Writers’ Club Winner: Why Are Women’s Rights Important?

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A little while ago we held a competition for new people to join our Writers’ Club. The winners have been picked and we’re really excited to see them produce new content on Connect, on subjects that matter to them. Over the next few weeks we’ll be sharing their winning pitch ideas so you can get to know them a little better. 

This article is by Kaitlin, who chose to write about women’s rights and the impact they have on everyone!

Although women’s rights is arguably one of the most well-known movements in history, unfortunately there is a huge amount of misinformation about what women’s rights really are. 

So…. 

What are women’s rights and why are they important? 

By definition, women’s rights are rights that promote equality between men and women in society. However, there is more to the phrase than that definition, which only covers a minute portion of what women’s rights really are. In this country, women’s rights mean that women can legally vote. Women’s rights mean that women and girls everywhere should not face discrimination. Women’s rights should be universal. However, they are not. In some countries, women cannot leave the house alone. Women cannot access menstrual supplies and menstruation is seen as shameful. Women are expected to be silent. Although this sounds like a thing of the past, it isn’t. Women’s rights promote the rights of people everywhere, and for this reason they will never cease to hold importance.

A brief history of women’s rights:The suffragette movement refers to a movement in the early 20th century which originally aimed to gain votes for women in England and later progressed around the world.  Then, in 1918  women in England received the right to vote. but what is the history behind the suffrage movement and who was involved? 

By the 20th century, there were two main groups of women who campaigned for the right to vote. The suffragists wanted to campaign using non-violent tactics, like peaceful protests, as they believed using other sorts of tactics would allow their political opponents to undermine them. On the other hand were the suffragettes. Suffragettes used militant tactics, like hunger strikes, disrupting the 1911 census, and chaining themselves to fences in an attempt to garner support and attention for their cause, which shocked the government at the time., They were led by Emmeline Pankhurst, one of the most famous women to campaign for rights worldwide. 

The suffragettes’ actions during the women’s rights movement are widely commended by people worldwide. Alongside Emmeline, some of the most famous women in the suffragette movement were Emily Davison, who threw herself under the King’s horse at the Epsom derby as an act of protest and Mary Clarke, who went on a hunger strike after being arrested on Black Friday and died due to the effects of force feeding in prison.  

These women and more, helped the women of England - who were over 30 and owned a house - gain the right to vote under the Representation of the People act in 1918, and all women ten years later in 1928.

Although women gained the right to vote in 1918 in England, there was, and still is a long way to go in gaining equality for women worldwide. This is why the feminist movement became so popular in the 20th century and holds significance today. Feminism is the advocacy for women’s rights based on the equality of men and women. During the latter half of the 20th century, feminism became particularly popular. Women worldwide began to realise that the way they were treated, with discrimination and disrespect, was unacceptable. One influential case that revolutionised treatment of women in America was Roe vs Wade. From the 1880s, abortion was banned in most U.S states under individual state law. However due to earlier landmark cases, such as the supreme court ruling that contraception could be sold to married adults (1965) and unmarried adults (1972), the groundwork for Roe vs Wade was set. In 1969, a Texas woman Norma McCorvey tried to illegally terminate an unwanted pregnancy, as abortion was outlawed in Texas. As a result, two attorneys filed a lawsuit against Dallas district attorney Henry Wade, on behalf of women like McCorvey who should be able to pursue all options. The case was eventually taken to the supreme court, and in a landmark decision, the supreme court stopped the law criminalising abortion in Texas, and made abortion a constitutional right (1973). This case shone a light on modern women’s rights and highlighted their importance. 

A look at modern feminism…
Although feminism has been extremely important in gaining rights for women worldwide, there is a massive stigma around the word. Feminists are all too often labelled as “radical” or “man-haters”. This is not the case at all. Women deserve rights as much as any other person, this is not a radical concept, nor should it be perceived as one. Feminism does not exclude men. Feminism does not mean women over men. Feminism means women are equal to men. And we still need feminism. Here are just a few examples of why….

Just last month, the U.S supreme court overturned Roe versus Wade, meaning individual states are free to ban abortion, restricting women’s bodily autonomy. Thirteen states have implemented trigger laws, meaning that new abortion laws were brought in as soon as the case was overturned.

Last year, in the UK, Sarah Everard, a 33 year old English woman, was raped and murdered by a police man, someone she should have been able to trust.

At the start of 2022, Ashling Murphy, a 23 year old Irish school teacher was attacked and murdered while jogging alone.

In a recent article written by The Guardian, it states that 71% of all women in the UK have experienced sexual harassment in a public space, and only 3% of women in the UK (when surveyed) said they had not been sexually harassed at some point.

And this is just the tip of the iceberg.

Women’s rights will always be important to modern women. Without the suffragettes, women would still be viewed as inferior. Without feminism, women would be expected to obey. All of this and more is why women’s rights always have been, are, and always will be important to me, to my peers and to generations of women to come.

If you want to know more about the misconceptions of feminism, this is a really good Ted Talk: