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United States
The Declaration of Sentiments is signed at the Seneca Falls Convention -
United States
Elizabeth Blackwell becomes the first woman to graduate from medical school and become a doctor -
Akron, Ohio
A former slave turned abolitionist and women’s rights activist, Sojourner Truth delivers her famous "Ain't I a Woman?" speech at the Women’s Rights Convention -
United States
Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton found the National Woman Suffrage Association, which coordinated the national suffrage movement. In 1890, the group teamed with the American Woman Suffrage Association to form the National American Woman Suffrage Association. -
Wyoming
The legislature of the territory of Wyoming passes America’s first woman suffrage law, granting women the right to vote and hold office. In 1890, Wyoming is the 44th state admitted to the Union and becomes the first state to allow women the right to vote. -
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Japan
Writer Raicho Hiratsuka challenges women's traditional roles. -
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United States
Margaret Sanger opens the first birth control clinic in the United States. Located in Brownsville, Brooklyn, her clinic was deemed illegal under the “Comstock Laws” forbidding birth control, and the clinic was raided on October 26, 1916. When she had to close two additional times due to legal threats, she closed the clinic and eventually founded the American Birth Control League in 1921—the precursor to today’s Planned Parenthood. -
Montana
Jeannette Rankin of Montana, a longtime activist with the National Woman Suffrage Association, is sworn in as the first woman elected to Congress as a member of the House of Representatives. -
United States
Ratification of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution is completed, declaring “the right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.” It is nicknamed “The Susan B. Anthony Amendment” in honor of her work on behalf of women’s suffrage. -
India
The All India Women's Conference convenes for the first time in Pune in order to promote women and children's education and social welfare. -
San Francisco
Representatives of 50 countries met at the United Nations Conference on International Organization to draw up the United Nations Charter and the United Nations is formed -
New York
The Establishment of the Commission on the Status of Women. The Sub-Commission formally became the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), a full-fledged Commission dedicated to ensuring women’s equality and to promoting women’s rights. -
France
UN adopts Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Members of the United Nations gathered in Paris to sign an agreement described as the 'Magna Carta of all mankind' -
United Kingdom
Rosalind Franklin lights the way to the double helix theory -
Alabama
African American seamstress Rosa Parks refuses to give up her seat to a white man on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama. The move helps launch the civil rights movement -
Sri Lanka
Sirimavo Bandaranaike becomes the world's first elected woman Prime Minister -
Dominican Republic
The Mirabel Sisters (Patria, Minerva and María Teresa) activism inspires a legacy of social justice. The Dominicans called the sisters butterflies because they were symbols of both democratic and feminist resistance, risked their lives to work in the resistance, helped to organize and grow the underground movement challenging the regime, and were repeatedly arrested for their activities. -
United States
President John F. Kennedy signs into law the Equal Pay Act, prohibiting sex-based wage discrimination between men and women performing the same job in the same workplace. -
United States
President Lyndon B. Johnson, signs the Civil Rights Act into law; Title VII bans employment discrimination based on race, religion, national origin or sex. -
United States
Title IX of the Education Amendments is signed into law by President Richard Nixon. It states “No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance." -
United States
In its landmark 7-2 Roe v. Wade decision, the U.S. Supreme Court declares that the Constitution protects a woman’s legal right to an abortion. -
Mexico City
First World Conference on Women bringing together individuals from a wide range of backgrounds with the goal of promoting gender equality. The World Conference of Women (WCW) was the capstone event of International Women’s Year, the UN’s response to the transnational women’s liberation movement sweeping the globe. -
Iceland
Women Strike to protest gender inequality . 90% of Icelandic Women went on a one‐day strike to demonstrate their importance to the country by protesting gender inequality. About 25,000 of the women flocked to rally in the center of the city, creating the biggest traffic jam the police could recall. -
Zimbabwe
The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) T. It is the most comprehensive treaty on women’s human rights. It has often been referred to as the “international bill of rights for women” because it establishes legally binding obligations to end discrimination and provides comprehensive guidelines to all States parties for adopting anti-discriminatory policies. -
United States
Sandra Day O’Connor is sworn in by President Ronald Reagan as the first woman to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court. -
United States
Flying on the Space Shuttle Challenger, Sally Ride becomes the first American woman in space. -
United States
Democratic presidential nominee Walter Mondale names U.S. Rep. Geraldine Ferraro (N.Y.) as his running mate, making her the first woman vice president nominee by a major party. -
Guatemala
Rigoberta Menchu becomes the 1st and only indigenous woman to become a Nobel Laureate. Dr. Menchu has dedicated her life to defending the rights of Guatemala's Mayan descendants and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1992 for her contribution to the pursuit of social justice and reconciliation, an effort that resulted in the 1996 peace accord that has kept the peace to this day. -
United States
Nominated by President Bill Clinton, Janet Reno is sworn in as the first female attorney general of the United States. -
United States
Clinton signs the Violence Against Women Act as part of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act, providing funding for programs that help victims of domestic violence, rape, sexual assault, stalking and other gender-related violence. Violence Against Women -
China
The UN's Fourth World Conference on Women is held in Beijing. 189 countries and 17,000 participants -
United States
Also nominated by Clinton, Madeleine Albright is sworn in as the nation’s first female secretary of state. -
Liberia
Ellen Johnson Sirleaf becomes the first elected woman head of state in Africa -
United States
U.S. Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) becomes the first female speaker of the House. In 2019, she reclaims the title, becoming the first lawmaker to hold the office two times in more than 50 years. -
United Nations
UN Women was created by the United Nations General Assembly. UN Member States took an historic step in accelerating the Organization’s goals on gender equality and the empowerment of women -
United States
The U.S. military removes a ban against women serving in combat positions. -
Pakistan
Malala Yousafzai becomes the youngest ever Nobel peace prize laureate -
United States
Hillary Clinton becomes the first woman to receive a presidential nomination from a major political party. Click the link to listen to her powerful speech -
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India
The Supreme Court of India decriminalized consensual homosexual intercourse by reading down Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code and excluding consensual homosexual sex between adults from its ambit. Section 377
