Power of

Feminism
Equality for women
Class 10
Table of Contents
01 03
Introduction Fight for woman's rights
You could describe the The early efforts to
topic of the section here achieve rights for women

02 04
Core concepts Women's strike for
Rights given to women equality
You could describe the
topic of the section here
Table of Contents
05 07
Examples Leaders
Organizations and their Prominent women who
mottos fought for equality

06
Feminism
About it & history
01 Introduction
What are
women’s rights?
 Introduction
Equality: Is defined as the condition of being equal, or the
same in quality, measure, esteem or value. Men and
women both should be viewed as being just as smart and
capable as each other.

Women's rights: Are the rights and entitlements claimed

for women and girls worldwide. They formed the basis for the women's rights
movement in the 19th century and the feminist movements during the 20th and
21st centuries. In some countries, these rights are institutionalized or supported
by law, local custom, and behaviour, whereas in others, they are ignored and
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
02 Core concepts
Rights given to
women
Natural Rights-
17th century natural law philosophers in Britain done and America,
such as Thomas Hobbes , Jean-Jacques Rousseau and John Locke,
developed the theory of natural rights in reference to ancient
philosophers such as Aristotle and the Christian theologist Aquinas.
Like the ancient philosophers, 17th century natural law philosophers
defended slavery and an inferior status of women in law. Relying on
ancient Greek philosophers, natural law philosophers argued
that natural rights we're not derived from god, but were "universal,
self-evident, and intuitive", a law that could be found in nature. They
believed that natural rights were self-evident to "civilised man" who
lives "in the highest form of society"
Equal Employment-
Employment rights for women include non-discriminatory access of
women to jobs and equal pay. The rights of women and men to have
equal pay and equal benefits for equal work were openly denied by
the British Hong Kong Government up to the early 1970s. Leslie Wah-
Leung Chung, President of the Hong Kong Chinese Civil Servants'
Association [148] (1965–68), contributed to the establishment of equal
pay for men and women, including the right for married women to be
permanent employees. Before this, the job status of a woman
changed from permanent employee to temporary employee once she
was married, thus losing the pension benefit.
 Right to vote-
During the 19th century some women began to ask for, demand, and
then agitate and demonstrate for the right to vote – the right to
participate in their government and its law making. Other women
opposed suffrage, like Helen Kendrick Johnson, who argued in the 1897
pamphlet Woman and the Republic that women could achieve legal
and economic equality without having the vote. The ideals of women's
suffrage developed alongside that of universal suffrage and today
women's suffrage is considered a right (under the Convention on the
Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women). During the
19th century the right to vote was gradually extended in many
countries, and women started to campaign for their right to vote. In
1893 New Zealand became the first country to give women the right to
vote on a national level. Australia gave women the right to vote in 1902
Property Rights-
During the 19th century some women, such as Ernestine Rose, Paulina
Wright Davis, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Harriet Beecher Stowe, in the
United States and Britain began to challenge laws that denied them
the right to their property once they married. Under the common law
doctrine of coverture husbands gained control of their wives' real
estate and wages. Beginning in the 1840s, state legislatures in the
United States and the British Parliament began passing statutes that
protected women's property from their husbands and their husbands'
creditors. These laws were known as the Married Women's Property
Acts.
Freedom of movement-
Freedom of movement is an essential right, recognized by
