The not-so shameful age of women

Lynn Butler

Women protesting for their rights. Image: LIFE

  
Since our existence, man is symbolised to conquer and be superior to a woman. We (our society) are taught to believe that we live in a universe where the man is often seen sitting high on a pedestal. Eminent leaders namely presidency’s and spiritual leaders such as Jesus Christ and God are a few examples of how women culture had to always revolve around mankind. 

Women are sometimes often known as the secondary sex and through the ages women have struggled to oppose this presumption. The long tradition has been for males to protect females. Evolutionist, Charles Darwin revealed that a major plank of evolution theory was the belief of intellectual and physical inferiority of women. The uprising towards women equality has been a slow and growing progress, here is a short summary of when women achieved remarkable benchmarks levelling with the opposite sex:

• 1702 - The reign of Queen Anne.  The 1707 Act of Union made Anne the first ruler of Great Britain.
• 1840 - Catherine Brewer becomes first woman to receive a bachelor’s degree, from Georgia Female College (now Wesleyan College).
• 1848 - The world’s first women’s right convention held in New York, July 19-20.
• 1849 - Amelia Jenks Bloomer publishes and edits ‘The Lily’ the first women’s rights newspaper.
• 1850 - The first woman graduated under police guard.
• 1855 - Lucy Stone became the first woman on record to keep her own name after marriage.
• 1855 - The University of Iowa becomes the first state school to admit women.
• 1872 - Susan B. Anthony is arrested for trying to vote.
• 1877 - Helen Magill becomes the first woman to receive a Ph.D, a doctorate in Greek.
• 1878 - The Susan B. Anthony Amendment granted the right for women to vote.
• 1900 - Women competed for the first time in the Olympic Games. Hélène de Pourtalès, a sailor, was the first female Olympian champion.
• 1903 - Marie Curie wins the Nobel Prize for her work on radioactivity and the discovery of radium.
• 1917 - Jeanette Rankin of Montana becomes the first woman elected to US Congress.
• 1918 - Women over the age of 30 given the vote in the UK.
• 1920 - 19th Amendment gives women right to vote in the US.
• 1932 - Amelia Earhart becomes first woman to fly solo across Atlantic.
• 1938 - Fair Labor Standards Act establishes minimum wage without regard to gender.
• 1955 - The first lesbian organization in U.S., Daughters of Bilitis, is founded.
• 1963 - Valentina Tereshkova becomes the first woman in space when the Vostok 6 orbits the earth 38 times.
• 1974 - The world's first woman President was Marma Estela 'Isabel' Martinez Cartas de Peron of Argentina, after her husband died Isabel served as president.
• 1980 - The world's first elected woman President was Vigdis Finnbogadottir of Iceland.

Former President of Iceland Vigdis Finnbogadottir.

Image: Cocnoticias

In the 21^st century, a woman is now looked upon as an equal in some forms or another. Unlike in previous decades, women of today are more independent and self-efficient.  However, women of modern society are still struggling today for equal rights, recognition and independency. 

For the past century, the movement towards uplifting women’s rights have drastically changed the world. It will be interesting to see what the situation will be in the next century and hopefully it’s for the better.