women's freedom essay

5 Women’s Rights Essays You Can Read For Free

Women and girls are the most disenfranchised group in the world. Even in places where huge strides have been made, gaps in equality remain. Women’s rights are important within the realm of human rights. Here are five essays exploring the scope of women’s rights, which you can download or read for free online:

“A Vindication on the Rights of Woman” – Mary Wollstonecraft

Mother of Mary Shelley, who wrote the novel Frankenstein, Mary Wollstonecraft is a juggernaut of history in her own right, though for a different reason. Self-educated, Wollstonecraft dedicated her life to women’s education and feminism. Her 1792 essay A Vindication on the Rights of Woman represents one of the earliest writings on women’s equality. In the Western world, many consider its arguments the foundation of the modern women’s rights movement. In the essay, Wollstonecraft writes that men are not  more reasonable or rational than women, and that women must be educated with the same care, so they can contribute to society. If women were left out of the intellectual arena, the progress of society would stop. While most of us believe the idea that women are inherently inferior to men is very outdated, it’s still an accepted viewpoint in many places and in many minds. Wollstonecraft’s Vindication is still relevant.

“The Master’s Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master’s House” – Audre Lorde

Poet and activist Audre Lorde defied the boundaries of traditional feminism and cried out against its racist tendencies. While today debates about intersectional feminism (feminism that takes into account race, sexuality, etc) are common, Audre Lorde wrote her essay on women’s rights and racism back in 1984. In “The Master’s Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master’s House,” Lorde explains how ignoring differences between women – whether its race, class, or sexuality – halts any real change. By pretending the suffering of women is “all the same,” and not defined by differences, white women actually contribute to oppression. Lorde’s essay drew anger from the white feminist community. It’s a debate that feels very current and familiar.

“How to convince sceptics of the value of feminism” – Laura Bates

Laura Bates founded the Everyday Sexism Project website back in 2012. It documents examples of everyday sexism of every degree and has become very influential. In her essay from 2018, Bates takes reader comments into consideration over the essay’s three parts. This unique format allows the essay to encompass multiple views, just not Bates’, and takes into consideration a variety of experiences people have with skeptics of feminism. Why even debate skeptics? Doesn’t that fuel the trolls? In some cases, yes, but skeptics of feminism aren’t trolls, they are numerous, and make up every part of society, including leadership. Learning how to talk to people who don’t agree with you is incredibly important.

“Why Can’t A Smart Woman Love Fashion?” – Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is one of the most influential voices in women’s rights writing. Her book, We Should All Be Feminists , is a great exploration of 21st-century feminism. In this essay from Elle, Adichie takes a seemingly “small” topic about fashion and makes a big statement about independence and a woman’s right to wear whatever she wants. There is still a lot of debate about what a feminist should look like, if wearing makeup contributes to oppression, and so on. “Why Can’t A Smart Woman Love Fashion?” is a moving, personal look at these sorts of questions.

“The male cultural elite is staggeringly blind to #MeToo. Now it’s paying for it.” – Moira Donegan

There are countless essays on the Me Too Movement, and most of them are great reads. In this one from The Guardian, Moira Donegan highlights two specific men and the publications that chose to give them a platform after accusations of sexual misconduct. It reveals just how pervasive the problem is in every arena, including among the cultural, intellectual elite, and what detractors of Me Too are saying.

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About the author, emmaline soken-huberty.

Emmaline Soken-Huberty is a freelance writer based in Portland, Oregon. She started to become interested in human rights while attending college, eventually getting a concentration in human rights and humanitarianism. LGBTQ+ rights, women’s rights, and climate change are of special concern to her. In her spare time, she can be found reading or enjoying Oregon’s natural beauty with her husband and dog.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Essay: Women’s Rights in the Late 20th Century

After World War II, women’s struggle for equality achieved a mixed record of success. The women’s rights movement won equal opportunities in higher education and employment relatively quickly in the 1940s and 1950s. The modern concept of women’s equality as “feminism” appeared in the 1960s, led by activists such as Betty Friedan. Some of its victories in the legislative arena were completely inadvertent, while one of its grandest objects and subject of its greatest efforts resulted in defeat. Moreover, the movement was dominated by an intellectual and professional leadership at some distance from ordinary women. Despite the vagaries of the movement, it was remarkably successful in fundamentally changing society and women’s roles as well as attitudes towards women.

World War II was instrumental in the origins of the Women’s Movement. The classic image of “Rosie the Riveter” reflected the fact that millions of women went into factories when men were mobilized into the military. However, many unmarried and poor women had already participated in the industrial economy for a century. With demobilization after the war, more than three million women quit their jobs to return to their roles as homemakers or were let go to make room for returning men.

There was a lingering split from the 1920s between future First Lady, Eleanor Roosevelt, and feminist leader of the National Women’s Party, Alice Paul. Roosevelt fought to keep protective legislation for women in terms of working hours or physical tasks, and Paul wanted an Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) that made women completely equal under the law. Paul was so frustrated by the lack of progress on the ERA that she resorted to “red-baiting” by labeling its opponents Communists and reporting them to the House Un-American Activities Committee.

Post-war American culture was rather conservative and supported traditional roles for women. The images of women as mothers and homemakers on the new media of television were quite reflective of the reality for many suburban women. The marriage rate was increasing, a Baby Boom resulted in more than 76 million births between 1946 and 1964, and the divorce rate dropped. The American people supported traditional roles for women, and as one post-war poll noted, 63 percent were opposed to married women working outside the home.

In 1963, feminist author Betty Friedan wrote a path-breaking book, The Feminine Mystique  that challenged traditional roles for women.

She described the sense of dissatisfaction that many women felt as “the problem with no name” and wrote, “The problem lay buried, unspoken, for many years in the minds of American women. It was a strange stirring, a sense of dissatisfaction…Each suburban wife struggled with it alone. As she made the beds, shopped for groceries, matched slipcover material, ate peanut butter sandwiches with her children, chauffeured Cub Scouts and Brownies, lay besides her husband at night – she was afraid to ask even of herself the silent question – ‘Is this all?’” (Friedan, The Feminine Mystique , 1963).

Friedan’s book was a best-seller and struck a chord with many women, particularly of her social class. But, some women were poorer and did not have the luxury of choosing whether to work or not because necessity forced them into the workplace. Other women did not share Friedan’s dislike of women’s traditional roles as mother and housewife.

In the early 1960s, many changes were developing for women’s equality in employment and education. By 1960, the number of working women had risen to 35 percent of the workforce with increasing numbers of married women. This probably reflected the fact that many families wanted the extra disposable income to participate in the growing consumer economy more than an increasing desire of women to find personal satisfaction from working. Women were attending higher education in higher numbers, earning nearly 40 percent of the degrees by 1960 and the numbers would continue to grow. In May, 1960, the Food and Drug Administration approved the oral contraceptive, “the Pill,” for women, and millions of women were soon using it for birth control despite the fact that many states outlawed contraceptives. The Pill changed the sexual lives of women throughout the nation. Women’s careers would not be shortened by unanticipated pregnancies, and women would have fewer children.

The Pill became involved in constitutional issues when the Supreme Court took up the question. In 1965, the Supreme Court would overturn anti-contraception laws in  Griswold v. Connecticut , arguing that the “penumbras” in the Bill of Rights—in the First, Third, Fourth, and Fifth Amendments—create “zones of privacy.” Moreover, the majority also used the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to argue that there are “certain fundamental rights” not listed in the Bill of Rights as the Ninth Amendment specifically recognizes. But, should the courts lay down new rights in decisions or should the people be the ones who would define those rights through the amendment process? Moreover, the Fourteenth Amendment explicitly states that, “The Congress shall have power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article,” not the courts (The United States Constitution, Fourteenth Amendment, 1866). By overturning the anti-contraceptive laws of a vast majority of states, the Supreme Court undermined the rights of states to determine laws for their own citizens.

The Pill became involved in constitutional issues when the Supreme Court took up the question. In 1965, the Supreme Court would overturn anti-contraception laws in  Griswold v. Connecticut , arguing that the “penumbras” in the Bill of Rights – in the First, Third, Fourth, and Fifth Amendments – create “zones of privacy.”

Women won legal equality in the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The House Rules Committee Chairman, Howard Smith (D-VA), was a segregationist who may have attempted to halt civil rights for African Americans by including additional rights for women by banning discrimination in employment based on sex—although he claimed he supported women’s equality. To further muddy the waters, many northern liberals and labor unions supported protective legislation for women and opposed the amendments to the Civil Rights act that gave legal protection against discrimination to women. Nevertheless, the Civil Rights Act passed both houses of Congress and was signed by President Johnson to become law. The Act established the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), an executive agency that would be charged with enforcing the law.

In 1966, several feminists formed the National Organization of Women (NOW) and issued a “Statement of Purpose.” The NOW statement was primarily a call for an end to discrimination in education, employment, civil society, and culture. The Statement of Purpose sought to ban discrimination against women with legal and constitutional protections by the government.

It called upon “the power of American law, and the protection guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution to the civil rights of all individuals, must be effectively applied and enforced to isolate and remove patterns of sex discrimination, to ensure equality of opportunity in employment and education, and equality of civil and political rights and responsibilities on behalf of women” (National Organization of Women, “Statement of Purpose,” 1966).

Only a year later, at the second annual NOW conference, the organization called for a “Bill of Rights for Women” that included all the items in the Statement of Purpose and added a call for an Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), publicly-funded daycare centers across the nation, and a repeal of all laws banning abortion. Over the next few years, NOW devoted a great deal of its efforts to lobbying several different federal agencies for enforcing Title VII (part of the Civil Rights Act of 1965 that banned employment discrimination on the basis of race, sex, or national origin), to pressuring Congress to pass the ERA, and expanded its agenda to include other feminist issues such as recognizing that lesbian rights were “a legitimate concern of feminism.” The struggle for the ERA was the most public and significant battle in the quest for women’s equality. In 1972, both houses of Congress passed the ERA by overwhelming majorities to fulfill the two-thirds requirement for constitutional amendments. The ERA needed three-fourths of the state legislatures to ratify the amendment before 1979 (later extended to 1982) for it to become the law of the land. The proposed amendment was quickly ratified by dozens of states and then stalled, eventually winning ratification in 35 states just short of the necessary 38, and failed.

The struggle for the ERA was the most public and significant battle in the quest for women’s equality. In 1972, both houses of Congress passed the ERA by overwhelming majorities to fulfill the two-thirds requirement for constitutional amendments. The ERA needed three-fourths of the state legislatures to ratify the amendment before 1979 (later extended to 1982) for it to become the law of the land.

