relatives who were away with the army.<ref name="Pomeroy">[[Sarah B. Pomeroy|Pomeroy, Sarah B.]] ''Goddess, Whores, Wives, and Slaves: Women in Classical Antiquity''. New York: Schocken Books, 1975. pp. 60–62.</ref> But despite relatively greater [[freedom of movement]] for Spartan women, their role in politics was the same as Athenian women.<ref name=":0" />

[[Plato]] acknowledged that extending [[civil and political rights]] to women would substantively alter the nature of the household and the state.<ref>{{Cite book| last = Robinson| first = Eric W.| title = Ancient Greek democracy: readings and sources| publisher = Wiley-Blackwell| year = 2004| page = 300| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=Jug6crxEImIC&q=Aristophanes+ecclesiazusae+women%27s+rights| isbn = 978-0-631-23394-7 }}</ref> [[Aristotle]] denied that women were slaves or subject to property, arguing that "nature has distinguished between the female and the slave", but he considered wives to be "bought". He argued that women's main economic activity is that of safeguarding the household property created by men. According to Aristotle, the labour of women added no value because "the art of household management is not identical with the art of getting wealth, for the one uses the material which the other provides".<ref>{{Cite book| last = Gerhard| first = Ute| title = Debating women's equality: toward a feminist theory of law from a European perspective| publisher = Rutgers University Press| year = 2001| pages = 32–35| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=XMohyLfGDDsC&q=women+right+to+property| isbn = 978-0-8135-2905-9}}</ref>

Contrary to Plato's views, the [[Stoicism|Stoic philosophers]] argued for equality of the sexes, sexual inequality being in their view contrary to the laws of nature.<ref name="Colish">{{cite book |title=The Stoic Tradition from Antiquity to the Early Middle Ages: Stoicism in classical Latin literature |last=Colish |first=Marcia L. |author-link=Marcia Colish |year=1990 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=978-90-04-09327-0 |pages=37–38  |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WY-2MeZqoK0C&q=stoics%2Bslavery&pg=PA36}}</ref> In doing so, they followed the [[Cynicism (philosophy)|Cynics]], who argued that men and women should wear the same clothing and receive the same kind of education. They also saw marriage as a moral companionship between equals rather than a biological or social necessity. The Stoics adopted the views of the Cynics and added them to their own theories of human nature, thus putting their sexual egalitarianism on a strong philosophical basis.<ref name="Colish"/>

==== Rome ====
{{Further|Women in ancient Rome}}
[[File: Pompeii - Fullonica of Veranius Hypsaeus 2 - MAN.jpg|thumb|right|Women working alongside a man at a dye shop (''fullonica''), on a wall painting from Pompeii]]
Roman law was created by men in favor of men.<ref name=":04">{{Cite book|title = The Oxford Encyclopedia of Women in World History: 4 Volume Se|last = Smith|first = Bonnie G|publisher = Oxford University Press|year = 2008|isbn = 978-0-19-514890-9|location = London, UK|pages = [https://archive.org/details/oxfordencycloped0000unse_k2h2/page/422 422–25]|url = https://archive.org/details/oxfordencycloped0000unse_k2h2/page/422}}</ref> Women had no public voice and no public role, which only improved after the 1st century to the 6th century BCE.<ref name=":1">[[A. N. Sherwin-White]], ''Roman Citizenship'' (Oxford University Press, 1979), pp. 211, 268; Bruce W. Frier and Thomas A. J. McGinn, ''A Casebook on Roman Family Law'' (Oxford University Press, 2004), pp. 31–32, 457, ''et passim''.</ref> Freeborn women of [[ancient Rome]] were [[Roman citizenship|citizens]] who enjoyed legal privileges and protections that did not extend to [[peregrinus (Roman)|non-citizens]] or [[slavery in ancient Rome|slaves]]. [[Social class in ancient Rome|Roman society]], however, was [[patriarchal]], and women could not vote, hold [[Roman magistrate|public office]], or serve in the military.<ref>Sherwin-White (1979), ''Roman Citizenship'', pp. 211 and 268; Frier and McGinn (2004), ''A Casebook on Roman Family Law'', pp. 31–32, 457, ''et passim''.</ref> Women of the upper classes exercised political influence through marriage and motherhood. During the [[Roman Republic]], the mothers [[Cornelia Africana|of the Gracchus brothers]] and [[Aurelia Cotta|of Julius Caesar]] were noted as exemplary women who advanced the careers of their sons. During the [[Roman Empire|Imperial period]], women of the emperor's family could acquire considerable political power and were regularly depicted in official art and on coinage.<ref>Walter Eck, "The Emperor and His Advisors", ''Cambridge Ancient History'' (Cambridge University History, 2000), p. 211.</ref>

The central core of Roman society was the ''[[pater familias]]'' or the male head of the household who exercised his authority over all his children, servants, and wife.<ref name=":04"/> Girls had equal inheritance rights with boys if their father died without leaving a will.<ref name="David Johnston 1999 p. 134">David Johnston, ''Roman Law in Context'' (Cambridge University Press, 1999), chapter 3.3; Frier and McGinn (2004), '' A Casebook on Roman Family Law'', Chapter IV; Yan Thomas, "The Division of the Sexes in Roman Law", in ''A History of Women from Ancient Goddesses to Christian Saints'' (Harvard University Press, 1991), p. 134.</ref> Roman women had a guardian (called "tutor") who managed and oversaw all her activity.<ref name=":04"/> This tutelage had limited female activity but by the first century to sixth century BCE, tutelage became very relaxed and women were accepted to participate in more public roles such as owning and managing property or acting as municipal patrons for gladiator games and other entertainment activities<ref name=":04"/> Childbearing was encouraged by the state. By 27–14 BCE the ''ius tritium liberorum'' ("legal right of three children") granted symbolic honors and legal privileges to a woman who had given birth to three children and freed her from any male guardianship.<ref>Yan Thomas, "The Division of the Sexes in Roman Law", in ''A History of Women from Ancient Goddesses to Christian Saints'' (Harvard University Press, 1991), p. 133.</ref>

In the earliest period of the Roman Republic, a bride passed from her father's control into the "hand" ''(manus)'' of her husband. She then became subject to her husband's ''potestas'', though to a lesser degree than their children.<ref>Frier and McGinn (2004), ''A Casebook on Roman Family Law'', p. 20.</ref> This archaic form of ''manus'' marriage was largely abandoned by the time of [[Julius Caesar]], when a woman remained under her father's authority by law even when she moved into her husband's home. This arrangement was one of the factors in the independence Roman women enjoyed.<ref>[[Eva Cantarella]], ''Pandora's Daughters: The Role and Status of Women in Greek and Roman Antiquity'' (Johns Hopkins University Press, 1987), pp. 140–41; J.P. Sullivan, "Martial's Sexual Attitudes", ''Philologus'' 123 (1979), p. 296, specifically on sexual freedom.</ref>

Although women had to answer to their fathers in legal matters, they were free of his direct scrutiny in their daily lives,<ref>Beryl Rawson, "The Roman Family", in ''The Family in Ancient Rome: New Perspectives'' (Cornell University Press, 1986), p. 15.</ref> and their husbands had no legal power over them.<ref>Frier and McGinn (2004), ''A Casebook on Roman Family Law'', pp. 19–20, 22.</ref> When a woman's father died, she became legally emancipated ''([[sui iuris]])''. A married woman retained ownership of any [[property]] she brought into the marriage.<ref name="autogenerated19">Frier and McGinn (2004), ''A Casebook on Roman Family Law'', pp. 19–20.</ref> Girls had equal inheritance rights with boys if their father died without leaving a will.<ref name="David Johnston 1999 p. 134"/> Under classical [[Roman law]], a husband had no right to abuse his wife physically or compel her to have sex.<ref>Frier and McGinn (2004), ''A Casebook on Roman Family Law'', p. 95.</ref> Wife beating was sufficient grounds for divorce or other legal action against the husband.<ref>Garrett G. Fagan, "Violence in Roman Social Relations", in ''The Oxford Handbook of Social Relations'' (Oxford University Press, 2011), p. 487.</ref>

Because of their legal status as citizens and the degree to which they could become emancipated, women in ancient Rome could own property, enter contracts, and engage in business.<ref>Frier and McGinn (2004), ''A Casebook on Roman Family Law,'' p. 461; W.V. Harris, "Trade", in ''The Cambridge Ancient History: The High Empire A.D. 70–192'' (Cambridge University Press, 2000), vol. 11, p. 733.</ref> Some acquired and disposed of sizable fortunes, and are recorded in inscriptions as benefactors in funding major public works.<ref>Woodhull, Margaret L., "Matronly Patrons in the Early Roman Empire: The Case of Salvia Postuma", in ''Women's Influence on Classical Civilization'' (Routledge, 2004), p. 77.</ref> Roman women could appear in court and argue cases, though it was customary for them to be represented by a man.<ref>Bauman, Richard A., ''Women and Politics in Ancient Rome'' (Routledge, 1992, 1994), p. 50.</ref> They were simultaneously disparaged as too ignorant and weak-minded to practice law, and as too active and influential in legal matters—resulting in an edict that limited women to conducting cases on their own behalf instead of others'.<ref>Bauman, ''Women and Politics'', pp. 50–51; Juvenal, ''Satire'' 6, on women busy in the courts.</ref> But even after this restriction was put in place, there are numerous examples of women taking informed actions in legal matters, including dictating legal strategy to their male advocates.<ref>Bauman, ''Women and Politics'', pp. 51–52.</ref>

Roman law recognized [[Sexuality in ancient Rome#Rape|rape]] as a crime in which the victim bore no guilt<ref>Staples, Ariadne, ''From Good Goddess to Vestal Virgins: Sex and Category in Roman Religion'' (Routledge, 1998), pp. 81–82; Jane F. Gardner, ''Women in Roman Law and Society'' (Indiana University Press, 1991), pp. 118ff. Roman law also recognized [[Sexuality in ancient Rome#The rape of men|rape committed against males]].</ref> and a capital crime.<ref>[[Amy Richlin|Richlin, Amy]], "Not before Homosexuality: The Materiality of the ''cinaedus'' and the Roman Law against Love between Men", ''Journal of the History of Sexuality'' 3.4 (1993), pp. 562–63.</ref> The rape of a woman was considered an attack on her family and father's honour, and rape victims were shamed for allowing the bad name in her father's honour.<ref name=":04" /> As a matter of law, rape could be committed only against a citizen in good standing. The rape of a slave could be prosecuted only as damage to her owner's property.<ref>Under the ''[[Lex Aquilia]];'' Thomas A. J. McGinn, ''Prostitution, Sexuality and the Law in Ancient Rome'' (Oxford University Press, 1998), p. 314; Gardner, ''Women in Roman Law and Society'', p. 119.</ref>

[[File:Bronze young girl reading CdM Paris.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|Bronze statuette of a young woman reading (latter 1st century)]]
The first [[Roman emperor]], [[Augustus]], framed his ascent to sole power as a return to [[Mos maiorum|traditional morality]], and attempted to regulate the conduct of women through [[Leges Iuliae|moral legislation]]. [[Marriage in ancient Rome#Adultery|Adultery]], which had been a private family matter under the Republic, was criminalized,<ref>Beth Severy, ''Augustus and the Family at the Birth of the Empire'' (Routledge, 2002; Taylor & Francis, 2004), p. 4.</ref> and defined broadly as an illicit sex act ''([[stuprum]])'' that occurred between a male citizen and a married woman, or between a married woman and any man other than her husband. Therefore, a married woman could have sex only with her husband, but a married man did not commit adultery when he had sex with a prostitute, [[Sexuality in ancient Rome#Master-slave relations|slave]], or person of marginalized status ''([[infamia|infamis]])''.<ref>Thomas McGinn, "Concubinage and the Lex Iulia on Adultery", ''Transactions of the American Philological Association'' 121 (1991), p. 342; Nussbaum, "The Incomplete Feminism of Musonius Rufus", p. 305, noting that custom "allowed much latitude for personal negotiation and gradual social change"; [[Elaine Fantham]], "''Stuprum'': Public Attitudes and Penalties for Sexual Offences in Republican Rome", in ''Roman Readings: Roman Response to Greek Literature from Plautus to Statius and Quintilian'' (Walter de Gruyter, 2011), p. 124, citing [[Papinian]], ''De adulteriis'' I and [[Modestinus]], ''Liber Regularum'' I. [[Eva Cantarella]], ''Bisexuality in the Ancient World'' (Yale University Press, 1992, 2002, originally published 1988 in Italian), p. 104; Catherine Edwards, ''The Politics of Immorality in Ancient Rome'' (Cambridge University Press, 2002), pp. 34–35.</ref> Most [[prostitution in ancient Rome|prostitutes in ancient Rome]] were slaves, though some slaves were protected from forced prostitution by a clause in their sales contract.<ref>McGinn, ''Prostitution, Sexuality and the Law'', pp. 288ff.</ref> A free woman who worked as a prostitute or entertainer lost her social standing and became ''[[Sexuality in ancient Rome#Pleasure and infamy|infamis]]'', "disreputable"; by making her body publicly available, she had in effect surrendered her right to be protected from sexual abuse or physical violence.<ref>Gardner, ''Women in Roman Law and Society'', p. 119; McGinn, ''Prostitution, Sexuality and the Law in Ancient Rome'', p. 326.</ref>

[[Stoicism|Stoic philosophies]] influenced the development of Roman law. Stoics of the Imperial era such as [[Seneca the Younger|Seneca]] and [[Musonius Rufus]] developed theories of [[Sexuality in ancient Rome#Stoic sexual morality|just relationships]]. While not advocating equality in society or under the law, they held that nature gives men and women equal capacity for virtue and equal obligations to act virtuously, and that therefore men and women had an equal need for philosophical education.<ref name="Colish"/> These philosophical trends among the ruling elite are thought to have helped improve the status of women under the Empire.<ref>{{Cite book| last = Ratnapala| first = Suri| title = Jurisprudence| publisher = Cambridge University Press| year = 2009| pages =134–35 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=tNwdWlXxZt8C&q=Stoic+law+women| isbn = 978-0-521-61483-2 }}</ref> Rome had no system of state-supported schooling, and education was available only to those who could pay for it. The daughters of [[Ordo senatorius|senators and knights]] seem to have regularly received a primary education (for ages 7 to 12).<ref>[[Marietta Horster]], "Primary Education", in ''The Oxford Handbook of Social Relations in the Roman World'' (Oxford University Press, 2011), p. 90.</ref> Regardless of gender, few people were educated beyond that level. Girls from a modest background might be schooled in order to help with the family business or to acquire literacy skills that enabled them to work as scribes and secretaries.<ref>Beryl Rawson, ''Children and Childhood in Roman Italy'' (Oxford University Press, 2003), p. 80.</ref> The woman who achieved the greatest prominence in the ancient world for her learning was [[Hypatia of Alexandria]], who taught advanced courses to young men and advised the Roman [[prefect of Egypt]] on politics.<ref>Morgan, Teresa, "Education", in ''The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Greece and Rome'' (Oxford University Press, 2010), p. 20.</ref>

[[File:Dextrorum iunctio edited.JPG|thumb|upright=1.1|Couple clasping hands in marriage, idealized by Romans as the building block of society and as a partnership of companions who work together to produce and rear children, manage everyday affairs, lead exemplary lives, and enjoy affection<ref>[[Martha C. Nussbaum|Nussbaum, Martha C.]], "The Incomplete Feminism of Musonius Rufus, Platonist, Stoic, and Roman", in ''The Sleep of Reason: Erotic Experience and Sexual Ethics in Ancient Greece and Rome'' (University of Chicago Press, 2002), p. 300; Sabine MacCormack, "Sin, Citizenship, and the Salvation of Souls: The Impact of Christian Priorities on Late-Roman and Post-Roman Society", ''Comparative Studies in Society and History'' 39.4 (1997), p. 651.</ref>]]

==== Byzantine Empire ====
{{Further|Women in the Byzantine Empire}}
Since Byzantine law was essentially based on Roman law, the legal status of women did not change significantly from the practices of the 6th century. But the traditional restriction of women in public life as well as the hostility against independent women still continued.<ref name=":2">{{Cite book|title = The Oxford Encyclopedia of Women in World History: 4 Volume Set|last = Smith|first = Bonnie G|publisher = Oxford University Press|year = 2008|isbn = 978-0-19-514890-9|location = London, UK|pages = [https://archive.org/details/oxfordencycloped0000unse_k2h2/page/440 440–42]|url = https://archive.org/details/oxfordencycloped0000unse_k2h2/page/440}}</ref> Greater influence of Greek culture contributed to strict attitudes about women's roles being domestic instead of being public.<ref name=":2" /> There was also a growing trend of women who were not prostitutes, slaves or entertainers to be entirely veiled.<ref name=":2" /> Like previous Roman law, women could not be legal witnesses, hold administrations or run banking but they could still inherit properties and own land.<ref name=":2" />

As a rule, the influence of the church was exercised in favor of the abolition of the disabilities imposed by the older law upon celibacy and childlessness, of increased facilities for entering a professed religious life, and of due provision for the wife. The church also supported the political power of those who were friendly toward the clergy. The appointment of mothers and grandmothers as tutors was sanctioned by Justinian.{{Cn|date=October 2024}}

The restrictions on the marriage of senators and other men of high rank with women of low rank were extended by [[Constantine I (emperor)|Constantine]], but it was almost entirely removed by [[Justinian I|Justinian]]. Second marriages were discouraged, especially by making it legal to impose a condition that a widow's right to property should cease on remarriage, and the Leonine Constitutions at the end of the 9th century made third marriages punishable.{{Cn|date=October 2024}} The same constitutions made the benediction of a priest a necessary part of the ceremony of marriage.<ref>{{cite EB1911|wstitle= Women |volume= 23 | pages = 782–788; see page 783 |quote= The chief differences between canon and Roman law were in the law of marriage... The benediction of a priest was made a necessary part of the ceremony}}</ref>

==== China ====
{{Main|Women in ancient and imperial China|Women in China}}
[[File:Bound feet (X-ray).jpg|thumb|right|[[Foot binding]], a practice commonly inflicted on [[Women in China|Chinese women]] between the 10th century and the early 20th century. The image shows an X-ray of two bound feet.]]
Women throughout historical and ancient China were considered inferior and had subordinate legal status based on [[Confucianism|Confucian law]].<ref name=":5">{{Cite book|title = The Oxford Encyclopedia of Women in World History: 4 Volume Set|last = Smith|first = Bonnie G|publisher = Oxford University Press|year = 2008|isbn = 978-0-19-514890-9|location = London, UK|pages = [https://archive.org/details/oxfordencycloped0000unse_k2h2/page/426 426–27]|url = https://archive.org/details/oxfordencycloped0000unse_k2h2/page/426}}</ref> In Imperial China, the "[[Three Obediences and Four Virtues|Three Obediences]]" promoted daughters to obey their fathers, wives to obey their husbands, and widows to obey their sons. Women could not inherit businesses or wealth<ref name=":5" /> and men had to adopt a son for such financial purposes.<ref name=":5" /> Late imperial law also featured seven different types of divorces. A wife could be ousted if she failed to birth a son, committed adultery, disobeyed her parents-in-law, spoke excessively, stole, was given to bouts of jealousy, or suffered from an incurable or loathsome disease or disorder.<ref name=":5" /> But there were also limits for the husband – for example, he could not divorce if she observed her parents-in-law's mourning sites, if she had no family to return to, or if the husband's family used to be poor and since then had become richer.<ref name=":5" />

Confucian thinking relegated women in China to subordinate roles and [[foot binding]] left them homemakers.<ref>{{Cite web |last=FlorCruz |first=Jaime A. |date=2012-06-15 |title=Chinese women push for a place in space |url=https://www.cnn.com/2012/06/15/world/asia/china-women-space/index.html |access-date=2024-06-08 |website=CNN |language=en}}</ref> About 45% of Chinese women had bound feet in the 19th century. For the upper classes, it was almost 100%. In 1912, the Chinese government ordered the cessation of foot-binding. Foot-binding involved the alteration of the bone structure so that the feet were only about four inches long. The bound feet caused difficulty in movement, thus greatly limiting the activities of women.{{Cn|date=October 2024}}

Due to the social custom that men and women should not be near each other, the women of China were reluctant to be treated by male doctors of Western Medicine. This resulted in a tremendous need for female doctors of Western Medicine in China. Thus, female medical missionary Mary H. Fulton<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=04TOSAAACAAJ |title=Inasmuch |author=Mary H. Fulton|editor=The United Study of Forring |publisher=BiblioBazaar |year=2010 |isbn=978-1140341796 }}</ref> was sent by the Foreign Missions Board of the Presbyterian Church (USA) to found the first medical college for women in China. Known as the Hackett Medical College for Women (夏葛女子醫學院),<ref>{{cite web |author=PANG Suk Man |url=http://lib-nt2.hkbu.edu.hk/cil-image/theses/abstracts/b15564174a.pdf |title=The Hackett Medical College for Women in China (1899–1936) |publisher=Hong Kong Baptist University |date=February 1998 |access-date=10 October 2015 |archive-date=16 October 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151016090221/http://lib-nt2.hkbu.edu.hk/cil-image/theses/abstracts/b15564174a.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cqvip.com/qk/83891A/200203/6479902.html |title=中国近代第一所女子医学院－－夏葛医学院-【维普网】-仓储式在线作品出版平台-www.cqvip.com |publisher=Cqvip.com |access-date=9 December 2013}}</ref> the college was aimed at the spreading of Christianity and modern medicine and the elevation of Chinese women's social status.<ref name="RebeccaChan">Rebecca Chan Chung, Deborah Chung and Cecilia Ng Wong, "Piloted to Serve", 2012.</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=纪念钟陈可慰 100 周年 (1920–2020)|url=http://www.cnac.org/rebeccachan_piloted_to_serve_01.pdf|access-date=2020-10-09}}</ref>

During the [[Republic of China (1912–49)]] and earlier Chinese governments, women were legally bought and sold into slavery under the guise of domestic servants. These women were known as [[Mui Tsai]]. The lives of Mui Tsai were recorded by American feminist [[Agnes Smedley]] in her book ''Portraits of Chinese Women in Revolution''.<ref>Parts of this book are available online here [https://archive.org/details/portraitsofchine00smed <!-- quote=Portraits of Chinese Women in Revolution. -->], at Google Books.</ref>

However, in 1949 the [[Republic of China (1912–1949)|Republic of China]] was overthrown by communist guerillas led by [[Mao Zedong]], and the [[People's Republic of China]] was founded in the same year. In May 1950 the People's Republic of China enacted the [[New Marriage Law]] to tackle the sale of women into slavery. This outlawed marriage by proxy and made marriage legal so long as both partners consent. The New Marriage Law raised the legal age of marriage to 20 for men and 18 for women. This was an essential part of countryside land reform as women could no longer legally be sold to landlords. The official slogan was "Men and women are equal; everyone is worth his (or her) salt".<ref>{{Cite journal|journal=The Developing Economies|volume=48|number=2|date=June 2010|page=B5|first=Noboro|last=Niida|title=Land Reform and New Marriage Law in China|url=http://www.ide.go.jp/English/Publish/Periodicals/De/pdf/64_01_01.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120403010912/http://www.ide.go.jp/English/Publish/Periodicals/De/pdf/64_01_01.pdf|archive-date=3 April 2012}}</ref>

=== Post-classical history ===

[[File:Dahomey amazon1.jpg|thumb|upright=0.9|[[Dahomey Amazons]] were a [[Fon people|Fon]] all-female military regiment of the [[Kingdom of Dahomey]].]]

==== Religious scriptures ====

===== Bible =====
{{Main|Women in the Bible}}
Both before and during biblical times, the roles of women in society were severely restricted.<ref>{{cite web|last=Robinson|first=B.A.|title=The status of women in the Bible and in early Christianity|publisher=Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance|year=2010|url=http://www.religioustolerance.org/fem_bibl.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19980123062342/http://www.religioustolerance.org/fem_bibl.htm|url-status=usurped|archive-date=23 January 1998|access-date=11 September 2010}}</ref> Nonetheless, in the Bible, women are depicted as having the right to represent themselves in court,<ref name="Hiers2012">{{cite book|last1=Hiers|first1=Richard H.|title=Women's Rights and the Bible: Implications for Christian Ethics and Social Policy|date=2012|publisher=Pickwick Publications|location=Eugene, Oregon|isbn=978-1-61097-627-5|url=https://archive.org/details/womensrightsbibl0000hier|url-access=registration|quote=women's rights in the Bible.|access-date=15 October 2017}}</ref>{{rp|56–62}} the ability to make contracts,<ref name="Hiers2012"/>{{rp|63–67}} and the rights to purchase, own, sell, and inherit property.<ref name="Hiers2012"/>{{rp|63–80}} The Bible guarantees women the right to sex with their husbands<ref name=CawBiblic>{{cite web |last1=Frank L. Caw, Jr. |title=Biblical Divorce And Re-Marriage |url=http://www.frankcaw.com/divorce-print.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030812232627/http://www.frankcaw.com/divorce-print.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=12 August 2003 |access-date=19 October 2015 }}</ref><ref name=Caw2005>{{cite book |last1=Frank L. Caw, Jr. |title=The Ultimate Deception |date=10 February 2005 |publisher=1st Book Library |isbn=978-0-7596-4037-5 |url=http://www.frankcaw.com |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19980110011803/http://frankcaw.com/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=10 January 1998 |access-date=19 October 2015 }}</ref> and orders husbands to feed and clothe their wives.<ref name=CawBiblic/><ref name=Caw2005/> Breach of these Old Testament rights by a polygamous man gave the woman grounds for divorce.<ref name=CawBiblic/><ref name=Caw2005/>

===== Qur'an =====
{{See also|Early reforms under Islam|Women in Islam|Islamic feminism|Sex segregation and Islam|Concubinage in Islam}}
The [[Qur'an]] prescribes limited rights for women in [[marriage in Islam|marriage]], [[divorce in Islam|divorce]], and [[Islamic inheritance jurisprudence|inheritance]]. By providing that the wife, not her family, would receive a dowry from the husband, which she could administer as her personal property, the Qur'an made women a legal party to the [[Islamic marriage contract|marriage contract]].<ref>[[John L. Esposito|Esposito, John L.]], with DeLong-Bas, Natana J. (2001). ''Women in Muslim Family Law'', 2nd revised Ed. [https://books.google.com/books?id=MOmaDq8HKCgC&q=islam+early+reforms+women%27s+rights+Esposito Available here via GoogleBooks preview]. Syracuse University Press. {{ISBN|0-8156-2908-7}} p. 4.</ref>

While in customary law, inheritance was often limited to male descendants, the Qur'an included rules on inheritance with certain fixed shares being distributed to designated heirs, first to the nearest female relatives and then the nearest male relatives.<ref>Esposito (with DeLong-Bas) 2001, pp. 4–5.</ref> According to [[Annemarie Schimmel]] "compared to the pre-Islamic position of [Arab] women, [[Fiqh|Islamic legislation]] meant an enormous progress; the woman has the right, at least according to the [[Letter and spirit of the law|letter of the law]], to administer the wealth she has brought into the family or has earned by her own work."<ref>{{Cite book| last = Schimmel| first = Annemarie| title = Islam | publisher = SUNY Press| year = 1992| page = 65| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=m7oKd-H1BzYC| isbn = 978-0-7914-1327-2}}</ref>

For [[Arab women]], Islam included the prohibition of [[female infanticide]] and recognizing women's full personhood.<ref name="OxfordDicT">Esposito (2004), p. 339.</ref> Women generally gained greater rights than women in [[pre-Islamic Arabia]]<ref name="Espos">[[John Esposito]], ''Islam: The Straight Path'' p. 79.</ref><ref name="majid">[[Majid Khadduri]], ''Marriage in Islamic Law: The Modernist Viewpoints'', American Journal of [[Comparative law]], Vol. 26, No. 2, pp. 213–18.</ref> and [[Middle Ages|medieval Europe]].<ref>Encyclopedia of religion, second edition, Lindsay Jones, p. 6224, {{ISBN|978-0-02-865742-4}}.</ref> Women were not accorded such legal status in other cultures until centuries later.<ref>Lindsay Jones, p. 6224.</ref> According to Professor [[William Montgomery Watt]], when seen in such a historical context, [[Muhammad]] "can be seen as a figure who testified on behalf of women's rights."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.alastairmcintosh.com/articles/2000_watt.htm |first1=Bashir |last1=Maan |first2=Alastair |last2=McIntosh |title=Interview with Prof William Montgomery Watt |publisher=Alastair McIntosh's Home Page |date=27 May 2005 |access-date=30 August 2011}}</ref>

==== Western Europe ====
[[File:Medieval women hunting.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|Women performing tasks during the Middle Ages]]

Women's rights were protected already by the early Medieval Christian Church: one of the first formal legal provisions for the right of wives was promulgated by [[Council of Agde|council of Adge]] in 506, which in Canon XVI stipulated that if a young married man wished to be ordained, he required the consent of his wife.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QIjEVrB3b4kC&pg=PA185|title=Archaeology of Frankish Church Councils, AD 511–768|last=Halfond|first=Gregory I.|date=2010|publisher=BRILL|isbn=978-9004179769|language=en}}</ref>

The English Church and culture in the Middle Ages regarded women as weak, irrational, vulnerable to temptation, and constantly needing to be kept in check.<ref name=":6">{{Cite book|title = Women in England in the middle ages|last = Ward|first = Jennifer|publisher = A & C Black|year = 2006|isbn = 978-1852853464|location = New York|pages = 3–4}}</ref>{{Better source needed|date=August 2017}} This was reflected on the Christian culture in England through the story of [[Adam and Eve]] where Eve fell to Satan's temptations and led Adam to eat the apple. This belief was based on St. Paul,{{Cn|date=October 2024}} that the pain of childbirth was a punishment for this deed that led mankind to be banished from the Garden of Eden.<ref name=":6" /> Women's inferiority also appears in much medieval writing; for example, the 1200 AD theologian [[Jacques de Vitry]] (who was rather sympathetic to women over others) emphasized female obedience towards their men and described women as slippery, weak, untrustworthy, devious, deceitful and stubborn.<ref name=":6" /> The church also promoted the [[Mary (mother of Jesus)|Virgin Mary]] as a role model for women to emulate by being innocent in her sexuality, being married to a husband and eventually becoming a mother. That was the core purpose set out both culturally and religiously across Medieval Europe.<ref name=":6" /> Rape was also seen in medieval England{{Cn|date=October 2024}} as a crime against the father or husband and a violation of their protection and guardianship of the women whom they look after in the household.<ref name=":6" /> Women's identities in the Middle Ages were also referred through their relations with men they associated with, such as "his daughter" or "so and so's wife".<ref name=":6" /> Despite all this, the Church still emphasized the importance of love and mutual counselling within marriage and prohibited any form of divorce so the wife would have someone to look after her.{{Cn|date=October 2024}}
[[File:Women activities in middle ages.JPG|thumb|upright=1.1|Royal women's activities in the Middle Ages]]
In overall Europe during the Middle Ages, women were inferior to men in legal status.<ref name=":7">{{Cite book|title = Women's Roles in the Middle Ages|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=Z4SL2X3uHEAC|publisher = Greenwood Publishing Group|date = 1 January 2007|isbn = 9780313336355|first = Sandy|last = Bardsley}}</ref> Throughout medieval Europe, women were pressured to not attend courts and leave all legal business affairs to their husbands. In the legal system, women were regarded as the property of men so any threat or injury to them was the duty of their male guardians.<ref name=":7" />

In Irish law, women were forbidden to act as witnesses in courts.<ref name=":7" /> In Welsh law, women's testimony could be accepted towards other women but not against men, but Welsh laws, specifically [[Cyfraith Hywel|The Laws of Hywel Dda]], also reflected accountability for men to pay child maintenance for children born out of wedlock, which empowered women to claim rightful payment.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Women, Linen and Gender in the Cyfraith Hywel Dda – Laidlaw Scholarships|url=https://laidlawscholarships.wp.st-andrews.ac.uk/2019/06/26/women-linen-and-gender-in-the-cyfraith-hywel-dda/|access-date=2020-10-09|website=laidlawscholarships.wp.st-andrews.ac.uk|archive-date=22 September 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200922190110/https://laidlawscholarships.wp.st-andrews.ac.uk/2019/06/26/women-linen-and-gender-in-the-cyfraith-hywel-dda/|url-status=dead}}</ref> In France, women's testimony had to corroborate with other accounts or it would not be accepted.<ref name=":7" /> Although women were expected to not attend courts,{{Cn|date=October 2024}} this however was not always true. Sometimes, regardless of expectations, women did participate and attend court cases and court meetings. But women could not act as justices in courts, be attorneys or members of a jury, or accuse another person of a felony unless it was the murder of her husband.<ref>{{Cite book|title = Women in Medieval Western European Culture|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=k09yF2Ub-pYC&q=women+in+middle+ages+law&pg=PA113|publisher = Routledge|date = 12 November 2012|isbn = 9781136522031|first = Linda E.|last = Mitchell}}</ref> For the most part, the best thing a woman could do in medieval courts was to observe the legal proceedings taking place.{{Cn|date=October 2024}}

Swedish law protected women from the authority of their husbands by transferring the authority to their male relatives.<ref name="Beattie">{{Cite book|title = Married Women and the Law in Premodern Northwest Europe|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=36uGH4HNUWoC|publisher = Boydell Press|date = 1 January 2013|isbn = 9781843838333|first1 = Cordelia|last1 = Beattie|first2 = Matthew Frank|last2 = Stevens}}</ref> A wife's property and land also could not be taken by the husband without her family's consent but neither could the wife.<ref name="Beattie"/> This meant a woman could not transfer her property to her husband without her family or kinsman's consent either. In Swedish law, a woman would also only get half that of her brother in inheritance.<ref name="Beattie"/> Despite these legal issues, Sweden was largely ahead and much superior in its treatment towards women than most European countries.{{Cn|date=October 2024}}

Medieval marriages among the elites were arranged in a way that would meet the interests of the family as a whole.<ref name=":7" /> Theoretically a woman needed to consent before a marriage took place and the Church encouraged this consent to be expressed in present tense and not future.<ref name=":7" /> Marriage could also take place anywhere and the minimum age for girls was 12, while it was 14 for boys.<ref name=":7" />

==== Northern Europe ====

The rate of [[Weregild|Wergild]] suggested that women in these societies were valued mostly for their breeding purposes. The Wergild of woman was double that of a man with the same status in the [[Alemannic German|Aleman]] and [[Bavaria]]n legal codes.<ref name=":8">{{Cite book|title = Women in Dark Age and Early Medieval Europe|last = Jewell|first = Helen M|publisher = Palgrave Macmillan|year = 2007|isbn = 978-0333912591|location = New York|pages = 37–39}}</ref> The Wergild of a woman meanwhile was triple that of a man with the same status in [[Salian Franks|Salic]] and Repuarian legal codes for women of child-bearing age, which constituted from 12 to 40 years old.<ref name=":8" /> One of the most Germanic codes from the [[Lombards|Lombard]] tradition legislated that women be under the control of a male ''mundoald'', which constituted her father, husband, older son or eventually the king as a last resort if she had no male relatives.<ref name=":8" /> A woman needed her mundold's permission to manage property but still could own her own lands and goods. Certain areas with [[Visigoths|Visigothic]] inheritance laws until the 7th century were favorable to women while all other laws were not.<ref name=":8" /> Before the Christianization of Europe, there was little space for women's consent for marriage and marriage through purchase (or ''Kaufehe'') was actually the civil norm, as opposed to the alternative marriage through capture (or ''Raubehe'').<ref name=":8" /> However Christianity was slow to reach other Baltic and Scandinavian areas with it only reaching King [[Harald Bluetooth]] of Denmark in the year 950 AD.<ref name=":8" /> Those living under [[Norwegians|Norwegian]] and [[Iceland]]ic laws used marriages to forge alliances or create peace, usually without the women's say or consent.<ref name=":8" /> However divorce rights were permitted to women who suffered physical abuse but protections from harm were not given to those termed "wretched" women such as beggars, servants and slave women. Having sex with them through force or without consent usually had no legal consequence or punishment.<ref name=":8" />

During the [[Viking Age]], women had a relatively free status in the Nordic countries of Sweden, Denmark and Norway, illustrated in the Icelandic [[Grágás]] and the Norwegian [[Frostating]] laws and [[Gulating]] laws.<ref name="ReferenceA">Borgström Eva {{in lang|sv}}: Makalösa kvinnor: könsöverskridare i myt och verklighet (Marvelous women : gender benders in myth and reality) Alfabeta/Anamma, Stockholm 2002. {{ISBN|91-501-0191-9}} (inb.). Libris 8707902.</ref>
The paternal aunt, paternal niece and paternal granddaughter, referred to as ''odalkvinna'', all had the right to inherit property from a deceased man.<ref name="ReferenceA"/> In the absence of male relatives, an unmarried woman with no son could, furthermore, inherit not only property, but also the position as head of the family from a deceased father or brother. A woman with such status was referred to as ''[[ringkvinna]]'', and she exercised all the rights afforded to the head of a family clan, such as the right to demand and receive fines for the slaughter of a family member, unless she married, by which her rights were transferred to her husband.<ref name="ReferenceA"/>

After the age of 20, an unmarried woman, referred to as ''maer'' and ''mey'', reached legal majority, had the right to decide her place of residence, and was regarded as her own person before the law.<ref name="ReferenceA"/>
An exception to her independence was the right to choose a marriage partner, as marriages were normally arranged by the clan.<ref>Borgström Eva{{in lang|sv}}: Makalösa kvinnor: könsöverskridare i myt och verklighet (Marvelous women : gender benders in myth and reality) Alfabeta/Anamma, Stockholm 2002. {{ISBN|91-501-0191-9}} (inb.). Libris 8707902.</ref> Widows enjoyed the same independent status as unmarried women.
Women had religious authority and were active as priestesses (''gydja'') and oracles (''sejdkvinna'');<ref name="ReferenceB">Ingelman-Sundberg, Catharina, ''Forntida kvinnor: jägare, vikingahustru, prästinna'' [Ancient women: hunters, viking wife, priestess], Prisma, Stockholm, 2004</ref> within art as poets (''skalder'')<ref name="ReferenceB"/> and [[rune master]]s; and as merchants and medicine women.<ref name="ReferenceB"/> They may also have been active within military office: the stories about [[shieldmaiden]]s are unconfirmed, but some archaeological finds such as the [[Birka female Viking warrior]] may indicate that at least some women in military authority existed. A married woman could divorce her husband and remarry.<ref name="ReferenceC">Ohlander, Ann-Sofie & Strömberg, Ulla-Britt, Tusen svenska kvinnoår: svensk kvinnohistoria från vikingatid till nutid, 3. (A Thousand Swedish Women's Years: Swedish Women's History from the Viking Age until now), [omarb. och utök.] uppl., Norstedts akademiska förlag, Stockholm, 2008</ref>

It was also socially acceptable for a free woman to cohabit with a man and have children with him without marrying him, even if that man was married; a woman in such a position was called ''frilla''.<ref name="ReferenceC"/> There was no distinction made between children born inside or outside of marriage: both had the right to inherit property after their parents, and there were no "legitimate" or "illegitimate" children.<ref name="ReferenceC"/>
These liberties gradually disappeared after the introduction of Christianity, and from the late 13th century, they are no longer mentioned.<ref name="Anamma 2002">Borgström Eva {{in lang|sv}}: ''Makalösa kvinnor: könsöverskridare i myt och verklighet'' (''Marvelous women : genderbenders in myth and reality'') Alfabeta/Anamma, Stockholm 2002. {{ISBN|91-501-0191-9}} (inb.). Libris 8707902.</ref> During the Christian Middle Ages, the [[Medieval Scandinavian law]] applied different laws depending on the local county law, signifying that the status of women could vary depending on which county she was living in.