international instruments, including Article 15 (4)
of CEDAW. Nevertheless, in many regions of the world, women have
this right severely restricted, in law or in practice. For instance, in
some countries women may not leave the home without a male
guardian, or without the consent of the husband – for example the
personal law of Yemen states that a wife must obey her husband and
must not get out of the home without his consent. [ Even in countries
which do not have legal restrictions, women's movement may be
prevented in practice by social and religious norms such as purdah.
Informing women about
their legal rights-
The lack of legal knowledge among many women, especially in
developing countries, is a major obstacle in the improvement of
women's situation. International bodies, such as the United Nations,
have stated that the obligation of states does not only consist in
passing relevant laws, but also in informing women about the
existence of such laws, in order to enable them to seek justice and
realize in practice their rights. Therefore, states must popularize the
laws, and explain them clearly to the public, in order to prevent
ignorance, or misconceptions originating in popular myths, about the
laws.
Discrimination-
Women's rights movements focus on ending discrimination of
women. In this regard, the definition of discrimination itself is
important. According to the jurisprudence of the ECHR, the right to
freedom from discrimination includes not only the obligation of
states to treat in the same way persons who are in analogous
situations, but also the obligation to treat in a different way persons
who are in different situations.
Right to Health-
Health is defined by the World Health Organization as "a state of
complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely
the absence of disease or infirmity",Women's health refers to the
health of women, which differs from that of men in many unique
ways. Women's health is severely impaired in some parts of the
world, due to factors such as inequality, confinement of women to
the home, indifference of medical workers, lack of autonomy of
women, lack of financial resources of women.
Right to Education-
The right to education is a universal entitlement to education.
The Convention against Discrimination in Education prohibits
discrimination in education, with discrimination being defined as "any
distinction, exclusion, limitation or preference which, being based on
race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national
or social origin, economic condition or birth, has the purpose or effect
of nullifying or impairing equality of treatment in education".
Reproductive Rights-
Reproductive rights are legal rights and freedoms
relating to reproduction and reproductive health.
Reproductive rights were endorsed by the twenty-
year Cairo Programme of Action which was adopted
in 1994 at the International Conference on
Population and Development (ICPD) in Cairo, and by
the Beijing Declaration and Beijing Platform for
Action in 1995.
Birth Control-
In the early 20th century birth control was advanced as alternative to
the then fashionable terms family limitation and voluntary
motherhood. The phrase "birth control" entered the English language
in 1914 and was popularised by Margaret Sanger,who was mainly
active in the US but had gained an international reputation by the
1930s. The British birth control campaigner Marie
Stopes made contraception acceptable in Britain during the 1920s by
framing it in scientific terms.
 Abortion-
Women's reproductive rights may be understood as including the
right to easy access to a safe and legal abortion. Abortion laws vary
from a full prohibition (the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Malta,
Nicaragua, the Vatican) to countries such as Canada, where there
are no legal restrictions. In many countries where abortion is
permitted by law, women may only have limited access to safe
abortion services. In some countries abortion is permitted only to
save the pregnant woman's life, or if the pregnancy resulted from
rape or incest.
Abuse during Childbirth-

