Womens rights

memoir of w symbols reforms See as well as Legal rights of wo manpower in history and Timeline of wo manpowers rights ( more or less otherwise than voting) China The locating of women In China was low, greatheartedly imputable to the custom of foot binding. virtually 45% of Chinese women had bound feet in the nineteenth century. For the upper classes, it was closely 100%. In 1912, the Chinese organization evidenceed the cessation of foot-binding. Foot-binding touch on alteration of the b one(a) structure so that the feet were wholly near 4 inches long.The bound feet caused difficulty of movement, thus greatly limiting the activities of women. Due to the complaisant custom that men and omen should non be near to one another(prenominal), the women of China were reluctant to be tough by young-begetting(prenominal) doctors of Hesperian medication. This resulted in a tremendous pauperization for charwomanish doctors of Western Medicine in China. Thus, fe potent me dical missionary Dr. Mary H. Fulton (1854-1927)3 was sent by the Foreign Missions Board of the Presbyterian Church (USA) to set in motion the first medical college for women in China.Kn knowledge as the Hackett Medical College for Women this College was located In Guangzhou, China, and was enabled by a large donation from Mr. Edward A. K. Hackett (1851-1916) of Indiana, USA. The College was aimed at the spreading of Christianity and recent medicine and the elevation of Chinese womens social Greece The emplacement of women in antediluvian Greece varied form ur cast asideish center state to city state. Records exist of women in ancient Delphi, Gortyn, Thessaly, Megara and S triggera experienceing land, the most prestigious form of private dimension at the tlme. 8 In ancient A sos. omen had no licit personhood and were untrue to be fall in of the oikos headed by the male kyrios. Until trades union, women were low the guardianship of their spawn or other male relation hold. erst era conjoin the husband became a womans kyrlos. As omen were barred from conducting juristic proceedings, the kyrios would do so on their behalf. 9 Athenian women had curb right to seat and therefore were not considered entire citizens, as citizenship and the entitlement to civil and policy-making rights was be in relation to home and the kernel to life. 10 However, women could acquire rights over quality through and through gifts, dowry and heritage, though her kyrios had the right to dispose of a womans property11 Athenian women could enter into a contract price less than the value of a medimnos of barley (a measure of grain), allowing women to engage in diminutive trading. 9 Slaves, like women, were not in line for full citizenship In ancient capital of Greece, though In r atomic number 18 mass they could become citizens if dis act. The exclusively permanent hindrance to citizenship, and hence full policy-making and civil rights, in ancient Athens wa s grammatical gender.No women ever acquired citizenship In ancient Athens, and therefore women were excluded In principle and make protrude from ancient Athenian democracy. 12 By contrast, Spartan women enjoyed a berth, panorama, and respect that was unknow in the rest of the continent world. Although Spartan women were formally excluded from soldiers and political life they njoyed considerable status as mothers of Spartan warriors. As men engaged in military activity, women took responsibility for running estates. Following lengthen and 40% of all Spartan land and By the Hellenistic Period, any(prenominal)(a) of the wealthiest Spartans were women.The unique thing approximately Patria Potestas was that it ad no age limits, agree to Gaius a man could be consul, sport a married woman and children of his ingest and future prominence just as long as his father was live was notwithstanding d witness the stairs his potestas (power) and so could own nothing. Patria Potest as moreover cease with every the death of the father, or emancipation by him. Early in the Republic worldly concernus hymeneals ended the potestas for women, but during the middle and after Republic that form of trade union became rargon, eventually disappearing completely. marriage Under fair play Rome had only dickens forms of marriage, and both had exactly the opposite have of well-grounded rears. Manus Marriage was the earlier form of marriage and located the woman downstairs her husbands paw legally standing in the position of a daughter. Under this role of marriage women could own nothing, and had little if every legal defendions. On the other hand a woman assumed the position of her husbands daughter in Manus Marriage making her agnatically alternatively of cognatically related to Manus, and was the opposite of Manus.Women married Sine Manu experient no legal changes, so if her father was alive at time of marriage she continued to be his dependent and in adv ance the reign of Marcus Aurelius he could even drive an end to he marriage. The inadequacy of near(prenominal) legal change of status for the women meant that (provided their father had either died or emancipated them) they could own property, conduct most forms of business, and divorce her husband (without any reason needed). Legally intercommunicate the only lack of independence a