=== Modern history ===

==== Europe ====

===== 16th and 17th century Europe =====

[[File:Malleus maleficarum, Köln 1520, Titelseite.jpg|thumb|Title page of the seventh [[Cologne]] edition of the ''[[Malleus Maleficarum]]'', 1520 (from the [[University of Sydney Library]]), a book endorsing the [[Witch trials in the early modern period|extermination of witches]]]]
[[File:Witches Being Hanged.jpg|thumb|An image of suspected witches being hanged in England, published in 1655]]
The 16th and 17th centuries saw numerous [[witch trial]]s, which resulted in thousands of people across Europe being executed, of whom 75–95% were women (depending on time and place).<ref name="Mitchell">{{Cite book|title = Killing Women – Gender, Sorcery, and Violence in Late Medieval Germany|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=oUfhZceOsrgC|publisher = GRIN Verlag|date = 1 November 2010|isbn = 9783640741830|first = James|last = Mitchell}}</ref> The executions mostly took place in German-speaking lands, and during the 15th century the terminology "witchcraft" was definitely viewed as something feminine as opposed to prior years.<ref name="Mitchell"/> Famous witchcraft manuals such as the ''[[Malleus Maleficarum]]'' and ''[[Summis desiderantes affectibus|Summis Desiderantes]]'' depicted witches as diabolical conspirators who worshipped Satan and were primarily women. Culture and art at the time depicted these witches as seductive and evil, further fuelling moral panic in fusion with rhetoric from the Church.<ref name="Mitchell"/>

The origin of the female "witch" myth traces back to Roman mythical night creatures known as Strix, who were thought to appear and disappear mysteriously in the night.<ref name="Mitchell"/> They were also believed by many to be of transformed women by their own supernatural powers.<ref name="Mitchell"/> This Roman myth itself is believed to originate from the Jewish Sabbath which described non-supernatural women who would suspiciously leave and return home swiftly during the night.<ref name="Mitchell"/> Authors of the ''Malleus Maleficarum'' strongly established the link between witchcraft and women by proclaiming a greater likelihood for women to be addicted to "evil".<ref name=":9">{{Cite book|title = Women in Late Medieval and Reformation Europe|last = Jewell|first = Helen M.|publisher = Palgrave Macmillan|year = 2007|isbn = 978-0333912577|location = New York|pages = 123–24}}</ref> The authors and inquisitors [[Heinrich Kramer]] and Jacob Sprengerh justified these beliefs by claiming women had greater credulity, impressionability, feeble minds, feeble bodies, impulsivity and carnal natures which were flaws susceptible to "evil" behavior and witchcraft.<ref name=":9" /> These sorts of beliefs at the time could send female hermits or beggars to trials just for offering remedies or herbal medicine.<ref name=":9" /> This set of developed myths eventually lead to the 16–17th century witch trials which found thousands of women burned at the stake.<ref name="Mitchell"/>

By 1500, Europe was divided into two types of secular law.<ref name=":4">{{Cite book|title = The Oxford Encyclopedia of Women in World History: 4 Volume Set|last = Smith|first = Bonnie G|publisher = Oxford University Press|year = 2008|isbn = 978-0-19-514890-9|location = London, UK|pages = [https://archive.org/details/oxfordencycloped0000unse_k2h2/page/428 428–29]|url = https://archive.org/details/oxfordencycloped0000unse_k2h2/page/428}}</ref> One was customary law, which was predominant in northern France, England and Scandinavia, and the other was Roman-based written law, which was predominant in southern France, Italy, Spain and Portugal.<ref name=":4" />

Customary laws favoured men more than women.<ref name=":4" /> For example, inheritance among the elites in Italy, England, Scandinavia and France was passed on to the eldest male heir. In all of the regions, the laws also gave men substantial powers over the lives, property and bodies of their wives.<ref name=":4" /> However, there were some improvements for women as opposed to ancient custom; for example, they could inherit in the absence of their brothers, do certain trades without their husbands, and widows could receive dower.<ref name=":4" />

In areas governed by Roman-based written laws, women were under male guardianship in matters involving property and law,{{Undue weight inline|date=October 2024}} with fathers overseeing daughters, husbands overseeing wives and uncles or male relatives overseeing widows.<ref name=":4" />

Throughout Europe, women's legal status centered around their marital status while marriage itself was the biggest factor in restricting women's autonomy.<ref name=":4" /> Custom, statute and practice not only reduced women's rights and freedoms but prevented single or widowed women from holding public office on the justification that they might one day marry.<ref name=":4" />

According to [[English Common Law]], which developed from the 12th century onward, all property which a wife held at the time of marriage became a possession of her husband. Eventually, English courts forbade a husband's transferring property without the consent of his wife, but he still retained the right to manage it and to receive the money which it produced. French married women suffered from restrictions on their legal capacity which were removed only in 1965.<ref name="Badr-1984">{{cite journal |last1=Badr |first1=Gamal M. |last2=Mayer |first2=Ann Elizabeth |title=Islamic Criminal Justice |journal=The American Journal of Comparative Law |date=1984 |volume=32 |issue=1 |pages=167–169 |doi=10.2307/840274 |jstor=840274 }}</ref> In the 16th century, the [[Protestant Reformation|Reformation]] in Europe allowed more women to add their voices, including the English writers [[Jane Anger]], [[Emilia Lanier|Aemilia Lanyer]], and the prophetess [[Anna Trapnell]]. English and American [[Quakers]] believed that men and women were equal. Many Quaker women were preachers.<ref>W. J. Rorabaugh, Donald T. Critchlow, Paula C. Baker (2004). "''[https://books.google.com/books?id=VL_6X5zWOokC&pg=PA75 America's promise: a concise history of the United States]{{Dead link|date=April 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}''". Rowman & Littlefield. p. 75. {{ISBN|978-0-7425-1189-7}}.</ref> Despite relatively greater freedom for [[Anglo-Saxon women]], until the mid-19th century, writers largely assumed that a [[Patriarchy|patriarchal order]] was a natural order that had always existed.<ref name="Maine">Maine, Henry Sumner. Ancient Law 1861.</ref> This perception was not seriously challenged until the 18th century when [[Jesuit]] missionaries found [[matrilineality]] in native North American peoples.<ref>[[Joseph-François Lafitau|Lafitau, Joseph François]], cited by Campbell, Joseph in, Myth, religion, and mother-right: selected writings of JJ Bachofen. Manheim, R (trans.) Princeton, N.J. 1967 introduction xxxiii</ref>

The philosopher [[John Locke]] opposed marital inequality and the mistreatment of women during this time.<ref name=":11">{{Cite journal|title = Gender and Good Governance in John Locke|url = http://www.ajsih.org/index.php/ajsih/article/view/56|journal = American Journal of Social Issues and Humanities|date = 19 July 2012|issn = 2276-6928|volume = 2|issue = 4|first1 = Ikechukwu|last1 = Anthony|first2 = O. S. A.|last2 = Kanu}}</ref> He was well known for advocating for marital equality among the sexes in his work during the 17th century. According to a study published in the ''American Journal of Social Issues & Humanities,'' the condition for women during Locke's time were as quote:<ref name=":11" />

* English women had fewer grounds for divorce than men until 1923<ref name=":11" />
* Husbands controlled most of their wives' personal property until the [[Married Women's Property Act 1870]] and [[Married Women's Property Act 1882]]<ref name=":11" />
* Children were the husband's property<ref name=":11" />
* Rape was legally impossible within a marriage<ref name=":11" />
* Wives lacked crucial features of legal personhood, since the husband was taken as the representative of the family (thereby eliminating the need for women's suffrage). These legal features of marriage suggest that the idea of a marriage between equals appeared unlikely to most Victorians.<ref name=":11" /> (Quoted from ''Gender and Good Governance in John Locke, American Journal of Social Issues & Humanities Vol 2''<ref name=":11" />)

A paternal society can find prefer to make women's rights a man's duty, for instance under English common law husbands had to maintain their wives. This duty was abolished in 2010.<ref name="UKEqualityAct">{{cite web |title=Equality Act 2010 |url=http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2010/15 |publisher=UK Government Legislation |access-date=22 October 2017 }}</ref><ref name="OldLawsOfEngland">{{cite web |last1=Sir William Blackstone |title=Commentaries on the Laws of England (1765–1769) |url=https://lonang.com/library/reference/blackstone-commentaries-law-england/bla-115 |publisher=Lonang Institute |access-date=22 October 2017 }}</ref>

===== 18th and 19th century Europe =====
{{Further|Women in the Victorian era}}
[[File:Johann Heinrich Füssli 049.jpg|upright=1.1|thumb|alt=Three women sitting around a small table, one sewing, one drinking a cup of what is possibly tea. All three are drawn to look almost horrific. The third woman looks as if she has two heads, but it may be that there are four women. The women's heads do not look like they are comfortable on their bodies. The colors are dark red, black, brown, and almond.|''The Debutante'' (1807) by [[Henry Fuseli]]; The woman, victim of male social conventions, is tied to the wall, made to sew and guarded by governesses. The picture reflects [[Mary Wollstonecraft]]'s views in ''[[A Vindication of the Rights of Woman]]'', published in 1792.<ref>Tomory, Peter. ''The Life and Art of Henry Fuseli.'' New York: Praeger Publishers, 1972; p. 217. {{LCCN|72077546}}.</ref>]]
Starting in the late 18th century, and throughout the 19th century, rights, as a concept and claim, gained increasing political, social, and philosophical importance in Europe. Movements emerged which demanded [[freedom of religion]], the abolition of [[slavery]], rights for women, rights for those who did not own property, and [[universal suffrage]].<ref>{{Cite book| last = Sweet| first = William| title = Philosophical theory and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights| publisher = University of Ottawa Press| year = 2003| page = 4| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=_V_KuJGcJSAC&q=%22natural+law%22+women+%22human+nature%22| isbn =978-0-7766-0558-6 }}</ref> In the late 18th century the question of women's rights became central to political debates in both France and Britain. At the time some of the greatest thinkers of the [[Age of Enlightenment|Enlightenment]], who defended democratic principles of [[Egalitarianism|equality]] and challenged notions that a privileged few should rule over the vast majority of the population, believed that these principles should be applied only to their own gender and their own race. The philosopher [[Jean-Jacques Rousseau]], for example, thought that it was the order of nature for women to obey men.<ref>{{cite book| last = Lauren| first = Paul Gordon| title = The evolution of international human rights: visions seen| publisher = University of Pennsylvania Press| year = 2003| pages = 29–30| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=gHRhWgbWyzMC&q=Declaration+of+the+Rights+of+Man+and+of+the+Citizen| isbn =978-0-8122-1854-1 }}</ref>

In 1754, [[Dorothea Erxleben]] became the first German woman receiving a [[Doctor of Medicine|M.D.]] ([[University of Halle]])<ref name="Offen, K. 2000 p. 43">Offen, K. (2000): ''European Feminisms, 1700-1950: A Political History'' (Stanford University Press), p. 43.</ref>
[[File:Mary Wollstonecraft by John Opie (c. 1797).jpg|thumb|right|[[Mary Wollstonecraft]] by [[John Opie]] (c. 1797)]]
[[File:Minna Canth.jpg|thumb|right|[[Minna Canth]] (1844–1897), a Finnish author and [[social activist]], was one of the most significant European feminists and advocates of women's rights.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://finland.fi/arts-culture/finnish-author-minna-canth-could-and-she-did/|title=Finnish author Minna Canth could, and she did|date=17 March 2017|website=thisisFINLAND}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://finland.fi/arts-culture/finlands-first-feminist-why-minna-canths-writing-is-still-important/|title=Finland's first feminist: Why Minna Canth's writing is still important|date=15 March 2019|website=thisisFINLAND}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://newsnowfinland.fi/arts-culture/day-of-equality-celebrates-minna-canths-legacy|title=Day of Equality celebrates Minna Canth's legacy &#124; News Now Finland|first=News Now|last=Staff|date=19 March 2020}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://blogs.bl.uk/european/2017/05/a-feisty-finnish-feminist-minna-canth-.html|title=A feisty Finnish feminist: Minna Canth – European studies blog|website=blogs.bl.uk}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://allthingsnordic.eu/gender-equality-how-minna-canth-changed-finlands-route/ |title=Gender equality: how Minna Canth changed Finland's route |work=All Things Nordic |date=9 December 2019 |access-date=26 June 2020 |archive-date=29 June 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200629070037/https://allthingsnordic.eu/gender-equality-how-minna-canth-changed-finlands-route/ |url-status=live }}</ref>]]
[[File:DDFC.jpg|upright=1.1|thumb|left|First page of the [[Declaration of the Rights of Woman and of the Female Citizen]]]]
In 1791 the French playwright and political [[Activism|activist]] [[Olympe de Gouges]] published the [[Declaration of the Rights of Woman and of the Female Citizen]],<ref name=MS1112>Macdonald and Scherf, "Introduction", pp. 11–12.</ref> modelled on the [[Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen]] of 1789. The Declaration is ironic in formulation and exposes the failure of the [[French Revolution]], which had been devoted to equality. It states that: "This revolution will only take effect when all women become fully aware of their deplorable condition, and of the rights they have lost in society". The Declaration of the Rights of Woman and the Female Citizen follows the seventeen articles of the [[Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen]] point for point and has been described by Camille Naish as "almost a parody... of the original document". The first article of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen proclaims that "Men are born and remain free and equal in rights. Social distinctions may be based only on common utility." The first article of the Declaration of the Rights of Woman and of the Female Citizen replied: "Woman is born free and remains equal to man in rights. Social distinctions may only be based on common utility". De Gouges expands the sixth article of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, which declared the rights of citizens to take part in the formation of law, to:
[[File:Women suffrage cartoon.png|upright=1.1|thumb|Australian women's rights were lampooned in this 1887 ''Melbourne Punch'' cartoon: A hypothetical female member foists her baby's care on the House Speaker.]]
<blockquote>
All citizens including women are equally admissible to all public dignities, offices and employments, according to their capacity, and with no other distinction than that of their virtues and talents.
</blockquote>
De Gouges also draws attention to the fact that under French law women were fully punishable, yet denied equal rights.<ref>{{cite book |title=Death comes to the maiden: Sex and Execution, 1431–1933 |last=Naish |first=Camille |year=1991 |publisher=Routledge |isbn= 978-0-415-05585-7 |page=137 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=OHYOAAAAQAAJ&q=Declaration+of+the+Rights+of+Woman+and+the+Female+Citizen }}</ref>

[[Mary Wollstonecraft]], a British writer and philosopher, published ''[[A Vindication of the Rights of Woman]]'' in 1792, arguing that it was the education and upbringing of women that created limited expectations.<ref>Brody, Miriam. Mary Wollstonecraft: Sexuality and women's rights (1759–1797), in Spender, Dale (ed.) Feminist theorists: Three centuries of key women thinkers, Pantheon 1983, pp. 40–59 {{ISBN|0-394-53438-7}}.</ref><ref name=Walters>Walters, Margaret, ''Feminism: A very short introduction'' (Oxford, 2005), {{ISBN|978-0-19-280510-2}}.</ref> Wollstonecraft attacked gender oppression, pressing for equal educational opportunities, and demanded "justice!" and "rights to humanity" for all.<ref>{{cite book| last = Lauren| title = The evolution of international human rights: visions seen| publisher = University of Pennsylvania Press| year = 2003| page = 32| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=gHRhWgbWyzMC&q=Declaration+of+the+Rights+of+Man+and+of+the+Citizen| isbn = 978-0-8122-1854-1}}</ref> Wollstonecraft, along with her British contemporaries [[Damaris Cudworth]] and [[Catharine Macaulay]], started to use the language of rights in relation to women, arguing that women should have greater opportunity because like men, they were moral and rational beings.<ref>{{Cite book| last = Sweet| first = William| title = Philosophical theory and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights| publisher = University of Ottawa Press| year = 2003| page = 10| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=_V_KuJGcJSAC&q=%22natural+law%22+women+%22human+nature%22| isbn =978-0-7766-0558-6 }}</ref>
[[Mary Robinson (poet)|Mary Robinson]] wrote in a similar vein in "A Letter to the Women of England, on the Injustice of Mental Subordination.", 1799.

[[File:Mill's logic 1867.jpg|upright=1.15|left|thumb|A ''Punch'' cartoon from 1867 mocking [[John Stuart Mill]]'s attempt to replace the term 'man' with 'person', i.e. give women the right to vote. Caption: Mill's Logic: Or, Franchise for Females. "Pray clear the way, there, for these – a – persons."<ref name="Brave new world – Women's rights">{{cite web| title = Brave new world – Women's rights | publisher = National Archives| url = http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/pathways/citizenship/brave_new_world/women.htm| access-date =15 January 2011 }}</ref>]]
In his 1869 essay "[[The Subjection of Women]]" the English philosopher and political theorist [[John Stuart Mill]] described the situation for women in Britain as follows:
<blockquote>
We are continually told that civilization and Christianity have restored to the woman her just rights. Meanwhile, the wife is the actual bondservant of her husband; no less so, as far as the legal obligation goes, than slaves commonly so called.</blockquote>

Then a member of parliament, Mill argued that women deserve the [[right to vote]], though his proposal to replace the term "man" with "person" in the second [[Reform Bill of&nbsp;1867]] was greeted with laughter in the [[House of Commons of the United Kingdom|House of Commons]] and defeated by 76&nbsp;to&nbsp;196 votes. His arguments won little support amongst contemporaries<ref name="Brave new world – Women's rights"/> but his attempt to amend the reform bill generated greater attention for the issue of women's suffrage in Britain.<ref name=suffrage/> Initially only one of several women's rights campaigns, suffrage became the primary cause of the British women's movement at the beginning of the 20th century.<ref>{{cite book |title=The women's suffrage movement in Britain, 1866–1928 |last=Van Wingerden |first=Sophia A. |year=1999 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |isbn= 978-0-312-21853-9 |pages=1–2 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=0oLxK_NHI6kC }}</ref> At the time, the ability to vote was restricted to wealthy [[Property law|property owners]] within British jurisdictions. This arrangement implicitly excluded women as [[property law]] and [[marriage law]] gave men ownership rights at marriage or inheritance until the 19th century. Although male suffrage broadened during the century, women were explicitly prohibited from voting nationally and locally in the 1830s by the [[Reform Act 1832]] and the [[Municipal Corporations Act 1835]].<ref name=X>Phillips, Melanie, ''The Ascent of Woman: A History of the Suffragette Movement'' (Abacus, 2004)</ref> [[Millicent Fawcett]] and [[Emmeline Pankhurst]] led the public campaign on women's suffrage and in 1918 a bill was passed allowing women over the age of 30 to vote.<ref name="X" />

By the 1860s, the economic sexual politics of middle-class women in Britain and its neighboring Western European countries was guided by factors such as the evolution of 19th century [[Consumerism|consumer]] culture. While women, particularly those in the middle class, obtained modest control of daily household expenses and had the ability to leave the house, attend social events, and shop for personal and household items, Europe's socioeconomic climate pervaded the ideology that women were not in complete control over their urges to spend (assuming) their husband or father's wages. As a result, many advertisements for socially 'feminine' goods revolved around upward social progression, [[exoticism]]s from the [[Orient]], and added efficiency for household roles women were deemed responsible for.<ref name="Lysack, Krista 2008">Lysack, Krista. Come buy, come buy: shopping and the culture of consumption in Victorian women's writing. n.p.: Athens : Ohio University Press, c2008., 2008.</ref><ref>Rappaport, Erika Diane. Shopping for pleasure: women in the making of London's West End. n.p.: Princeton, NJ : Princeton University Press, c2000., 2000.</ref>

===== Russia =====

By law and custom, Muscovite Russia was a patriarchal society that subordinated women to men, and the young to their elders. [[Peter the Great]] relaxed the second custom, but not the subordination of women.<ref name=":3">{{Cite book|title = The Oxford Encyclopedia of Women in World History: 4 Volume Set|last = Smith|first = Bonnie G|publisher = Oxford University Press|year = 2008|isbn = 978-0-19-514890-9|location = London, UK|pages = [https://archive.org/details/oxfordencycloped0000unse_k2h2/page/443 443–44]|url = https://archive.org/details/oxfordencycloped0000unse_k2h2/page/443}}</ref> A decree of 1722 explicitly forbade any forced marriages by requiring both bride and groom to consent, while parental permission still remained a requirement. But during Peter's reign, only the man could get rid of his wife by putting her in a nunnery.<ref name=":3" />

In terms of laws, there were double standards for women. Adulterous wives were sentenced to forced labor, while men who murdered their wives were merely flogged.<ref name=":3" /> After the death of Peter the Great, laws and customs pertaining to men's marital authority over their wives increased.<ref name=":3" /> In 1782, civil law reinforced women's responsibility to obey their husbands.<ref name=":3" /> By 1832, the Digest of laws changed this obligation into "unlimited obedience".<ref name=":3" />

In the 18th century, the Russian orthodox church further got its authority over marriage and banned priests from granting divorce, even for severely abused wives.<ref name=":3" /> By 1818, the Russian senate had also forbade the separation of married couples.<ref name=":3" />

During [[World War I]], caring for children was increasingly difficult for women, many of whom could not support themselves, and whose husbands had died or were fighting in the war. Many women had to give up their children to children's homes infamous for abuse and neglect. These children's homes were unofficially dubbed as "angel factories". After the [[October Revolution]], the Bolsheviks shut down an infamous angel factory known as the 'Nikolaev Institute' situated near the Moika Canal. The Bolsheviks then replaced the Nikolaev Institute with a modern maternity home called the 'Palace for Mothers and Babies'. This maternity home was used by the [[Bolsheviks]] as a model for future maternity hospitals. The countess who ran the old Institute was moved to a side wing, however she spread rumours that the Bolsheviks had removed sacred pictures, and that the nurses were promiscuous with sailors. The maternity hospital was burnt down hours before it was scheduled to open, and the countess was suspected of being responsible.<ref>{{cite book |last=Porter |first=Cathy |date=1987 |title=Women in Revolutionary Russia |location=Great Britain|publisher=Cambridge University Press |page=39 |isbn=0-521-31969-2}}</ref>

Russian women had restrictions in owning property until the mid 18th century.<ref name=":3" /> Women's rights had improved after the rise of the [[Soviet Union]] under the Bolsheviks.<ref name=":3" />

Under the Bolsheviks, Russia became the first country in human history to provide free abortions to women in state-run hospitals.<ref name="Porter 1987 43">{{cite book |last= Porter |first= Cathy |date= 1987 |title= Women in Revolutionary Russia |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=9Wu1AAAAIAAJ |location= Cambridge |publisher= Cambridge University Press |page= 43 |isbn= 0-521-31969-2 }}</ref>

