The Beginning and Continuation of Women's Rights

Essay by mrsjohnspencerCollege, Undergraduate January 2009

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Since the beginning of time, women have always been submissive to men. It is know through out centuries of every kind of culture, women are to obey their men. Up until the late 1800’s early 1900’s women could not vote, divorce, or have any right to own land like men did. This began commotion among society, and changed the world forever.

“Since early times women have been uniquely viewed as a creative source of human life. Historically, however, they have been considered not only intellectually inferior to men but also a major source of temptation and evil. In Greek mythology, for example, it was a woman, Pandora, who opened the forbidden box and brought plagues and unhappiness to mankind. Early Roman law described women as children, forever inferior to men.” (Retrieved on January 12, 2009 from http://www.wic.org/misc/history.htm)In 1848, the world’s first women’s rights convention was held in Seneca Falls, New York.

A declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions was debated for two days and signed by 68 women and 32 men. This set the agenda for the women’s right’s movement to follow. In 1868, Elizabeth Cady Stanton was the first woman to write a periodical for women directly, called “The Revolution”. (Women's Timeline (n.d.). Retrieved January 12, 2009, from http://www.infoplease.com/spot/womenstimeline1.html)“In the 19th century, women began working outside their homes in large numbers, notably in textile mills and garment shops. In poorly ventilated, crowded rooms women (and children) worked for as long as 12 hours a day. Great Britain passed a ten-hour-day law for women and children in 1847, but in the United States it was not until the 1910s that the states began to pass legislation limiting working hours and improving working conditions of women and children.”(Retrieved on January 12, 2009 from http://www.wic.org/misc/history.htm)Since the 19th century, a lot has happened with...