Editing Women's rights (section)

==== Europe ====

===== 16th and 17th century Europe =====

[[File:Malleus maleficarum, Köln 1520, Titelseite.jpg|thumb|Title page of the seventh [[Cologne]] edition of the ''[[Malleus Maleficarum]]'', 1520 (from the [[University of Sydney Library]]), a book endorsing the [[Witch trials in the early modern period|extermination of witches]]]]
[[File:Witches Being Hanged.jpg|thumb|An image of suspected witches being hanged in England, published in 1655]]
The 16th and 17th centuries saw numerous [[witch trial]]s, which resulted in thousands of people across Europe being executed, of whom 75–95% were women (depending on time and place).<ref name="Mitchell">{{Cite book|title = Killing Women – Gender, Sorcery, and Violence in Late Medieval Germany|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=oUfhZceOsrgC|publisher = GRIN Verlag|date = 1 November 2010|isbn = 9783640741830|first = James|last = Mitchell}}</ref> The executions mostly took place in German-speaking lands, and during the 15th century the terminology "witchcraft" was definitely viewed as something feminine as opposed to prior years.<ref name="Mitchell"/> Famous witchcraft manuals such as the ''[[Malleus Maleficarum]]'' and ''[[Summis desiderantes affectibus|Summis Desiderantes]]'' depicted witches as diabolical conspirators who worshipped Satan and were primarily women. Culture and art at the time depicted these witches as seductive and evil, further fuelling moral panic in fusion with rhetoric from the Church.<ref name="Mitchell"/>

The origin of the female "witch" myth traces back to Roman mythical night creatures known as Strix, who were thought to appear and disappear mysteriously in the night.<ref name="Mitchell"/> They were also believed by many to be of transformed women by their own supernatural powers.<ref name="Mitchell"/> This Roman myth itself is believed to originate from the Jewish Sabbath which described non-supernatural women who would suspiciously leave and return home swiftly during the night.<ref name="Mitchell"/> Authors of the ''Malleus Maleficarum'' strongly established the link between witchcraft and women by proclaiming a greater likelihood for women to be addicted to "evil".<ref name=":9">{{Cite book|title = Women in Late Medieval and Reformation Europe|last = Jewell|first = Helen M.|publisher = Palgrave Macmillan|year = 2007|isbn = 978-0333912577|location = New York|pages = 123–24}}</ref> The authors and inquisitors [[Heinrich Kramer]] and Jacob Sprengerh justified these beliefs by claiming women had greater credulity, impressionability, feeble minds, feeble bodies, impulsivity and carnal natures which were flaws susceptible to "evil" behavior and witchcraft.<ref name=":9" /> These sorts of beliefs at the time could send female hermits or beggars to trials just for offering remedies or herbal medicine.<ref name=":9" /> This set of developed myths eventually lead to the 16–17th century witch trials which found thousands of women burned at the stake.<ref name="Mitchell"/>

By 1500, Europe was divided into two types of secular law.<ref name=":4">{{Cite book|title = The Oxford Encyclopedia of Women in World History: 4 Volume Set|last = Smith|first = Bonnie G|publisher = Oxford University Press|year = 2008|isbn = 978-0-19-514890-9|location = London, UK|pages = [https://archive.org/details/oxfordencycloped0000unse_k2h2/page/428 428–29]|url = https://archive.org/details/oxfordencycloped0000unse_k2h2/page/428}}</ref> One was customary law, which was predominant in northern France, England and Scandinavia, and the other was Roman-based written law, which was predominant in southern France, Italy, Spain and Portugal.<ref name=":4" />

Customary laws favoured men more than women.<ref name=":4" /> For example, inheritance among the elites in Italy, England, Scandinavia and France was passed on to the eldest male heir. In all of the regions, the laws also gave men substantial powers over the lives, property and bodies of their wives.<ref name=":4" /> However, there were some improvements for women as opposed to ancient custom; for example, they could inherit in the absence of their brothers, do certain trades without their husbands, and widows could receive dower.<ref name=":4" />

In areas governed by Roman-based written laws, women were under male guardianship in matters involving property and law,{{Undue weight inline|date=October 2024}} with fathers overseeing daughters, husbands overseeing wives and uncles or male relatives overseeing widows.<ref name=":4" />

Throughout Europe, women's legal status centered around their marital status while marriage itself was the biggest factor in restricting women's autonomy.<ref name=":4" /> Custom, statute and practice not only reduced women's rights and freedoms but prevented single or widowed women from holding public office on the justification that they might one day marry.<ref name=":4" />

According to [[English Common Law]], which developed from the 12th century onward, all property which a wife held at the time of marriage became a possession of her husband. Eventually, English courts forbade a husband's 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.<ref name="Badr-1984">{{cite journal |last1=Badr |first1=Gamal M. |last2=Mayer |first2=Ann Elizabeth |title=Islamic Criminal Justice |journal=The American Journal of Comparative Law |date=1984 |volume=32 |issue=1 |pages=167–169 |doi=10.2307/840274 |jstor=840274 }}</ref> In the 16th century, the [[Protestant Reformation|Reformation]] in Europe allowed more women to add their voices, including the English writers [[Jane Anger]], [[Emilia Lanier|Aemilia Lanyer]], and the prophetess [[Anna Trapnell]]. English and American [[Quakers]] believed that men and women were equal. Many Quaker women were preachers.<ref>W. J. Rorabaugh, Donald T. Critchlow, Paula C. Baker (2004). "''[https://books.google.com/books?id=VL_6X5zWOokC&pg=PA75 America's promise: a concise history of the United States]{{Dead link|date=April 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}''". Rowman & Littlefield. p. 75. {{ISBN|978-0-7425-1189-7}}.</ref> Despite relatively greater freedom for [[Anglo-Saxon women]], until the mid-19th century, writers largely assumed that a [[Patriarchy|patriarchal order]] was a natural order that had always existed.<ref name="Maine">Maine, Henry Sumner. Ancient Law 1861.</ref> This perception was not seriously challenged until the 18th century when [[Jesuit]] missionaries found [[matrilineality]] in native North American peoples.<ref>[[Joseph-François Lafitau|Lafitau, Joseph François]], cited by Campbell, Joseph in, Myth, religion, and mother-right: selected writings of JJ Bachofen. Manheim, R (trans.) Princeton, N.J. 1967 introduction xxxiii</ref>

The philosopher [[John Locke]] opposed marital inequality and the mistreatment of women during this time.<ref name=":11">{{Cite journal|title = Gender and Good Governance in John Locke|url = http://www.ajsih.org/index.php/ajsih/article/view/56|journal = American Journal of Social Issues and Humanities|date = 19 July 2012|issn = 2276-6928|volume = 2|issue = 4|first1 = Ikechukwu|last1 = Anthony|first2 = O. S. A.|last2 = Kanu}}</ref> He was well known for advocating for marital equality among the sexes in his work during the 17th century. According to a study published in the ''American Journal of Social Issues & Humanities,'' the condition for women during Locke's time were as quote:<ref name=":11" />

* English women had fewer grounds for divorce than men until 1923<ref name=":11" />
* Husbands controlled most of their wives' personal property until the [[Married Women's Property Act 1870]] and [[Married Women's Property Act 1882]]<ref name=":11" />
* Children were the husband's property<ref name=":11" />
* Rape was legally impossible within a marriage<ref name=":11" />
* Wives lacked crucial features of legal personhood, since the husband was taken as the representative of the family (thereby eliminating the need for women's suffrage). These legal features of marriage suggest that the idea of a marriage between equals appeared unlikely to most Victorians.<ref name=":11" /> (Quoted from ''Gender and Good Governance in John Locke, American Journal of Social Issues & Humanities Vol 2''<ref name=":11" />)

A paternal society can find prefer to make women's rights a man's duty, for instance under English common law husbands had to maintain their wives. This duty was abolished in 2010.<ref name="UKEqualityAct">{{cite web |title=Equality Act 2010 |url=http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2010/15 |publisher=UK Government Legislation |access-date=22 October 2017 }}</ref><ref name="OldLawsOfEngland">{{cite web |last1=Sir William Blackstone |title=Commentaries on the Laws of England (1765–1769) |url=https://lonang.com/library/reference/blackstone-commentaries-law-england/bla-115 |publisher=Lonang Institute |access-date=22 October 2017 }}</ref>