==== North America ====

===== Canada =====

[[File:The Valiant Five Statue.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|Statue in [[downtown Calgary]] of the [[The Famous Five (Canada)|Famous Five]]. An identical statue exists on [[Parliament Hill]], [[Ottawa]].]]
[[Women's rights in Canada|Women's rights activism in Canada]] during the 19th and early 20th centuries focused on increasing women's role in public life, with goals including women's suffrage, increased property rights, increased access to education, and recognition of women as "persons" under the law.<ref name="Prentice1988">{{cite book | title=Canadian Women: A History | isbn=0774731125 | publisher=Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich | author=Prentice, Alison | year=1988 | display-authors=etal | url-access=registration | url=https://archive.org/details/canadianwomenhis0006unse }}</ref> [[The Famous Five (Canada)|The Famous Five]] were five Canadian women – [[Emily Murphy]], [[Irene Parlby|Irene Marryat Parlby]], [[Nellie McClung|Nellie Mooney McClung]], [[Louise McKinney|Louise Crummy McKinney]] and [[Henrietta Muir Edwards]] – who, in 1927, asked the [[Supreme Court of Canada]] to answer the question, "Does the word 'Persons' in Section 24 of the [[Constitution Act, 1867|British North America Act, 1867]], include female persons?" in the case ''[[Edwards v. Canada (Attorney General)]].''<ref name=Brennan>{{cite book| first=Brian| last=Brennan| title=Alberta Originals: Stories of Albertans Who Made a Difference| year=2001| publisher=Fifth House| page=[https://archive.org/details/albertaoriginals0000bren/page/14 14]| isbn=978-1-894004-76-3| url=https://archive.org/details/albertaoriginals0000bren/page/14}}</ref> After Canada's Supreme Court summarized its unanimous decision that women are not such "persons", the judgment was appealed and overturned in 1929 by the British [[Judicial Committee of the Privy Council|Judicial Committee of the Imperial Privy Council]], at that time the [[court of last resort]] for Canada.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bailii.org/uk/cases/UKPC/1929/1929_86.html|title=Henrietta Muir Edwards and others (Appeal No. 121 of 1928) v The Attorney General of Canada (Canada) [1929] UKPC 86 (18 October 1929)|work=bailii.org|access-date=8 October 2015}}</ref>

===== United States =====
{{Further|Timeline of women's legal rights in the United States (other than voting)}}
The [[Women's Christian Temperance Union]] (WCTU) was established in 1873 and championed women's rights, including advocating for prostitutes and for [[women's suffrage]].<ref name="MarionOliver2014">{{cite book |last1=Marion |first1=Nancy E. |last2=Oliver |first2=Willard M. |title=Drugs in American Society: An Encyclopedia of History, Politics, Culture, and the Law |date=2014 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=9781610695961 |page=963 |language=en}}</ref> Women had access to legal handbooks specific for women such as "Every woman her own lawyer: a private guide in all matters of law" (1858) by George Bishop, which informed women of how to deal with property, marriage, divorce, violence, children, abandonment, economic issues, assets, etc.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Bishop |first1=George |title=Every Woman Her Own Lawyer : A Private Guide in all matters of Law, of essential interest to women |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=osu.32437122561133&seq=7 |website=HathiTrust - Ohio State University |publisher=Dick and Fitzgerald Publishers |language=en |date=1858}}</ref>

==== Asia ====

===== Japan =====
{{Main|Women in Japan}}
[[File:"Round the world." - Letters from Japan, China, India, and Egypt (1872) (14586355839).jpg|thumb|upright=0.7|Mother and child, 1872]]
The extent to which women could participate in [[Japanese society]] has varied over time and social classes. In the 8th century, Japan had women emperors, and in the 12th century ([[Heian period]]) women in Japan occupied a relatively high status, although still subordinated to men.
From the late [[Edo period]], the status of women declined. In the 17th century, the "[[Onna Daigaku]]", or "Learning for Women", by [[Confucianism|Confucianist]] author [[Kaibara Ekken]], spelled out expectations for Japanese women, lowering significantly their status.<ref name=Ekken>{{cite book|last1=Ekken|first1=Kaibara|title=Onna Daigaku A Treasure Box of Women's Learning.|date=2010|publisher=Gardners Books|isbn=978-0955979675|url=https://archive.org/stream/womenwisdomofjap00kaib/womenwisdomofjap00kaib_djvu.txt}}</ref>
During the [[Meiji period]], industrialization and urbanization reduced the authority of fathers and husbands, but at the same time the Meiji Civil Code of 1898 denied women legal rights and subjugated them to the will of household heads.<ref name="Womeninworldhistory">{{cite web|url=http://www.womeninworldhistory.com/WR-04.html|title=Meiji Reforms – Kishida Toshiko, (1863–1901) – Japan – Primary Source|website=womeninworldhistory.com}}</ref>

From the mid-20th century the status of women improved greatly. Although Japan is often considered a very conservative country, it was in fact earlier than many European countries in giving women legal rights in the 20th century, as the 1947 [[Constitution of Japan]] provided a legal framework favorable to the advancement of women's equality in Japan. Japan for instance enacted women's suffrage in 1946, earlier than several European countries such as [[Switzerland]] (1971 at federal level; 1990 on local issues in the canton of [[Appenzell Innerrhoden]]), [[Portugal]] (1976 on equal terms with men, with restrictions since 1931), [[San Marino]] in 1959, [[Monaco]] in 1962, [[Andorra]] in 1970, and [[Liechtenstein]] in 1984.<ref name="auto">{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/womanshour/timeline/votes_to_women.shtml|title=Radio 4 Woman's Hour – Timeline:When women got the vote|publisher=BBC|access-date=8 October 2015}}</ref><ref name="auto1">{{cite book |title=Voter Turnout in Western Europe Since 1945: A Regional Report |author1=Rafael López Pintor |author2=Maria Gratschew |author3=Tim Bittiger |publisher=International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance |year=2004 |isbn=978-9185391004 }}</ref>

===== Central Asia =====

[[Central Asia]]n cultures largely remain patriarchal, however, since the fall of the former Soviet Union, the secular societies of the region have become more progressive to women's roles outside the traditional construct of being wholly subservient to men.<ref name="Zirin">{{cite book|last1=Zirin|first1=Mary|title=Women and Gender in Central and Eastern Europe, Russia, and Eurasia|date=2015|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1317451969|page=2120|edition=Vol 1}}</ref> In Mongolia, more women than men complete school and are higher earners as result.<ref name="earners">{{cite web|title=Beyond the Glass Ceiling: Expanding Female Leadership in Mongolian Politics and Businesses|url=http://www.mn.undp.org/content/mongolia/en/home/presscenter/articles/2016/10/31/beyond-the-glass-ceiling-expanding-female-leadership-in-mongolian-politics-and-businesses.html|website=UNDP|access-date=2 November 2017|archive-date=21 April 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220421074543/https://www.mn.undp.org/content/mongolia/en/home/presscenter/articles/2016/10/31/beyond-the-glass-ceiling-expanding-female-leadership-in-mongolian-politics-and-businesses.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> The UN Development Programme notes "significant progress" in gender equality in Kazakhstan but discrimination persists.<ref name="Conkievich">{{cite web|title=Statement on International women's day by UN Resident Coordinator in the Republic of Kazakhstan, Mr. Norimasa Shimomura and Representative of UN Women in Central Asia Mrs. Elaine Conkievich|url=http://www.kz.undp.org/content/kazakhstan/en/home/presscenter/speeches/2016/03/07/statement-on-international-women-s-day-by-un-resident-coordinator-in-the-republic-of-kazakhstan-mr-norimasa-shimomura-and-representative-of-un-women-in-central-asia-mrs-elaine-conkievich.html|website=UNDP|publisher=UN Development Programme|access-date=2 November 2017|archive-date=26 July 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210726165732/https://www.kz.undp.org/content/kazakhstan/en/home/presscenter/speeches/2016/03/07/statement-on-international-women-s-day-by-un-resident-coordinator-in-the-republic-of-kazakhstan-mr-norimasa-shimomura-and-representative-of-un-women-in-central-asia-mrs-elaine-conkievich.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> [[Marriage by abduction]] remains a serious problem in this region; the practice of bride kidnapping is prevalent in [[Kyrgyzstan]],<ref>Human Rights Watch, ''Reconciled to Violence''</ref> [[Kazakhstan]],<ref>Werner, Cynthia, "[http://www.cynthiawerner.com/uploads/2/2/0/6/22066332/2004_werner_-_women_marriage_nation-state.pdf Women, marriage, and the nation-state: the rise of nonconsensual bride kidnapping in post-Soviet Kazakhstan] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160306155726/http://cynthiawerner.com/uploads/2/2/0/6/22066332/2004_werner_-_women_marriage_nation-state.pdf |date=6 March 2016 }}", in ''The Transformation of Central Asia''. Pauline Jones Luong, ed.  Ithaca, New York: [[Cornell University Press]], 2004, pp. 59–89</ref> [[Turkmenistan]],<ref>United Nations Population Fund, [https://wayback.archive-it.org/all/20070817041522/http://www.unfpa.org/16days/documents/pl_bridenapping_factsheet.doc "Bride Kidnapping Fact Sheet"]</ref> and [[Karakalpakstan]], an autonomous region of [[Uzbekistan]].<ref>[http://www.wluml.org/english/newsfulltxt.shtml?cmd&#91;157&#93;=x-157-64561 "Uzbekistan: No love lost in Karakalpak bride thefts"], wluml.org. {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090114065216/http://www.wluml.org/english/newsfulltxt.shtml?cmd |date=14 January 2009 }}</ref>

==== Oceania ====

===== Australia =====

[[File:Catherine Helen Spence.jpg|thumb|left|upright=0.65|Australia's first female political candidate, [[South Australia]]n suffragette [[Catherine Helen Spence]] (1825–1910)]]
The history of [[women's rights in Australia]] is a contradictory one: while Australia led the world in women's suffrage rights in the 19th century, it has been very slow in recognizing women's professional rights – it was not until 1966 that its [[marriage bar]] was removed.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://lrrpublic.cli.det.nsw.edu.au/lrrSecure/Sites/Web/pre_liberation/other/restrictions_pop.htm | title=Pre -'liberation' – Restrictions | access-date=9 July 2017 | archive-date=23 August 2018 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180823111530/http://lrrpublic.cli.det.nsw.edu.au/lrrSecure/Sites/Web/pre_liberation/other/restrictions_pop.htm | url-status=dead }}</ref> On the other hand, reforms which allowed women both to vote and stand for office in [[South Australia]] in the late 19th century were a cornerstone for women's political rights in other parts of the world. In this regard, Australia differs from other cultures, in that women's suffrage in Australia was one of the earliest objectives of the feminist movement there (beginning with South Australia and Western Australia) unlike other cultures, such as Eastern European cultures, where at the turn of the 20th century the feminist movement focused on [[labour rights]], access to professions and education, rather than political rights. To this day, Australia has a quite low percentage of women in business executive roles compared to other countries with equivalent corporate structures.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://theconversation.com/australian-firms-trail-world-for-women-in-top-roles-11008 | title=Australian firms trail world for women in top roles|website=[[The Conversation (website)|The Conversation]]|first=Sunanda |last=Creagh| date=27 November 2012}}</ref>

== Core concepts ==

=== Equal employment ===

[[File:Elizabeth Blackwell.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|[[Elizabeth Blackwell]] was the first woman to receive a medical degree in the [[United States]], as well as the first woman on the [[UK Medical Register]].]]
{{Further|Employment discrimination law in the European Union}}
[[Labour law|Employment rights]] for women include non-discriminatory access of women to jobs and [[equal pay]]. The rights of women and men to have equal pay and equal benefits for equal work were openly denied by the [[British Hong Kong]] Government up to the early 1970s. Leslie Wah-Leung Chung (鍾華亮, 1917–2009), President of the Hong Kong Chinese Civil Servants' Association 香港政府華員會<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.hkccsa.org/ |title=香港政府華員會 |publisher=Hkccsa.org |access-date=9 December 2013}}</ref> (1965–68), contributed to the establishment of equal pay for men and women, including the right for married women to be permanent employees. Before this, the job status of a woman changed from permanent employee to temporary employee once she was married, thus losing the pension benefit. Some of them even lost their jobs. Since nurses were mostly women, this improvement of the rights of married women meant much to the nursing profession.<ref name="RebeccaChan" /><ref name="torontosun">{{cite news|url=http://m.torontosun.com/2012/04/06/celebrating-two-lives-well-lived|title=Celebrating two lives well lived|first=Laura |last=Pedersen  |newspaper=Toronto Sun|access-date=24 September 2014|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120716175556/http://m.torontosun.com/2012/04/06/celebrating-two-lives-well-lived|archive-date=16 July 2012|date=2012-04-06}}</ref><ref name="ottawasun">{{cite web|url=http://www.ottawasun.com/videos/celebrating-two-lives-well-lived/1550780688001|title=Celebrating two lives well lived : Featured OTT : Videos|publisher=ottawasun.com|date=6 April 2012|access-date=24 September 2014|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150704133812/http://www.ottawasun.com/videos/celebrating-two-lives-well-lived/1550780688001|archive-date=4 July 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=Connor |first=Kevin |url=http://www.torontosun.com/2012/04/07/life-love-and-service-recalled |title=Life, love and service &#124; Toronto & GTA  |newspaper=Toronto Sun |date=7 April 2012 |access-date=9 December 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://news.singtao.ca/toronto/2012-04-08/city1333873203d3799095.html |title=曾參與二戰及香港保衛戰華裔夫婦.加美軍方墓前致最高敬意_星島日報_加拿大多倫多中文新聞網。 Canada Toronto Chinese newspaper |work=Sing Tao Daily |access-date=9 December 2013 |archive-date=4 October 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131004233037/http://news.singtao.ca/toronto/2012-04-08/city1333873203d3799095.html |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://epapertor.worldjournal.com/showtor.html?apJi+mgEEOB3Bg1Fmi3TsQ==,MMV3f+xDb0CKYCyOu+WesQ== |title=世界日報電子報 – World Journal ePaper |publisher=Epapertor.worldjournal.com |access-date=9 December 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130812123852/http://epapertor.worldjournal.com/showtor.html?apJi+mgEEOB3Bg1Fmi3TsQ==,MMV3f+xDb0CKYCyOu+WesQ== |archive-date=12 August 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.mingpaotor.com/htm/News/20120408/tfc1.htm |title=明報新聞網海外版 – 加東版(多倫多) – Canada Toronto Chinese Newspaper – 社區新聞 |publisher=Mingpaotor.com |access-date=9 December 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130812061427/http://www.mingpaotor.com/htm/News/20120408/tfc1.htm |archive-date=12 August 2013}}</ref> In some European countries, married women could not work without the consent of their husbands until a few decades ago, for example in [[France]] until 1965<ref name=Guillaumin>{{cite book |last=Guillaumin|first=Colette|year=1994 |title=Racism, Sexism, Power, and Ideology |pages=193–95}}</ref><ref name=Meltzer>{{cite book |last=Meltzer |first=Françoise |year=1995 |title=Hot Property: The Stakes and Claims of Literary Originality |url=https://archive.org/details/hotpropertystake00melt |url-access=registration |page=[https://archive.org/details/hotpropertystake00melt/page/88 88]|publisher=University of Chicago Press |isbn=9780226519753 }}</ref> and in [[Spain]] until 1975.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://countrystudies.us/spain/43.htm|title=Spain – SOCIAL VALUES AND ATTITUDES|work=countrystudies.us|access-date=8 October 2015}}</ref> In addition, [[marriage bar]]s, a practice adopted from the late 19th century to the 1970s across many countries, including Austria, Australia, Ireland, Canada, and Switzerland, restricted married women from employment in many professions.<ref>{{cite journal|jstor=23196053|journal=Saothar|volume=12|pages=47–52|last1=O'Leary|first1=Eoin|title=The Irish National Teachers' Organisation and the Marriage Bar for Women National Teachers, 1933-1958 |year=1987}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/standard/history/scotland_britain_1880_now/employment_women/revision/3/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130407225413/http://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/standard/history/scotland_britain_1880_now/employment_women/revision/3/|url-status=dead|archive-date=7 April 2013|title=Standard Grade Bitesize History – Women and work : Revision, p. 3|publisher=BBC|access-date=8 October 2015}}</ref>

A key issue towards insuring gender equality in the workplace is the respecting of [[maternity rights]] and [[reproductive rights]] of women.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.fawcettsociety.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/Modern-Workplaces-Policy-Position-November-2012.pdf |title=Modern workplaces, maternity rights, and gender equality |access-date=2016-04-26 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160509134200/http://www.fawcettsociety.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/Modern-Workplaces-Policy-Position-November-2012.pdf |archive-date=9 May 2016}}</ref> [[Maternity leave]] (and [[paternity leave]] in some countries) and [[parental leave]] are temporary periods of absence from employment granted immediately before and after childbirth in order to support the mother's full recovery and grant time to care for the baby.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Baker |first1=Michael |last2=Milligan |first2=Kevin |title=How Does Job-Protected Maternity Leave Affect Mothers' Employment? |journal=Journal of Labor Economics |date=October 2008 |volume=26 |issue=4 |pages=655–691 |doi=10.1086/591955 |s2cid=154669761 }}</ref>
Different countries have different rules regarding maternity leave, paternity leave and parental leave. In the [[European Union]] (EU) the policies vary significantly by country, but the EU members must abide by the minimum standards of the [[Pregnant Workers Directive]] and [[Directive (EU) 2019/1158|Work–Life Balance Directive]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://ec.europa.eu/info/aid-development-cooperation-fundamental-rights/your-rights-eu/know-your-rights/equality_en|title=Equality|website=European Commission – European Commission|language=en|access-date=2019-06-17}}</ref>

=== Right to vote ===
{{Main|Women's suffrage}}
[[File:Votingwomen.jpg|thumb|left|Women standing in line to vote in Bangladesh]]
[[File:Alice paul.jpg|thumb|Strategist and activist [[Alice Paul]] guided and ran much of the Suffrage movement in the U.S. in the 1910s.]]
[[File:National Association Against Woman Suffrage.jpg|thumb|left|Headquarters of the National Association Opposed to Woman Suffrage, United States, early 20th century]]
[[File:Gleiche Rechte Gleiche Pflichten, social democrat party poster 1919.jpg|thumb|1919 election poster, German social democrats. "Frauen! Gleiche Rechte, Gleiche Pflichten" ("Women! The same rights, the same duties")]]
During the 19th century, some women began to ask for, demand, and then agitate and demonstrate for the [[right to vote]] – the right to participate in their government and its law-making.<ref name=Krolokke>Krolokke, Charlotte and Anne Scott Sorensen, 'From Suffragettes to Grrls' in Gender Communication Theories and Analyses: From Silence to Performance (Sage, 2005).</ref> Other women opposed suffrage, like [[Helen Kendrick Johnson]], who argued in the 1897 pamphlet ''Woman and the Republic'' that women could achieve legal and economic equality without having the vote.<ref>{{cite book |title=Feminism's Founding Fathers: The Men Who Fought for Women's Rights|author=Kaevan Gazdar|publisher= John Hunt Publishing |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xznaDAAAQBAJ&q=Helen+Kendrick+Johnson+women%27s+rights&pg=PT66|year=2016 |isbn=978-1-78099-161-0}}</ref> The ideals of [[women's suffrage]] developed alongside that of [[universal suffrage]] and today women's suffrage is considered a right (under the [[Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women]]). During the 19th century, the right to vote was gradually extended in many countries, and women started to campaign for their right to vote. In 1893 New Zealand became the first country to give women the right to vote on a national level. Australia gave women the right to vote in 1902.<ref name=suffrage>{{cite web |title=Women's Suffrage |url=http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/article/womenx2019s-suffrage |publisher=Scholastic |access-date=8 October 2015}}</ref>

A number of [[Nordic countries]] gave women the right to vote in the early 20th century – Finland (1906), Norway (1913), Denmark and Iceland (1915). With the end of the First World War many other countries followed – the [[Netherlands]] (1917), [[Austria]], [[Azerbaijan Democratic Republic|Azerbaijan]],<ref>[[Tadeusz Swietochowski]]. ''Russia and Azerbaijan: A Borderland in Transition''. Columbia University Press, 1995. {{ISBN|978-0-231-07068-3}} and Reinhard Schulze. A Modern History of the Islamic World. I.B.Tauris, 2000. {{ISBN|978-1-86064-822-9}}.</ref> [[Canada]], [[Czechoslovakia]], [[Georgia (country)|Georgia]], [[Poland]] and [[Sweden]] (1918), [[Germany]] and [[Luxembourg]] (1919), [[Turkey]] (1934), and the [[United States]] (1920).<ref>{{Cite web|date=2016-01-25|title=19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution: Women's Right to Vote|url=https://www.archives.gov/historical-docs/19th-amendment|access-date=2021-11-18|website=National Archives|language=en}}</ref> Late adopters in Europe were [[Greece]] in 1952, [[Switzerland]] (1971 at federal level; 1959–1991 on local issues at canton level), [[Portugal]] (1976 on equal terms with men, with restrictions since 1931) as well as the [[microstates]] of [[San Marino]] in 1959, [[Monaco]] in 1962, [[Andorra]] in 1970, and [[Liechtenstein]] in 1984.<ref name="auto"/><ref name="auto1"/>

In Canada, most provinces enacted women's suffrage between 1917 and 1919, late adopters being [[Prince Edward Island]] in 1922, [[Newfoundland]] in 1925 and [[Quebec]] in 1940.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.parl.gc.ca/Parlinfo/Compilations/ProvinceTerritory/ProvincialWomenRightToVote.aspx|title=Women's Right to Vote in Canada|work=parl.gc.ca|access-date=8 October 2015}}</ref>