The ERA failed in large part due to the strong grassroots campaign called “STOP ERA” at the state and local level, spearheaded by a conservative lawyer and activist, Phyllis Schlafly. Schlafly advanced the view, embraced by many religious conservatives and other Americans, that the ERA would have baleful consequences for women. She said that the constitutional amendment would subject women equally to the military draft, end protections in child custody and divorce proceedings, lead to the decline of the traditional family, support abortion rights, back homosexual rights, and lead to unisex bathrooms. Whether or not it would have contributed these things, Schlafly organized a grass-roots campaign at the local and state level called “Stop ERA” which successfully defeated the ERA.

Feminists supported legalized abortion to protect women’s reproductive rights and the “right to control her own body.” They campaigned to overturn state abortion laws and then pushed cases to the Supreme Court in order to overturn all state laws. In the landmark case of  Roe v. Wade  (1973), the Supreme Court legalized abortion throughout the country based upon the precedent established in the  Griswold  decision. The movement to legalize abortion had adopted a lengthy and costly campaign to change abortion laws in the states, but then it shifted its strategy to the courts. Justice Harry Blackmun wrote the majority opinion for the Supreme Court, and much like Justice Roger B. Taney in the  Dred Scott  decision, sought to use the Court to settle a highly contentious social and political question. To that end, Justice Blackmun spent time at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota conducting medical and historical research on the topic. In a 7-2 decision, the Court decided that state laws banning abortion were unconstitutional. It created the trimester framework for pregnancy and stated that during the first trimester there was an unlimited right to abortion. After that, the state had a “compelling interest” in “protecting the potentiality of human life” and could regulate abortions though a physician’s approval. In the last trimester, the state could proscribe abortion except for the protection of the life or health of the mother.

In a dissenting opinion, Justice Byron White called the opinion “an exercise of raw judicial power” because, he argued, the Court “fashions and announces a new constitutional right” which overrides laws in a majority of states. “The upshot is that the people and the legislatures of the 50 states are constitutionally disentitled to weigh the [issue],” White wrote (Justice Byron White, Roe v. Wade Dissenting Opinion, 1973).

The  Roe  decision hardly settled the question in the minds of the American people and set off a decades-long battle in the public square on the highly contentious subject. In  Planned Parenthood v. Casey  (1992), the Court sowed perhaps more confusion.

The Roe decision hardly settled the question in the minds of the American people and set off a decades-long battle in the public square on the highly contentious subject.

Yet, the Court declared that it must uphold a women’s right to have an abortion because it must always uphold precedent (previous decisions) or the court’s legitimacy would be questioned. However, only a few decades before, it purposefully and famously rejected precedent in the  Brown  decision that had the effect of overturning  Plessy .

The struggle for women’s equality may have lost the battle of the ERA, but it won the war. Affirmative action, or giving preference to certain groups in hiring, for women was highly successful in employment, and women entered the professions in such numbers that it was commonplace. Disparities in pay for the same jobs began to disappear. Affirmative action in college and graduate school admissions was so successful that institutions of higher education had to begin looking for ways to attract more male students. Women entered politics and won higher and higher offices. Most of NOW’s original agenda was achieved, though feminists would still say that the “glass ceiling” for women prevented them from rising to complete parity with men at the highest levels of business or politics.

The women’s movement was on the whole successful in achieving equality for women, and women could now choose whether to have a traditional role or work outside the home professionally. Fifty years after Betty Friedan’s  The Feminine Mystique  was published, American women continued to debate the meaning of feminism and its relevance to their lives once greater equality and liberty were achieved. While men have shouldered some additional burdens in the home and family, women still have not been released from their traditional roles cooking, cleaning, and caring for children even as they’ve assumed new roles in society. Women have found that although they won greater employment opportunities and equality, they are struggling to “have it all” by bearing the double-burden of traditional roles and work.

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Women’s Rights in the Late 20th Century

After World War II, women’s struggle for equality achieved a mixed record of success. The women’s rights movement won equal opportunities in higher education and employment relatively quickly in the 1940s and 1950s. The modern concept of women’s equality as “feminism” appeared in the 1960s, led by activists such as Betty Friedan. Some of its victories in the legislative arena were completely inadvertent, while one of its grandest objects and subject of its greatest efforts resulted in defeat. Moreover, the movement was dominated by an intellectual and professional leadership at some distance from ordinary women. Despite the vagaries of the movement, it was remarkably successful in fundamentally changing society and women’s roles as well as attitudes towards women. In this lesson, students will explore the record of successes, and better understand constitutional principles of privacy and due process.

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Collection Civil Rights History Project

Women in the civil rights movement.

Many women played important roles in the Civil Rights Movement, from leading local civil rights organizations to serving as lawyers on school segregation lawsuits. Their efforts to lead the movement were often overshadowed by men, who still get more attention and credit for its successes in popular historical narratives and commemorations.  Many women experienced gender discrimination and sexual harassment within the movement and later turned towards the feminist movement in the 1970s.  The Civil Rights History Project interviews with participants in the struggle include both expressions of pride in women’s achievements and also candid assessments about the difficulties they faced within the movement.

Gwendolyn Zoharah Simmons was a member of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), and one of three women chosen to be a field director for the Mississippi Freedom Summer Project.  She discusses the difficulties she faced in this position and notes that gender equality was not a given, but had to be fought for:  “I often had to struggle around issues related to a woman being a project director.  We had to fight for the resources, you know.  We had to fight to get a good car because the guys would get first dibs on everything, and that wasn’t fair…it was a struggle to be taken seriously by the leadership, as well as by your male colleagues.” She continues, “One of the things that we often don’t talk about, but there was sexual harassment that often happened toward the women.  And so, that was one of the things that, you know, I took a stand on, that ‘This was not – we’re not going to get a consensus on this.  There is not going to be sexual harassment of any of the women on this project or any of the women in this community.  And you will be put out if you do it.’”

Lonnie King was an activist with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) in Atlanta. He remembers meeting other students from the Nashville movement when SNCC became a nationwide organization in 1960. He recalls his surprise that Diane Nash was not elected to be the representative from Nashville, and echoes Simmons’ criticisms about male privilege and domination: “Diane Nash, in my view, was the Nashville movement and by that I mean this:  Others were there, but they weren’t Diane Nash. Diane was articulate; she was a beautiful woman, very photogenic, very committed. And very intelligent and had a following. I never did understand how, except maybe for sexism, I never understood how [James] Bevel, Marion [Barry], and for that matter, John Lewis, kind of leapfrogged over her. I never understood that because she was in fact the leader in Nashville. It was Diane. The others were followers of her… I so never understood that to be honest with you. She’s an unsung... a real unsung hero of the movement in Nashville, in my opinion.”

Ekwueme Michael Thewell was a student at Howard University and a leader of the Nonviolent Action Group, an organization that eventually joined with SNCC. He reflects on the sacrifices that women college students at Howard made in joining the struggle, and remarks on the constraints they faced after doing so: “It is only in retrospect that I recognize the extraordinary price that our sisters paid for being as devoted to the struggle as they were. It meant that they weren’t into homecoming queen kind of activities. That they weren’t into the accepted behavior of a Howard lady. That they weren't into the trivia of fashion and dressing up. Though they were attractive women and they took care of themselves, but they weren’t the kind of trophy wives for the med school students and they weren’t—some of them might have been members of the Greek letter organizations, but most of them I suspect weren’t. So that they occupied a place outside the conventional social norms of the whole university student body. So did the men. But with men, I think, we can just say, ‘Kiss my black ass’ and go on about our business. It wasn’t so clear to me that a woman could do the same thing.”

Older interviewees emphasize the opportunities that were available to an earlier generation of women. Mildred Bond Roxborough , a long-time secretary of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, discusses the importance of women leaders in local branches: “Well, actually when you think about women's contributions to the NAACP, without the women we wouldn't have an NAACP.  The person who was responsible for generating the organizing meeting was a woman.  Of course, ever since then we've had women in key roles--not in the majority, but in the very key roles which were responsible for the evolution of the NAACP.  I think in terms of people like Daisy Lampkin, who was a member of our national board from Pittsburgh; she traveled around the country garnering memberships and helping to organize branches.  That was back in the '30s and '40s before it became fashionable or popular for women to travel.  You have women who subsequently held positions in the NAACP nationally as program directors and as leaders of various divisions.” She goes on to discuss the contributions of many women to the success of the NAACP.

Doris Adelaide Derby , another SNCC activist, remembers that the challenge and urgency of the freedom struggle was a formative experience for young activist women, who had to learn resourcefulness on the job:   “I always did what I wanted to do.  I had my own inner drive.  And I found that when I came up with ideas and I was ready to work to see it through, and I think that happened with a lot of women in SNCC.  We needed all hands on deck, and so, when we found ourselves in situations, we had to rely on whoever was around.  And if somebody had XYZ skills, and somebody only had ABC, we had to come together. We used to joke about that, but in reality, the women, you know, were strong.  In the struggle, the women were strong.”

Ruby Nell Sales , who later overcame psychological traumas from the racial violence she witnessed in the movement, encourages us to look beyond the simplistic story of Rosa Parks refusing to move to the back of the bus in Montgomery. As she explains, Parks was a long-time activist who had sought justice for African American women who were frequently assaulted—both verbally and physically-- in their daily lives: “…When we look at Rosa Parks, people often think that she was – she did that because of her civil rights and wanting to sit down on the bus.  But she also did that – it was a rebellion of maids, a rebellion of working class women, who were tired of boarding the buses in Montgomery, the public space, and being assaulted and called out-of-there names and abused by white bus drivers. And that’s why that Movement could hold so long.  If it had just been merely a protest about riding the bus, it might have shattered.  But it went to the very heart of black womanhood, and black women played a major role in sustaining that movement.”

The Civil Rights History Project includes interviews with over 50 women who came from a wide range of backgrounds and were involved in the movement in a myriad of ways. Their stories deepen our understanding of the movement as a whole, and provide us with concrete examples of how vital they were to the gains of the Civil Rights Movement.

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American Women: Topical Essays

The long road to equality: what women won from the era ratification effort.

• Introduction
• American Women: An Overview
• Marching for the Vote: Remembering the Woman Suffrage Parade of 1913
• Sentiments of an American Woman
• The House That Marian Built: The MacDowell Colony of Peterborough, New Hampshire
• Women On The Move: Overland Journeys to California
• “With Peace and Freedom Blest!”: Woman as Symbol in America, 1590-1800

General Inquiries : Ask a Librarian

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Author: Leslie W. Gladstone,  retired, Congressional Research Service

Note: This guide is adapted from the original essay in "American Women: A Library of Congress Guide for the Study of Women's History and Culture in the United States," 2001.