woman in Rome experienced in a marriage without Manus was from her father.The only legal sheer related to marriage was dowry. A dowry was not required by law of record, but was usually provided by a father or if a father was nonexistent it would be whatever the bride wished to come out of her own estate. It was administered by the husband, but in the vent of a divorce he was required to provide either the dowry or the equivalent of it back to his married woman. In the case of adultery, husbands got to abide by portions of the dowry. Politics Legally declaiming women were banned from politics.A s with unaffectionatedmen and slaves of the Imperial Family women of the imperial family gained some benefits from the fall of the Republic, but because the temper of the Principate was to breed dictatorship much(prenominal) power had to be subtle and kept out of the public eye when possible. The ban on women and politics was they could not voting or run for self-confidence (sine suffragio) enlist n the army, or fit somebody else in court, women speaking their minds was not considered politics and so some women like Hortensia carry awayd to accommodate appearances in politics without violating the law.Inheritance Rights Everyone below the potestas of another had passable rights of inheritance infra Roman Law, and wills that did otherwise ran risks of universe challenged and quash as negligent. unemotional person enamour Stoic philosophies had a strong effect on the development of law in ancient Rome. The Roman unemotional thinkers Seneca and Musonius Rufus developed theories of Just elationships (not to be confused with par in auberge, or even equality) arguing that nature gives men and women equal capacity for integrity and equal obligations to act virtuously (a vague concept).Therefore they argued that men and women pretend an equal need for philosophical education. 20 Stoic theories entered Roman law first through the Roman lawyer and senator Marcus Tullius Cicero and the entice of stoicism and philosophy increased while the status of women modifyd under the Empire. 21 Religious scriptures Bible See Women in the Bible Adam named his wife Eve, because she would become the mother of all the living. (Genesis 320) Now Deborah, a prophet, the wife of Lappidoth, was leading Israel at that time. Oudges 44) divinity fudge chose a woman, Deborah, to lead Israel.Quran The disinterest of this term is strifed. Relevant discussion whitethorn be found on the talk page. Please do not remove this message until the dispute is resolved. feminism, and Sex segregation and Islam The Quran, revealed to Muhammad over the draw of 23 years, provide counselor to the Muslim community and modified subsisting customs in Arab society. From 610 and 661, known as the early reforms under Islam, the Quran introduced caperdamental reforms to customary law and ntroduced rights for women in marriage, divorce and inheritance.By providing that the wife, not her family, would receive a dowry from the husband, which she could administer as her personal property, the Quran made women a legal party to the marriage contract. citation needed temporary hookup in customary law inheritance was exceptional to male descendents, the Quran introduced bumps on inheritance with certain fixed shargons world distributed to designated heirs, first to the nearest female relatives and then the nearest male relatives. 22 gibe to Annemarie Schimmel compared to he pre-lslamic position of women, Islamic legislation meant an enormous progress the woman has the right, at least agree to the letter of the law, to administer the wealth she has brought into the family or has earned by her own work. 23 The general improvement of the status of Arab women include prohi geekion of female infanticide and recognizing womens full personhood. 24 Women were generally given greater rights than women in pre-lslamic Arabia2526 and medieval europium. 27 Women were not accorded with much(prenominal) legal status in other cultures until centuries later. 28 match to Professor William capital of Alabama Watt, when seen in uch historical context, Muhammad tidy sum be seen as a fgure who testified on behalf of womens rights. 29 The Middle Ages According to face earthy Law, which developed from the 12th century onward, all property which a wife held at the time of a marriage became a possession of her husband. ultimately English courts forbade a husbands transferring property without the consent of his wife, but he unflurried retained the right to manag e it and to receive the money which it produced. french married women suffered from restrictions on their legal capacity which were withdraw only in 1965. 30 In the sixteenth entury, the Reformation in Europe allowed to a greater extent women to add their voices, including the English writers Jane Anger, Aemilia Lanyer, and the prophetess Anna Trapnell. English and American Quakers believed that men and women were equal. umpteen Quaker women were preachers. 31 Despite relatively greater emancipation for Anglo-Saxon women, until the mid-19th century, writers largely assumed that a patriarchal couch was a natural order that had always existed. 32 This perception was not soberly challenged until the 18th century when Jesuitic missionaries found matrilineality in native northwestward American peoples. 33 18th and 19th century Europe The Debutante (1807) by Henry Fuseli The woman, victim of male social conventions, is tied to the wall, made to orient and guarded by governesses. The opinion reflects Mary Wolls soundcrafts views in A defensive structure of the Rights of charr, create in 1792. 34 outset in the late 18th century, and throughout the 19th century, rights, as a concept and claim, gained increasing political, social and philosophical importance in Europe.Movements emerged which demanded freedom of religion, the abolition of slavery, rights for women, rights for those who did not own property and universal to political debates in both France and Britain. At the time some of the greatest thinkers of the Enlightenment, who defended democratic principles of equality and challenged notions that a privileged few should rule over the vast legal age of the population, believed that these principles should be applied only to their own gender and their own race.The philosopher jean Jacques Rousseau for example thought that it was the order of nature for woman to obey men. He wrote Women do wrong to complain of the unlikeness of man-made laws and clai med that when she tries to usurp our rights, she is our steer-off page of the solution of the Rights of Woman and the womanly Citizen In 1791 he French playwright and political activist Olympe de Gouges published the settlement of the Rights of Woman and the young-bearing(prenominal) Citizen,37 modelled on the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen of 1789.The Declaration is ironic in cooking and exposes the failure of the French Revolution, which had been devoted to equality. It states that This variety will only constitute effect when all women become full aware of their deplorable condition, and of the rights they book lost in society. The Declaration of the Rights of Woman and the egg-producing(prenominal) Citizen ollows the seventeen phrases of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen point for point and has been exposit by Camille Naish as well-nigh a parody f the headmaster document. The first article of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen proclaims that Men are born and remain free and equal in rights. Social distinctions may be based only on putting green utility. The first article of Declaration of the Rights of Woman and the Female Citizen replied Woman is born free and system equal to man in rights. Social distinctions may only be based on common utility.De Gouges expands the sixth article of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, which declared the rights of citizens to take part in the formation of law, to Australian womens rights were lampooned in this 1887 Melbourne Punch cartoon A hypothetical female member foists her babys condole with on the House speaker unit All citizens including women are equally allowable to all public dignities, offices and employments, check to their capacity, and with no other distinction than that of their virtues and talents. De Gouges also draws attention to the circumstance that under French law women were fully punishable, to date denied equal rights. 8 Mary Wollstonecraft, a British writer and philosopher, published A Vindication of the Rights of Woman in 1792, arguing that it was the education and upbringing of women that created limited expectations.Womens RightsOver the centuries, women wee-wee faced numerous difficulties in a male supremacist infested society who places gender as the main determining element of human capacity. Despite the ascend of liberal, secularist ideologies that express support for womens rights in the 08th and 19th centuries, the problem frame chronic as there remain social prejudices and blind convictions on the weaknesses and shortcomings of women as members of society. . During the 50s, the media projected women as undignified citizens who do not fill the right to exercise free will.Maurice Isserman and Michael Kazin recall Seventeen Magazine to have advised their readers about the role of women in a relationship. That the womans role was to function as partners and no t rivals, enemies, and playthings, and that the relationship between women and men should create a heaven, a home that should serve as a place of sanctuary and peace (Isserman & Kazin, 2000, 13). The 1960s proved, on the other hand, to be one of the biggest turning points of womens rights in the United States and across the world. apart from the emergence of the second wave of feminists, the Vietnam War provided opportunities for women to show their capabilities as members of the functional class. The entrance of women to the realm of the paid jade force were led by women who at the time were over the 40-year old mark Despite such remarkable turn of events, women remained to be deemed as underrated second class citizens. Primarily, usage norms hold that women should not be granted education and right to labor as their capabilities are not equal to those of their male counterparts.As a result, society failed to acknowledge the statistical proliferation of women in the labor sector because of conventional belief and exercise. In doing so, society also failed to look at the fact that the entrance of women in the labor force meant that women as unrecognized members of society have finally broken the domestic ideal that women are say to show their supremacy as homemakers and housewives. For the African American woman however, the red ink of rights were enveloped in the concepts of gender and ethnicity.While African-American women enjoyed the rights to having paid labor resembling to those of their male counterparts, they were always compared to white women (Isserman & Kazin, 2000, 26). And considering the rampant racial discrimination during the twentieth century, the comparisons between African-American women and Caucasian women implied negativity. Likewise, the right to purity for African American women was among the most alarming concerns as the accepted norm regarding women who take pleasure for sensual activities were only ascribed to African American women.Maurice Isserman and Michael Kazin (2000, 27) write that white American Writer Willie Morris was shocked by the fact that a woman of his own skin tone does actually enjoy sexual intercourse. Morris added more vex to injury as he denoted his personal thought that only blackness women engaged in the act of love with white males just for fun (Isserman & Kazin, 2000, 27). Womens rights over the years have been hindered by male supremacists who only believed in the capabilities of their own ego.However, it has also been apparent that apart from gender, skin tone and other physical features are also factors that hinder women from proliferating and being part of a prejudice-free society. But putting all the obstacles that gender issues bring forth, such obstacles should not be the cause of disheartening but a beam of hope that women would one day face a world free of blind prejudice and mindless conformity.Womens RightsWomen are increasingly under attack in Afghanistan as far as womens rights are concerned. The Taliban overthrew the afghan disposal in 1996, and ruled from 1996-2001, and during that time strict restrictions had been penalise on women. Women and girls were not allowed to work or receive education. There was an exception to the rule if a woman was widowed, and had no other source of income, and then she could work. Women could not go outside, unless they were covered in a head to walk burqua, which is their traditional attire, and a male relative had to accompany them.The burqua only has a small mesh opening over the eyes allowing limited vision, and numerous of the women had been injured due to poor visibility. If a woman showed a bit of her ankle or had noisy shoes, she would be beaten. In addition, women had no voice, so they are were not allowed to speak in public. From puberty until death, women could only speak to men who were relatives. Once The War on Terrorism began, it gave the Afghan and Iraki women hope to reform their nat ion and improve the social situation.The Taliban were chased from the terra firma by U. S. military forces in 2001, and there have been some improvements in womens rights concerning education and employment although many still suffer the hardships they did out front the war. Most improvements have happened in major cites of Afghanistan such as Kabul, go away rural areas with very much change at all. The police still enforce the wearing of the burqua by the women, but in Kabul, many professed(prenominal) women no longer wear the burqua, but many still do. According to a July 2003 Human Rights Watch report, the Southeast Afghanistan army and police practice of kidnapping, robbing and raping is so prevalent that women and girls are staying home as a heart of protection. The fear of assault and political intimidation prevents the women and girls from gaining an education, employment and political influence. (National ecesis for Women, 2008) There is no abiding law and order in Af ghanistan by the police or local authorities. The NATO forces do not have tolerable manpower to offer protection.However, armed fathers, husbands and brothers do all they can to protect the women. Afghanistan is also known for child brides and marrying off girls as young as eleven to men in their thirties and even older. True, women hold 27 percent of the lay in the National Assembly and one-sixth of the seats in the Upper House. But most Afghan women remain illiterate, impoverished and vulnerable to political and criminal violence. Only 15 percent of Afghan woman can read. The United Nations has described Afghan women as being among the worst-off in the world. On average, women in Afghanistan die at least 20 years younger than women elsewhere. (Women in Afghanistan, 2006) In Herat, which is Afghanistans second largest city, the government has given women and girls limited educational and employment opportunities. Women groups have been censored, and derailed from the governments administration. It is bad plenteous that the government is threatening womens rights, but society has imposed other means by handing out pamphlets in communities encouraging parents not to send their daughters to school, and many of the girls schools have been firebombed and burned.Some girls have been poisoned to death for going to school. Parents that frequently deny education for their daughters, force their young girls into marriage. Girls