In Latin America some countries gave women the right to vote in the first half of the 20th century – [[Ecuador]] (1929), [[Brazil]] (1932), [[El Salvador]] (1939), [[Dominican Republic]] (1942), [[Guatemala]] (1956) and [[Argentina]] (1946). In [[India]], under colonial rule, universal suffrage was granted in 1935. Other Asian countries gave women the right to vote in the mid-20th century – [[Japan]] (1945), [[China]] (1947) and [[Indonesia]] (1955). In Africa, women generally got the right to vote along with men through universal suffrage – [[Liberia]] (1947), [[Uganda]] (1958) and [[Nigeria]] (1960). In many countries in the Middle East universal suffrage was acquired after World War II, although in others, such as [[Kuwait]], suffrage is very limited.<ref name=suffrage/> On 16 May 2005, the Parliament of Kuwait extended suffrage to women by a 35–23 vote.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/meast/05/16/kuwait.women/index.html |title="Kuwait grants women right to vote" CNN.com (May 16, 2005) |publisher=CNN |date=16 May 2005 |access-date=30 August 2011}}</ref>

=== Property rights ===

During the 19th century some women, such as [[Ernestine Rose]], [[Paulina Wright Davis]], [[Elizabeth Cady Stanton]], [[Harriet Beecher Stowe]], in the United States and Britain began to challenge laws that denied them the [[Women's property rights|right to their property]] once they married. Under the common law doctrine of ''[[coverture]]'' husbands gained control of their wives' real estate and wages. Beginning in the 1840s, state legislatures in the United States<ref>{{cite web |url=http://womenshistory.about.com/od/marriedwomensproperty/a/property_1848ny.htm |title=Married Women's Property Act &#124; New York State |publisher=Womenshistory.about.com |access-date=30 August 2011 |archive-date=23 December 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161223184115/http://womenshistory.about.com/od/marriedwomensproperty/a/property_1848ny.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref> and the British Parliament<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.umd.umich.edu/casl/hum/eng/classes/434/geweb/PROPERTY.htm |title=Property Rights of Women |publisher=Umd.umich.edu |access-date=30 August 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120805171942/http://www.umd.umich.edu/casl/hum/eng/classes/434/geweb/PROPERTY.htm |archive-date=5 August 2012}}</ref> began passing statutes that protected women's property from their husbands and their husbands' creditors. These laws were known as the [[Married Women's Property Acts in the United States|Married Women's Property Acts]].<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|url=http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/366305/Married-Womens-Property-Acts |title=Married Women's Property Acts (United States [1839&#93;)&nbsp;– Britannica Online Encyclopedia |encyclopedia=Britannica.com |access-date=30 August 2011}}</ref> Courts in the 19th-century United States also continued to require privy examinations of married women who sold their property. A [[privy examination]] was a practice in which a married woman who wished to sell her property had to be separately examined by a judge or justice of the peace outside of the presence of her husband and asked if her husband was pressuring her into signing the document.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Braukman |first1=Stacy Lorraine |last2=Ross |first2=Michael A. (Michael Anthony) |title=Married Women's Property and Male Coercion: United States Courts and the Privy Examination, 1864–1887 |journal=Journal of Women's History |date=2000 |volume=12 |issue=2 |pages=57–80 |id={{Project MUSE|17300}} |doi=10.1353/jowh.2000.0035 |s2cid=144788908 }}</ref> Property rights for women continued to be restricted in many European countries until legal reforms of the 1960-70s. For example, in [[West Germany]], the law pertaining to rural farm succession favored male heirs until 1963.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.loc.gov/law/help/inheritance-laws/germany.php|title=Germany: Inheritance Laws in the 19th and 20th Centuries|last=Palmer|first=Edith|date=2015-09-06|website=loc.gov|access-date=2019-06-17}}</ref> In the US, [[Head and master]] laws, which gave sole control of marital property to the husband, were common until a few decades ago. The Supreme Court, in ''[[Kirchberg v. Feenstra]]'' (1981), declared such laws unconstitutional.

=== Freedom of movement ===

[[File:A Chinese Golden Lily Foot, Lai Afong, c1870s.jpg|thumb|left|Woman with [[Foot binding|bound feet]], 1870s]]
[[File:Afghan lady in Kabul.jpg|thumb|upright=0.9|right|''Ladies of [[Kabul|Caubul]]'' (Kabul, Afghanistan) showing the lifting of [[purdah]] in [[zenana]] areas – 1848 lithograph by James Rattray, Oriental and India Office Collection, British Library]]
[[Freedom of movement]] is an essential right, recognized by international instruments, including Article 15 (4) of [[CEDAW]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/cedaw/text/econvention.htm |title=Full text of the Convention in English |access-date=20 September 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110406123853/http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/cedaw/text/econvention.htm |archive-date=6 April 2011 |url-status=dead}}</ref> Nevertheless, in many regions of the world, women have this right severely restricted, in law or in practice. For instance, in some countries women may not leave the home without a male guardian,<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/24691034|title=Why can't women drive in Saudi Arabia?|publisher=BBC|access-date=2019-06-17}}</ref> or without the consent of the husband – for example the personal law of [[Yemen]] states that a wife must obey her husband and must not get out of the home without his consent.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrc/docs/ngos/Yemen%27s%20darkside-discrimination_Yemen_HRC101.pdf |title=Layout copy 6 |access-date=2019-12-16}}</ref> Even in countries which do not have legal restrictions, women's movement may be prevented in practice by social and religious norms such as [[purdah]]. Laws restricting women from travelling existed until relatively recently in some Western countries: until 1983, in [[Australia]] the passport application of a married woman had to be authorized by her husband.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.passports.gov.au/Web/passport_history.aspx|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060614171552/http://www.passports.gov.au/Web/passport_history.aspx|archive-date=2006-06-14|title=The History of Passports in Australia|date=2006-06-14|access-date=2019-06-17}}</ref>

Several Middle Eastern countries also follow the [[Wali (Islamic legal guardian)|male guardianship system]] in the modern era, where women are required to seek permission from the male family member for several things, including traveling to other nations. In August 2019, [[Saudi Arabia]] ended its male guardianship laws, allowing women to travel by themselves.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-saudi-women/saudi-arabia-implements-end-to-travel-restrictions-for-saudi-women-agency-idUKKCN1VA1ON|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190820164006/https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-saudi-women/saudi-arabia-implements-end-to-travel-restrictions-for-saudi-women-agency-idUKKCN1VA1ON|url-status=dead|archive-date=20 August 2019|title=Saudi Arabia implements end to travel restrictions for Saudi women – agency|access-date=20 August 2019|work=Reuters}}</ref>

Various practices have been used historically to restrict women's freedom of movement, such as [[foot binding]], the custom of applying painfully tight binding to the feet of young Chinese girls, which was common between the 10th and 20th centuries.

Women's freedom of movement may be restricted by laws, but it may also be restricted by attitudes towards women in public spaces. In areas where it is not socially accepted for women to leave the home, women who are outside may face abuse such as insults, sexual harassment and violence.
Many of the restrictions on women's freedom of movement are framed as measures to "protect" women.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.empowerwomen.org/en/who-we-are/news/2016/2/freedom-of-movement-and-womens-economic-empowerment|title=Empower Women – Freedom of movement and women's economic empowerment|website=EmpowerWomen|date=2 February 2016 |language=en|access-date=2019-06-17}}</ref>

=== Informing women about their legal rights ===

The lack of legal knowledge among many women, especially in developing countries, is a major obstacle to the improvement of women's situation. International bodies, such as the United Nations, have stated that the obligation of states does not only consist in passing relevant laws, but also in informing women about the existence of such laws, in order to enable them to seek justice and realize in practice their rights. Therefore, states must popularize the laws, and explain them clearly to the public, in order to prevent ignorance, or misconceptions originating in [[myth|popular myth]]s, about the laws. The United Nations Development Programme states that, in order to advance gender justice, "Women must know their rights and be able to access legal systems",<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.undp.org/content/dam/undp/library/crisis%20prevention/undp-cpr-8-point-agenda-practical-positive-outcomes-girls-women-crisis.pdf |title=Eight point agenda |publisher=undp.org |access-date=2019-12-16 |archive-date=17 May 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180517093148/http://www.undp.org/content/dam/undp/library/crisis%20prevention/undp-cpr-8-point-agenda-practical-positive-outcomes-girls-women-crisis.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref> and the 1993 UN Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women indicates that "States should also inform women of their rights in seeking redress through such mechanisms".<ref name="un-documents.net">{{cite web|url=http://www.un-documents.net/a48r104.htm|title=A/RES/48/104 – Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women – UN Documents: Gathering a body of global agreements|website=un-documents.net|access-date=2019-06-17}}</ref>

=== Discrimination ===

The United Nations Working Group on business and human rights (WGBHR) has stated that [[discrimination]] against women has historically been rooted in [[patriarchal]] social norms and power structures.<ref name="Nissen 2023">{{cite journal |last1=Nissen |first1=Aleydis |title=Gender-Transformative Remedies for Women Human Rights Defenders |journal=Business and Human Rights Journal |date=2023 |volume=8 |issue=3 |pages=369–402 |doi=10.1017/bhj.2023.41 |doi-access=free |issn=2057-0201|hdl=1887/3716539 |hdl-access=free }}</ref> Women's rights movements focus on ending discrimination against women. In this regard, the definition of discrimination itself is important. According to the jurisprudence of the [[European Court of Human Rights]] (ECHR), the right to freedom from discrimination includes not only the obligation of states to treat in the same way persons who are in analogous situations, but also the obligation to treat in a different way persons who are in different situations.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.equalrightstrust.org/ertdocumentbank/Microsoft%20Word%20-%20Case%20of%20Thlimmenos%20v%20Greece%20_2_.pdf |title=Data |publisher=equalrightstrust.org |access-date=2019-12-16}}</ref> In this regard, equity, not just "equality" is important. Therefore, states must sometimes differentiate between women and men – through for example offering [[maternity leave]] or other legal protections surrounding pregnancy and childbirth (to take into account the biological realities of [[reproduction]]), or through acknowledging a specific historical context. For example, acts of violence committed by men against women do not happen in a vacuum, but are part of a social context: in ''Opuz v Turkey'', the ECHR defined [[violence against women]] as a form of discrimination against women;<ref>{{Cite web|title=INTERIGHTS.org|url=https://www.interights.org/opuz/index.htm%5B%5D|access-date=2020-10-09|website=www.interights.org}}</ref><ref>para 200: "[T]he Court considers that the violence suffered by the applicant and her mother may be regarded as ''gender-based violence which is a form of discrimination against women''</ref> this is also the position of the Istanbul Convention which at Article 3 states that "violence against women" is understood as a violation of human rights and ''a form of discrimination against women'' [...]".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://rm.coe.int/CoERMPublicCommonSearchServices/DisplayDCTMContent?documentId=090000168046031c |title=Info |publisher=rm.coe.int |access-date=2019-12-16}}</ref>

There are different views on where it is appropriate to differentiate between women and men, and one view is that the act of [[sexual intercourse]] is an act where this difference must be acknowledged, both due to the increased physical risks for the woman,<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.unfpa.org/resources/giving-special-attention-girls-and-adolescents|title=Giving Special Attention to Girls and Adolescents|newspaper=United Nations Population Fund|language=en|access-date=2019-06-17}}</ref> and due to the historical context of women being systematically subjected to forced sexual intercourse while in a socially subordinated position (particularly [[marital rape|within marriage]] and [[Wartime sexual violence|during war]]).<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/31473687 |title=Why Sexual Penetration Requires Justification |access-date=2019-12-16}}</ref> States must also differentiate with regard to healthcare by ensuring that [[women's health]] – particularly with regard to [[reproductive health]] such as [[pregnancy]] and [[childbirth]] – is not neglected. According to the World Health Organization, "Discrimination in health care settings takes many forms and is often manifested when an individual or group is denied access to health care services that are otherwise available to others. It can also occur through denial of services that are only needed by certain groups, such as women."<ref name="who.int">{{cite web|url=https://www.who.int/news-room/detail/27-06-2017-joint-united-nations-statement-on-ending-discrimination-in-health-care-settings|title=Joint United Nations statement on ending discrimination in health care settings|publisher=World Health Organization|language=en|access-date=2019-06-17}}</ref> The refusal of states to acknowledge the specific needs of women, such as the necessity of specific policies like the strong investment of states in reducing [[maternal mortality]] can be a form of discrimination. In this regard treating women and men similarly does not work because certain biological aspects such as menstruation, pregnancy, labor, childbirth, and breastfeeding, as well as certain medical conditions, only affect women. The [[Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women]] stipulates in its ''General recommendation No. 35 on gender based violence against women, updating general recommendation No. 19'' that states should "Examine gender neutral laws and policies to ensure that they do not create or perpetuate existing inequalities and repeal or modify them if they do so". (paragraph 32).<ref name="tbinternet.ohchr.org">{{cite web |url=http://tbinternet.ohchr.org/Treaties/CEDAW/Shared%20Documents/1_Global/CEDAW_C_GC_35_8267_E.pdf |title=Treaty |publisher=tbinternet.ohchr.org |access-date=2019-12-16 |archive-date=20 February 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190220225958/https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/Treaties/CEDAW/Shared%20Documents/1_Global/CEDAW_C_GC_35_8267_E.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref> Another example of gender neutral policy which harms women is that where medication tested in [[medical trial]]s only on men is also used on women assuming that there are no biological differences.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Liu |first1=Katherine A. |last2=DiPietro Mager |first2=Natalie A. |title=Women's involvement in clinical trials: historical perspective and future implications |journal=Pharmacy Practice |date=31 March 2016 |volume=14 |issue=1 |pages=708 |doi=10.18549/PharmPract.2016.01.708 |pmid=27011778 |pmc=4800017 }}</ref>

=== Right to health ===

[[File:Maternal mortality rate worldwide.jpg|thumb|left|Global maternal mortality rate per 100 000 live births (2010)<ref name=CIA>[https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2223rank.html Country Comparison: Maternal Mortality Rate] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150418113820/https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2223rank.html |date=18 April 2015 }} in [[:en:The World Factbook|The CIA World Factbook]].</ref>]]
[[File:FGM prevalence UNICEF 2016.svg|thumb|upright=1.2|alt=map|FGM in Africa, Iraqi Kurdistan and Yemen, as of 2015 ([[Special:Filepath/AfricaCIA-HiRes.jpg|map of Africa]]).<ref name="UNICEF2016">{{cite web |url=http://www.unicef.org/media/files/FGMC_2016_brochure_final_UNICEF_SPREAD.pdf |title=Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting: A Global Concern |publisher=New York: United Nations Children's Fund |date=February 2016 |access-date=2018-06-29 |archive-date=2017-02-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170210071422/http://www.unicef.org/media/files/FGMC_2016_brochure_final_UNICEF_SPREAD.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref>]]
[[Health]] is defined by the World Health Organization as "a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.who.int/about/who-we-are/constitution|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190317234054/https://www.who.int/about/who-we-are/constitution|url-status=dead|archive-date=17 March 2019|title=Constitution|publisher=World Health Organization|language=en|access-date=2019-06-17}}</ref> [[Women's health]] refers to the health of women, which differs from that of men in many unique ways.

Women's health is severely impaired in some parts of the world, due to factors such as inequality, confinement of women to the home, indifference of medical workers, lack of autonomy of women, and lack of financial resources of women.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.who.int/topics/womens_health/en/|title=WHO {{!}} Women's health|website=WHO|access-date=2019-06-17}}</ref><ref name="who.int" /> Discrimination against women occurs also through denial of medical services that are only needed by women.<ref name="who.int" /> Violations of women's [[right to health]] may result in [[maternal death]], accounting for more than 300,000 deaths per year, most of them in developing countries.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/maternal-mortality|title=Maternal mortality|publisher=World Health Organization|language=en|access-date=2019-06-17}}</ref> Certain traditional practices, such as [[female genital mutilation]], also affect women's health.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/female-genital-mutilation|title=Female genital mutilation|publisher=World Health Organization|language=en|access-date=2019-06-17}}</ref> Worldwide, young women and adolescent girls are the population most affected by [[HIV/AIDS]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.unwomen.org/en/what-we-do/hiv-and-aids/facts-and-figures|title=Facts and figures: HIV and AIDS|website=UN Women}}</ref>

There are also historical cases of [[Patient abuse|medical abuse]] of women, notably the 19th century policy of [[Wrongful involuntary commitment|wrongful confinement]] of women into [[insane asylums]], often at the request of husbands and male relatives.<ref>{{cite magazine | last1=Moore | first1=Kate | url=https://time.com/6074783/psychiatry-history-women-mental-health/ | title=Declared Insane for Speaking up: The Dark American History of Silencing Women Through Psychiatry | magazine=TIME | date=22 June 2021 }}</ref> A notable activist against such practices was [[Elizabeth Packard]], who was wrongfully committed in 1860 by her husband, and filed a lawsuit and won thereafter, highlighted the issue of wrongful involuntary commitment.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Testa|first1=Megan|last2=West|first2=Sara G.|date=October 2010|title=Civil Commitment in the United States|journal=Psychiatry (Edgmont)|volume=7|issue=10|pages=30–40|issn=1550-5952|pmc=3392176|pmid=22778709}}</ref> Another activist was investigative journalist [[Nellie Bly]], who went undercover in  1887, at an asylum in [[New York City]], to expose the terrible conditions that mental patients at the time had to deal with.

=== Right to education ===
{{Further|Right to education|Female education|Sex differences in education}}
[[File:First Iranian women university.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|First group of women who entered university in Iran]]
The right to [[education]] is a universal entitlement to education.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.un.org/en/events/womensday/2011/pdfs/Infonote_Women_and_the_right_to_education.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=29 June 2017 |archive-date=12 February 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180212215301/https://www.un.org/en/events/womensday/2011/pdfs/Infonote_Women_and_the_right_to_education.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref> The [[Convention Against Discrimination in Education]] prohibits discrimination in education, with discrimination being defined as "any distinction, exclusion, limitation or preference which, being based on race, colour, ''sex'', language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, economic condition or birth, has the purpose or effect of nullifying or impairing equality of treatment in education".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://portal.unesco.org/en/ev.php-URL_ID=12949&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html|title=Convention against Discrimination in Education|publisher=UNESCO|access-date=8 October 2015}}</ref>
The [[International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights]] states at Article 3 that "The States Parties to the present Covenant undertake to ensure the equal right of men and women to the enjoyment of all economic, social and cultural rights set forth in the present Covenant", with Article 13 recognizing "the right of everyone to education".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ohchr.org/EN/ProfessionalInterest/Pages/CESCR.aspx|title=International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights|work=ohchr.org|access-date=8 October 2015}}</ref>

Access to education for women remains limited in some parts of the world. Almost two-thirds of the world's illiterate adults are women.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2015/oct/20/two-thirds-of-worlds-illiterate-adults-are-women-report-finds|title=Two-thirds of world's illiterate adults are women, report finds|newspaper=[[The Guardian]]|first=Liz|last=Ford|date=20 October 2015}}</ref>

While women's right to access to academic education is recognized as very important, it is increasingly recognized that academic education must be supplemented with education on [[human rights]], [[non-discrimination]], [[ethics]] and [[gender equality]], in order for social advancement to be possible. This was pointed out by [[Zeid bin Ra'ad]], the current [[United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights]], who stressed the importance of human rights education for all children: "What good was it to humanity that [[Josef Mengele]] had advanced degrees in medicine and anthropology, given that he was capable of committing the most inhuman crimes? Eight of the 15 people who planned [[The Holocaust]] at Wannsee in 1942 held PhDs. They shone academically, and yet they were profoundly toxic to the world. [[Radovan Karadžić]] was a trained psychiatrist. [[Pol Pot]] studied radio electronics in Paris. Does this matter, when neither of them showed the smallest shred of ethics and understanding?"<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=15482&LangID=E|title=Keynote speech by Mr. Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights at the Conference on "Education for Peace" Palais des Nations, Geneva, 14 January 2015|work=ohchr.org|access-date=8 October 2015}}</ref> There has been increased attention given in recent decades to the raising of student awareness to the importance of gender equality.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://teachunicef.org/explore/topic/gender-equality |title=Gender Equality |publisher=TeachUNICEF |access-date=18 July 2016 |archive-date=4 July 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150704203904/http://teachunicef.org/explore/topic/gender-equality |url-status=dead }}</ref>

=== Reproductive rights ===
{{Main|Reproductive rights}}
[[File:Victorian Postcard - woman hitting stork with parasol.jpg|right|thumb|upright=0.7|"And the villain still pursues her." Satirical Victorian era postcard.]]
[[File:MargaretSanger-Underwood.LOC.jpg|left|upright=0.7|thumb|[[Margaret Sanger]]]]
[[File:Marie Stopes in her laboratory, 1904 - Restoration.jpg|left|upright=0.7|thumb|[[Marie Stopes]]]]
[[File:Fgm map.svg|thumb|upright=0.7|Map showing the prevalence of [[FGM]] in Africa]]

==== Legal rights ====

Reproductive rights are [[legal right]]s and freedoms relating to [[Human reproduction|reproduction]] and [[reproductive health]]. Reproductive rights were endorsed by the twenty-year Cairo Programme of Action which was adopted in 1994 at the [[International Conference on Population and Development]] (ICPD) in [[Cairo]], and by the [[Beijing Declaration]] and [[Beijing Platform for Action]] in 1995.