Created: December 2001

Last Updated: March 22, 2019

At a National Organization for Women (NOW) rally in Lafayette Park, across from the White House, on June 30, 1982, NOW president Eleanor Smeal rallied an estimated two thousand supporters, including seven hundred nurses in town for the American Nurses Association convention. 1 Although they were there that day mourning the defeat of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), Smeal urged them not to forget that “We are a majority. We are determined to play majority politics . . . . We are not going to be reduced again to the ladies' auxiliary.” 2

Meanwhile, in San Francisco, outside the Civic Center, about one thousand women counted down the ERA's last six hours, a rain-soaked vigil that was reported, filmed, and recorded by many women journalists and technicians. 3

That same night, at a party in a Washington, D.C., hotel, the ERA's demise was celebrated by opponents, fourteen hundred strong, as “a great victory for women.” 4 The Washington Post account of that evening describes the entrance into the ballroom of the leader of the ERA opposition, Phyllis Schlafly, as the band played “Somewhere over the Rainbow.” During the festivities, the crowd was entertained with renditions of “Ding, Dong, the Witch Is Dead” and “I Enjoy Being a Girl.” Triumphantly addressing the crowd, Schlafly called for “a mighty movement” that will “set America on the right path.” 5

What caused the rejection of the Equal Rights Amendment? Why the intense emotions that caused ERA proponents to write the names of opponents in pigs' blood on the floors of the Illinois state capitol or opponents to pronounce apocalyptically that if the amendment was ratified husbands would no longer have to support their wives, that women would be drafted, and that toilets would be made unisex? What, if any, was the legacy of the often bitter ratification campaign that divided American women for nearly a decade beginning in 1972?

The proposed Equal Rights Amendment, only fifty-one words in length, was contentious from its inception. In a form suggested by Alice Paul, a constitutional amendment was first introduced in 1923—only three years after the Nineteenth Amendment granted women the right to vote—unleashing sixty or more years of national debate. (For a discussion of records of women's rights organizations from this era that are held by the Manuscript Division, see Women's Rights in the Manuscript Division section.)

Paul was a militant leader in the suffrage movement. She founded the National Woman's Party, and for fifty years served as a tactician for the ERA. (See Women's Suffrage: Suffrage Organizations in the Manuscript Division section.) Her original wording, drafted in 1923, has been changed several times, but the text submitted to the states for ratification in 1972 is essentially hers:

Sec. 1. Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any State on account of sex. Sec. 2. The Congress shall have the power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article. Sec. 3. This amendment shall take effect two years after the date of ratification.” 6

Almost immediately in 1923, a split developed between the more militant feminists whose goal was full equality under the Constitution and the social reformers and organized labor who feared that the amendment would be used to strike down laws that they had secured to protect women in the workplace. (See "Protective Legislation" in the Law Library section and Labor and "Progressive Reform" in the Manuscript Division section.)

Opposition to the ERA began to dissipate somewhat in the 1930s. Roosevelt's New Deal enacted social welfare laws that regulated wages and hours and instituted fair labor standards for both male and female workers, rendering protective laws less necessary. Yet the split continued, because certain groups—such as agricultural workers and domestics, areas where women workers concentrated—were still exempted from these standards. 7 According to Cynthia Harrison, “between 1945 and 1960, the proponents of the ERA and the defenders of protective labor legislation would not reconcile their views, based as they were in opposite philosophies of women's needs.” 8 The liberal-labor coalition's concerns about the threat to protective legislation were not finally removed until passage of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, when a high volume of sex discrimination complaints and suits confirmed the argument that protective labor laws acted as a limitation on women's employment opportunities (see "Civil Rights" in the Law Library American Women guide ). 9

In the 1960s, the period generally referred to as the second women's rights movement began with John F. Kennedy's appointment of the first President's Commission on the Status of Women (PCSW), chaired by Eleanor Roosevelt [picture]. The work of this and other early commissions successfully focused public attention on a broad range of initiatives designed to address the unequal position of American women, both under U.S. law and in customary practice, issues which also found expression in numerous women's rights demonstrations. 10

According to Marguerite Rawalt, the only pro-ERA appointee, the creation of the PCSW, consisting almost entirely of women who still opposed the ERA, was intended to forestall consideration of the amendment. Labor's continued opposition to the ERA made it a politically risky issue for a Democratic president. Recollections of differences in perspectives and values between such commissioners as Rawalt, who at the time was president of the National Association of Women Lawyers, and Esther Peterson [picture], the highest-ranking woman in the Kennedy administration as director of the Women's Bureau and an assistant secretary of labor, can be heard on National Public Radio's 1981 program “The ERA in America.” 11

It has been argued that many of this first presidential commission's accomplishments were long-range. One was to make discussion of women's roles and status respectable and to give women's issues a prominent place on the national political agenda for the first time since ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment. 12 Possibly the most divisive issue for the commission, however, was the problem of how to achieve constitutional equality for women. After receiving divergent views from national women's organizations and labor union groups, the commission declared that equality of rights for all persons is embodied in the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments to the Constitution and recommended that prompt judicial clarification of this principle be sought from the Supreme Court, which could confer equal rights to women by interpreting the Fourteenth Amendment's equal protection clause to give sex the same “suspect” test as race and national origin. 13 It also found that an equal rights amendment “need not now be sought,” but protective legislation for women should be maintained and expanded. 14 (To read the full text of the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments, follow the links to the National Archives and Records Administration Web site under “The Long Road to Equality” on the Topical Essays External Sites page.)

“When would the government act?” was the activists' question, and “Now” became the mantra. Outraged by the refusal of the newly formed Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to prosecute job discrimination cases on the basis of sex through Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Marguerite Rawalt, Betty Friedan [picture], and others founded the National Organization for Women in 1966. Passage of the ERA was its first agenda item. 15 Four years later, on July 20, 1970, Representative Martha Griffiths, a Democrat from Michigan, collected enough signatures for a discharge petition, by-passing veteran House Judiciary Committee chair Emanuel Celler [picture], a liberal Democrat from New York with strong labor ties who had refused to hold hearings on the ERA for two decades. 16 Opening House hearings on the amendment on August 10, Griffiths pleaded, “Give us a chance to show you that those so-called protective laws to aid women—however well intentioned originally—have become in fact restraints, which keep wife, abandoned wife, and widow alike from supporting her family.” 17

Approved by 352-15 in the U.S. House of Representatives in 1971, the amendment moved to the Senate, where Senator Sam Ervin [picture], a Democrat from North Carolina and chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, was its chief opponent. A strict constitutionalist, Ervin in fact attacked the amendment on the basis of traditional views of gender. 18 Much anti-ERA literature subsequently was based on Ervin's public statements. 19 Despite continued opposition of some segments of organized labor, the ERA was passed by the Senate on March 22, 1972, and it was submitted to the states for ratification. 20

In the years between 1972 and 1977, the federal amendment proposing equal rights for women was considered by the legislatures of every state, in some cases more than once, and thirty-five of them ratified it. 21 In addition, between 1971 and 1978, fifteen states adopted equal rights amendments to their own constitutions, providing a legal basis for equal treatment to women in those jurisdictions. These served to demonstrate the protections that such an amendment could provide and as an argument for passage of a federal amendment. At the same time, other states began making changes in their laws to eliminate distinctions that unfairly precluded women from receiving equal treatment.

One problem encountered early in the ratification campaign was the portrayal of women and women's rights by the press generally, which seemed to enjoy making them subjects of heavy-handed jokes. When Gloria Steinem was invited to speak at a National Press Club luncheon in January 1972, a short time after the club had agreed to admit women journalists, she used the occasion to take up not only the serious issues of feminism and the ERA but also the crippling effect for both sexes of a male-dominated vision of the world. A tape of the session, held in the Motion Picture, Broadcasting, and Recorded Sound Division (MBRS), records her comments on the way men tended to assume that they represented the norm, so that when the press presented issues important to the lives of women, reporters seldom found it necessary to seek out women as sources. 22 As an example she cited a recent story on abortion in which the interviewees consisted of a number of men, plus one nun. Conservative women, on the other hand, particularly Schlafly, were convinced that the “liberal” press was on the side of the ERA. Other interviews illustrating the flavor of the debate over the ERA, also available in MBRS, are those with Gloria Steinem and Jill Ruckelshaus, both active in the ratification campaign, on Meet the Press, September 10, 1972 (RWC 7731 B2); and with Eleanor Smeal, president of the National Organization for Women, also on Meet the Press, November 20, 1977 (LWO 15563 1-2), and at the National Press Club, June 25, 1981 (RXA 1902 B).

Scholars have speculated about the causes of the dramatic slowing in the ratification process that followed the first three months of 1973. It has been suggested that the Supreme Court's decision on abortion in Roe v. Wade on January 22, 1973, coupled with nationwide admiration for Senator Sam Ervin's chairmanship of the Senate Watergate hearings [picture] that began in May, made ERA proponents' task much harder. Decriminalization of abortion angered fundamentalists and social conservatives, and Ervin, leader of the Senate opposition to the ERA since 1969 and now seen as a savior of the Constitution, became their champion in the southern states that refused to ratify the ERA. 23

Preparations for International Women's Year and its culminating event, the National Women's Conference in Houston in 1977, infused the ERA ratification effort with new energy. And just in time, for not only had ratification slowed markedly but five states had voted to rescind their previous ratifications. 24 The designation of 1975 as International Women's Year (IWY), a United Nations initiative, had come in response to the rising demand for women's rights, not only in the United States, but around the world. 25

The agenda for the national conference consisted of twenty-six items nominated for action by the state groups. The preceding year was spent researching and surveying particular aspects of gender discrimination, and 115 suggestions for remedial action were submitted to the president. 26 Included were recommendations on issues such as employment, reproductive freedom, the legal status of homemakers, rape, the media, and the proposed Equal Rights Amendment. All twenty-six agenda items were approved, but the only one totally unchanged by the delegates to the National Conference was the one that stated, “The Equal Rights Amendment should be ratified.”

Many more socially conservative women were politicized by the Houston conference. Shocked by the delegates' overwhelming support for the ERA, gay rights, federal funding of abortion, government-sponsored child care, and contraception for minors without parental consent, all advocated in the name of “women's rights,” they were also angered that this “feminist” convention was supported by taxpayers. 27 A privately funded opposition rally in Houston was held by Schlafly and her Stop ERA and Eagle Forum organizations. The ERA campaign was denounced as an assault on the family and on the role of women as wives and mothers. 28

An important offshoot of the IWY national conference was a new organization named ERAmerica, whose records are held by the Manuscript Division (see "Women's Rights" in the Manuscript Division section). 29 Created at the request of a number of nongovernmental groups, ERAmerica was set up as a private national campaign organization. Its role was to direct the final months of the ratification drive in the fifteen remaining unratified states. Throughout this ratification effort, ERAmerica worked with more than two hundred participating organizations. They:

• lobbied for the amendment
• mounted campaigns in unratified states where success was believed possible
• organized a national educational program
• served as a clearinghouse for information, and
• did fund-raising and public relations.