===== 18th and 19th century Europe =====
{{Further|Women in the Victorian era}}
[[File:Johann Heinrich Füssli 049.jpg|upright=1.1|thumb|alt=Three women sitting around a small table, one sewing, one drinking a cup of what is possibly tea. All three are drawn to look almost horrific. The third woman looks as if she has two heads, but it may be that there are four women. The women's heads do not look like they are comfortable on their bodies. The colors are dark red, black, brown, and almond.|''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 Wollstonecraft]]'s views in ''[[A Vindication of the Rights of Woman]]'', published in 1792.<ref>Tomory, Peter. ''The Life and Art of Henry Fuseli.'' New York: Praeger Publishers, 1972; p. 217. {{LCCN|72077546}}.</ref>]]
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 suffrage]].<ref>{{Cite book| last = Sweet| first = William| title = Philosophical theory and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights| publisher = University of Ottawa Press| year = 2003| page = 4| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=_V_KuJGcJSAC&q=%22natural+law%22+women+%22human+nature%22| isbn =978-0-7766-0558-6 }}</ref> In the late 18th century the question of women's rights became central to political debates in both France and Britain. At the time some of the greatest thinkers of the [[Age of Enlightenment|Enlightenment]], who defended democratic principles of [[Egalitarianism|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 their own gender and their own race. The philosopher [[Jean-Jacques Rousseau]], for example, thought that it was the order of nature for women to obey men.<ref>{{cite book| last = Lauren| first = Paul Gordon| title = The evolution of international human rights: visions seen| publisher = University of Pennsylvania Press| year = 2003| pages = 29–30| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=gHRhWgbWyzMC&q=Declaration+of+the+Rights+of+Man+and+of+the+Citizen| isbn =978-0-8122-1854-1 }}</ref>

In 1754, [[Dorothea Erxleben]] became the first German woman receiving a [[Doctor of Medicine|M.D.]] ([[University of Halle]])<ref name="Offen, K. 2000 p. 43">Offen, K. (2000): ''European Feminisms, 1700-1950: A Political History'' (Stanford University Press), p. 43.</ref>
[[File:Mary Wollstonecraft by John Opie (c. 1797).jpg|thumb|right|[[Mary Wollstonecraft]] by [[John Opie]] (c. 1797)]]
[[File:Minna Canth.jpg|thumb|right|[[Minna Canth]] (1844–1897), a Finnish author and [[social activist]], was one of the most significant European feminists and advocates of women's rights.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://finland.fi/arts-culture/finnish-author-minna-canth-could-and-she-did/|title=Finnish author Minna Canth could, and she did|date=17 March 2017|website=thisisFINLAND}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://finland.fi/arts-culture/finlands-first-feminist-why-minna-canths-writing-is-still-important/|title=Finland's first feminist: Why Minna Canth's writing is still important|date=15 March 2019|website=thisisFINLAND}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://newsnowfinland.fi/arts-culture/day-of-equality-celebrates-minna-canths-legacy|title=Day of Equality celebrates Minna Canth's legacy &#124; News Now Finland|first=News Now|last=Staff|date=19 March 2020}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://blogs.bl.uk/european/2017/05/a-feisty-finnish-feminist-minna-canth-.html|title=A feisty Finnish feminist: Minna Canth – European studies blog|website=blogs.bl.uk}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://allthingsnordic.eu/gender-equality-how-minna-canth-changed-finlands-route/ |title=Gender equality: how Minna Canth changed Finland's route |date=9 December 2019 |access-date=26 June 2020 |archive-date=29 June 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200629070037/https://allthingsnordic.eu/gender-equality-how-minna-canth-changed-finlands-route/ |url-status=live }}</ref>]]
[[File:DDFC.jpg|upright=1.1|thumb|left|First page of the [[Declaration of the Rights of Woman and of the Female Citizen]]]]
In 1791 the French playwright and political [[Activism|activist]] [[Olympe de Gouges]] published the [[Declaration of the Rights of Woman and of the Female Citizen]],<ref name=MS1112>Macdonald and Scherf, "Introduction", pp. 11–12.</ref> 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 follows the seventeen articles of the [[Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen]] point for point and has been described by Camille Naish as "almost a parody... of 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 the Declaration of the Rights of Woman and of 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:
[[File:Women suffrage cartoon.png|upright=1.1|thumb|Australian women's rights were lampooned in this 1887 ''Melbourne Punch'' cartoon: A hypothetical female member foists her baby's care on the House Speaker.]]
<blockquote>
All citizens including women are equally admissible to all public dignities, offices and employments, according to their capacity, and with no other distinction than that of their virtues and talents.
</blockquote>
De Gouges also draws attention to the fact that under French law women were fully punishable, yet denied equal rights.<ref>{{cite book |title=Death comes to the maiden: Sex and Execution, 1431–1933 |last=Naish |first=Camille |year=1991 |publisher=Routledge |isbn= 978-0-415-05585-7 |page=137 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=OHYOAAAAQAAJ&q=Declaration+of+the+Rights+of+Woman+and+the+Female+Citizen }}</ref>