In the 1870s feminists advanced the concept of ''voluntary motherhood'' as a political critique of ''involuntary motherhood''<ref>{{Cite book| last = Gordon| first = Linda| title = The moral property of women: a history of birth control politics in America| publisher = University of Illinois Press| year = 2002| page = 55 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=Hwh2wGplDc4C&q=voluntary+motherhood | isbn = 978-0-252-02764-2 }}</ref> and expressing a desire for women's emancipation.<ref>{{Cite book| last = Gordon| title = The moral property of women: a history of birth control politics in America| publisher = University of Illinois Press| year = 2002| page = 56 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=Hwh2wGplDc4C&q=voluntary+motherhood | isbn =  978-0-252-02764-2}}</ref> Advocates for voluntary motherhood disapproved of [[contraception]], arguing that women should only engage in sex for the purpose of [[procreation]]<ref>{{Cite book| last = Gordon| title = The moral property of women: a history of birth control politics in America| publisher = University of Illinois Press| year = 2002| page = 57 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=Hwh2wGplDc4C&q=voluntary+motherhood | isbn = 978-0-252-02764-2}}</ref> and advocated for periodic or permanent [[abstinence]].<ref name="Gordon 2002 59">{{Cite book| last = Gordon| title = The moral property of women: a history of birth control politics in America| publisher = University of Illinois Press| year = 2002| page = 59 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=Hwh2wGplDc4C&q=voluntary+motherhood | isbn =  978-0-252-02764-2}}</ref>

Reproductive rights represent a broad concept, that may include some or all of the following rights: the right to legal or safe abortion, the right to control one's reproductive functions, the right to access quality reproductive healthcare, and the right to [[family planning|education and access]] in order to make reproductive choices free from [[coercion]], discrimination, and violence.<ref name="AMNESTY">{{cite web |url=http://www.amnestyusa.org/Stop_Violence_Against_Women_SVAW/Reproductive_Rights/page.do?id=1108242&n1=3&n2=39&n3=1101 |title=Stop Violence Against Women: Reproductive rights |access-date=8 December 2007 |author=Amnesty International USA |year=2007 |work=SVAW |publisher=Amnesty International USA |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080120140923/http://www.amnestyusa.org/Stop_Violence_Against_Women_SVAW/Reproductive_Rights/page.do?id=1108242&n1=3&n2=39&n3=1101 |archive-date=20 January 2008}}</ref> Reproductive rights may also be understood to include [[sex education|education]] about contraception and [[Sexually transmitted disease|sexually transmitted infections]].<ref name="COOK" /><ref name="FREEDMAN" /><ref name="AMNESTY" /><ref name="Template">{{cite web|url=http://www.nocirc.org/symposia/fourth/zavales4.html |title=Template |publisher=Nocirc.org |date=10 December 1993 |access-date=30 August 2011}}</ref> Reproductive rights are often defined to include freedom from [[female genital mutilation]] (FGM), and [[forced abortion]] and [[forced sterilization]].<ref name="COOK" /><ref name="FREEDMAN" /><ref name="AMNESTY" /><ref name="Template"/> The Istanbul Convention recognizes these two rights at Article 38 – Female genital mutilation and Article 39 – Forced abortion and forced sterilisation.<ref name="Istanbul">{{cite web|url=http://www.conventions.coe.int/Treaty/EN/Treaties/Html/210.htm|title=Council of Europe – Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence (CETS No. 210)|work=coe.int|access-date=8 October 2015}}</ref>

Reproductive rights are understood as rights of both men and women, but are most frequently advanced as women's rights.<ref name="FREEDMAN"/>

In the 1960s, reproductive rights activists promoted women's right to bodily autonomy, with these social movements leading to the gain of legal access to contraception and abortion during the next decades in many countries.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.jofreeman.com/photos/MFWL.html|title=The March for Women's Lives, April 2004|website=jofreeman.com|access-date=2017-11-21}}</ref>

==== Birth control ====
{{Main|Birth control}}
[[File:Birth Control Review 1919.jpg|upright=1.1|thumb|Cover of the 1919 ''Birth Control Review'', published by [[Margaret Sanger]]. In relation to "How shall we change the law?" Sanger wrote "...women appeal in vain for instruction concerning contraceptives. Physicians are willing to perform abortions where they are pronounced necessary, but they refuse to direct the use of preventives which would make the abortions unnecessary... "I can't do it – the law does not permit it.""<ref>{{Cite journal| last = Sanger| first = Margaret| title = How Shall we Change the Law| journal = Birth Control Review| issue = 3| pages = 8–9| date = July 1919| url = http://jackiewhiting.net/Women/Mother/SangerBCreview.htm}}</ref>]]
In the early 20th century ''[[birth control]]'' was advanced as alternative to the then fashionable terms ''family limitation'' and ''voluntary motherhood''.<ref name="Wilkinson Meyer 2004 184"/><ref name="Galvin"/> The phrase "birth control" entered the English language in 1914 and was popularised by [[Margaret Sanger]],<ref name="Wilkinson Meyer 2004 184">{{Cite book| last = Wilkinson Meyer| first = Jimmy Elaine| title = Any friend of the movement: networking for birth control, 1920–1940| publisher = Ohio State University Press | year = 2004| page = 184| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=bdl78Y2eRcEC&q=birth+control+history+margaret+sanger| isbn = 978-0-8142-0954-7 }}</ref><ref name="Galvin">{{Cite journal| last = Galvin| first = Rachel| title = Margaret Sanger's "Deeds of Terrible Virtue"| journal = National Endowment for the Humanities| url = http://www.neh.gov/news/humanities/1998-09/sanger.html| access-date = 24 October 2010| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20101229235642/http://www.neh.gov/news/humanities/1998-09/sanger.html| archive-date = 29 December 2010| url-status = dead}}</ref> who was mainly active in the US but had gained an international reputation by the 1930s. The British birth control campaigner [[Marie Stopes]] made [[contraception]] acceptable in Britain during the 1920s by framing it in scientific terms. Stopes assisted emerging birth control movements in a number of [[British colonies]].<ref>{{Cite book| last = Blue| first = Gregory |author2=Bunton, Martin P. |author3=Croizier, Ralph C.| title = Colonialism and the modern world: selected studies| publisher = M.E. Sharpe| year = 2002| pages = 182–83| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=rZWy0O_4pRIC&q=Marie+Stopes+birth+control+movement| isbn = 978-0-7656-0772-0}}</ref> The birth control movement advocated for contraception so as to permit sexual intercourse as desired without the risk of pregnancy.<ref name="Gordon 2002 59"/> By emphasizing ''control'', the birth control movement argued that women should have control over their reproduction, an idea that aligned closely to the theme of the feminist movement. Slogans such as "control over our own bodies" criticised male domination and demanded women's liberation, a connotation that is absent from the [[family planning]], [[population control]] and [[eugenics]] movements.<ref name="Gordon 2002 297">{{Cite book| last = Gordon| title = The moral property of women: a history of birth control politics in America| publisher = University of Illinois Press| year = 2002| page = 297 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=Hwh2wGplDc4C&q=voluntary+motherhood | isbn =  978-0-252-02764-2}}</ref> In the 1960s and 1970s the birth control movement advocated for the legalisation of abortion and large-scale education campaigns about contraception by governments.<ref name="Gordon 2002 1–2"/> In the 1980s birth control and population control organisations co-operated in demanding rights to contraception and abortion, with an increasing emphasis on "choice".<ref name="Gordon 2002 297"/>

Birth control has become a major theme in United States politics. Reproductive issues are cited as examples of women's powerlessness to exercise their rights.<ref name="Gordon 2002 295–296">{{Cite book| last = Gordon| title = The moral property of women: a history of birth control politics in America| publisher = University of Illinois Press| year = 2002| pages = 295–96 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=Hwh2wGplDc4C&q=voluntary+motherhood | isbn =  978-0-252-02764-2}}</ref> The societal acceptance of birth control required the separation of sex from procreation, making birth control a highly controversial subject in the 20th century.<ref name="Gordon 2002 1–2">{{Cite book| last = Gordon| title = The moral property of women: a history of birth control politics in America| publisher = University of Illinois Press| year = 2002| pages = 1–2 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=Hwh2wGplDc4C&q=voluntary+motherhood | isbn =  978-0-252-02764-2}}</ref> [[Birth control in the United States]] has become an arena for conflict between liberal and conservative values, raising questions about family, personal freedom, state intervention, religion in politics, sexual morality and social welfare.<ref name="Gordon 2002 295–296"/> ''[[Reproductive rights]]'', that is, rights relating to [[sexual reproduction]] and [[reproductive health]],<ref name="COOK">{{cite journal |last1=Cook |first1=Rebecca J. |last2=Fathalla |first2=Mahmoud F. |title=Advancing Reproductive Rights Beyond Cairo and Beijing |journal=International Family Planning Perspectives |date=1996 |volume=22 |issue=3 |pages=115–121 |doi=10.2307/2950752 |jstor=2950752 |s2cid=147688303 }}</ref> were first discussed as a subset of human rights at the United Nation's 1968 International Conference on Human Rights.<ref name="FREEDMAN">{{cite journal |last1=Freedman |first1=Lynn P. |last2=Isaacs |first2=Stephen L. |title=Human Rights and Reproductive Choice |journal=Studies in Family Planning |date=1993 |volume=24 |issue=1 |pages=18–30 |doi=10.2307/2939211 |jstor=2939211 |pmid=8475521 }}</ref>

==== Abortion ====

[[File:Black March in support of abortion rights, Łódź October 2nd 2016 33.jpg|thumb|right|Access to abortion services varies considerably throughout the world, with the status of related rights being an active and major political topic in many nations.]]

Women's reproductive rights may be understood as including the right to easy access to a safe and legal abortion. [[Abortion law]]s vary from a full prohibition (the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Malta, Nicaragua, the Vatican)<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2017/aug/22/chile-abortion-bill-michelle-bachelet-a-triumph-of-reason-ease-abortion-ban|title='A triumph of reason': Chile approves landmark bill to ease abortion ban|last=Kozak|first=Piotr|date=2017-08-22|work=The Guardian|access-date=2019-06-17|language=en-GB|issn=0261-3077}}</ref> to countries [[Abortion in Canada|such as Canada]], where there are no legal restrictions. In many countries where abortion is permitted by law, women may only have limited access to safe abortion services. In some countries, abortion is permitted only to save the pregnant woman's life, or if the pregnancy resulted from rape or [[incest]].<ref>{{cite web|last=|first=|date=2016-04-15|title=World Abortion Policies 2013|url=http://www.un.org/en/development/desa/population/publications/pdf/policy/WorldAbortionPolicies2013/WorldAbortionPolicies2013_WallChart.pdf|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160415084202/http://www.un.org/en/development/desa/population/publications/pdf/policy/WorldAbortionPolicies2013/WorldAbortionPolicies2013_WallChart.pdf|archive-date=2016-04-15|access-date=2019-07-09|website=}}</ref>
There are also countries where the law is liberal, but in practice it is very difficult to have an abortion, due to most doctors being [[conscientious objectors]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/mar/11/italian-gynaecologists-refuse-abortions-miscarriages|title=Seven in 10 Italian gynaecologists refuse to carry out abortions|last1=Duncan|first1=Stephanie Kirchgaessner Pamela|date=2016-03-11|work=The Guardian|access-date=2019-06-17|last2=Nardelli|first2=Alberto|language=en-GB|issn=0261-3077|last3=Robineau|first3=Delphine}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://balkaninsight.com/2017/02/14/doctors-refusal-to-perform-abortions-divides-croatia-02-13-2017/|title=Doctors' Refusal to Perform Abortions Divides Croatia|date=2017-02-14|website=Balkan Insight|language=en-US|access-date=2019-06-17}}</ref> The fact that in some countries where abortion is legal it is ''[[de facto]]'' very difficult to have access to one is controversial; the UN in its 2017 resolution on ''Intensification of efforts to prevent and eliminate all forms of violence against women and girls: domestic violence'' urged states to guarantee access to "safe abortion where such services are permitted by national law".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.un.org/en/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=A/RES/71/170|title=United Nations Official Document|publisher=United Nations|access-date=2019-06-17}}</ref>

The [[Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women]] considers the criminalization of abortion a "violations of women's [[sexual and reproductive health and rights]]" and a form of "gender based violence"; paragraph 18 of its ''General recommendation No. 35 on gender based violence against women, updating general recommendation No. 19'' states that: "Violations of women's sexual and reproductive health and rights, such as forced sterilizations, forced abortion, forced pregnancy, criminalisation of abortion, denial or delay of safe abortion and post abortion care, forced continuation of pregnancy, abuse and mistreatment of women and girls seeking sexual and reproductive health information, goods and services, are forms of [[violence against women|gender based violence]] that, depending on the circumstances, may amount to torture or cruel, [[inhuman or degrading treatment]]."<ref name="tbinternet.ohchr.org"/> The same ''General Recommendation'' also urges countries at paragraph 31 to [...] In particular, repeal:
a) Provisions that allow, tolerate or condone forms of gender based violence against women, including [...] legislation that criminalises abortion".<ref name="tbinternet.ohchr.org"/>

According to [[Human Rights Watch]], "Abortion is a highly emotional subject and one that excites deeply held opinions. However, equitable access to safe abortion services is first and foremost a human right. Where abortion is safe and legal, no one is forced to have one. Where abortion is illegal and unsafe, women are forced to carry unwanted pregnancies to term or suffer serious health consequences and even death. Approximately 13% of maternal deaths worldwide are attributable to unsafe abortion—between 68,000 and 78,000 deaths annually."<ref name="hrw">{{cite web|url=https://www.hrw.org/women/abortion.html |title=Human Rights Watch: Women's Human Rights: Abortion |date=12 November 2008 |access-date=9 December 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081112153841/http://www.hrw.org/women/abortion.html |archive-date=12 November 2008 }}</ref> According to Human Rights Watch, "the denial of a pregnant woman's right to make an independent decision regarding abortion violates or poses a threat to a wide range of human rights."<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.hrw.org/backgrounder/americas/argentina0605/ |title=Q&A: Human Rights Law and Access to Abortion |publisher=Human Rights Watch |access-date=30 August 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081114110907/http://www.hrw.org/backgrounder/americas/argentina0605/ |archive-date=14 November 2008}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.hrw.org/backgrounder/americas/argentina0605/#issue |title=Q&A: Human Rights Law and Access to Abortion |publisher=Human Rights Watch |access-date=30 August 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081114110907/http://www.hrw.org/backgrounder/americas/argentina0605/#issue |archive-date=14 November 2008}}</ref> African American women are five times more likely to have an abortion than a white woman.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.guttmacher.org/gpr/2008/08/abortion-and-women-color-bigger-picture|title=Abortion and Women of Color: The Bigger Picture|date=2008-08-13|publisher=Guttmacher Institute|access-date=2017-11-22|language=en}}</ref>

The [[Catholic Church]] and many other [[Christianity|Christian faiths]], particularly those considered the [[Christian right]], and most [[Judaism and abortion|Orthodox Jews]] regard abortion not as a right, but as a [[moral evil]] and a [[mortal sin]].<ref>Catechism of the Catholic Church 2271.</ref>

Russia was the first country to legalise abortions and offer free medical care in state hospitals to do so. After the [[October Revolution]], the Women's wing of the [[Bolshevik]] Party (the Zhenotdel) persuaded the Bolsheviks to legalise abortion (as a 'temporary measure'). The Bolsheviks legalised abortion in November 1920. This was the first time in world history that women had won the right to free abortions in state hospitals.<ref name="Porter 1987 43"/>

==== Abuse during childbirth ====
{{Main|Abuse during childbirth}}
[[Abuse during childbirth|The abuse of women during childbirth]] is a recently identified global problem and a basic violation of a woman's rights.<ref name = who1>{{cite web|url=https://www.who.int/reproductivehealth/topics/maternal_perinatal/statement-childbirth/en/|title=Prevention and elimination of disrespect and abuse during childbirth|publisher=World Health Organization|access-date=3 August 2017}}</ref><ref name = who2>{{cite web | url = http://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/10665/134588/1/WHO_RHR_14.23_eng.pdf?ua=1&ua=1 | title = The prevention and elimination of disrespect and abuse during facility-based childbirth | access-date = 3 August 2017 | publisher = World Health organization }}</ref> Abuse during childbirth is the [[neglect]], [[physical abuse]] and lack of respect during [[childbirth]]. This treatment is regarded as a violation of woman's rights. It also has the effect of preventing women from seeking [[pre-natal care]] and using other health care services.

==== Child marriage ====
{{Main|Child marriage}}
[[File:2007 - 2012, Adolescent birth rate per 1000 women world map.svg|thumb|250px|Birth rates per 1,000 women aged 15–19 years, worldwide]]
Child marriage is a practice which is widespread across the world, and is often connected to poverty and gender inequality. Child marriage endangers the [[reproductive health]] of young girls, leading to an increased risk of complications in pregnancy or childbirth. Such complications are a leading cause of death among girls in developing countries.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.unfpa.org/child-marriage|title=Child marriage|website=unfpa.org|language=en|access-date=2019-06-17}}</ref><ref name="ReferenceD">{{cite web|url=https://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/releases/2013/child_marriage_20130307/en/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130314073138/http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/releases/2013/child_marriage_20130307/en/|url-status=dead|archive-date=14 March 2013|title=WHO {{!}} Child marriages: 39 000 every day|website=WHO|access-date=2019-06-17}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://data.unicef.org/topic/child-protection/child-marriage/|title=Child marriage|website=UNICEF DATA|language=en-US|access-date=2019-06-17}}</ref>

==== Forced pregnancy ====
{{Main|Forced pregnancy}}
Forced pregnancy is the practice of forcing a woman or girl to become [[pregnant]], often as part of a [[forced marriage]], including by means of [[bride kidnapping]], through rape (including [[marital rape]], [[war rape]] and [[genocidal rape]]) or as part of a program of breeding [[slave]]s (see [[Slave breeding in the United States]]). It is a form of [[reproductive coercion]], was common historically, and still occurs in parts of the world. In the 20th century, state-mandated forced marriage with the aim of increasing the population was practiced by some authoritarian governments, notably during the [[Khmer Rouge]] regime in [[Cambodia]], which systematically forced people into marriages ordering them to have children, in order to increase the population and continue the revolution.<ref>{{cite book | last = Anderson | first = Natalae | title = Memorandum: Charging forced marriage as a crime against humanity | url = http://www.d.dccam.org/Abouts/Intern/Natalae_Forced_marriage.pdf | publisher = Documentation Center of Cambodia | date = 22 September 2010 | access-date = 11 August 2017 | archive-date = 20 October 2017 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20171020153617/http://www.d.dccam.org/Abouts/Intern/Natalae_Forced_marriage.pdf | url-status = dead }}</ref> Forced pregnancy is strongly connected to the custom of [[bride price]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Bawah |first1=Ayaga Agula |last2=Akweongo |first2=Patricia |last3=Simmons |first3=Ruth |last4=Phillips |first4=James F. |title=Women's Fears and Men's Anxieties: The Impact of Family Planning on Gender Relations in Northern Ghana |journal=Studies in Family Planning |date=March 1999 |volume=30 |issue=1 |pages=54–66 |doi=10.1111/j.1728-4465.1999.00054.x |pmid=10216896 |hdl=2027.42/73927 |hdl-access=free }}</ref>

=== Freedom from violence ===

[[Violence against women]] is, collectively, violent acts that are primarily or exclusively committed against women. The UN [[Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women]] states, "violence against women is a manifestation of historically unequal power relations between men and women" and "violence against women is one of the crucial social mechanisms by which women are forced into a subordinate position compared with men."<ref name="un-documents.net"/> The [[Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence]], also known as the Istanbul Convention, provides the following definition of violence against women: "violence against women" is understood as a violation of human rights and a form of discrimination against women and shall mean all acts of gender-based violence that result in, or are likely to result in, physical, sexual, psychological or economic harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.coe.int/en/web/conventions/full-list|title=Full list|website=Treaty Office|language=en-GB|access-date=2019-06-17}}</ref> Violence against women may be perpetrated by individuals, by groups, or by the State. It may occur in private or in public. Violence against women may be sexual violence, physical violence, psychological violence, or socioeconomic violence. Some forms of violence against women have long cultural traditions: [[honor killing]]s, [[Dowry death|dowry violence]], [[female genital mutilation]]. Violence against women is considered by the World Health Organization "a major public health problem and a violation of women's human rights."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/violence-against-women|title=Violence against women|publisher=World Health Organization|language=en|access-date=2019-06-17}}</ref>

=== Family law ===
[[File:Emancipation of women.svg|thumb|right|400px|Emancipation of women by country]]
Under male-dominated [[family law]], women had few, if any, rights, being under the control of the husband or male relatives. Legal concepts that existed throughout the centuries, such as [[coverture]], [[marital power]], [[Head and Master law]]s, kept women under the strict control of their husbands. Restrictions from marriage laws also extended to public life, such as [[marriage bar]]s. Practices such as [[dowry]], [[bride price]] or [[bride service]] were, and still are to this day in some parts of the world, very common. Some countries continue to require to this day a [[Wali (Islamic legal guardian)|male guardian]] for women, without whom women cannot exercise civil rights. Other harmful practices include marriage of young girls, often to much older men.<ref name="ReferenceD"/>

