-
Jan 1, 700
Marriage
In Anglo-Saxon times, women (like women still do today) also had the right to take the land, house, or leave with their children. The women took full responsibility of the day-to-day activities of their households. But the wife‘s responsibility was to make clothes and play hostess. In most societies the wife prepares the food, but in Anglo-Saxon culture, it was more customary for the man to prepare the food and the women to serve the drinks in the mead hall. -
Jan 2, 700
Marriage
Women had the possibilty of marrying anyone they chose. A marriage contract was written to show the agreement the man made with the woman once he married her. The husband would go to the father with his offers, before he could marry his daughter. If the man is rich, he would give his wife his land, estate and everything that came with it. -
Natural Law and Women's Rights
Like the ancient philosophers, 17th century natural law philosophers defended slavery and an inferior status of women in law. Natural law philosophers argued that natural rights where not derived from god, but were "universal and self-evident", a law that could be found in nature. -
Equality
In 1791 the French playwright and political activist Olympe de Gouges published the Declaration of the Rights of Woman and the Female Citizen which stated, “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”. -
Right To Vote
During the 19th century some women began to agitate for the right to vote and participate in government and law making.Although male suffrage broadened during the century, women were explicitly prohibited from voting nationally and locally in the 1830s by a Reform Act. 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. -
Equal Employment
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. Before this, the job status of a woman changed from permanent employee to temporary employee once she was married, thus losing the pension benefit. -
Suffrage
During the 19th century, as male suffrage was gradually extended in many countries, women became increasingly active in the quest for their own suffrage.