The abuse of women during childbirth is a recently identified global

problem and a basic violation of a woman's rights. Abuse during
childbirth is the neglect, physical abuse and lack of respect
during childbirth. This treatment is regarded as a violation of the
woman's rights. It also has the effect of preventing women from
seeking pre-natal care and using other health care services.
Child Marriage-
Child marriage is a practice which is widespread across the
world, and is often connected to poverty and gender
inequality. Child marriage endangers the reproductive
health of young girls, leading to an increased risk of
complications in pregnancy or childbirth. Such complications
are a leading cause of death among girls in developing
countries.
Forced Pregnancy-
Forced pregnancy is the practice of forcing a woman or girl to
become pregnant, often as part of a forced marriage, including by means
of bride kidnapping, through rape (including marital rape, war
rape and genocidal rape) or as part of a program of
breeding slaves (see Slave breeding in the United States). It is a form
of reproductive coercion, was common historically, and still occurs in
parts of the world. In the 20th century, state mandated forced marriage
with the aim of increasing the population was practiced by some
authoritarian governments, notably during the Khmer Rouge regime
in Cambodia, which systematically forced people into marriages ordering
them to have children, in order to increase the population and continue
the revolution.] Forced pregnancy is strongly connected to the custom
of bride price.
Freedom from Violence-