In this way, ERAmerica and allied groups became agents for the hands-on engagement of numerous activist women with the nuts and bolts of political campaigning and with the political process at the state and local level.

The records of ERAmerica are a rich source of detail on the way much of the political training of pro-ERA volunteers was accomplished. Since ERAmerica could pay only a handful of professional staff, it was necessary to recruit volunteers from organizations within the targeted states, and these people represented a broad spectrum of backgrounds and interests. 30

By the same token, the anti-ERA effort had a strong educational value for conservative women, many of whom became effective lobbyists for their points of view. As the Reverend Jerry Falwell remarked the day after the ERA died, “Phyllis has succeeded in doing something nobody has ever done . . . She's mobilized the conservative women of this country into a powerful political unit.” 31

At the national level, the case for passage of the amendment was carried to the general public by magazine articles in such publications as Women's Day and Working Women . These stories discussed issues like:

• discriminatory wages
• battered wives
• loopholes in a homemaker's right to spousal support
• publicly funded boys-only schools and
• the lack of protections for women in the areas of marital and property rights, child support payments, and credit access. 32

Also cited in the ERAmerica records was a speakers bureau organized for radio, television, and personal appearances by well-known figures like presidential daughter Maureen Reagan, White House press secretary Liz Carpenter, humor columnist Erma Bombeck, actors Alan Alda, Polly Bergen, and others who could attract an audience and articulate the rationale for improving the status of women.

Although the amendment was ratified by thirty-five states, it did not gain approval of the necessary three-fourths or thirty-eight states before the 1982 deadline.

There is no question, however, that public opinion regarding the need for change was substantially altered by the years of debate. Surveys taken by Louis Harris and by the Roper Organization from 1970 through 1985 show steadily growing support for strengthening the status of women. 33 The shift in viewpoints over time are reflected in differing answers to the question, “Do you favor most of the efforts to strengthen and change women's status in society today? ” At the beginning of the 1970s, 40 percent of women and 44 percent of men who responded approved the idea. Fifteen years later in 1985, 73 percent of women and 69 percent of men favored such changes.

Out of the gradual shift in public opinion, legislative gains followed, and a significant number of women's rights measures were passed in this period. Between the 92nd Congress, beginning in 1971, and the 95th Congress, ending in 1978, ten statutes were enacted prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sex with regard to education, employment, credit, and housing, more than during any other period in the history of the Congress. 34 Other legislation focused on women's interests has been enacted in the years following.

Since the 1980s, with the major civil rights statutes in place, other legislative gains have included measures to:

• provide pension rights and survivor benefits to divorced spouses under various public pension plans
• strengthen the Fair Housing Act to ban discrimination against families with children
• ban discrimination on the basis of sex in public jobs programs
• fund training programs for men and women who are entering nontraditional occupations and for individuals who are single parents or displaced homemakers
• improve child support enforcement programs
• clarify the application of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in federally assisted education programs and activities (by restoring the broad coverage originally enacted)
• provide for the protection of jobs and health insurance after childbirth or family health emergencies.

The Supreme Court of the United States also revealed an awareness of the ratification arguments and, in the 1970s and 1980s, moved toward a more rigorous standard of review in sex discrimination cases, although it fell short of applying the “suspect” category test it applied to race and national origin. The papers of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who in this period argued many landmark women's rights cases for the American Civil Liberties Union, are held in the Manuscript Division (see "Women Justices, Judges, and Attorneys" in the Manuscript Division section). 35 Copies of the final Supreme Court opinions (or decisions), records, and briefs can be found in the Law Library.

Between 1970 and 1990, the number of women winning elective offices increased markedly, and their influence was significant in promoting legislation supportive of women's interests. 36 The number of women mayors in cities with populations over 30,000 increased from 1.6 percent in 1973 to 18 percent in 1993.

In the same period, women in state legislatures grew from 5.6 percent to 20.4 percent, women in the U.S. House of Representatives went from 3.7 percent to 10.8 percent, and women senators from zero to 6 percent.

Other women established “firsts” as candidates. Shirley Chisholm [picture] was the first African American woman to run for president in 1972 and Patricia Schroeder ran in 1988. Geraldine Ferraro was nominated by a national party for vice president in 1984.

The importance of electing women to office at all levels is best revealed in the pattern that women officeholders established early on. Many of these women from both parties have tended to promote legislation having an impact on the lives of women, children, and families, in areas such as health, welfare, and education. Many others have supported women's rights generally. 37 Moreover, the influence of elected women has changed over time as their numbers have increased, and they have proved equally effective as men at securing passage of their legislative priorities. One notable woman legislator whose congressional career spanned two distinct periods, from 1965 to 1977, and again from 1990 to 2002, was Hawaii Representative Patsy T. Mink, whose personal papers in the Manuscript Division reflect not only her steadfast commitment to women's issues but the changing nature of women's political influence (see "Women Members" in the Manuscript Division section).

In the end, change over these years came from many quarters and for many reasons. The long public debate over the status of women and the call for a constitutional amendment heightened expectations that changes would be made, and changes did follow.

Women at the grass-roots level joined together in examining problems believed by some to have been caused by gender discrimination and women's less-than-equal status. They reached out for new solutions. Inevitably women on both sides of the ERA question became involved in the political process and began learning how the levers of power are activated at different levels of government. The cumulative effect of all these forces stimulated a chain of elective, legislative, and judicial actions that made, and arguably continue to make, a positive contribution to substantive changes in women's status in this country.