are forced into marriage as young as eight years old. Other restrictions that Afghan women face as a violation of womens rights is a ban on outside employment, strict dress code for women, very limited medical care, threats of violence if seen without a husband, father or male relative and rejection of humanitarian aid.Women are denied any share of humanitarian aid delivered to their rural under the assumption that the men will take care of the women. forwards the Taliban takeover in 1996, the Afghanistan women were scientist, members of parliament, cabinet members, and university professors. They led corporations, non-profit organizations and local communities. Many of these women are more than qualified to lead Afghanistan back to democracy. In November 2001, shockingly, Afghan women marched for their rights in Kabul. For the first time in more than six years, Afghan women rallied for their rights.Hillary Clinton established a campaign for women in Afghanistan and in 1999 she spoke out on their behalf about the abuse and the wearing of the burqua of the women in Afghanistan. Over the years, some schools have reopened in Afghanistan allowing boys and girls to attend. Several women have also been appointed or take to important political roles. In the past five years, in the Confederate city of Kandahar at least five thousand women have gradational from special literacy courses, where they learned how to read and write and were taught skills such as dressmaking or computer knowledge.There is a woman minister of pu blic health, a woman minister of womens affairs and a woman forefront the human rights commission. Women are also now able to travel more freely, and they have returned to work. Although progress is being made, there is still much more turmoil. Registered cases of physical violence against women and girls in Afghanistan have increased by about 40 percent since March 2007. Some women seek escape by self-immolation, resulting in death or disfigurement.Last year, at least 30 women committed suicide in the western Farah Province alone, most of them by setting themselves on fire, according to Afghan media reports. (Afghanistan Online, 2008) The Afghanistan government announced a plan to give nearly one third of jobs to women by 2012. I hope that this will lead to greater things, and that the womens rights of Afghanistan will improve and that every woman will be included throughout the country, and they can move forward.Womens RightsWomens rightsHistory of womens rights See also Legal r ights of women in history and Timeline of womens rights (other than voting) China The status of women In China was low, largely due to the custom of foot binding. About 45% of Chinese women had bound feet in the 19th century. For the upper classes, it was almost 100%. In 1912, the Chinese government ordered the cessation of foot-binding. Foot-binding Involved alteration of the bone structure so that the feet were only about 4 inches long.The bound feet caused difficulty of movement, thus greatly limiting the activities of women. Due to the social custom that men and omen should not be near to one another, the women of China were reluctant to be treated by male doctors of Western Medicine. This resulted in a tremendous need for female doctors of Western Medicine in China. Thus, female medical missionary Dr. Mary H. Fulton (1854-1927)3 was sent by the Foreign Missions Board of the Presbyterian Church (USA) to found the first medical college for women in China.Known as the Hackett Medi cal College for Women this College was located In Guangzhou, China, and was enabled by a large donation from Mr. Edward A. K. Hackett (1851-1916) of Indiana, USA. The College was aimed at the spreading of Christianity and modern medicine and the elevation of Chinese womens social Greece The status of women in ancient Greece varied form city state to city state. Records exist of women in ancient Delphi, Gortyn, Thessaly, Megara and Sparta owning land, the most prestigious form of private property at the tlme. 8 In ancient Athens. omen had no legal personhood and were assumed to be part of the oikos headed by the male kyrios. Until marriage, women were under the guardianship of their father or other male relative. once married the husband became a womans kyrlos. As omen were barred from conducting legal proceedings, the kyrios would do so on their behalf. 9 Athenian women had limited right to property and therefore were not considered full citizens, as citizenship and the entitlement to civil and political rights was defined in relation to property and the means to life. 10 However, women could acquire rights over property through gifts, dowry and inheritance, though her kyrios had the right to dispose of a womans property11 Athenian women could enter into a contract worth less than the value of a medimnos of barley (a measure of grain), allowing women to engage in petty trading. 9 Slaves, like women, were not eligible for full citizenship In ancient Athens, though In rare circumstances they could become citizens if freed. The only permanent barrier to citizenship, and hence full political and civil rights, in ancient Athens was gender.No women ever acquired citizenship In ancient Athens, and therefore women were excluded In principle and practice from ancient Athenian democracy. 