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Women Of The World, Unite
Key moment
First women's rights convention Indignant over women being barred from speaking at an anti-slavery convention, Americans Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott congregate a few hundred people at their nation’s first women’s rights convention in New York. Together they demand civil, social, political and religious rights for women in a Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions:
“We hold these truths to be self-evident; that all men and women are created equal.”
The women’s right to vote in particular is met with derision by the public. But a movement is born.
Definition
More than a word, feminism is a movement advocating for women’s social, political, legal and economic rights equal to those of men. Its first documented use dates back to 1837 in France, where socialist Charles Fourier uses ‘feminisme’ to describe women’s liberation in a utopian future.
By the early 1900s, it is associated with women’s suffrage, but later evolves to carry more meaning. In particular, ‘intersectional feminism’ draws attention to how women face different forms of discrimination based on factors, such as race, class, ethnicity, religion and sexual orientation.
By the early 1900s, it is associated with women’s suffrage, but later evolves to carry more meaning. In particular, ‘intersectional feminism’ draws attention to how women face different forms of discrimination based on factors, such as race, class, ethnicity, religion and sexual orientation.
1900
1911
Key moment
International Women’s Day: A day for women
Marked annually on 8 March, the first International Women’s Day in 1911 amasses more than one million people across Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland for women’s suffrage and labour rights. In its early years, the Day becomes a mechanism to protest World War I. Most notably, in Russia, a large women-led demonstration breaks out demanding “bread and peace!” Four days later, the Czar abdicates. Now a Russian national holiday, the Day is what some historians believe ignited the Russian Revolution.
Then and now
The changing world of work
World War I and II drive women to take on “untraditional” jobs as men head to war. A Western cultural icon of women war workers, Rosie the Riveter has since been re-interpreted globally as a symbol of women’s empowerment.
1940
1940
Work hard, strike hard�
1945
Dublin, Ireland
Noteworthy
What would you do without clean clothes for weeks? In 1945, Dubliners in Ireland learn the hard way. Tired of unhealthy work conditions, low wages, overtime and limited leave, around 1,500 unionized laundresses go on strike:
‘We leave it all to you... To gain what we are due.’
Commercial laundries get hit, a big business at the time. More than three months (and lots of dirty clothes) later, the strike ends on a victory and gives all Irish workers a statutory second week of annual holidays.
1945
Key moment
The United Nations is born
Following the devastation of World War II, the United Nations forms in 1945 to foster international co-operation. Its charter enshrines gender equality:
“We the peoples…reaffirm faith…in the equal rights of men and women”
It is one of many steps the UN takes to lay a foundation for women’s rights: In 1946, the Commission on the Status of Women becomes the first global intergovernmental body exclusively dedicated to gender equality; and in 2010, UN Women becomes the first UN agency to champion exclusively for women’s rights.
Translated into more than 500 languages and dialects today, the landmark Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) for the first time in human history spells out basic rights and fundamental freedoms that all human beings — men and women alike — should enjoy.
A first
Activists unite:
The first International Women’s Year, the first UN Decade for Women and the first world conference on women in Mexico escalates global discourse on women’s rights.
1980
Invention
A time saver:
The “hippo water roller” allows for a more efficient means to transport clean water, easing the burden of rural women globally, often the main water collectors.
1994
1995
Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women
The first international instrument to explicitly address and define forms of violence against women.
ICPD Programme of Action
A 23-year action plan that puts people and their rights at the heart of development and recognizes women’s sexual and reproductive health as key to everyone’s well-being.
Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action
A comprehensive framework adopted at the Fourth World Conference for Women with a road map of actions under 12 critical areas to advance women's rights.
The first UN legal and political framework to recognize that war impacts women differently and to call for women’s participation in conflict prevention and resolution.
UN Millennium Declaration
A set of eight time-bound goals unanimously adopted by world leaders to end poverty with a 15-year deadline. In 2015, the world reflects on progress and gaps, and develops its next transformative agenda: The Sustainable Development Goals.
2000
Key moment
Challenging the status quo
From the Arabian Peninsula to the capitals of North Africa, streams of women vigorously protest for their rights as part of a broader uprising: the pan-Arab movement. The outcry thrusts women into the global limelight, challenging perceptions of them as passive. This determination is not new though: In Morocco, tribal Soulaliyate women continue to fight for land rights; in Tunisia, activism propels gender equality being enshrined in the nation’s constitution; and in Lebanon, campaigning leads to a controversial rape law being scrapped.
Memorable speech
Education for all
It’s a moment that wakes up the world: The attack on a school girl and education activist Malala Yousafzai in Pakistan. Surviving a gunshot wound to the head and neck, watch Malala speak as she marks her first public appearance at the UN on her 16th birthday in 2013.
The rise of digital activism
The hashtags say it all: Women and girls want a life free of violence and a gender equal world.
#SendeAnlat
#BringBackOurGirls
#YesAllWomen
#EverydaySexism
#WomenShould
#HeForShe
#NiUnaMenos
#MeToo
#YoTambien
#QuellaVoltaChe
#BalanceTonPorc
#AnaKaman
#TimesUp
#FeministFriday
Thank You
Asude ÖZEL