Women's rights are entitlements and freedoms claimed for
women and girls of all ages in many societies. The idea is that women should
have equal rights with men.
In some places these rights are
institutionalized or supported by law, local custom, and behaviour, whereas in
others they may be ignored or suppressed. They differ from broader notions of
human rights through claims of an inherent historical and traditional bias
against the exercise of rights by women and girls in favour of men and boys.
Issues commonly associated with
notions of women's rights include, though are not limited to, the right: to
bodily integrity and autonomy; to vote (suffrage); to hold public office; to
work; to fair wages or equal pay; to own property; to education; to serve in
the military or be conscripted; to enter into legal contracts; and to have
marital, parental and religious rights.
History of
women's rights
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 women 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) was sent by the Foreign
Missions Board of the Presbyterian Church (USA) to found the first medical college
for women in China. Known as the Hackett Medical College for Women, 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
women's social status.
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 time.
In ancient Athens, women 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 woman’s kyrios. As women
were barred from conducting legal proceedings, the kyrios would do so on their
behalf. 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. However, women
could acquire rights over property through gifts, dowry and inheritance, though
her kyrios had the right to dispose of a woman’s property. 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. 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.
By contrast, Spartan women
enjoyed a status, power, and respect that was unknown in the rest of the
classical world. Although Spartan women were formally excluded from military
and political life they enjoyed considerable status as mothers of Spartan
warriors. As men engaged in military activity, women took responsibility for
running estates. Following protracted warfare in the 4th century BC Spartan
women owned approximately between 35% and 40% of all Spartan land and property.
By the Hellenistic Period, some of the wealthiest Spartans were women. They
controlled their own properties, as well as the properties of male relatives who
were away with the army. Spartan women
rarely married before the age of 20, and unlike Athenian women who wore heavy,
concealing clothes and were rarely seen outside the house, Spartan women wore
short dresses and went where they pleased. Girls as well as boys received an education,
and young women as well as young men may have participated in the Gymnopaedia
("Festival of Nude Youths").
Plato acknowledged that
extending civil and political rights to women would substantively alter the
nature of the household and the state. Aristotle, who had been taught by Plato,
denied that women were slaves or subject to property, arguing that "nature
has distinguished between the female and the slave", but he considered
wives to be "bought". He argued that women's main economic activity
is that of safeguarding the household property created by men. According to
Aristotle the labour of women added no value because "the art of household
management is not identical with the art of getting wealth, for the one uses
the material which the other provides".
Contrary to these views, the
Stoic philosophers argued for equality of the sexes, sexual inequality being in
their view contrary to the laws of nature. In doing so, they followed the
Cynics, who argued that men and women should wear the same clothing and receive
the same kind of education. They also saw marriage as a moral companionship
between equals rather than a biological or social necessity, and practiced
these views in their lives as well as their teachings. The Stoics adopted the
views of the Cynics and added them to their own theories of human nature, thus
putting their sexual egalitarianism on a strong philosophical basis.
Rome
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 relationships (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. 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.
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