12 By contrast, Spartan women enjoyed a status, power, and respect that was inexplicable in the rest of the classical world. Although Spartan women were formally excluded from military and political life they njoyed considerable status as mothers of Spartan warriors. As men engaged in military activity, women took responsibility for running estates. Following protracted and 40% of all Spartan land and By the Hellenistic Period, some of the wealthiest Spartans were women.The unique thing about Patria Potestas was that it ad no age limits, according to Gaius a man could be consul, have a wife and children of his own and future prominence but as long as his father was alive was still under his potestas (power) and so could own nothing. Patria Potestas only ended with either the death of the father, or emancipation by him. Early in the Republic Manus Marriage ended the potestas for women, but during the middle and later Republic that form of marriage became rare, eventually disappearing completely.Marriage Under Law Rome had only two forms of marriage, and both had exactly the opposite view of legal effects. Manus Marriage was the earlier form of marriage and placed the woman under her husbands manus legally standing in the position of a daughter. Under this type of marriage women could own nothing, and had little if any legal protections. On the other hand a woman assumed the position of her husbands daughter in Manus Marriage making her agnatically instead of cognatically related to Manus, and was the opposite of Manus.Women married Sine Manu experienced no legal changes, so if her father was alive at time of marriage she continued to be his dependent and before the reign of Marcus Aurelius he could even force an end to he marriage. The lack of any legal change of status for the women meant that (provided their father had either died or emancipated them) they could own property, conduct most forms of business, and divorce her husband (without any reason needed). Legally speaking the only lack of independence a woman in Rome experienced in a marriage without Manus was from her father.The only legal issue related to marriage was dowry. A dowry was not required by law, but was usually provided by a father or if a father was nonexistent it would be whatever the bride wished to come out of her own estate. It was administered by the husband, but in the vent of a divorce he was required to provide either the dowry or the equivalent of it back to his wife. In the case of adultery, husbands got to keep portions of the dowry. Politics Legally speaking women were banned from politics.As with freedmen and slaves of the Imperial Family women of the imperial family gained some benefits from the fall of the Republic, but because the nature of the Principate was to hide dictatorship such power had to be subtle and kept out of the public eye when possible. The ban on women and politics was they could not vote or run for office (sine suffragio) enlist n the army, or represent somebody else in court, women speaking their minds was not considered politics and so some women like Hortensia managed to make appearances in politics without viol ating the law.Inheritance Rights Everyone under the potestas of another had equal rights of inheritance under Roman Law, and wills that did otherwise ran risks of being challenged and invalidated as negligent. Stoic Influence Stoic philosophies had a strong effect on the development of law in ancient Rome. The Roman stoic thinkers Seneca and Musonius Rufus developed theories of Just elationships (not to be confused with equality in society, or even equality) arguing that nature gives men and women equal capacity for virtue and equal obligations to act virtuously (a vague concept).Therefore they argued that men and women have an equal need for philosophical education. 20 Stoic theories entered Roman law first through the Roman lawyer and senator Marcus Tullius Cicero and the influence of stoicism and philosophy increased while the status of women improved under the Empire. 21 Religious scriptures Bible See Women in the Bible Adam named his wife Eve, because she would become the mothe r of all the living. (Genesis 320) Now Deborah, a prophet, the wife of Lappidoth, was leading Israel at that time. Oudges 44) God chose a woman, Deborah, to lead Israel.Quran The neutrality of this article is disputed. Relevant discussion may be found on the talk page. Please do not remove this message until the dispute is resolved. feminism, and Sex segregation and Islam The Quran, revealed to Muhammad over the course of 23 years, provide guidance to the Islamic community and modified existing customs in Arab society. From 610 and 661, known as the early reforms under Islam, the Quran introduced cardinal reforms to customary law and ntroduced rights for women in marriage, divorce and inheritance.By providing that the wife, not her family, would receive a dowry from the husband, which she could administer as her personal property, the Quran made women a legal party to the marriage contract. citation needed While in customary law inheritance was limited to male descendents, the Qur an introduced rules on inheritance with certain fixed shares being distributed to designated heirs, first to the nearest female relatives and then the nearest male relatives. 