Men dominate many of the most esteemed professional fields – and get paid more for their work.

Women's rights in America

Prepared by Kate Smeltsova INP-44

The first wave of women’s rights protection began with the Seneca Falls Convention, the first women's rights convention, held at the Wesleyan Chapel in Seneca Falls, New York, on July 19 and 20, 1848.

This Convention was inspired by the fact that in 1840, when Elizabeth Cady Stanton met Lucretia Mott at the World Anti-Slavery Convention in London, the conference refused to seat Mott and other women delegates from America because of their gender. Stanton, the young bride of an antislavery agent, and Mott, a Quaker preacher and veteran of reform, talked then of calling a convention to address the condition of women. At the conclusion, 68 women and 32 men signed the Declaration of Sentiments drafted by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and the M'Clintock family. In this Declaration of Sentiments, Stanton carefully enumerated areas of life where women were treated unjustly. Then it went into specifics:

· Married women were legally dead in the eyes of the law

· Women were not allowed to vote

· Women had to submit to laws when they had no voice in their formation

· Married women had no property rights

· Husbands had legal power over and responsibility for their wives to the extent that they could imprison or beat them with impunity

· Divorce and child custody laws favored men, giving no rights to women

· Women had to pay property taxes although they had no representation in the levying of these taxes

· Most occupations were closed to women and when women did work they were paid only a fraction of what men earned

· Women were not allowed to enter professions such as medicine or law

· Women had no means to gain an education since no college or university would accept women students

· With only a few exceptions, women were not allowed to participate in the affairs of the church

· Women were robbed of their self-confidence and self-respect, and were made totally dependent on men

The Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, ratified in 1868, guarantees all people in all states the rights of citizens and prevents the states from discriminatingagainst women by denying them legal rights because of their sex.And nowadays women have much more rights than XIX cent.

· The right to vote;

· Right to be elected to political position and to Hold Public office

· Authority to Take Part in a Lawsuit; Authority to be a Witness, Guardian, Administrator, Executor;

· Juridical Status of Single Women;

· Domestic Relations;

· Inheritance;

· Flexitime;

· Child Care;

· Social Security;

Men dominate many of the most esteemed professional fields – and get paid more for their work.

It is a fact that women teachers, doctors, lawyers, architects, and engineers are neither met with the same confidence as their male colleagues, nor receive equal remuneration. Today, women are still severely underrepresented in many fields – especially in leadership positions. In 2004, only 16.8 percent of large law-firm partners were women. Only 1 out of every 7engineering students is female, and women account for a pathetic6 percent of chief executives of the top 100 tech companies. And in terms of remuneration, it's well established that women earn an average of 77 cents for every man's dollar.However, in spite of the progress that has been made, we aren't nearly where we need to be. Women are still embattled, facing the prospect of violence, unequal wages and, often, unequal treatment every day.

Here are the examples of those female who changed the route of history and demonstrated that they are smart, beautiful, brave and patriotic.

· Susan B. Anthony (1820 - 1906) was an early leader in the Women's Suffrage Movement and co-founder of the National Woman Suffrage Association. She played a pivotal role in women gaining the right to vote.

· Amelia Earhart (1897 – disappeared July 2, 1937) was an American aviator and the first female pilot to fly solo across the Atlantic. She disappeared during an attempt to circumnavigate the globe in 1937.

· Rosalind Franklin (1920 – 1958) was a British biophysicist and X-ray crystallographer who was instrumental in the discovery of DNA.

· Wilma Rudolph (1940 - 1994) was an American runner and Olympian. She became the first American woman to win three Gold medals at the 1960 Rome Olympics.

· When Sandra Day O'Connor (b. 1930) was appointed to the Supreme Court by President Ronald Reagan in 1981, she became the first female Justice. She served on the Court until 2006.

· Sally Ride (1951 – 2012) was an astronaut and broke barriers in 1983 when she became the first American woman to fly in space.

· Madeleine Albright (born 1937) became the first female Secretary of State when she joined the Clinton administration in 1997.

Thank You for your attention!

Date: 2015-12-24; view: 1134