In many legal systems, the husband had complete power over the family; for example, in [[Francoist Spain|Franco's Spain]], although women's role was defined as that of a homemaker who had to largely avoid the public sphere in order to take care of the children, the legal rights over the children belonged to the father; until 1970 the husband could give a family's child to [[adoption]] without the consent of his wife.<ref>{{cite web| url = https://www.abc.es/internacional/adulteras-espana-201009150000_noticia.html?ref=https:%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2F| title = Muerte por adulterio en España, un «derecho» del marido hasta 1963}}</ref> Until 1975, women in Spain needed their husband's permission (referred to as ''permiso marital'') for many activities, including employment, traveling away from home, and property ownership.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://countrystudies.us/spain/43.htm |title=Spain – Social Values and Attitudes |website=countrystudies.us |access-date=23 March 2022}}</ref> [[Switzerland]] was one  of the last European countries to establish gender equality in marriage: married women's rights were severely restricted until 1988, when legal reforms providing gender equality in marriage, abolishing the legal authority of the husband, came into force (these reforms had been approved in 1985 by voters in a [[Voting in Switzerland|referendum]], who narrowly voted in favor with 54.7% of voters approving).<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1985/09/23/world/swiss-grant-women-equal-marriage-rights.html |title=Swiss Grant Women Equal Marriage Rights |work=The New York Times |date=23 September 1985 |access-date=23 March 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-17988450 |title=Switzerland profile – Timeline |work=BBC News |date=22 May 2018 |access-date=23 March 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://history-switzerland.geschichte-schweiz.ch/chronology-womens-right-vote-switzerland.html |title=Switzerland's Long Way to Women's Right to Vote |website=history-switzerland.ch |access-date=23 March 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |editor-last=Shreir |editor-first=Sally |year=1988 |title=Women's Movements of the World: an International Directory and Reference Guide |page=254 |publisher=Longman |isbn=9780897745086 }}</ref>

Another area of interest for feminists has been [[adultery laws]], due to the extreme legal and social differences between the way female and male adultery was treated in [[criminal law]] and [[family law]] in many cultures, with the former being subjected to severe punishments, up to the [[death penalty]], and violent repression such as [[honor killing]]s, while the latter was often tolerated, even encouraged as a symbol of male [[social status]]. In Europe, this was especially true in [[Southern Europe]], and honor killings were also historically common in this region, and "there have been acts of 'honour' killings within living memory within [[List of Mediterranean countries|Mediterranean countries]] such as Italy and Greece."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://hbv-awareness.com/regions/ |title=Honour Killings By Region |publisher=Honour Based Violence Awareness Network |access-date=23 March 2022}}</ref> The tradition in [[French culture]] for upper-class men to have [[Mistress (lover)|mistress]]es, coupled with the toleration for [[crimes of passion]] (French: ''crime passionnel'') committed against unfaithful wives illustrates these norms, which were also supported by the [[French Penal Code of 1810]] (which provided for leniency for husbands who killed their wives caught committing adultery, but not for wives who killed their husbands under similar circumstances, and which treated female and male adultery differently,<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.napoleon-series.org/research/government/france/penalcode/c_penalcode3b.html|title=France: Penal Code of 1810 |access-date=23 March 2022}} See articles 324, 326, 336–339</ref> which remained in force until 1975). Similar norms existed in Spain<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1976/10/17/archives/adultery-law-favoring-men-issue-in-spain.html |title=Adultery Law, Favoring Men, Issue in Spain |work=The New York Times |date=17 October 1976 |access-date=23 March 2022}}</ref> (crimes of passion until 1963,<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.elplural.com/sociedad/leyes-franco-ampararon-derecho-marido-asesinar-su-mujer-por-infidelidad_278182102 |title=Las leyes de Franco ampararon el derecho del marido a asesinar a su mujer por infidelidad |work=elPlural |language=es |date=7 November 2021 |access-date=23 March 2022}}</ref> and adultery – defined differently for women and men – until 1978).<ref>{{cite web |url=https://confilegal.com/20160514-adulterio-fue-delito-espana-1978-castigado-con-hasta-6-anos-de-carcel/ |title=El adulterio fue delito en España hasta 1978, castigado con hasta 6 años de cárcel |work=Confilegal |date=14 May 2016 |language=es |access-date=23 March 2022}}</ref>

== Modern movements ==

[[File:Gebhard-Sillanpaa-1910.jpg|thumb|[[Finland]]'s first female ministers were brought to [[Parliament of Finland|Finnish Parliament]] shortly after the turn of the 20th century.<ref name=pp>{{Cite news|url=https://finland.fi/life-society/real-bridge-builder-became-finlands-first-female-government-minister/|title=Real bridge-builder became Finland's first female government minister – thisisFINLAND|date=2017-09-29|work=thisisFINLAND|access-date=2017-10-01|language=en-US}}</ref>]]
{{external media | width = 210px | float = right | headerimage=[[File:Eleanor Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy (President's Commission on the Status of Women) - NARA cropped.jpg|210px]] | video1 = [http://openvault.wgbh.org/catalog/V_285B9C3362534FFF8494B95922E3240B Prospects of Mankind with Eleanor Roosevelt; What Status For Women?], 59:07, 1962.<br />[[Eleanor Roosevelt]], chair of the [[Presidential Commission on the Status of Women]], interviews President [[John F. Kennedy]], Secretary of Labor [[Arthur Goldberg]] and others, [[WGBH Educational Foundation|Open Vault from WGBH]].<ref name="wgbhov">{{cite web | title =Prospects of Mankind with Eleanor Roosevelt; What Status For Women? | agency = National Educational Television | publisher =[[WGBH Educational Foundation|Open Vault at WGBH]] |year =1962 | url =http://openvault.wgbh.org/catalog/V_285B9C3362534FFF8494B95922E3240B | access-date =19 September 2016 }}</ref> }}
[[File:Zainab Salbi.jpg|upright=1.1|thumb|Iraqi-American writer and activist [[Zainab Salbi]], the founder of [[Women for Women International]]]]
In the subsequent decades women's rights again became an important issue in the English-speaking world. By the 1960s the movement was called "feminism" or "women's liberation." Reformers wanted the same pay as men, equal rights in law, and the freedom to plan their families or not have children at all. Their efforts were met with mixed results.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.jofreeman.com/feminism/suffrage.htm |title=Waves of Feminism |publisher=Jofreeman.com |access-date=30 August 2011}}</ref>

The [[International Council of Women]] (ICW) was the first women's organization to work across national boundaries for the common cause of advocating human rights for women. In March and April 1888, women leaders came together in Washington, D.C., with 80 speakers and 49 delegates representing 53 women's organizations from 9 countries: Canada, the United States, Ireland, India, England, Finland, Denmark, France and Norway. Women from professional organizations, trade unions, arts groups and benevolent societies participate. National Councils are affiliated with the ICW and thus make themselves heard at the international level. In 1904, the ICW met in [[Berlin]], Germany.<ref>Helene Stöcker (2015): Lebenserinnerungen, hg. von Reinhold Lütgeeier-Davin u. Kerstin Wolff. Köln: Böhlau, 93, pp. 100–01.</ref> The ICW worked with the [[League of Nations]] during the 1920s and the [[United Nations]] post-World War II. Today the ICW holds Consultative Status with the [[United Nations Economic and Social Council]], the highest accreditation an NGO can achieve at the United Nations. Currently, it is composed of 70 countries and has a headquarters in Lasaunne, Switzerland. International meetings are held every three years.

In the UK, a public groundswell of opinion in favour of legal equality had gained pace, partly through the extensive employment of women in what were traditional male roles during both world wars. By the 1960s the legislative process was being readied, tracing through MP [[Willie Hamilton]]'s [[Select committee (United Kingdom)|select committee]] report, his equal pay for equal work bill,<ref>{{cite news| url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/620037.stm |work=BBC News | title=Tributes paid to veteran anti-royalist | date=27 January 2000}}</ref> the creation of a Sex Discrimination Board, [[Lady Sear]]'s draft sex anti-discrimination bill, a government [[Green Paper]] of 1973, until 1975 when the first British Sex Discrimination Act, an Equal Pay Act, and an [[Equal Opportunities Commission (United Kingdom)|Equal Opportunities Commission]] came into force.<ref>The Guardian, 29 December 1975.</ref><ref>The Times, 29 December 1975 "Sex discrimination in advertising banned".</ref> With encouragement from the UK government, the other countries of the [[European Economic Community|EEC]] soon followed suit with an agreement to ensure that discrimination laws would be phased out across the European Community.

In the US, the [[National Organization for Women]] (NOW) was created in 1966 with the purpose of bringing about equality for all women. NOW was one important group that fought for the [[Equal Rights Amendment]] (ERA). This amendment stated that "equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any state on account of [[gender|sex]]."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.now.org/history/purpos66.html |title=The National Organization for Women's 1966 Statement of Purpose |publisher=Now.org |date=29 October 1966 |access-date=30 August 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110902232426/http://www.now.org/history/purpos66.html |archive-date=2 September 2011}}</ref> But there was disagreement on how the proposed amendment would be understood. Supporters believed it would guarantee women equal treatment. But critics feared it might deny women the right to be financially supported by their husbands. The amendment died in 1982 because not enough states had ratified it. ERAs have been included in subsequent Congresses, but have still failed to be ratified.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.answers.com/topic/national-organization-for-women?cat=biz-fin&nr=1 |title=National Organization for Women: Definition and Much More from |publisher=Answers.com |access-date=30 August 2011}}</ref>

[[Women for Women International]] (WfWI) is a nonprofit humanitarian organization that provides practical and moral support to women survivors of war. WfWI helps such women rebuild their lives after war's devastation through a year-long tiered program that begins with direct financial aid and emotional counseling and includes life skills (e.g., literacy, numeracy) training if necessary, rights awareness education, health education, job skills training and small business development. The organization was co-founded in 1993.<ref>"Women for Women International Names Afshan Khan New CEO." PrWeb, 30 April 2012.</ref>

The [[National Council of Women of Canada]] (Conseil national des femmes du Canada), is a [[Canadians|Canadian]] advocacy organization based in [[Ottawa]] aimed at improving conditions for women, families, and communities. A federation of nationally organized societies of men and women and local and provincial councils of women, it is the Canadian member of the [[International Council of Women]] (ICW). The council has concerned itself in areas including [[women's suffrage]], immigration, [[health care in Canada|health care]], [[education in Canada|education]], mass media, [[environmentalism|the environment]], and many others.<ref name="archives">{{cite web | url = http://collectionscanada.gc.ca/ourl/res.php?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&url_tim=2010-05-22T15%3A32%3A48Z&url_ctx_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Actx&rft_dat=97640&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fcollectionscanada.gc.ca%3Apam | archive-url = https://archive.today/20130115100209/http://collectionscanada.gc.ca/ourl/res.php?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&url_tim=2010-05-22T15:32:48Z&url_ctx_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:ctx&rft_dat=97640&rfr_id=info:sid/collectionscanada.gc.ca:pam | url-status = dead | archive-date = 15 January 2013 | title = National Council of Women of Canada fonds | publisher = [[Library and Archives Canada]] | access-date = 2 September 2008 }}</ref> Formed on 27 October 1857 in [[Toronto]], Ontario, it is one of the oldest advocacy organizations in the country.<ref name = "encyclopedia">{{cite encyclopedia | url = https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/national-council-of-women-of-canada | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20060103190719/http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=A1ARTA0005614 | url-status = live | archive-date = 3 January 2006 | title = National Council of Women of Canada | encyclopedia = The Canadian Encyclopedia | access-date = 2 September 2008}}</ref>

[[File:Loujain Alhathloul.jpg|thumb|upright|Saudi [[Women's rights in Saudi Arabia|women's rights]] activist [[Loujain al-Hathloul]] was arrested in May 2018, along with 10 other women's rights activists in [[Saudi Arabia]].]]
The [[Association for the Protection and Defense of Women's Rights in Saudi Arabia]] is a Saudi [[non-governmental organization]] founded to provide activism for [[Women's rights in Saudi Arabia|women's rights]]. It was founded by [[Wajeha al-Huwaider]] and Fawzia Al-Uyyouni, and grew out of a 2007 movement to gain women the right to drive. The association is not officially licensed by the government of Saudi Arabia, and has been warned not to mount demonstrations.<ref name="usgov2008">{{cite web
 |title       = 2008 Human Rights Report: Saudi Arabia
 |publisher   = [[United States State Department]]
 |date        = 25 February 2009
 |url         = https://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2008/nea/119126.htm
 |access-date  = 23 May 2011
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20110528211413/http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2008/nea/119126.htm
 |archive-date = 28 May 2011
 |url-status     = dead}}
</ref> In a 2007 interview, al-Huwaider described the goals: "representation for women in shari'a courts; setting a [minimum] age for girls' marriages; allowing women to take care of their own affairs in government agencies and allowing them to enter government buildings; protecting women from domestic violence, such as physical or verbal violence, or keeping her from studies, work, or marriage, or forcing her to divorce..."<ref name="memri-huw">{{cite web|url=http://www.memri.org/report/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/2383.htm |title=Saudi Feminist Wajeha Al-Huweidar: The Campaign for Women's Right to Drive Saudi Arabia Is Just the Beginning |publisher=Memri.org |access-date=9 December 2013}}</ref>

In [[Ukraine]], [[FEMEN]] was founded in 2008. The organisation is internationally known for its topless protests against sex tourists, international marriage agencies, sexism and other social, national and international social illnesses. FEMEN has sympathisers groups in many European countries through social media.

=== United Nations and World Conferences ===

In 1946 the United Nations established a [[United Nations Commission on the Status of Women|Commission on the Status of Women]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/Review/|title=Review & Appraisal of the Beijing Platform for Action. The Outcome document of the 23rd special session of the General Assembly, March 2005|website=www.un.org}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/CSW60YRS/CSWbriefhistory.pdf|title=Short History of the Commission on the Status of Women}}</ref> Originally as the Section on the Status of Women, Human Rights Division, Department of Social Affairs, and now part of the [[United Nations Economic and Social Council|Economic and Social Council]] (ECOSOC). Since 1975 the UN has held a series of world conferences on women's issues, starting with the World Conference of the International Women's Year in Mexico City. These conferences created an international forum for women's rights, but also illustrated divisions between women of different cultures and the difficulties of attempting to apply principles universally.<ref name=Catagay>Catagay, N., Grown, C. and Santiago, A. 1986. "The Nairobi Women's Conference: Toward a Global Feminism?" Feminist Studies, 12, 2:401–12.</ref> Four World Conferences have been held, the first in [[Mexico City]] ([[International Women's Year]], 1975), the second in [[Copenhagen]] (1980) and the third in [[Nairobi]] (1985).

At the [[Fourth World Conference on Women]] in Beijing (1995), ''[[Beijing Platform for Action|The Platform for Action]]'' was signed. This included a commitment to achieve "[[gender equality]] and the empowerment of women".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/beijing/index.html|title=Fourth World Conference on Women, Beijing 1995|website=www.un.org}}</ref><ref>United Nations [https://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/cedaw/text/econvention.htm#intro ''Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women'': Introduction] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110406123853/http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/cedaw/text/econvention.htm#intro |date=6 April 2011 }}</ref> The same commitment was reaffirmed by all U.N. member nations at the [[Millennium Summit]] in 2000 and was reflected in the [[Millennium Development Goals]] to be achieved by 2015.

In 2010, [[UN Women]] was founded through the merging of the [[Division for the Advancement of Women]], the [[International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women]], the Office of the Special Adviser or Gender Issues Advancement of Women and the [[United Nations Development Fund for Women]] by [[United Nations General Assembly|General Assembly]] Resolution 63/311.

=== International women's rights ===

Compared to the Western women's rights movements, international women's rights are plagued with different issues. While it is called international women's rights, it is also can be known as third-world feminism. International women's rights deal with issues such as marriage, sexual slavery, forced child marriage, and female genital mutilation. According to the organization, EQUAL MEANS EQUAL, "the United Nations come horrifying statistics: Victims of female genital mutilation – a ritual to remove a young girl's clitoris to ensure her fidelity – number 130 million. Some 60 million girls become 'child brides,' forced to marry, sometimes after being kidnapped and raped".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://equalmeansequal.com/international-womens-rights/|title=International Women's Rights|website=Equal Means Equal|date=11 December 2015|language=en-US|access-date=2020-04-21}}</ref> Something that has been created to combat such things is the [[Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women]]. It was set in place to help against discrimination in education, marriage, sexual violence, and politics. While this does not only pertain to non-western countries, 193 states have ratified it. Some of the countries that have opposed it include Iran, Palau, Somalia, North and South Sudan, Tonga, and the United States.

=== World Bank ===

A 2019 report from the [[World Bank]] found that women have full legal rights to men in only six countries: Belgium, Denmark, France, Latvia, Luxembourg and Sweden.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://edition.cnn.com/2019/03/02/europe/world-bank-gender-equality-report-intl/index.html|title=Only six countries have equal rights for men and women, World Bank finds|author=Rob Picheta and Kieron Mirchandani|date=2 March 2019 |publisher=CNN|access-date=2019-03-03}}</ref>

=== Woman, Life, Freedom ===
{{Main|Woman, Life, Freedom}}
Kurdistani Iraqi women and Iranian women used this movement, in 2021 and 2022, in an anti-government uprising.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2022-10-10 |title='Woman, life, freedom': The origins of Iran's rallying cry |language=en |work=Le Monde.fr |url=https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2022/10/10/woman-life-freedom-the-origins-of-iran-s-rallying-cry_5999763_4.html |access-date=2023-06-08}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Bozorgmehr |first=Najmeh |date=2022-12-23 |title=Year in a word: Woman, Life, Freedom |work=Financial Times |url=https://www.ft.com/content/af12eed9-782f-41dd-919d-24ca334c409d |access-date=2023-06-08}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Women This Week: Iranian Government Continues Brutal Crackdown on "Women, Life, Freedom" |url=https://www.cfr.org/blog/women-week-iranian-government-continues-brutal-crackdown-women-life-freedom |access-date=2023-06-08 |website=Council on Foreign Relations |language=en}}</ref>

== Human rights ==

=== United Nations convention ===
{{Main|Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women}}
[[File:CEDAW Participation.svg|right|upright=1.8|thumb|Participation in the CEDAW {{Col-begin}}{{Col-2}}{{legend|#00aa00|Signed and ratified}}{{legend|#008000|Acceded or succeeded}}{{legend|#008080|Unrecognized state, abiding by treaty}}{{Col-2}}{{legend|#eeee00|Only signed}}{{legend|#ff1111|Non-signatory}}{{Col-end}}]]

The [[Universal Declaration of Human Rights]], adopted in 1948, enshrines "the equal rights of men and women", and addressed both equality and equity issues.<ref name=Human>{{cite web|url=https://www.un.org/Overview/rights.html|title=Universal Declaration of Human Rights|access-date=17 May 2015}}</ref>
In 1979, the [[United Nations General Assembly]] adopted the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) for legal implementation of the [[Declaration on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women]]. Described as an international [[bill of rights]] for [[woman|women]], it came into force on 3 September 1981. The UN member states that have not ratified the convention are Iran, Palau, Somalia, Sudan, Tonga, and the United States. [[Niue]] and the Vatican City, which are non-member states, have also not ratified it.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://treaties.un.org/Pages/ViewDetails.aspx?src=TREATY&mtdsg_no=IV-8&chapter=4&lang=en|title=UNTC|publisher=United Nations|access-date=8 October 2015|archive-date=6 September 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150906035454/https://treaties.un.org/Pages/ViewDetails.aspx?src=TREATY&mtdsg_no=IV-8&chapter=4&lang=en|url-status=dead}}</ref> The latest state to become a party to the convention is South Sudan, on 30 April 2015.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://treaties.un.org/Pages/ViewDetails.aspx?src=TREATY&mtdsg_no=IV-8&chapter=4&lang=en |title=UNTC |publisher=United Nations |access-date=18 July 2016 |archive-date=6 September 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150906035454/https://treaties.un.org/Pages/ViewDetails.aspx?src=TREATY&mtdsg_no=IV-8&chapter=4&lang=en |url-status=dead }}</ref>

The Convention defines discrimination against women in the following terms:
<blockquote>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.</blockquote>

It also establishes an agenda of action for putting an end to sex-based discrimination for which states ratifying the convention are required to enshrine [[gender equality]] into their domestic legislation, repeal all discriminatory provisions in their laws, and enact new provisions to guard against discrimination against women. They must also establish tribunals and public institutions to guarantee women effective protection against discrimination, and take steps to eliminate all forms of discrimination practiced against women by individuals, organizations, and enterprises.<ref>[[Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women]], Article 2 (e).</ref>

=== Marriage, divorce, and family law ===

Article 16 of the [[Universal Declaration of Human Rights]] enshrines the right of consenting men and women to marry and found a family.<ref name=Human />

<blockquote>(1) Men and women of full age, without any limitation due to race, nationality or religion, have the right to marry and to found a family. They are entitled to equal rights as to marriage, during marriage and at its dissolution.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.mensuck.com/40-basic-rights-women-did-not-have-until-the-1970s/|title=40 Basic Rights Women Did Not Have Until The 1970s|date=10 October 2019|access-date=29 October 2019}}</ref><br />
(2) Marriage shall be entered into only with the free and full consent of the intending spouses.<br />
(3) The family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to protection by society and the State.</blockquote>

Article 16 of CEDAW stipulates that, "1. States Parties shall take all appropriate measures to eliminate discrimination against women in all matters relating to marriage and family relations".<ref name="un.org">{{cite web|url=https://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/cedaw/text/econvention.htm#article16|title=CEDAW 29th Session 30 June to 25 July 2003|publisher=United Nations|access-date=8 October 2015}}</ref> Among the rights included are a woman's right to freely and consensually choose her spouse; to have parental rights to her children irrespective of her marital status; the right of a married woman to choose a profession or an occupation, and to have property rights within marriage. In addition to these, "The betrothal and the marriage of a child shall have no legal effect".<ref name="un.org"/>

[[Polygamous marriage]] is a controversial practice, prevalent in some parts of the world. The general recommendations made by the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, state in ''General Recommendation No. 21, Equality in marriage and family relations'': "Polygamous marriage contravenes a woman's right to equality with men, and can have such serious emotional and financial consequences for her and her dependents that such marriages ought to be discouraged and prohibited."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/cedaw/recommendations/recomm.htm|title=General recommendations made by the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women|publisher=United Nations|access-date=8 October 2015}}</ref>

[[Cohabitation]] of unmarried couples as well as [[single mother]]s are common in some parts the world. The [[Human Rights Committee]] has stated:<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www1.umn.edu/humanrts/gencomm/hrcom28.htm|title=University of Minnesota Human Rights Library|work=umn.edu|access-date=8 October 2015}}</ref>

<blockquote>27. In giving effect to recognition of the family in the context of article 23, it is important to accept the concept of the various forms of family, including unmarried couples and their children and single parents and their children and to ensure the equal treatment of women in these contexts (General Comment 19 paragraph 2 last sentence). Single parent families frequently consist of a single woman caring for one or more children, and States parties should describe what measures of support are in place to enable her to discharge her parental functions on the basis of equality with a man in a similar position.</blockquote>

=== Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action ===
{{Main|Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action}}
The Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action (VDPA) is a human rights declaration adopted by consensus at the [[World Conference on Human Rights]] on 25 June 1993 in [[Vienna]], Austria. This declaration recognizes women's rights as being protected human rights. Paragraph 18 reads:<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ohchr.org/EN/ProfessionalInterest/Pages/Vienna.aspx |title=Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action |publisher=Ohchr.org |access-date=18 July 2016}}</ref>

<blockquote>The human rights of women and of the girl-child are an inalienable, integral and indivisible part of universal human rights. The full and equal participation of women in political, civil, economic, social and cultural life, at the national, regional and international levels, and the eradication of all forms of discrimination on grounds of sex are priority objectives of the international community.</blockquote>

=== United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 ===
{{Main|United Nations Security Council Resolution}}
On 31 October 2000, the [[United Nations Security Council]] unanimously adopted [[United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325]], the first formal and legal document from the United Nations Security Council that requires all states to fully respect [[international humanitarian law]] and [[international human rights law]] applicable to the rights and protection of women and girls during and after the [[armed conflicts]].