• The American Nurses Association was one of the supporters of ERAmerica, the ratification campaign organization founded in Washington, D.C., in 1975 to sway support for the amendment in unratified states. Container 112, ERAmerica Records, MSS. Back to text
• Sandra R. Gregg and Bill Peterson, “End of ERA Battle,” Washington Post, July 1, 1982, B-1 and B-2. All newspaper microfilm is found in the Newspaper and Current Periodical Room (N&CPR). Back to text
• Katy Butler and Glennda Chui, “Deadline Passes: 1000 Women at S.F. Vigil for the ERA,” San Francisco Chronicle, July 1, 1982, p. 7. Back to text
• Quoted in Barbara Ehrenreich, The Hearts of Men: American Dreams and the Flight from Commitment (Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1983; HQ1090.E36 1983 GenColl), 145. Back to text
• Elisabeth Bumiller, “Schlafly's Gala Goodbye to ERA,” Washington Post, July 1, 1982, C-1. In her article “Victory is Bittersweet for Architect of Amendment's Downfall,” New York Timesreporter Lynn Rosellini reported that Phyllis Schlafly was committing her 50,000-member Eagle Forum to campaigns against sex education, against a nuclear freeze, and to rid school texts of feminist influence (July 1, 1982, p. A12). Back to text
• Introduced in the 92nd Congress as H.J.Res. 208. See U.S. Statutes at Large, vol. 86 (1973) 1523. KF50.U5 LAW. Back to text
• Susan Ware, Holding Their Own: American Women in the 1930s (Boston: Twayne, 1982; HQ1420.W33 1982 GenColl), 110. Back to text
• Cynthia Harrison, “Prelude to Feminism: Women's Organizations, the Federal Government and the Rise of the Women's Movement, 1942 to 1968.” (Ph.D. diss., Columbia University, 1982 MicRR), 131. Published as On Account of Sex: The Politics of Women's Issues, 1945-1968 (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1988; HQ1236.5.U6 H37 1988 GenColl). Back to text
• Edith Mayo and Jerry K. Frye, “The ERA: Postmortem of a Failure in Political Communication,” in Rights of Passage: The Past and Future of the ERA, Joan Hoff-Wilson, ed. (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1986; KF4758.R54 1986 LAW), 82. Back to text
• The President's Commission on the Status of Women was established under Executive Order 10980, 26 Fed. Reg. 12059, on December 14, 1961. The commission's purpose was to assess the progress of women in the United States and to make recommendations for “removing barriers to the full realization of women's basic rights.” An excellent collection of the commission's reports is held by the Library in the General Collections. See United States, President's Commission on the Status of Women, American Women: The Report of the President's Commission on the Status of Women and Other Publications of the Commission, edited by Margaret Mead and Frances Balgley Kaplan (New York: Scribner, 1965; HQ1420.A52 1965 GenColl). Five other presidential commissions or committees on women were created following the Kennedy administration: one each under Presidents Johnson, Nixon, and Ford and two under President Carter. For an account of the commissions, see Irene Tinker, ed., Women in Washington: Advocates for Public Policy (Beverly Hills: Sage Publications, 1983; HQ1236.W638 1983 GenColl), 21-44. For commentaries on sex discrimination in education and employment in this period, see U.S. Congress, House Committee on Education and Labor, Special Subcommittee on Education, Discrimination against Women, Hearings, 91st Congress, 2nd sess. (Washington: GPO, 1970; KF27.E336 1970 LAW). This committee was headed by Rep. Edith Green, whose reminiscences of her long, activist career can be found in the Association of Former Members of Congress Oral History Collection on tape (MBRS), in transcript (MSS), and on microform (MicRR). Back to text
• Sound cassette (29 min.), “The ERA in America,” National Public Radio, Washington, D.C., 1981 (RYA 7666 MBRS). Back to text
• Mary P. Ryan, Womanhood in America: From Colonial Times to the Present. (New York: F. Watts, 1983; HQ1410.R9 1983 GenColl), 308. During the economic and social upheavals of the 1930s, many women were appointed to influential positions in the government, leading to impressive gains for women as policy-makers, but they were divided over the Equal Rights Amendment. For discussions of feminists under the Roosevelt Administration, see Susan Ware, Holding Their Own, and Joyce A. Hanson, Mary McLeod Bethune and Black Women's Political Activism (Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 2003; E185.97.B34 H36 2003 GenColl). Back to text
• Once the proposed amendment was before the Congress and the states, the Court cited this factor as a reason for noninterference. Gilbert Y. Steiner, Constitutional Inequality: The Political Fortunes of the Equal Rights Amendment (Washington: The Brookings Institution, 1985; KF4758.S73 1985 LAW), 37-40. Back to text
• PCSW, American Women, 45. Back to text
• Support of abortion rights was on NOW's second plank. As Betty Friedan recalled, “the Equal Rights Amendment and abortion were and are the two gut issues of the women's movement essential to real security—and equality and human dignity—for all women, whether they work outside or inside the home.” Betty Friedan, It Changed My Life: Writings on the Women's Movement (New York: Random House, 1976; HQ1413.F75 A34 1976 Gen Coll), 84. Back to text
• A discharge petition is a device used to remove a proposed measure from a legislative committee to which it has been assigned. It has rarely been successful since half the total membership of the House or Senate, plus one, must approve. However, in this instance, the requisite signatures were obtained in five weeks. The papers of Emanuel Celler [catalog record] are held by the Library's Manuscript Division. The Association of Former Members of Congress Oral History Collection includes Representative Griffiths's reminiscences of the ERA (taped interview in MBRS [RYA 1064-1073] and transcript in MSS and on microform [microfiche 82/100 MicRR]). Back to text
• U.S. Congressional Record, 91st Congress, vol. 116, part 21 (August 10-14, 1970) 27999 (LAW; MRR Alc). Replying to Martha Griffiths's opening statement, Emanuel Celler opposed the motion to discharge the Judiciary Committee on HR 264: “What we are being asked to do is to vote on a constitutional amendment, the consequences of which are unexamined, its meaning nondefined, and its risks uncalculated . . . ever since Adam gave up his rib to make a woman, throughout the ages we have learned that physical, emotional, psychological and social differences exist and dare not be disregarded . . . . The adoption of a blunderbuss amendment would erase existing protective female legislation with the most disastrous consequences” (28000-28001). Back to text
• Senator Ervin delivered his speech against the ERA on the floor of the Senate on August 21, 1970. Note in particular his section on “Functional Differences between Men and Women,” U.S. Congressional Record, 91st Congress, vol. 116, part 22 (August 17-31, 1970), 29670 (LAW; MRR Alc). Ervin subsequently offered a copy of his speech in evidence at the Hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee, noting “On Friday, August 21, 1970, I made a speech in the Senate on the House-passed equal rights amendment, which I called a potential destructive and self-defeating blunderbuss. I borrowed that description from a Law Review article by Prof. Leo Kanowitz, professor of law at the University of New Mexico.” Testimony of Senator Sam J. Ervin Jr., North Carolina, Equal Rights 1970: Hearings, 91st Cong., 2d sess., on S.J. Res. 61 and S.J. Res. 231 [before the Senate Comm. on the Judiciary], (Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1970; KF26.J8 1970d LAW; MRR Alc), 1-28. Back to text
• Mathews and De Hart, Sex, Gender, and the Politics of ERA, 36. The heavy use of speeches and writings by Sam Ervin in anti-ERA literature can be seen in the run of the Phyllis Schlafly Newsletter (Container 124, ERAmerica Records, MSS) and in Schlafly's book The Power of the Positive Woman (New Rochelle, N.Y.: Arlington House Publishers, 1977; HQ1426.S33 GenColl), reissued with an additional opening chapter as The Power of the Christian Woman (Cincinnati, Ohio: Standard Publishing, 1981; HQ1426.S33 1981 GenColl). Back to text
• The AFL-CIO's chief lobbyist continued to speak of the “potentially destructive impact” of the ERA on women's protective legislation in the Senate hearings. Steiner, Constitutional Inequality, 21. See the relevant portion of the testimony by Myra K. Wolfgang, vice president, Hotel and Restaurant Employees and Bartenders International, AFL-CIO, in behalf of Michigan Women's Commission in Equal Rights 1970: Hearings ... on S.J. Res. 61 and S.J. Res. 231, 30-45. Back to text
• The first eight months in the ERA ratification process moved quickly, with twenty-two states ratifying by Thanksgiving 1972. Eight more states ratified between January and March 22, 1973, but no more that year; three in 1974; one in 1975; and one in 1977, a total of thirty-five. Steiner, Constitutional Inequality, 55. Back to text
• Tape recording of National Press Club Luncheon, January 24, 1972 (RXA 1506, MBRS). Back to text
• Steiner, Constitutional Inequality, 57-58. Mathews and De Hart, Sex, Gender, and the Politics of ERA, 51. Sam Ervin's opinions and style, as well as the attitudes and arguments of proponents and opponents, can be seen in the video Who Will Protect the Family?, a 1982 PBS feature on the unsuccessful struggle for ERA ratification in North Carolina (VBC 7099, MBRS). Back to text
• Steiner, Constitutional Inequality, 63, 65. Back to text
• A complete collection of IWY conference reports are found in the General Collections. See, for instance, Report of the World Conference of the International Women's Year, 19 June-2 July 1975 (New York: United Nations, 1976; HQ1106 1975 .R46 GenColl; also JX1977 .A2 E/CONF.66/34) and International Women's Year World Conference Documents Index (New York: UNIFO Publishers, 1975; HQ1106 1975 .I57 GenColl; MicRR). Back to text
• See United States, National Commission on the Observance of International Women's Year, To Form a More Perfect Union . . . Justice for American Women (Washington: GPO, 1976; HQ1426.U55 1975 GenColl). Back to text
• Rebecca Klatch,”Women against Feminism,” in A History of Our Time: Readings on Postwar America. Edited by William H. Chafe and Harvard Sitkoff (New York: Oxford University Press, 1999; E742.H57 1999 GenColl), 224-25, and the Phyllis Schlafly Report, May and August 1977 (Container 124, ERAmerica Records, MSS). Back to text
• Asking the question “What's Wrong with ‘Equal Rights’ for Women?”, Phyllis Schlafly first attacked the ERA and “women libbers” in the Phyllis Schlafly Newsletter of February 1972 (Container 124, ERAmerica Records, folder labeled “STOP ERA and Phyllis Schlafly Report,” MSS). Following a spirited defense of traditional family values and American women's privileged position in American society, she alleged that the ERA would make women subject to the draft and that married women would lose their rights to support for themselves and their children from their husbands, as well as alimony in the case of divorce. The following year (May 3, 1973), Martha Griffiths attempted to answer some of Schlafly's arguments in a Vital History series point-counterpoint interview (RZA 760, no. 1, side A, MBRS). Schlafly's views were also discussed on the Larry King Show the day after the defeat of the ERA, July 1, 1982, when she declared that, despite laws requiring equitable treatment of working women, “the career most women want is marriage, home, husband, and children.” (RYA 5277, MBRS). Back to text
• The records of ERAmerica were acquired by the Library of Congress in 1982. Back to text
• Container 6, ERAmerica Records, MSS. Back to text
• As quoted by Lynn Rosellini, “Victory Is Bittersweet for Architect of Amendment's Downfall,” New York Times, July 1, 1982, A12. N&CPR. Back to text
• An example included in the ERAmerica records is Jill Newman, “The ERA—What It Would Really Do,” Women's Day, November 1979. See also Mary Schnack, “ERA: What It Will (Won't) Do for Working Women,” Working Woman's Magazine, November 1979. Many other articles both for and against passage of the ERA can be identified using periodical indexes (seePeriodical Indexes in General Collections section). Back to text
• The Roper Organization, The 1985 Virginia Slims American Women's Opinion Poll: A Study (New York: Roper, [1986?]; HQ1420.A17 1986 GenColl), 16. Back to text
• These included: The Comprehensive Health Manpower Act of 1971, prohibiting use of federal funds for health programs which discriminate on the basis of sex in admissions to professional schools; Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, prohibiting sex discrimination in educational programs and activities; the Equal Employment Opportunity Act of 1972, extending coverage of Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act (banning sex discrimination) to employees of federal, state, and local governments, educational institutions, and any business or union with more than fifteen employees; the Housing and Community Development Act of 1974, prohibiting sex discrimination in housing and credit and requiring lenders to consider the combined incomes of husbands and wives in extending mortgage credit; the Equal Credit Opportunity Act of 1974, prohibiting discrimination based on sex or marital status in any credit transaction; the Small Business Act Amendments of 1974, prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sex or marital status in programs for loans and guarantees administered by the Small Business Administration; the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978, prohibiting discrimination in the federal civil service on the basis of sex; the Equal Rights Amendment (Proposed); and the Extension of the Deadline for the Ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment. Information on many of these statutes may be found in the personal papers of Hawaii Representative Patsy T. Mink, described more fully in the Manuscript Division section on Women Members of Congress. Back to text
• Mathews and De Hart, Sex, Gender, and the Politics of ERA, viii, describe the suspect category test's application to sex discrimination. To use the Ginsburg Papers, which are restricted, it is necessary to apply for the donor's permission through the Manuscript Division. Back to text
• Sue Thomas and Clyde Wilcox, eds.,Women and Elective Office: Past, Present and Future (New York: Oxford University Press, 1998; HQ1391.U5 W63 1998 GenColl), 2. Back to text
• Ibid., 130-49. Back to text
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Comprehensive Argumentative essay example on the Rights of Women

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Women’s rights have been a significant focal point in the ongoing discourse on social justice and equality. The struggle for women’s rights is deeply rooted in history, marked by milestones and setbacks. While progress has undeniably been made, there remain persistent challenges that necessitate continued advocacy and action. This essay argues that the advancement of women’s rights is not only a matter of justice and equality but also a fundamental imperative for societal progress.(Comprehensive Argumentative essay example on the Rights of Women)

The historical context of women’s rights is marked by a legacy of systemic discrimination, limited opportunities, and societal norms that perpetuated gender inequality. From the suffragette movement to the fight for reproductive rights, women have consistently challenged oppressive structures. The recognition of women’s rights as human rights, as articulated in international conventions, underscores the global commitment to address historical injustices and promote gender equality.(Comprehensive Argumentative essay example on the Rights of Women)

One crucial aspect of women’s rights is economic empowerment . The gender pay gap and limited access to economic resources have persisted despite advancements in the workplace. Empowering women economically not only contributes to their individual well-being but also enhances overall societal prosperity. Research consistently demonstrates that economies thrive when women actively participate in the workforce and have equal opportunities for career advancement.(Comprehensive Argumentative essay example on the Rights of Women)

Education is a powerful catalyst for social change, and ensuring equal access to education for girls and women is integral to advancing women’s rights. When women are educated, they become catalysts for positive change within their communities. Educated women are more likely to make informed decisions about their lives, contribute meaningfully to society, and break the cycle of poverty.