Violence against women is, collectively, violent acts that are

primarily or exclusively committed against women. The
UN Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against
Women states, "violence against women is a manifestation of
historically unequal power relations between men and women" and
"violence against women is one of the crucial social mechanisms by
which women are forced into a subordinate position compared with
men."
Family Law-
Under male dominated family law, women had few, if any, rights, being
under the control of the husband or male relatives. Legal concepts that
existed throughout the centuries, such as coverture, marital
power, Head and Master laws, kept women under the strict control of
their husbands. Restrictions from marriage laws also extended to
public life, such as marriage bars. Practices such as dowry or bride
price were, and still are to this day in some parts of the world, very
common. Some countries continue to require to this day a male
guardian for women, without whom women cannot exercise civil
rights. Other harmful practices include marriage of young girls, often
too much older men.
03 Women's strike for
equality
The Women's Strike for Equality was a strike which
took place in the United States on August 26, 1970.
It celebrated the 50th anniversary of the passing of
the Nineteenth Amendment, which effectively
gave American women the right to vote. The rally
was sponsored by the National Organization for
Women (NOW). About 50,000 women gathered for
the protest in New York City and even more
throughout the country. At this time, the gathering
was the largest on behalf of women in the United
States.
 The strike self-stated three
primary goals:
free abortion on demand, eq
ual opportunity in the
workforce,
and free childcare.The strike
also advocated for
other second
wave feminist goals more
generally, such as political
rights for women, and social
equality in relationships
such as marriage.
04 Fight for women
rights
The early efforts to achieve
rights for women
 Along with African Americans, women of all races and
ethnicities have long been discriminated against in the United
States, and the women’s rights movement began at the same
time as the movement to abolish slavery in the United States.
Indeed, the women’s movement came about largely as a result
of the difficulties women encountered while trying to abolish
slavery. The trailblazing Seneca Falls Convention for women’s
rights was held in 1848, a few years before the Civil War. But
the abolition and African American civil rights movements
largely eclipsed the women’s movement throughout most of
the nineteenth century. Women began to campaign actively
again in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and
another movement for women’s rights began in the 1960s.
The Early Women’s Rights
Movement and Women’s
Suffrage
At the time of the American Revolution, women had few rights. Although
single women were allowed to own property, married women were not.
When women married, their separate legal identities were erased under
the legal principle of coverture. Not only did women adopt their husbands’
names, but all personal property they owned legally became their
husbands’ property. Husbands could not sell their wives’ real property—
such as land or in some states slaves—without their permission, but they
were allowed to manage it and retain the profits. If women worked outside
the home, their husbands were entitled to their wages. Higher education
for women was not available, and women were barred from professional
positions in medicine, law, and ministry. Following the Revolution,
women’s conditions did not improve. Women were not granted the right
to vote by any of the states except New Jersey, which at first allowed all
taxpaying property owners to vote. However, in 1807, the law changed to
limit the vote to men Changes in property laws actually hurt women by
making it easier for their husbands to sell their real property without their
consent.
Although women had few rights, they nevertheless played an
important role in transforming American society. This was
especially true in the 1830s and 1840s, a time when numerous
social reform movements swept across the United
States. One of the leaders of the early women’s movement,
Elizabeth Cady Stanton, was shocked and angered when she
sought to attend an 1840 antislavery meeting in London, only
to learn that women would not be allowed to participate and
had to sit apart from the men. At this convention, she made
the acquaintance of another American female abolitionist,
Lucretia Mott, who was also appalled by the male reformers’
treatment of women.
Elizabeth Cady Stanton (a) and Lucretia Mott (b) both emerged
from the abolitionist movement as strong advocates of
women’s rights.
 In 1848, Stanton and Mott called for a women’s
rights convention, the first ever held specifically to address
the subject, at Seneca Falls, New York. At the Seneca Falls
Convention, Stanton wrote the Declaration of Sentiments,
which was modelled after the Declaration of Independence
and proclaimed women were equal to men and deserved
the same rights. Along with other feminists (advocates of
women’s equality), such as her friend and colleague Susan
B. Anthony, Stanton fought for rights for women besides
suffrage, including the right to seek higher education. As a
result of their efforts, several states passed laws that
allowed married women to retain control of their property
and let divorced women keep custody of their children. The
women’s rights movement attracted many women who, like
Stanton and Anthony, were active in either the temperance
movement, the abolition movement, or both movements.
Sarah and Angelina Grimke, the daughters of a wealthy
slaveholding family in South Carolina, became first
abolitionists and then women’s rights activists. Stanton and
Anthony denounced the Fifteenth Amendment because it
granted voting rights only to black men and not to women
of any race.
The fight for women’s rights did not die, however. In 1869, Stanton and
Anthony formed the National Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA), which
demanded that the Constitution be amended to grant the right to vote to all
women. It also called for more lenient divorce laws and an end to sex
discrimination in employment. The less radical Lucy Stone formed
the American Woman Suffrage Association (AWSA) in the same year; AWSA
hoped to win the suffrage for women by working on a state-by-state basis
instead of seeking to amend the Constitution. Four western states—Utah,
Colorado, Wyoming, and Idaho—did extend the right to vote to women in the
late nineteenth century, but no other states did. In 1890, the two suffragist
groups united to form the National American Woman Suffrage
Association (NAWSA). To call attention to their cause, members circulated
petitions, lobbied politicians, and held parades in which hundreds of women
and girls marched through the streets.
In October 1917, suffragists
marched down Fifth Avenue in
New York demanding the right to
vote. They carried a petition that
had been signed by one million
women.
The more radical National Woman’s Party (NWP), led by Alice Paul,
advocated the use of stronger tactics. The NWP held public protests
and picketed outside the White House. Finally, in 1920, the triumphant
passage of the Nineteenth Amendment granted all women the right to
vote.