=== Regional conventions ===

[[File:Regional women's rights conventions participation map.svg|thumb|300px|[[Belém do Pará Convention]], [[Maputo Protocol]] and [[Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence|Istanbul Convention]] participation combined.
{{legend|#00AA00|Signed and ratified}}
{{legend|#008000|Acceded or succeeded}}
{{legend|#EEEE00|Only signed}}
{{legend|#FF1111|Not signed}}
{{legend|#C0C0C0|Not a member state of the AU, CoE or OAS<ref>Denmark has signed and ratified the Istanbul Convention, but it does not apply to Greenland and the Faroe Islands.</ref>}}]]
{{Main|Belém do Pará Convention|Maputo Protocol|Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence}}
The Inter-American Convention on the Prevention, Punishment, and Eradication of Violence against Women, better known as the [[Belém do Pará Convention]], was adopted by the [[Organization of American States]] on 9 June 1994. As of March 2020, 32 of the 34 or 35 [[member states of the Organization of American States]] have either signed and ratified or acceded to the Belém do Pará Convention; only [[Canada]], [[Cuba]] and the [[United States]] have not.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.oas.org/en/mesecvi/docs/Signatories-Table-EN.pdf |title=Status of signatures and ratifications (Convention of Belém do Pará) |work=CIM website |publisher=Organization of American States |access-date=14 March 2020}}</ref>{{#tag:ref|The [[Member states of the Organization of American States|OAS membership]] status of Cuba is currently unclear, see [[Cuba–OAS relations]]. This leads some sources to count Cuba as one of the 35 OAS member states, while other sources assert that there are only 34 OAS member states. Either way, and although non-OAS states are allowed to accede to the treaty, Cuba has neither signed nor ratified nor acceded to the Belém do Pará Convention.|group="note"}}

The Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa, better known as the [[Maputo Protocol]], was adopted by the [[African Union]] on 11 July 2003 at its second summit in [[Maputo]],<ref>[http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO0307/S00279.htm African Union: Rights of Women Protocol Adopted] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090628210229/http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO0307/S00279.htm |date=28 June 2009 }}, press release, [[Amnesty International]], 22 July 2003.</ref> Mozambique. On 25 November 2005, having been ratified by the required 15 member nations of the African Union, the protocol entered into force.<ref>[http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO0602/S00099.htm UNICEF: toward ending female genital mutilation] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090628232726/http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO0602/S00099.htm |date=28 June 2009 }}, press release, [[United Nations Children's Fund|UNICEF]], 7 February 2006.</ref> The protocol guarantees comprehensive rights to women including the right to take part in the political process, to social and political [[sexual equality|equality]] with men, and to control of their [[reproductive health]], and an end to [[female genital mutilation]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.gtz.de/de/dokumente/en-fgm-maputoprotocol.pdf |title=The Maputo Protocol of the African Union |author=Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ) |date=6 March 2015 |access-date=8 October 2015 |archive-date=15 April 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120415144600/http://www.gtz.de/de/dokumente/en-fgm-maputoprotocol.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref>

The [[Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence]], better known as the Istanbul Convention, was adopted by the [[Council of Europe]] on 11 May 2011. As of June 2020, the treaty has been signed by 45/47 Council of Europe member states and the [[European Union]]; 34 of the signatories have also ratified the convention.<ref name="Full list Istanbul Convention">{{cite web |title=Full list: Chart of signatures and ratifications of Treaty 210 |url=http://www.coe.int/en/web/conventions/full-list/-/conventions/treaty/210/signatures |publisher=Council of Europe |access-date=5 June 2020}}</ref>

== Violence against women ==

=== United Nations Declaration ===

The [[Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women]] was adopted by the United Nations in 1993. It defines [[violence against women]] as "any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.un-documents.net/a48r104.htm|title=A/RES/48/104 – Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women – UN Documents: Gathering a body of global agreements|author=United Nations General Assembly|work=un-documents.net|access-date=8 October 2015}}</ref> This resolution established that women have a right to be free from violence. As a consequence of the resolution, in 1999, the General Assembly declared the day of 25 November to be the [[International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women]].

Article 2 of The Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women outlines several forms of violence against women:

<blockquote>Article Two:
Violence against women shall be understood to encompass, but not be limited to, the following:

: (a) Physical, sexual and psychological violence occurring in the family, including [[Battery (crime)|battering]], sexual abuse of female children in the household, [[dowry]]-related violence, [[marital rape]], [[female genital mutilation]] and other traditional practices harmful to women, non-spousal violence and violence related to [[Sexual exploitation|exploitation]];
: (b) Physical, sexual and [[psychological abuse|psychological violence]] occurring within the general community, including [[rape]], [[sexual abuse]], [[sexual harassment]] and intimidation at work, in educational institutions and elsewhere, [[Human trafficking|trafficking]] in women and [[forced prostitution]];
: (c) Physical, sexual and psychological violence perpetrated or condoned by the State, wherever it occurs.</blockquote>

=== Istanbul Conventions ===

The Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence, also known as the [[Istanbul Convention]], is the first legally binding instrument in Europe in the field of domestic violence and violence against women,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.oas.org/es/mesecvi/docs/CSW-SideEvent2014-Flyer-EN.pdf |title=Flyer |publisher=oas.org |access-date=2019-12-16}}</ref> and came into force in 2014.<ref>{{cite web|author=Bureau des Traités |url=http://www.conventions.coe.int/Treaty/Commun/ChercheSig.asp?NT=210&CM=&DF=&CL=ENG |title=Liste complète |publisher=Conventions.coe.int |access-date=18 July 2016}}</ref>
Countries which ratify it must ensure that the forms of violence defined in its text are outlawed. In its Preamble, the Convention states that "the realisation of ''de jure'' and ''de facto'' equality between women and men is a key element in the prevention of violence against women". The convention also provides a definition of [[domestic violence]] as "all acts of physical, sexual, psychological or economic violence that occur within the family or domestic unit or between former or current spouses or partners, whether or not the perpetrator shares or has shared the same residence with the victim".<ref name="Istanbul"/> Although it is a Convention of the [[Council of Europe]], it is open to accession by any country.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.coe.int/t/dghl/standardsetting/convention-violence/thematic_factsheets/IC%20Global%20Tool_EN.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=8 February 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150221131635/http://www.coe.int/t/dghl/standardsetting/convention-violence/thematic_factsheets/IC%20Global%20Tool_EN.pdf |archive-date=21 February 2015}}</ref>

=== Rape and sexual violence ===
{{Main|International framework of sexual violence}}
[[File:Chinese girl from one of the Japanese Army's 'comfort battalions'.jpg|thumb|upright=0.8|A young [[Chinese diaspora|ethnic Chinese]] woman who was in one of the [[Imperial Japanese Army]]'s "comfort battalions" is interviewed by an [[Allies of World War II|Allied]] officer (see [[Comfort women]]).]]
Rape, sometimes called [[sexual assault]], is an assault by a person involving [[sexual intercourse]] with or [[sexual penetration]] of another person without that person's [[consent]]. Rape is generally considered a serious [[sex crime]] as well as a civil assault. When part of a widespread and systematic practice, rape and [[sexual slavery]] are now recognised as a [[crime against humanity]] as well as a [[war crime]]. Rape is also now recognised as a form of [[genocide]] when committed with the [[genocidal intent|intent to destroy]], in whole or in part, a targeted group.

==== As genocide ====
{{See also|Rwandan genocide}}
In 1998, the [[International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda]] established by the United Nations made landmark decisions that rape is a crime of [[genocide]] under [[international law]]. The trial of [[Jean-Paul Akayesu]], the mayor of Taba Commune in Rwanda, established precedents that rape is an element of the crime of genocide. The Akayesu judgement includes the first interpretation and application by an international court of the 1948 [[Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide]]. The Trial Chamber held that rape, which it defined as "a physical invasion of a sexual nature committed on a person under circumstances which are coercive", and sexual assault constitute acts of genocide insofar as they were committed with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a targeted group. It found that sexual assault formed an integral part of the process of destroying the [[Tutsi]] ethnic group and that the rape was systematic and had been perpetrated against Tutsi women only, manifesting the specific intent required for those acts to constitute genocide.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2012-10-12|title=UNHCR {{!}} Refworld {{!}} The Prosecutor v. Jean-Paul Akayesu (Trial Judgement)|url=http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/publisher,ICTR,,,40278fbb4,0.html|access-date=2020-10-09|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121012031344/http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/publisher,ICTR,,,40278fbb4,0.html|archive-date=12 October 2012}}</ref>

Judge [[Navanethem Pillay]] said in a statement after the verdict: "From time immemorial, rape has been regarded as one of the [[Wartime sexual violence|spoils of war]]. Now it will be considered a war crime. We want to send out a strong message that rape is no longer a trophy of war."<ref name=paulwalters>[[Navanethem Pillay]] is quoted by Professor Paul Walters in his presentation of her honorary [[doctorate of law]], [[Rhodes University]], April 2005 {{cite web |url=http://www.ru.ac.za/academic/graduation/addresses_and_citations/2005/Judge_Pillay_citation.doc |title=Judge Navanethem Pillay |access-date=2008-02-27 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081001193848/http://www.ru.ac.za/academic/graduation/addresses_and_citations/2005/Judge_Pillay_citation.doc |archive-date=1 October 2008}}</ref> An estimated 500,000 women were raped during the 1994 Rwandan Genocide.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.amnesty.org.nz/web/pages/home.nsf/0/e57ea3f05f6aa848cc256e460012f365?OpenDocument|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071212040642/http://www.amnesty.org.nz/web/pages/home.nsf/0/e57ea3f05f6aa848cc256e460012f365?OpenDocument|url-status = dead|title=Violence Against Women: Worldwide Statistics|archive-date=12 December 2007}}</ref>

==== As a crime against humanity ====
{{Main|Crimes against humanity}}
The [[Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court|Rome Statute]] Explanatory Memorandum, which defines the jurisdiction of the [[International Criminal Court]], recognises rape, [[sexual slavery]], [[enforced prostitution]], [[forced pregnancy]], [[compulsory sterilization|enforced sterilization]], "or any other form of sexual violence of comparable gravity" as a [[Crimes against humanity|crime against humanity]] if the action is part of a widespread or systematic practice.<ref name="Horton">As quoted by Guy Horton in [http://www.ibiblio.org/obl/docs3/Horton-2005.pdf ''Dying Alive&nbsp;– A Legal Assessment of Human Rights Violations in Burma'']. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080307095038/http://www.ibiblio.org/obl/docs3/Horton-2005.pdf |date=7 March 2008 }}. April 2005, co-funded by The Netherlands Ministry for Development Co-Operation. See section "12.52 Crimes against humanity", p. 201. He references RSICC/C, Vol. 1, p. 360.</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://legal.un.org/icc/statute/romefra.htm |title=Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court |publisher=United Nations |access-date=30 August 2011}}</ref> The [[Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action]] also condemn systematic rape as well as murder, sexual slavery, and forced pregnancy.<ref>Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action, Section II, paragraph 38.</ref>

Rape was first recognised as a [[crime against humanity]] when the [[International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia]] issued arrest warrants based on the [[Geneva Conventions]] and Violations of the Laws or Customs of War. Specifically, it was recognised that Muslim women in [[Foča|Foca]] (southeastern Bosnia and Herzegovina) were subjected to systematic and widespread [[gang rape]], torture, and [[sexual enslavement]] by [[Bosnian Serb]] soldiers, policemen, and members of paramilitary groups after the takeover of the city in April 1992.<ref name="haverford">{{cite web|url=http://www.haverford.edu/relg/sells/rape.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090212122926/http://www.haverford.edu/relg/sells/rape.html|url-status = dead|title=Rape as a Crime Against Humanity|archive-date=12 February 2009}}</ref> The indictment was of major legal significance and was the first time that sexual assaults were investigated for the purpose of prosecution under the rubric of [[torture]] and [[enslavement]] as a crime against humanity.<ref name="haverford"/> The indictment was confirmed by a 2001 verdict by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia that rape and sexual enslavement are crimes against humanity. This ruling challenged the widespread acceptance of rape and sexual enslavement of women as intrinsic part of war.<ref name=AmnestyInt2001feb22>[http://asiapacific.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGEUR630042001?open&of=ENG-BIH Bosnia and Herzegovina : Foca verdict&nbsp;– rape and sexual enslavement are crimes against humanity] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090907091105/http://asiapacific.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGEUR630042001?open&of=ENG-BIH |date=7 September 2009 }}. 22 February 2001. [[Amnesty International]].</ref> The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia found three Bosnian Serb men guilty of rape of [[Bosniak]] (Bosnian Muslim) women and girls, and two of the men were found guilty of the crime against humanity of sexual enslavement for holding women and girls captive. Many of the women subsequently disappeared.<ref name=AmnestyInt2001feb22/>
According to a report by the [[UN Human Rights Office]], published on 28 July 2020, the women who traveled abroad were forcibly returned to [[North Korea]] and were subjected to abuse, torture, sexual violence and other violations. North Korea bans citizens from traveling abroad. Those women who were detained for doing so were regularly beaten, tortured, and subjected to forced nudity and invasive body searches. Women have also reported that in case of pregnancy, the prison officials aborted many children by either beating the women or making them do hard labor.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://news.un.org/en/story/2020/07/1069131|title=Human rights report details 'heartbreaking' accounts of women detained in DPRK|access-date=28 July 2020|website=UN News|date=28 July 2020}}</ref>

=== Forced marriage and slavery ===
{{See also|Forced conversion of minority girls in Pakistan|Forced marriage}}

The 1956 [[Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slavery, the Slave Trade, and Institutions and Practices Similar to Slavery]] defines "institutions and practices similar to slavery" to include:<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ohchr.org/EN/ProfessionalInterest/Pages/SupplementaryConventionAbolitionOfSlavery.aspx |title=Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slavery |publisher=Ohchr.org |date=1956|access-date=18 July 2016}}</ref>

c) Any institution or practice whereby:

* (i) A woman, without the right to refuse, is promised or given in marriage on payment of a consideration in money or in kind to her parents, guardian, family or any other person or group; or
* (ii) The husband of a woman, his family, or his clan, has the right to transfer her to another person for value received or otherwise; or
* (iii) A woman on the death of her husband is liable to be inherited by another person;

The Istanbul Convention requires countries which ratify it to prohibit forced marriage and to ensure that forced marriages can be easily voided without further victimization.<ref name="Istanbul"/>

=== Trafficking Protocol ===

The [[Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children]] is a [[Protocol (diplomacy)|protocol]] to the [[Convention against Transnational Organised Crime]]. Its purpose is defined in ''Article 2. Statement of purpose'' as: "(a) To prevent and combat trafficking in persons, paying particular attention to women and children; (b) To protect and assist the victims of such trafficking, with full respect for their human rights; and (c) To promote cooperation among States Parties in order to meet those objectives."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.unodc.org/documents/treaties/UNTOC/Publications/TOC%20Convention/TOCebook-e.pdf |title=United Nations Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime and the Protocols Thereto |access-date=18 July 2016}}</ref>

== See also ==
{{Div col}}
* [[Abortion-rights movement]]
* [[Birth control movement in the United States]]
* [[Female education]]
* [[Feminism and equality]]
* ''[[Wahre und Falsche "Frauen-Emanzipation"]]'', an early essay
* [[Gender apartheid]]
* [[Gender Inequality Index]]
* [[Gendercide]]
* [[Girl power]]
* [[Global Women's Strike]]
* [[Gruber Prize for Women's Rights]]
* [[History of feminism]]
* [[Index of feminism articles]]
* [[International Council of Women]]
* [[Legal rights of women in history]]
* [[List of civil rights leaders]]
* [[List of feminists]]
* [[List of global issues]]
* [[List of suffragists and suffragettes]]
* [[List of women's organizations]]
* [[List of women's rights activists]]
* [[List of women's suffrage organizations]]
* [[List of women's suffrage publications]]
* [[Men's rights movement]]
* [[Misogyny]]
* [[My body, my choice]]
* [[Pregnant patients' rights]]
* [[Sex workers' rights]]
* [[Simone de Beauvoir Prize]]
* [[Timeline of reproductive rights legislation]]
* [[Timeline of women's legal rights (other than voting)]]
* [[Timeline of women's suffrage]]
* [[Women's March for the Decriminalization of Abortion]]
* [[Women's rights are human rights]]
* [[Women's rights by country]]
* [[Women's rights in 2014]]
* [[Women's Social and Political Union]]
{{div col end}}

== Notes ==
{{reflist|group=note}}

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== Sources ==

* {{Cite book|last1=Blundell |first1=Sue |title=Women in ancient Greece, Volume 2. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Xfx1VaSIOgQC&q=women+ancient+greece |year=1995 |publisher=Harvard University Press |isbn=978-0-674-95473-1 |page=224}}
* {{Cite book |last=Pomeroy |first=Sarah B. |title=Spartan Women |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2002 |isbn=978-0-19-513067-6 }}
* {{Cite book |doi=10.4135/9781412965811.n106 |chapter=Feminism and Women's Rights |title=The Encyclopedia of Libertarianism |year=2008 |last1=McElroy |first1=Wendy |isbn=978-1-4129-6580-4 |oclc=750831024 |lccn=2008009151 |pages=173–176 }}

== External links ==
{{Commons category}}
{{Wikiquote}}
* [https://www.hrw.org/topic/womens-rights Human Rights Watch: Women's Rights]
* [http://www.omct.org/index.php?id=EQL&lang=eng World Organization Against Torture: No Violence Against Women]
* {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090305014835/http://www.history.com/minisite.do?content_type=mini_home&mini_id=1286%2F |title=Women's History Month by History.com |date=2009-03-05}}
* {{Webarchive |url=http://webarchive.loc.gov/all/20020808031637/http://www.law-lib.utoronto.ca/diana/ |title=Women's Human Rights Resources Programme |date=2002-08-08}}
* [https://www.trust.org/trustlaw/womens-rights/ Women's Rights] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221019133303/https://www.trust.org/trustlaw/womens-rights/ |date=19 October 2022 }}, from [[Thomson Reuters Foundation]]

{{Human rights}}
{{Suffrage}}
{{Feminism}}
{{Authority control}}
{{Portal bar|Feminism|Politics|Switzerland}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Women's Rights}}
[[Category:Women's rights| ]]