Rights Securing women’s rights includes safeguarding their reproductive health and rights. Access to comprehensive healthcare, including reproductive services, is essential for women to have control over their bodies and make autonomous choices about family planning. Policies that prioritize women’s health contribute to a healthier and more equitable society.(Comprehensive Argumentative essay example on the Rights of Women)

Violence Against Women Addressing and preventing violence against women is a critical component of the women’s rights agenda. Gender-based violence not only inflicts harm on individual women but also perpetuates a culture of fear and inequality. Legal frameworks, awareness campaigns, and support services are essential tools in combating violence against women and ensuring their safety and well-being.(Comprehensive Argumentative essay example on the Rights of Women)

In conclusion, the advancement of women’s rights is not only a moral imperative but also a crucial factor in fostering societal progress. A comprehensive approach that addresses historical injustices, economic disparities, educational opportunities, reproductive rights, and violence against women is essential. As we strive for a more equitable future, it is imperative that individuals, communities, and governments actively support and promote women’s rights, recognizing that the empowerment of women is synonymous with the advancement of society as a whole.(Comprehensive Argumentative essay example on the Rights of Women)

80 Topic Ideas for Your Argumentative Essay

• Universal Basic Income
• Climate Change and Environmental Policies
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• Legalization of Marijuana
• Capital Punishment
• Immigration Policies
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• Mandatory Vaccinations
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• Human Cloning
• Artistic Freedom vs. Cultural Sensitivity
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• Nuclear Power Plants Safety
• Cultural Impact of Video Games
• Aging Population and Healthcare
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• Mandatory Military Service
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• Cultural Globalization
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• Immigration Detention Centers
• Antibiotic Resistance
• Internet Censorship
• Discrimination in the Workplace
• Space Colonization

Brownlee, K. (2020). Being sure of each other: an essay on social rights and freedoms. Oxford University Press, USA. https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=kTjpDwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=Argumentative+essay+example+on+the+Rights+of+Women&ots=oysLrPE6ux&sig=ANTnu_5AH4_3PMfGG0XdMzxBpLA

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

February 13, 2024 by Prasanna

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

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

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

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

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

Long Essay on Women’s Rights 500 Words in English

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Short Essay on Women’s Rights 150 Words in English

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

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

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

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

10 Lines on Women’s Rights Essay in English

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

FAQ’s on Women’s Rights Essay

Question 1. How can women achieve their rights?

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

Question 2.  When did movements start for women rights?

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

Question 3. What is the need for gender equality?

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

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

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

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Home — Essay Samples — Social Issues — Women's Rights — Women’s Rights in Today’s Society

Women's Rights in Today's Society

• Categories: Women's Rights

About this sample

Words: 1636 |

Published: Nov 19, 2018

Words: 1636 | Pages: 4 | 9 min read

Feminism as a Defense of Women's Rights in Today's Society

Personal thoughts and conclusions, women’s rights essay outline.

1) Introduction

• Personal connection and significance of the topic
• The significance of women’s rights and feminism in contemporary society

2) Historical Context

• Women’s historical lack of legal and political rights
• Persistent gender inequality

3) Feminism Defined

• Political, economic, and social gender equality
• Debunking common misconceptions
• Ashley Judd’s speech as an example of feminist activism

4) Gender Pay Gap

• Overview of the wage gap
• Disparities for women of color
• Unequal benefits and contraceptive costs

5) Gendered Pricing

• Gender-based pricing in consumer goods
• Economic impact on women
• Reasons behind gendered pricing

6) Media’s Role

• Media’s influence on feminist perceptions
• Social media and feminist movements
• Addressing media-generated stereotypes

7) Opposition to Feminism

• Recognizing feminism’s critics
• Analyzing anti-feminist arguments

8) Sexual Harassment

• Prevalence and definition
• Impact on victims
• Importance of a safe reporting environment

9) Personal Experience and Conclusion

• Sharing a personal experience related to sexual harassment
• Reflecting on the impact
• Emphasizing the urgency of gender equality
• Reiterating the importance of women’s rights and feminism

10) Works Cited

Works Cited

• Adichie, C. N. (2014). We should all be feminists. Anchor Books.
• Hooks, B. (2000). Feminism is for everybody: Passionate politics. Pluto Press.
• The National Organization for Women. (2021). Women’s Rights. https://now.org/issues/
• Steinem, G. (2015). My life on the road. Random House.
• United Nations Development Programme. (2021). Gender equality. https://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/sustainable-development-goals/goal-5-gender-equality.html
• Davis, A. Y. (2016). Freedom is a constant struggle: Ferguson, Palestine, and the foundations of a movement. Haymarket Books.
• Federici, S. (2019). Caliban and the witch: Women, the body and primitive accumulation. Verso Books.
• Shetterly, M. L. (2016). Hidden figures: The American dream and the untold story of the black women mathematicians who helped win the space race. HarperCollins.
• Johnson, A. G. (2014). The gender knot: Unraveling our patriarchal legacy. Temple University Press.
• Orenstein, P. (2012). Cinderella ate my daughter: Dispatches from the front lines of the new girlie-girl culture. HarperCollins.

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Women's freedom from violence

Gender-based violence (GBV) includes any harmful act (physical, sexual, emotional) perpetrated against a person's will that is based on socially ascribed gender differences between males and females. GBV is a life-threatening health, human rights, and protection issue. While GBV can affect both females and males, globally women and girls are disproportionately affected. This study shows that GBV in disaster and post-disaster context can take many forms: domestic violence, sexual violence, sexual exploitation and abuse, child or early marriage, and trafficking.

The IFRC further affirms that responders need to make themselves aware of possible risk factors and become sensitive to GBV across their prevention, preparedness, response and recovery efforts by: 

i) developing strategies for preventing and addressing GBV in organisational responses and cultures, by raising awareness, and taking measures to prevent sexual exploitation and abuse by disaster responders; ii) recognising the role that livelihood support can play in preventing GBV, and prioritising resilient livelihood projects for those most at risk from it; and iii) ensuring that GBV and the safety of women and children are considered in all disaster preparedness and planning.

GBV is deeply rooted in gender inequality and discriminatory norms. The  Call to Action on Protection from Gender-Based Violence in Emergencies initiative  highlights that inequalities and discrimination are exacerbated in humanitarian emergencies and post disaster contexts, in which vulnerability and risks are high, yet family and community protections have broken down. In these contexts, temporary shelter used by women and girls during and after disasters can exposure women and girls and people of diverse sexual orientations and genders to increased risk of harassment and assault. Protracted displacement situations are increasingly common, and many women and girls can live in temporary shelter for many months or years.

Effective prevention, preparedness, recovery and protection strategies that cut across sectors (e.g. infrastructure, social protection) are needed. This includes developing measures for reporting GBV, fostering awareness of GBV, ensuring victim confidentiality, and putting protocols in place to ensure safe shelter and facilities for women and girls.

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Women and Freedom in “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin Essay

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“The story of an hour” is a literary fiction written by Kate Chopin. Kate Chopin (1850-1904) was well known American writer of short stories. She is best known for her recurrent theme on the status of women in societal affairs, the challenges and problems facing them as well as repression and gender bias.

“The story of an hour” is rhetorically hour’s recount of the marriage life of Mrs. Louise Mallard. The text describes the final hour of her life spent dreaming about how she would become totally free from marital repression she has been experiencing under her domineering husband Mr. Brently Mallard. Mallard’s only way to acquire this freedom is through the misleading message told her that her oppressor (husband) is dead.

She will now live freely and fulfill her feminine ambitions joyfully through the remaining part of her life. However, this ends up becoming tragic to her in a sudden anti climax when she unfortunately looses her own life instead of celebrating the freedom that comes with widowhood because her husband was still alive after all.

The story is an example of literary fiction, since it economical in structure with few characters. Characters are few in this text with the main character being Mrs. Louise Mallard who is a very attractive young woman and grieves the apparent death of her husband but inwardly celebrates the freedom that she will enjoy in the days to come after his departure; and her husband Mr. Brently Mallard who is portrayed as being overbearing and repressive to his wife; other characters include Josephine who is a friend to Mrs. Mallard, Richards a friend to Mr. Mallard and the Doctors who give a wrong diagnosis of the death of Mrs. Mallard later in the end. Josephine and Richards are the ones who help break the news that Mr. Mallard is dead.

Chopin adopts a summative approach in that events unfold in one place (the Mallard’s house); everything happens within a span of less than one day at a specific location with absolutely no sub plots to develop the story further.

The author adopts a nineteenth century setting in America and recounts the events in the Mallards household within a span of one hour. Thematically, the story explores the status of a typical American woman in the nineteenth century where aspects such as female repression and male dominance were rife.

Within the nineteenth century setting in America, society was biased against women and the girl child. The place of a typical woman was expected to be the kitchen where she was entitled to take care of the entire household, bear children for the man and take care of them to maturity.

During this period, women had no rights to vote and participate in the nation’s democratic processes, employment opportunities were skewed against them to an extent that it was not easy for them to access paid jobs and even if they managed to get such jobs, they could only be hired for a pittance to earn much less than their male counterparts for similar work. Hence, Mr. Mallard being a typical husband in the 19 th century clearly dominates his wife.

In conclusion it is evident that in the 19 th century women never had freedom; they were never granted an opportunity to accomplish what they wanted because societal values were skewed and sexist. Domestic roles are what they were identified with and what consumed their entire life on earth. Freedom was never forthcoming as is revealed in the ironic fate of Mrs. Mallard who looses her own life trying to secure a better one. This was the fate of the female gender during this time.

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IvyPanda. (2019, February 7). Women and Freedom in "The Story of an Hour" by Kate Chopin. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-story-of-an-hour/

"Women and Freedom in "The Story of an Hour" by Kate Chopin." IvyPanda , 7 Feb. 2019, ivypanda.com/essays/the-story-of-an-hour/.

IvyPanda . (2019) 'Women and Freedom in "The Story of an Hour" by Kate Chopin'. 7 February.

IvyPanda . 2019. "Women and Freedom in "The Story of an Hour" by Kate Chopin." February 7, 2019. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-story-of-an-hour/.

1. IvyPanda . "Women and Freedom in "The Story of an Hour" by Kate Chopin." February 7, 2019. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-story-of-an-hour/.

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• Gender Equality Essay

Introduction to Gender Equality

In a society, everyone has the right to lead his/her life accordingly without any discrimination. When this state is achieved where all individuals are considered to be equal irrespective of their caste, gender, colour, profession, and status, we call it equality. Equality can also be defined as the situation where every individual has the same rights and equal opportunity to grow and prosper. 

Every individual of society dreams for equal rights and access to resources available at their disposal, but there is a lot of discrimination. This discrimination can be due to cultural differences, geographical differences, the colour of the individual, social status and even gender. The most prevalent discrimination is gender inequality. It is not a localised issue and is limited to only certain spheres of life but is prevalent across the globe. Even in progressive societies and top organisations, we can see many examples of gender bias. 

Gender equality can only be achieved when both male and female individuals are treated similarly. But discrimination is a social menace that creates division. We stop being together and stand together to tackle our problems. This social stigma has been creeping into the underbelly of all of society for many centuries. This has also been witnessed in gender-based cases. Gender inequality is the thing of the past as both men and women are creating history in all segments together.