Members of the National Woman’s Party

picketed outside the White House six days
a week from January 10, 1917, when
President Woodrow Wilson took office,
until June 4, 1919, when the Nineteenth
Amendment was passed by Congress. The
protesters wore banners proclaiming the
name of the institution of higher learning
they attended.
Civil Rights and the Equal
Rights Amendment
 The Nineteenth Amendment did not end discrimination against
women in education, employment, or other areas of life, which
continued to be legal. Although women could vote, they very rarely ran
for or held public office. Women continued to be underrepresented in
the professions, and relatively few sought advanced degrees. Until the
mid-twentieth century, the ideal in U.S. society was typically for
women to marry, have children, and become housewives. Those who
sought work for pay outside the home were routinely denied jobs
because of their sex and, when they did find employment, were paid
less than men. Women who wished to remain childless or limit the
number of children they had in order to work or attend college found it
difficult to do so. In some states it was illegal to sell contraceptive
devices, and abortions were largely illegal and difficult for women to
obtain.
A second women’s rights movement emerged in the 1960s to address these
problems. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibited discrimination in
employment on the basis of sex as well as race, colour, national origin, and
religion. Nevertheless, women continued to be denied jobs because of their sex
and were often sexually harassed at the workplace. In 1966, feminists who were
angered by the lack of progress made by women and by the government’s
lackluster enforcement of Title VII organized the National Organization for
Women (NOW). NOW promoted workplace equality, including equal pay for
women, and also called for the greater presence of women in public office, the
professions, and graduate and professional degree programs.
NOW also declared its support for
the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA),
which mandated equal treatment for
all regardless of sex. The ERA, written
by Alice Paul and Crystal Eastman,
was first proposed to Congress,
unsuccessfully, in 1923. It was
introduced in every Congress
thereafter but did not pass both the
House and the Senate until 1972. The
amendment was then sent to the
states for ratification with a deadline
of March 22, 1979. In 1978, Congress
voted to extend the deadline for
ratification to June 30, 1982.
The map shows which states supported the ERA and which did not. The dark blue states
ratified the amendment. The amendment was ratified but later rescinded in the light blue
states and was ratified in only one branch of the legislature in the yellow states. The ERA was
never ratified by the purple states.
Although the ERA failed to be ratified, Title IX of the United States
Education Amendments of 1972 passed into law as a federal statute
(not as an amendment, as the ERA was meant to be). Title IX applies to
all educational institutions that receive federal aid and prohibits
discrimination on the basis of sex in academic programs, dormitory
space, health-care access, and school activities including sports. Thus,
if a school receives federal aid, it cannot spend more funds on
programs for men than on programs for women.
Continuing Challenges for
Women
There is no doubt that women have made great progress since the Seneca Falls
Convention. Today, more women than men attend college, and they are
more likely than men to graduate. Women are represented in all the
professions, and approximately half of all law and medical school students
are women. Women have held Cabinet positions and have been elected to
Congress. They have run for president and vice president, and three female
justices currently serve on the Supreme Court. Women are also represented
in all branches of the military and can serve in combat. As a result of the
1973 Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade, women now have legal access
to abortion. Nevertheless, women are still underrepresented in some jobs
and are less likely to hold executive positions than are men. Many
believe the glass ceiling, an invisible barrier caused by discrimination,
prevents women from rising to the highest levels of American
organizations, including corporations, governments, academic institutions,
and religious groups. Women earn less money than men for the same
work. As of 2014, fully employed women earned seventy-nine cents for
every dollar earned by a fully employed man. Women are also more likely to
be single parents than are men.
 Women remain underrepresented in elective offices. They currently
hold only about 20 percent of seats in Congress and only about 25
percent of seats in state legislatures. At the time of the Revolution and
for many decades following it, married women had no right to control
their own property, vote, or run for public office. Beginning in the
1840s, a women’s movement began among women who were active in
the abolition and temperance movements. Although some of their
goals, such as achieving property rights for married women, were
reached early on, their biggest goal—winning the right to vote—
required the 1920 passage of the Nineteenth Amendment. Women
secured more rights in the 1960s and 1970s, such as reproductive rights
and the right not to be discriminated against in employment or
education. Women continue to face many challenges: they are still
paid less than men and are underrepresented in executive positions
and elected office. Women’s rights advocates also call for stricter
enforcement of laws prohibiting sexual harassment, and for harsher
punishment, such as mandatory arrest, for perpetrators of domestic
violence.
05 Examples
Organizations and
their mottos
To address these issues, many have called for additional protections
for women. These include laws mandating equal pay for equal work.
According to the doctrine of comparable worth, people should be
compensated equally for work requiring comparable skills,
responsibilities, and effort. Thus, even though women are
underrepresented in certain fields, they should receive the same
wages as men if performing jobs requiring the same level of
accountability, knowledge, skills, and/or working conditions, even
though the specific job may be different. For example, garbage
collectors are largely male. The chief job requirements are the
ability to drive a sanitation truck and to lift heavy bins and toss their
contents into the back of truck. The average wage for a garbage
collector is $15.34 an hour. Day care workers are largely female, and
the average pay is $9.12 an hour. However, the work arguably
requires more skills and is a more responsible position. Day care
workers must be able to feed, clean, and dress small children;
prepare meals for them; entertain them; give them medicine if
required; and teach them basic skills.
They must be educated in first aid and assume responsibility for the
children’s safety. In terms of the skills and physical activity required
and the associated level of responsibility of the job, day care workers
should be paid at least as much as garbage collectors and perhaps
more. Women’s rights advocates also call for stricter enforcement of
laws prohibiting sexual harassment, and for harsher punishment,
such as mandatory arrest, for perpetrators of domestic violence. At
the time of the Revolution and for many decades following it,
married women had no right to control their own property, vote, or
run for public office. Beginning in the 1840s, a women’s movement
began among women who were active in the abolition and
temperance movements. Although some of their goals, such as
achieving property rights for married women, were reached early on,
their biggest goal—winning the right to vote—required the 1920
passage of the Nineteenth Amendment.
 Women secured more rights in the 1960s and 1970s, such as
reproductive rights and the right not to be discriminated against in
employment or education. Women continue to face many
challenges: they are still paid less than men and are
underrepresented in executive positions and elected office.

