Britannica Student Encyclopedia - 2010

the right to be elected president or

prime minister of their country. But it

has not always been this way.Women

called feminists worked for many years

to get these rights.

Early Ideas AboutWomen

Through much of history, women have

not been treated as equals with men.

Women were thought to be naturally

weaker and less smart than men. Some

myths and religions even presented

women as a source of evil.

For all these reasons, women were not

given the same rights as men. But when

women were given some freedom, they

made important achievements. For

example, some women became powerful

leaders. Queen Elizabeth I ruled

England for 45 years in the 1500s.

Catherine the Great was empress of Russia

in the 1700s.

In the late 1700s many people in Europe

and North America began to speak of

individual freedom. They said that

people had rights that governments must

respect. But they used such phrases as

“the rights of man,” which some people

thought did not include women. During

this time some free-thinking women

spoke up for women’s rights.One of

them was the English feministMary

A British poster from the early

1900s backs voting rights for

women.

The scientific

name for the

wolverine

means

“glutton,” or

“big eater,” in

the Latin

language.

56 Women’s Rights BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA

 

Wollstonecraft. She said that women

should receive the same opportunities as

men in education, work, and politics.

The Right to Vote

Women knew that if they were going to

change society they must win suffrage,

or the right to vote. In this way they

could take part in government. Then

they could influence policies and laws.

The United States

In the United States the women’s rights

movement grew out of the abolitionist,

or antislavery, movement. Lucretia Mott

and Elizabeth Cady Stanton were abolitionists

who also led the first women’s

rights convention. It was held in Seneca

Falls, New York, in 1848.

Stanton and Susan B. Anthony formed

the NationalWoman Suffrage Association

in 1869. Lucy Stone formed the

AmericanWoman Suffrage Association

in the same year. The two groups united

in 1890.

The struggle to win the vote was slow.

Starting in 1869, some territories and

states gave women the vote. But efforts

to create a federal law failed again and

again. Victory finally came in 1920,

when the 19th Amendment to the U.S.

Constitution was passed. It gave women

the right to vote nationwide.

Around theWorld

Women in other countries also worked

for voting rights.Women gained the

vote in New Zealand in 1893, in Australia

in 1902, in Finland in 1906, and in

Norway in 1913.

In the United Kingdom, Emmeline

Pankhurst got women to march in the

streets for voting rights. In 1918 British

women over age 30 won the vote. In

1928 the age was lowered to 21.

Other countries changed more slowly.

Women in Switzerland could not vote

until 1971. Even in the 21st century

women in some Middle Eastern countries

still did not have the right to vote.

The ModernWomen’s

Movement

A new women’s rights movement began

in the 1960s. This movement was commonly

called “feminism” or “women’s

liberation.” Feminists in the United

States formed the National Organization

forWomen (NOW) in 1966.

NOW worked to make the Equal Rights

Amendment (ERA) a part of the U.S.

Constitution. The amendment would

have guaranteed all legal rights, not just

People gather in the late 20th century to

demand equal pay for women workers in

the United States. The Equal Pay Act of

1963 said that men and women should get

equal pay for equal work.

BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA Women’s Rights 57

 

voting rights, to women. It died in 1982

because not enough states ratified, or

approved, it.

But the women’s rights movement still

made gains. For example, it helped make

birth control available to more women.

Birth control gives women greater control

over when they have children. Birth

control allowed more women to have

careers.

Women who chose careers at first faced

much unfairness in the workplace. Congress

passed laws to help them. The

Equal Pay Act of 1963 said that men

and women had to get the same pay for

doing the same job. The Civil Rights

Act of 1964 included equal rights for

women as well as for racial minorities.

The act made it illegal to set aside some

jobs for men and others for women.

Education also became more available to

women. By the end of the 20th century

women were earning more than half of

all college degrees in the United States.

Many women were elected to government

offices, too.Women served as

president or prime minister in India,

Ireland, Israel, New Zealand, Pakistan,

Sri Lanka, the United Kingdom, and

many other countries.

#More to explore

Anthony, Susan B. • Mott, Lucretia

• Stanton, Elizabeth Cady • Voting

Woodchuck

#see Groundhog.

Woodpecker

The birds called woodpeckers are known

for pecking holes in tree bark to find

In 1999 Helen Clark became the first

woman to be elected prime minister of New

Zealand.

A great spotted woodpecker

feeds its young. Great spotted

woodpeckers live in Europe,

Asia, and North Africa.

58 Woodchuck BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA

 

insects to eat. Most woodpeckers live in

forests, spending their lives mainly in