[[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.<ref>Brody, Miriam. Mary Wollstonecraft: Sexuality and women's rights (1759–1797), in Spender, Dale (ed.) Feminist theorists: Three centuries of key women thinkers, Pantheon 1983, pp. 40–59 {{ISBN|0-394-53438-7}}.</ref><ref name=Walters>Walters, Margaret, ''Feminism: A very short introduction'' (Oxford, 2005), {{ISBN|978-0-19-280510-2}}.</ref> Wollstonecraft attacked gender oppression, pressing for equal educational opportunities, and demanded "justice!" and "rights to humanity" for all.<ref>{{cite book| last = Lauren| title = The evolution of international human rights: visions seen| publisher = University of Pennsylvania Press| year = 2003| page = 32| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=gHRhWgbWyzMC&q=Declaration+of+the+Rights+of+Man+and+of+the+Citizen| isbn = 978-0-8122-1854-1}}</ref> Wollstonecraft, along with her British contemporaries [[Damaris Cudworth]] and [[Catharine Macaulay]], started to use the language of rights in relation to women, arguing that women should have greater opportunity because like men, they were moral and rational beings.<ref>{{Cite book| last = Sweet| first = William| title = Philosophical theory and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights| publisher = University of Ottawa Press| year = 2003| page = 10| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=_V_KuJGcJSAC&q=%22natural+law%22+women+%22human+nature%22| isbn =978-0-7766-0558-6 }}</ref>
[[Mary Robinson (poet)|Mary Robinson]] wrote in a similar vein in "A Letter to the Women of England, on the Injustice of Mental Subordination.", 1799.

[[File:Mill's logic 1867.jpg|upright=1.15|left|thumb|A ''Punch'' cartoon from 1867 mocking [[John Stuart Mill]]'s attempt to replace the term 'man' with 'person', i.e. give women the right to vote. Caption: Mill's Logic: Or, Franchise for Females. "Pray clear the way, there, for these – a – persons."<ref name="Brave new world – Women's rights">{{cite web| title = Brave new world – Women's rights | publisher = National Archives| url = http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/pathways/citizenship/brave_new_world/women.htm| access-date =15 January 2011 }}</ref>]]
In his 1869 essay "[[The Subjection of Women]]" the English philosopher and political theorist [[John Stuart Mill]] described the situation for women in Britain as follows:
<blockquote>
We are continually told that civilization and Christianity have restored to the woman her just rights. Meanwhile, the wife is the actual bondservant of her husband; no less so, as far as the legal obligation goes, than slaves commonly so called.</blockquote>

Then a member of parliament, Mill argued that women deserve the [[right to vote]], though his proposal to replace the term "man" with "person" in the second [[Reform Bill of&nbsp;1867]] was greeted with laughter in the [[House of Commons of the United Kingdom|House of Commons]] and defeated by 76&nbsp;to&nbsp;196 votes. His arguments won little support amongst contemporaries<ref name="Brave new world – Women's rights"/> but his attempt to amend the reform bill generated greater attention for the issue of women's suffrage in Britain.<ref name=suffrage/> Initially only one of several women's rights campaigns, suffrage became the primary cause of the British women's movement at the beginning of the 20th century.<ref>{{cite book |title=The women's suffrage movement in Britain, 1866–1928 |last=Van Wingerden |first=Sophia A. |year=1999 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |isbn= 978-0-312-21853-9 |pages=1–2 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=0oLxK_NHI6kC }}</ref> At the time, the ability to vote was restricted to wealthy [[Property law|property owners]] within British jurisdictions. This arrangement implicitly excluded women as [[property law]] and [[marriage law]] gave men ownership rights at marriage or inheritance until the 19th century. Although male suffrage broadened during the century, women were explicitly prohibited from voting nationally and locally in the 1830s by the [[Reform Act 1832]] and the [[Municipal Corporations Act 1835]].<ref name=X>Phillips, Melanie, ''The Ascent of Woman: A History of the Suffragette Movement'' (Abacus, 2004)</ref> [[Millicent Fawcett]] and [[Emmeline Pankhurst]] led the public campaign on women's suffrage and in 1918 a bill was passed allowing women over the age of 30 to vote.<ref name="X" />