Gender Equality builds a Nation

In this century, women and men enjoy the same privileges. The perception is changing slowly but steadily. People are now becoming more aware of their rights and what they can do in a free society. It has been found that when women and men hold the same position and participate equally, society progresses exclusively and creates a landmark. When a community reaches gender equality, everyone enjoys the same privileges and gets similar scopes in education, health, occupation, and political aspect. Even in the family, when both male and female members are treated in the same way, it is the best place to grow, learn, and add great value.

A nation needs to value every gender equally to progress at the right place. A society attains better development in all aspects when both genders are entitled to similar opportunities. Equal rights in decision making, health, politics, infrastructure, profession, etc will surely advance our society to a new level. The social stigma of women staying inside the house has changed. Nowadays, girls are equally competing with boys in school. They are also creating landmark development in their respective profession. Women are now seeking economic independence before they get married. It gives them the confidence to stand against oppression and make better decisions for themselves.

The age-old social structure dictated that women need to stay inside the home taking care of all when men go out to earn bread and butter. This has been practised for ages when the world outside was not safe. Now that the time has changed and we have successfully made our environment quite safer, women can step forward, get educated, pursue their passion, bring economic balance in their families, and share the weight of a family with men. This, in a cumulative way, will also make a country’s economy progress faster and better.

Methods to measure Gender Equality

Gender equality can be measured and a country’s growth can be traced by using the following methods.

Gender Development Index (GDI) is a gender-based calculation done similar to the Human Development Index. 

Gender Empowerment Measure (GEM) is a detailed calculation method of the percentage of female members in decision-making roles. 

Gender Equity Index (GEI) considers economic participation, education, and empowerment.

Global Gender Gap Index assesses the level of gender inequality present on the basis of four criteria: economic participation and opportunity, educational attainment, political empowerment, health and survival .

According to the Gender Gap Index (GGI), India ranks 140 among 156 participating countries. This denotes that the performance of India has fallen from the previous years, denoting negative growth in terms of closing the gender gap. In the current environment where equality and equal opportunities are considered supreme, this makes India be at a significant disadvantage.

Roadblocks to Gender Equality  

Indian society is still wrecked by such stigmas that dictate that women are meant to manage the home and stay indoors. This is being done for ages, leading to neglect of women in areas like education, health, wealth, and socio-economic fields. 

In addition to that, the dowry system is further crippling society. This ill practice had led to numerous female feticides. It has created a notion that girls are a burden on a family, which is one of the primary reasons a girl child cannot continue her education. Even if they excel in education and become independent, most of them are forced to quit their job as their income is considered a backup source, which is not fair. New-age women are not only independent, but they are confident too. The only thing they demand from society is support, which we should provide them.  

Along with dowry, there is one more burning issue that has a profound impact on women's growth. It is prevalent in all kinds of society and is known as violence. Violence against women is present in one or another form in public and private spaces. Sometimes, violence is accompanied by other burning issues such as exploitation, harassment, and trafficking, making the world unsafe for women. We must take steps to stop this and ensure a safe and healthy place for women.  

Poverty is also one of the major roadblocks towards gender equality. It has led to other malpractices such as child marriage, sale of children, trafficking and child labour, to name a few. Providing equal job opportunities and upliftment of people below the poverty line can help bring some checks onto this.

Initiative Towards Gender Equality

Any kind of discrimination acts as a roadblock in any nation’s growth, and a nation can only prosper when all its citizens have equal rights. Most of the developed countries has comparatively less gender discrimination and provide equal opportunity to both genders. Even the Indian government is taking multiple initiatives to cut down gender discrimination. 

They have initiated a social campaign called “Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao Yojana” to encourage the education of girl children. Besides this, the government runs multiple other schemes, such as the Women Helpline Scheme, UJJAWALA, National Mission for Empowerment of Women, etc., to generate awareness among the people. Moreover, as responsible citizens, it is our responsibility to spread knowledge on gender discrimination to create a beautiful world for wome n [1] [2] .

FAQs on Gender Equality Essay

1. What Makes Women Unequal to Men?

The social stigmas and beliefs that have been running deeply in the veins of all families make women unequal to men. Women are considered to be a burden by many families and are not provided with the same rights men enjoy in society. We are ill-informed regarding women’s rights and tend to continue age-old practices. This is made worse with social menaces such as the dowry system, child labor, child marriage, etc. Women can gather knowledge, get educated, and compete with men. This is sometimes quite threatening to the false patriarchal society.

2. How can We Promote Gender Equality?

Education is the prime measure to be taken to make society free from such menaces. When we teach our new generation regarding the best social practices and gender equal rights, we can eradicate such menaces aptly. Our society is ill-informed regarding gender equality and rights. Many policies have been designed and implemented by the government. As our country holds the second position in terms of population, it is hard to tackle these gender-based problems. It can only be erased from the deepest point by using education as the prime weapon.

3. Why should Women be Equal to Men?

Women might not be similar to men in terms of physical strength and physiological traits. Both are differently built biologically but they have the same brain and organs to function. Women these days are creating milestones that are changing society. They have traveled to space, running companies, creating history, and making everyone proud. Women are showing their capabilities in every phase and hence, they should be equal to men in all aspects.

4. Mention a few initiatives started by the Indian Government to enable gender equality.

The Indian government has initiated a social campaign called “Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao Yojana” to encourage girls’ education. Besides this, the government runs multiple other schemes, such as the  Women Helpline Scheme, UJJAWALA, National Mission for Empowerment of Women, etc., to generate awareness among the people.

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Women Freedom Fighters: The Unsung Heroines

Last updated on October 4, 2022 by ClearIAS Team

Are you curious to find out more about the significant but unsung women freedom fighters who influenced the Indian National Movement? To learn more, keep reading.

A topic for the UPSC Mains 2021 Essay exam was “The hand that rocks the cradle rules the world.”

The topic’s main draw was women’s achievements and other forms of empowerment.

Therefore, contributions from women freedom fighters are important from a UPSC standpoint.

Table of Contents

1. Pritilata Waddedar (1911-1932)

Pritilata Waddedar, who was born on May 5, 1911, in Chittagong (modern-day Bangladesh), was one of the first women to take up arms and engage in revolutionary activities.

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She joined Deepali Sangh, a revolutionary organization that provided women with combat training when she was young.

She was eager to join Surya Sen’s Indian Revolutionary Army, but she was met with opposition because it was dominated by men.

But, along with Kalpana Dut t, she underwent rigorous training to become a member of this group.

After the Chittagong Armoury Raid , in which most of the IRA’s leaders were apprehended, Pritilata, who was only 21 years old at the time, was given command of a group of 7-10 young men who laid siege to the Pahartali European Club (a social club for Europeans).

This club was primarily targeted because of its racial and discriminatory practices. It had a sign that said, “Dogs and Indians not allowed.”

On the night of 23 September 1932, dressed like a man, she boldly led the attack. In the ensuing fierce gun battle, she got shot in the leg, which prevented her from escaping.

Instead of surrendering, she chose to swallow a pill of cyanide and thus became a martyr.

2. Basanti Devi (1880-1974)

Devi became involved in the freedom struggle after her husband, Chittaranjan Das, was arrested for participating in the Non-cooperation movement.

She took part in movements such as the Khilafat and civil disobedience.

She was also a founding member of the Nari Karma Mandira , an educational centre for women.

After the death of her husband, she ran the weekly publication of Bangalar Katha. 

She headed the Bengal Provincial Congress as its President and received the Padma Vibhushan in 1973.

3. Aruna Asaf Ali (1909-1996)

Aruna Asaf Ali was an Indian educator, political activist, and publisher.

She was an active participant in the Indian independence movement and is best known for hoisting the Indian National flag at the Gowalia Tank Maidan in Bombay during the Quit India Movement in 1942, giving the movement one of its most enduring images.

Aruna was dubbed the  Heroine of the 1942 movement  for her bravery in the face of danger and was called the Grand Old Lady of the Independence movement  in her later years.

She also edited Inquilab , a monthly magazine of the Congress Party, along with  Ram Manohar Lohia.

In a 1944 issue, she exhorted the youth to action by asking them to forget futile discussions about violence and non-violence and join the revolution.

Leaders such as Jayaprakash Narayan and Aruna Asaf Ali were described as “the Political children of Gandhi but recent students of Karl Marx”. She is one of women freedom fighters who have shaped our struggle for Independence.

4. Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay (1903-1988)

She is the first lady in India to stand in elections from Madras Constituency although she lost in the elections she pioneered the path for women in India.

She was best known for her involvement in the campaign for Indian independence and for being the impetus for the revival of Indian handicrafts, handlooms, and theatre in independent India.

In recognition of her work promoting handicrafts, UNESCO presented her with an award in 1977. She was also given Shantiniketan’s highest honor, the Desikottama.

5. Matangini Hazra (1870-1942)

Matangini Hazra was an Indian revolutionary who took part in the movement for Indian independence up until the British Indian police shot her to death in front of the Tamluk Police Station (of the former Midnapore District) on September 29, 1942.

She was affectionately known as  Gandhi Buri ,  Bengali  for  old lady Gandhi .

After Indian Independence, the first statue of a woman was erected in Kolkata, and it was Hazra’s in 1977.

At the location of her murder in Tamluk, a statue now stands. In Kolkata, Hazra Road is also named in her honor.

6. Bina Das(1911-1986)

West Bengal-born Bina Das was an Indian nationalist and revolutionary. She was born to parents who were active in the Brahmo Samaj and the battle for freedom and who worked as social workers and educators.

Das belonged to the Chhatri Sangha, a semi-revolutionary group of women’s organizations in Kolkata. She made an attempt to kill Bengal Governor Stanley Jackson on February 6, 1932, in the University of Calcutta’s Convocation Hall.

Kamala Das Gupta, another freedom fighter, provided the revolver. She attempted to shoot five times but was unsuccessful, and she was given a nine-year prison term.

After her early release in 1939, Das joined the Congress party. In 1942, she participated in the Quit India movement and was imprisoned again from 1942 to 1945.

She will certainly be remembered as one of the notable women freedom fighters in our country.

7. Suniti Chaudhary (1917 – 1988)

Suniti Choudhury was an Indian nationalist who, along with  Santi Ghose , assassinated a British district magistrate when she was 16 years old and is known for her participation in an armed revolutionary struggle.

She is often dubbed as the youngest female revolutionary of the Indian Freedom Struggle

Under the guise of presenting a petition to organize a swimming competition among their classmates, Chowdhury and Santi Ghose, both 16 at the time, entered the office of Charles Geoffrey Buckland Stevens, a British bureaucrat and the district magistrate of Comilla, on December 14, 1931.

While Stevens was looking at the petition, Ghose and Chowdhury took out automatic pistols from under their shawls and shot and killed him.

She will undoubtedly be recognized as one of our country’s notable women freedom fighters.