Male Dominated Right to Vote

Jobs for women
Some Organisations
that fought for
Women's Rights:
➢ All Bengal Women's Union, founded in 1932
➢ All India Federation of Women Lawyers, founded in 2007
➢ All India Women's Conference, founded in 1927
➢ Association of Theologically Trained Women of India, founded in
1979
➢ Bharatiya Grameen Mahila Sangh (National Association of Rural
Women India), founded in 1955
➢ Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan (Indian Muslim Women's
Movement), founded in 2007
➢ Nari Mukti Sangh founded in 1990, women's liberation
➢ Sabala Organization, women's empowerment, founded in 1986
➢ Sanlaap, women's rights, founded in 1987
➢ Self Employed Women's Association, founded in 1959
➢ Shri Mahila Griha Udyog Lijjat Papad, women's cooperative, founded
in 1976
➢ Working Women's Forum, founded in 1976, empowering poor
women
06 •

•
Feminism
What is feminism?

History
 What is feminism?
It is the belief in social, political and economic equality of all human
beings. Feminism is:

● The advocacy of women's rights on the basis of the equality of

the sexes
● The theory of the political, economic, and social equality of the
sexes
● The belief that men and women should have equal rights and
opportunities
● The doctrine advocating social, political, and all other rights of
women equal to those of men
Why do so many hate the term feminism and the feminist movement?

There are five critical reasons behind this:

● Feminism has been associated with strong, forceful and

angry women, and our society continues to punishes
forceful women.
● Many people fear that feminism will mean that men will
eventually lose out – of power, influence, impact,
authority, and control, and economic opportunities.
● Many people believe that feminists want to control the
world and put men down.
● Many people fear that feminism will overturn time-
honored traditions, religious beliefs and established
gender roles, and that feels scary and wrong.
History
Feminists and scholars have divided the movement's history
into three "waves".