By the 1860s, the economic sexual politics of middle-class women in Britain and its neighboring Western European countries was guided by factors such as the evolution of 19th century [[Consumerism|consumer]] culture. While women, particularly those in the middle class, obtained modest control of daily household expenses and had the ability to leave the house, attend social events, and shop for personal and household items, Europe's socioeconomic climate pervaded the ideology that women were not in complete control over their urges to spend (assuming) their husband or father's wages. As a result, many advertisements for socially 'feminine' goods revolved around upward social progression, [[exoticism]]s from the [[Orient]], and added efficiency for household roles women were deemed responsible for.<ref name="Lysack, Krista 2008">Lysack, Krista. Come buy, come buy: shopping and the culture of consumption in Victorian women's writing. n.p.: Athens : Ohio University Press, c2008., 2008.</ref><ref>Rappaport, Erika Diane. Shopping for pleasure: women in the making of London's West End. n.p.: Princeton, NJ : Princeton University Press, c2000., 2000.</ref>

===== Russia =====

By law and custom, Muscovite Russia was a patriarchal society that subordinated women to men, and the young to their elders. [[Peter the Great]] relaxed the second custom, but not the subordination of women.<ref name=":3">{{Cite book|title = The Oxford Encyclopedia of Women in World History: 4 Volume Set|last = Smith|first = Bonnie G|publisher = Oxford University Press|year = 2008|isbn = 978-0-19-514890-9|location = London, UK|pages = [https://archive.org/details/oxfordencycloped0000unse_k2h2/page/443 443–44]|url = https://archive.org/details/oxfordencycloped0000unse_k2h2/page/443}}</ref> A decree of 1722 explicitly forbade any forced marriages by requiring both bride and groom to consent, while parental permission still remained a requirement. But during Peter's reign, only the man could get rid of his wife by putting her in a nunnery.<ref name=":3" />

In terms of laws, there were double standards for women. Adulterous wives were sentenced to forced labor, while men who murdered their wives were merely flogged.<ref name=":3" /> After the death of Peter the Great, laws and customs pertaining to men's marital authority over their wives increased.<ref name=":3" /> In 1782, civil law reinforced women's responsibility to obey their husbands.<ref name=":3" /> By 1832, the Digest of laws changed this obligation into "unlimited obedience".<ref name=":3" />

In the 18th century, the Russian orthodox church further got its authority over marriage and banned priests from granting divorce, even for severely abused wives.<ref name=":3" /> By 1818, the Russian senate had also forbade the separation of married couples.<ref name=":3" />

During [[World War I]], caring for children was increasingly difficult for women, many of whom could not support themselves, and whose husbands had died or were fighting in the war. Many women had to give up their children to children's homes infamous for abuse and neglect. These children's homes were unofficially dubbed as "angel factories". After the [[October Revolution]], the Bolsheviks shut down an infamous angel factory known as the 'Nikolaev Institute' situated near the Moika Canal. The Bolsheviks then replaced the Nikolaev Institute with a modern maternity home called the 'Palace for Mothers and Babies'. This maternity home was used by the [[Bolsheviks]] as a model for future maternity hospitals. The countess who ran the old Institute was moved to a side wing, however she spread rumours that the Bolsheviks had removed sacred pictures, and that the nurses were promiscuous with sailors. The maternity hospital was burnt down hours before it was scheduled to open, and the countess was suspected of being responsible.<ref>{{cite book |last=Porter |first=Cathy |date=1987 |title=Women in Revolutionary Russia |location=Great Britain|publisher=Cambridge University Press |page=39 |isbn=0-521-31969-2}}</ref>

Russian women had restrictions in owning property until the mid 18th century.<ref name=":3" /> Women's rights had improved after the rise of the [[Soviet Union]] under the Bolsheviks.<ref name=":3" />

Under the Bolsheviks, Russia became the first country in human history to provide free abortions to women in state-run hospitals.<ref name="Porter 1987 43">{{cite book |last= Porter |first= Cathy |date= 1987 |title= Women in Revolutionary Russia |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=9Wu1AAAAIAAJ |location= Cambridge |publisher= Cambridge University Press |page= 43 |isbn= 0-521-31969-2 }}</ref>