8. Jhalkari Bai ( 1830- 1858)

Jhalkaribai was a female soldier who was crucial in the 1857 Indian Rebellion.

She was an active participant in the women’s army of Rani Lakshmibai of Jhansi.

She eventually rose to become a key adviser to the reigning monarch, Rani of Jhansi.

She assumed the queen’s identity during the height of the Siege of Jhansi and fought on the front lines for the queen, enabling her to safely leave the fort.

9. Savithribhai Phule (1831-1897)

Savitribai Jyotirao Phule was a Maharashtrian poet, educator, and social reformer. She and her husband Jyothioba Phule in Maharashtra significantly contributed to the advancement of women’s rights in India.

She is credited with founding the feminist movement in India. In Pune, near Bhide Wada, Savitribai and her husband established one of the first modern Indian girls’ schools in 1848 .

She campaigned to remove caste and gender prejudice and unfair treatment of individuals.

10. Beegum Hazrat Mahal

During the 1857 uprising, Begum Hazrat Mahal was one of the few women to oppose the British.

She was born Muhammadi Khanum. In Awadh’s Faizabad, she was born.

She married Nawab Wajid Ali Shah in a mut’ah ceremony later in life.

The last Nawab of Awadh, Nawab Wajid Ali Shah, was exiled to Calcutta after Awadh was conquered by the British East India Company in 1856. Along with her son Birjis Qadir, Hazrat Mahal made the decision to remain in Lucknow.

Awadh was annexed after a rebellion started in Meerut and the revolt’s flag was flown in Lucknow, which quickly spread to other Awadhi towns.

Only in Lucknow did the English continue to engage the rebels within the Residency building until they were able to reclaim their lost power.

11. Rani Gaidinliu (1915-1973)

A Naga spiritual and political leader who led an uprising against British control in India was Gaidinliu Pamei, also known as Rani Gaidinliu.

She joined the Heraka religious movement, led by her cousin Haipou Jadonang, when she was 13 years old.

Later, the campaign evolved into an attempt to expel the British from Manipur and the nearby Naga regions.

Gaidinliu, who was detained in 1932 at the age of 16, received a life sentence from the British authorities.

When they first met in 1937, J awaharlal Nehru pledged to work for her release. She was given the title “Rani” (“Queen”) by Nehru , and she rose to fame as Rani Gaidinliu among the local community.

She will unquestionably be counted among the most notable women freedom fighters in the history of our country.

12. Durga Bhabi (1907-1999)

A revolutionary who joined the armed resistance against colonial rule was Durgawati Devi, also known as Durga Bhabhi.

As a Naujawan Bharat Sabha member, she assisted Bhagat Singh in fleeing Lahore after the 1928 murder of British police officer John P. Saunders.

Rajguru pretended to be Durgawati and Bhagat Singh’s servant throughout the subsequent train ride.

Later, she undertook an unsuccessful effort to kill Lord Hailey, the former governor of Punjab, in retaliation for the hanging of Bhagat Singh, Rajguru, and Sukhdev.

13. Kittur Chennama (1778-1829)

Rani Chennamma, the queen of Kittur, was one of the first rulers to organize an armed uprising against British rule. In the modern-day state of Karnataka, Kittur was a princely state.

After the death of her little son in 1824, she retaliated against the attempt to take control of her domain. Raja Mallasarja, her spouse, passed away in 1816.

She is regarded as one of the few leaders of the day who comprehended the British government’s colonial plans.

In her initial uprising, Rani Chennamma overthrew the British, but the East India Company’s second attack resulted in her capture and imprisonment.

14. Sarla Devi Chaudhurani (1872-1945)

In 1910, Sarala Devi Chaudhurani, an educator and political leader from India, created Bharat Stree Mahamandal in Allahabad.

It was the country of India’s first national organization for women. Promoting female education was one of the organization’s main objectives.

15. Mirabehn (1892-1982)

In the 1920s, Madeleine Slade —also known as Mirabehn or Meera Behn—left her home in England to live and work with Mahatma Gandhi.

She was a British supporter of the Indian Independence Movement.

She spent her entire life advancing Gandhi’s ideals and human progress.

The height of the Gandhian era in the liberation struggle was when Mirabehn was living in India. At the Round Table Conference in London in 1931, she traveled with Gandhi and others.

Mirabehn’s autobiography is titled The Spiritual Pilgrimage.

She also published Bapu’s Letters to Mira and New and Old Gleanings.

Click here to know more about the Indian Freedom Struggle.

Article written by: Jis John Sebastian

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Essay on Status of Women in India for Students and Teacher

500+ words essay on status of women in india.

“You can tell the condition of a nation by looking at the status of its women.”

This is a famous quote by Jawaharlal Nehru on women. The status of women depicts the social, economic and mental condition in a nation. Women have been regarded as a symbol of spirituality in our scriptures. Yet, women were denied rights and equality in ancient Indian civilization. They have been treated badly and unequally to men. Social evils such as dowry , sati-system, child marriage, and female infanticide were widely prevalent in the early ages.  The spread of education and self-consciousness among women has led to their progress over the period. Women of today are empowered. Also, women are gaining advancements and success in each and every field. True female liberty is only achievable when people shift their restrictive attitudes and mindsets regarding women.

History of the Status of Women in India

Going back to our origins, we can see how vital women are to society, not only biologically, but also culturally. Women have been mentioned in our Vedas and ancient books since ancient times, and they have been assigned important positions. Because of the contributions of women, the texts of Ramayana and Mahabharat have been tremendously influenced and due to women, they may have become the most sacred of all.

But during the past few centuries, the conditions of women worsen. Previously, women were referred to as housekeepers. It was thought and passed down to others that women are meant to marry, take care of the house and their in-laws, and sacrifice all of their aspirations in order to realise the dreams of their husbands and children. Furthermore, women were kept out of school because families believed that only boys deserved to be educated and follow their aspirations. Women were married off at a young age, and occasionally without their consent. They have also been subjected to a slew of dehumanising practises, societal neglect, and rituals designed to limit them, and they are frequently considered commodities rather than human beings.

Women in India in Ancient Age

Women, in the early ages, were very educated but suffered from the evils of society. Some open-minded citizens like Raja Ram Mohan Roy, Swami Vivekananda , Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, and others worked for the wellbeing of women. Thus, the practices of sati, child marriage, and others were abolished. Various acts such as the Child Marriage Restraint Act were passed in this direction. Mahatma Gandhi also emphasized the abolition of child marriages.

Women were also provided training in martial arts. Moreover, women acquired a significant position in politics. Sarojini Naidu was a key figure in this context. She was the first Indian woman to become the President of the Indian National Congress and the governor of a state in India. Indira Gandhi was another woman who stood out in a male-dominated field. She became India’s first female Prime Minister and effectively led the country for fourteen years, contributing to domestic and financial progress.

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

Women in Free India

Gender equality.

Women today are eager to take up professions and work. Thus, they enjoy equal respect and dignity in the family. Women in free India also enjoy equal pay for equal work in comparison to men. Also, there are provisions for maternity leave for them. Furthermore, females are provided equality of opportunity under Article 16 of the Constitution of India.

Educational Status

The girls in urban areas are almost at par in education with the boys. But there is a less educated female population in rural areas. This has also affected the social and economic development of rural India. The poor (hygienic facilities) facilities at school and lack of female staff have affected education. Kerala and Mizoram have a universal literacy rate.

Women and Politics

The maximum figure of female politicians in the world is from India. Women have occupied significant positions i.e. of President, Prime Minister, Speaker of the Lok Sabha and other high offices. “ Indira Gandhi ”, is the first female who held the office of the Prime Minister for 15 years.

Evils Against Women

The violence against women in India includes kitchen fires for want of dowry, sexual assaults, cases of rape, prostitution, throwing of acid. Also, the evils of child marriages are also widespread even today. Female infanticide, indecent behaviour, and honour killings add to the misery of the women. Also, sex-selective abortion is a deep-rooted evil leading to inequality in the sex ratio.

Current Status of Women in India

Following the development of the freedom movement across the nation, the ladies of the society began to emerge and burst through their shells. A larger proportion of women began to be given the opportunity to study and seek education. Currently, India does not have a shortage of women in the medical, technical, teaching, legal, or any other profession. India has seen an increase in the number of empowered women holding higher positions in various offices and organisations.

Women are involved in a variety of occupations and compete alongside males in a variety of disciplines such as technology, law, administration, teaching, and so on. Apart from traditional occupations, we have women who thrive in sports, such as P.T. Usha, Sania Mirza, P.V Sindhu, Mithali Raj, Mary Kom, Saina Nehwal, Dipa Karmakar, and others, who have represented and inspired many aspiring sportswomen in India.

We also have women who have had a significant impact on the art and entertainment industries since their inception, as well as cultural icons in many schools of art. Indira Gandhi, Vijay Lakshmi Pandit, Annie Besant, Mahadevi Verma, Nita Ambani, Sachet Kripalani, Amrita Pritam, Sushma Swaraj, Padmaja Naidu, Kalpana Chawla, Mother Teresa, Subhadra Kumari Chauhan, and others are some of the great Indian women leaders, social reformers, social workers, administrators, and literary personalities who have significantly changed the women’s status.

There has been a steady transformation in the status of women in comparison to earlier periods. Women of today take part completely in areas such as politics, status, military sectors, economic, service, and technology sectors. Moreover, they have contributed wholly to sports too. Thus, they have occupied a dignified position in family and society.

However, ending crimes against women is still a challenge. Even after significant advancements in women’s rights in India, they are still exploited, harassed, and abused in a variety of ways such as rape, sex discrimination, and so on. We can prevent ills by ensuring women’s autonomy, also increasing participation and decision making power in the family and public life.

FAQ’s on Status Of Women In India Essay

Question 1: What is the present state of women’s rights in India?

Answer 1: Women’s standing in India has evolved as a result of education and other societal progress. They are also given the freedom to pursue their objectives, obtain an education, and make their job goals a reality. Even in marriage, women are given the liberty to express themselves. Women in India today are well aware of their rights and benefits, and they are no longer politically, socially, economically, or educationally backward. They now have the same opportunities and rights as everyone else. They are capable of achieving any position or status in life.

Question 2: What is the Government of India’s role in improving the status of women in India?

Answer 2: The government has adopted numerous regulations and laws in favour of women. The Indian government launched a slew of initiatives aimed at empowering women in the country. Each of these plans is created with a focus on women and their needs in mind, so that Indian women, like women all around the world, can achieve all of their goals and enjoy a life of equal status. Among the most well-known schemes are:

• Beti Bachao Beti Padhao
• Women Helpline Scheme
• Nari Shakti Puraskar
• Mahila Police Volunteers
• Mahila Shakti Kendras (MSK)

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