● The first wave refers mainly to women's suffrage

movements of the nineteenth and early twentieth
centuries
● The second wave refers to the ideas and actions
associated with the women's liberation movement
beginning in the 1960s
● The third wave refers to a continuation of, and a reaction
to the perceived failures of, second-wave feminism,
beginning in the 1990s
First wave
First-wave feminism refers to an extended period of feminist
activity during the nineteenth century and early twentieth
century in the United Kingdom and the United States.
Originally it focused on the promotion of equal contract and
property rights for women and the opposition to chattel
marriage and ownership of married women (and their
children) by their husbands. However, by the end of the
nineteenth century, activism focused primarily on gaining
political power, particularly the right of women's suffrage.
● In 1918 the Representation of the People Act 1918 was
passed granting the vote to women over the age of 30
who owned houses. In 1928 this was extended to all
women over twenty-one.
Second wave
Second-wave feminism refers to the period of activity in the
early 1960s and lasting through the late 1980s. The scholar
Imelda Whelehan suggests that the second wave was a
continuation of the earlier phase of feminism involving the
suffragettes in the UK and USA. Second-wave feminism has
continued to exist since that time and coexists with what is
termed third-wave feminism.
● The 1st wave focused on rights, whereas the 2nd wave
was largely concerned with ending of discrimination and
other issues of equality
Third wave
Third-wave feminism began in the early 1990s, arising as a
response to perceived failures of the second wave and also as
a response to the backlash against initiatives and movements
created by the second wave. Third-wave feminism seeks to
challenge or avoid what it deems the second wave's
essentialist definitions of femininity, which (according to
them) over-emphasize the experiences of upper middle-class
white women.
● feminists often focus on "micro-politics" and challenge
the second wave's paradigm as to what is, or is not, good
for females.
07
Leaders
Prominent women
who fought for
equality
Sojourner Truth (1797-1883):
Sojourner Truth was an African
American abolitionist who
dedicated her life to fighting and
defending gender equality.In 1828,
she became the first black women
to win a custody court battle
against a white man.She was
fearless in her fight for racial
equality.She recruited black troops
for the union army and attempted
to secure land grants for former
slaves after abolition.
Frida Kahlo (1907-1954):
Frida Kahlo was born in Coyoacán,
Mexico in 1907. The artist used her
work to portray taboo topics such as
abortion, miscarriage, birth, and
breastfeeding, among other things. In
and out of the communist party, Kahlo
and her husband Deigo Rivera were
politically active. The couple raised
money for the Republicans fighting
against Franco’s forces in the Spanish
Civil War.
Ida B. Wells(1862-1931):
Ida B. Wells was an African American
journalist and educator who was also
an early civil rights leader.She was one
of the founding members of the
National Association for the
Advancement of Colored People
(NAACP).she lost the majority of her
family to yellow fever when she was
only 16 years old.She spent most of her
life working as a teacher and
investigative reporter, documenting
lynching and racial violence.
Yuri Kochiyama (1921-2014):
Yuri Kochiyama was born and raised in San Pedro,
CA.Yuri saw parallels between the prejudice
against Asian Americans and the tribulations of
black Americans, and later participated in anti-
war, black liberation, and Asian-American
movements, teaming up with Malcolm X and
Black Power organizations. Kochiyama and her
husband often invited Freedom Riders — young
men and women fighting for civil rights in the
South — over to their house for dinner.
Kochiyama was a staunch defender of US political
prisoners, and was nominated for the Nobel
Peace Prize in 2005 for her lifelong fight against
racism.
 Susan B. Anthony
(1820-1906):
Susan B. Anthony was a social activist and icon
in the early women’s rights movement. Though
she was a lifelong supporter of gender and
racial equality, Anthony and her close friend
Elizabeth Stanton posted that no more men
should be allowed to vote until women and
men – of all races – could also vote. In 1872,
Anthony was arrested for attempting to vote.
This lead to her presentation to Congress
introducing the 19th amendment. This was
widely known as the Susan B. Anthony
amendment .
 Simone de Beauvoir
(1908-1986):
Born in Paris in 1908, Simone de Beauvoir was
an outspoken French philosopher and
writer.Perhaps her most influential work, "The
Second Sex" was written in 1949 and helped
begin a conversation around modern
feminism. In the book, she articulated a
thoughtful attack on the idea that women
belonged in passive roles, and criticized the
patriarchy.In 1970, Beauvoir helped launch
the French Women's Liberation Movement by
signing the Manifesto of the 343, which
argued for abortion rights.
Savitribai Phule(1831-1897):
Savitribai Phule joined her
husband Jyotirao Phule in all
his endeavors to correct the
caste and gender imbalances in
our society that needed
immediate consideration. Being
a social activist, she adopted a
feminist approach to her work,
including working towards
widow-remarriage.
 Kasturba Mohandas Gandhi
(1869-1948):
Apart from being an invisible hand in all the
workings of Mohandas Gandhi, she herself was
a firm advocate of girl education and equality.
She put in her best efforts in the national
struggles against colonialism. Hers is an
unacknowledged contribution towards
transforming Gandhi into an international figure
of prominence.

She is a true protagonist and a social reformer in

every sense as she participated whole-heartedly
in the national agitations but kept her family
intact all through the national struggles.
 Gloria Steinem (b.1934):
A social activist and journalist, Gloria Steinem
was a prominent leader in the feminist
movement during the 1960s and 1970s, and
continues to play a vital role in the feminist fight
today. Steinem has not been without her
controversies: She faced widespread criticism
from the LGBTQ community in the late 1970s for
her disapproval of famed tennis player Renee
Richards’ sex reassignment surgery. In recent
years, she’s become a vocal advocate of an
intersectional feminist approach, arguing that
the feminist movement must be inclusive of all
races, classes, and sexual identities.
 Sally Ride (1951-2012):
In 1978, Sally Ride was selected to the first
class of 35 astronauts – including six women –
who would fly on the space shuttle Challenger
in 1983. Although Sally was one of six women
in the 1978 class, she preferred to be
considered one of 35 new astronauts – and to
be judged by merit, not gender. It was
important to all the women that the bar be as
high as it was for the men. In 2001, she started
Sally Ride Science which helps to combat
misconceptions about women in STEM. Dr.
Ride has received numerous honors and
awards. She has also twice been awarded the
NASA Space Flight Medal.