22 According to Annemarie Schimmel compared to he pre-lslamic position of women, Islamic legislation meant an enormous progress the woman has the right, at least according to the letter of the law, to administer the wealth she has brought into the family or has earned by her own work. 23 The general improvement of the status of Arab women included prohibition of female infanticide and recognizing womens full personhood. 24 Women were generally given greater rights than women in pre-lslamic Arabia2526 and medieval Europe. 27 Women were not accorded with such legal status in other cultures until centuries later. 28 According to Professor William Montgomery Watt, when seen in uch historical context, Muhammad can be seen as a fgure who testified on behalf of womens rights. 29 The Middle Ages According to English Co mmon Law, which developed from the 12th century onward, all property which a wife held at the time of a marriage became a possession of her husband. Eventually English courts forbade a husbands transferring property without the consent of his wife, but he still retained the right to manage it and to receive the money which it produced.French married women suffered from restrictions on their legal capacity which were removed only in 1965. 30 In the 16th entury, the Reformation in Europe allowed more women to add their voices, including the English writers Jane Anger, Aemilia Lanyer, and the prophetess Anna Trapnell. English and American Quakers believed that men and women were equal. Many Quaker women were preachers. 31 Despite relatively greater freedom for Anglo-Saxon women, until the mid-19th century, writers largely assumed that a patriarchal order was a natural order that had always existed. 32 This perception was not seriously challenged until the 18th century when Jesuit missi onaries found matrilineality in native North American peoples. 33 18th and 19th century Europe The Debutante (1807) by Henry Fuseli The woman, victim of male social conventions, is tied to the wall, made to sew and guarded by governesses. The picture reflects Mary Wollstonecrafts views in A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, published in 1792. 34 Starting in the late 18th century, and throughout the 19th century, rights, as a concept and claim, gained increasing political, social and philosophical importance in Europe.Movements emerged which demanded freedom of religion, the abolition of slavery, rights for women, rights for those who did not own property and universal to political debates in both France and Britain. At the time some of the greatest thinkers of the Enlightenment, who defended democratic principles of equality and challenged notions that a privileged few should rule over the vast majority of the population, believed that these principles should be applied only to th eir own gender and their own race.The philosopher Jean Jacques Rousseau for example thought that it was the order of nature for woman to obey men. He wrote Women do wrong to complain of the inequality of man-made laws and claimed that when she tries to usurp our rights, she is our First page of the Declaration of the Rights of Woman and the Female Citizen In 1791 he French playwright and political activist Olympe de Gouges published the Declaration of the Rights of Woman and the Female Citizen,37 modelled on the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen of 1789.The Declaration is ironic in formulation and exposes the failure of the French Revolution, which had been devoted to equality. It states that This revolution will only take effect when all women become fully aware of their deplorable condition, and of the rights they have lost in society. The Declaration of the Rights of Woman and the Female Citizen ollows the seventeen articles of the Declaration of the Rights of M an and of the Citizen point for point and has been described by Camille Naish as almost a parody f the original document. The first article of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen proclaims that Men are born and remain free and equal in rights. Social distinctions may be based only on common utility. The first article of Declaration of the Rights of Woman and the Female Citizen replied Woman is born free and remains equal to man in rights. Social distinctions may only be based on common utility.De Gouges expands the sixth article of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, which declared the rights of citizens to take part in the formation of law, to Australian womens rights were lampooned in this 1887 Melbourne Punch cartoon A hypothetical female member foists her babys care on the House Speaker All citizens including women are equally admissible to all public dignities, offices and employments, according to their capacity, and with no other dist inction than that of their virtues and talents. De Gouges also draws attention to the fact that under French law women were fully punishable, yet denied equal rights. 8 Mary Wollstonecraft, a British writer and philosopher, published A Vindication of the Rights of Woman in 1792, arguing that it was the education and upbringing of women that created limited expectations.