Human Rights and Women’s
Rights: A Brief History and
Overview
Martin Donohoe
History of Human Rights
•
•
•
•
•
•
Ancient Greeks, Romans, etc.
Era of Kings and Queens
Life short, brutal
Identification: community vs. individuals
Slavery
Religious beliefs: Judgmental vs.
benevolent divinity
History of Human Rights
• Enlightenment’s scientific rationalism →
Humanism
• Democratization of reading
• Developments in relief of suffering:
– Pain relief (aspirin, narcotics, morphine isolated 1806)
– Nitrous oxide (1773), ether anesthesia (1846)
• Abolitionist movement
Declaration of Independence
“All men are created equal, that
they are endowed by their creator
with certain unalienable Rights,
that these are Life, Liberty, and
the pursuit of Happiness”
Declarations
• French Assembly’s Declaration of the
Rights of Man and Citizen of 1789
–Marquis de Lafayette
–Rights are “self evident” and
“unalienable”
Declarations
• Declaration of the Rights of Woman and
the Female Citizen of 1791
– Olympe de Gouges (French playwright,
feminist, and anti-slavery activist)
– “Woman is born free and lives equal to Man in
her rights”
– De Gouges executed
U.S. Constitution
• Ratified 1789
• Terms “persons,” “people,” and
“electors” used, allowing
interpretation of those beings as men
and women
Timeline of Women’s Rights in the U.S.
(http://www.legacy98.org/timeline.html)
• 1701 First sexually integrated jury hears cases
in Albany, New York
• 1769 American colonies base their laws on the
English common law
– summarized in the Blackstone Commentaries: “By
marriage, the husband and wife are one person in the
law? The very being and legal existence of the
woman is suspended during the marriage, or at least
is incorporated into that of her husband under whose
wing and protection she performs everything.”
Timeline of Women’s Rights in the U.S.
• 1777 All states pass laws which take
away women’s right to vote
• 1839 Mississippi grants women the
right to hold property in their own
name, with their husbands’
permission
Timeline of Women’s Rights in the U.S.
• 1848 Declaration of Sentiments, Seneca
Falls: Plea for the end of discrimination
against women in all spheres of society,
including the right to vote
– 300 men and women sign
• 1855 In Missouri v. Celia, a Slave, a Black
woman is declared to be property without
a right to defend herself against a master's
act of rape
Timeline of Women’s Rights in the U.S.
• 1866 14th Amendment passed by
Congress (ratified 1868)
– Right to equal representation under the law
– The first time “citizens” and “voters” are
defined as “male” in the Constitution.
• 1869 Susan B Anthony and Elizabeth
Cady Stanton form National Woman
Suffrage Association
Timeline of Women’s Rights in the U.S.
• 1869 Wyoming territory passes first women’s
suffrage law
• 1870 Women permitted to serve on Wyoming
juries
• 1870 15th Amendment ratified: “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 race, color, or previous
condition of servitude.”
– women not specifically excluded
Comstock Law: 1873-1936
•
•
•
•
Whoever shall offer to sell, loan, give away,
exhibit, publish, or possess
– an obscene book, pamphlet, advert-isement,
print, picture, or drawing or
– any article for the prevention of conception,
or for causing abortion,
or shall advertise the same for sale,
or shall write or print any circular, book, or
pamphlet stating how such articles can be
obtained,
shall be imprisoned at hard labor for not less
than six months nor more than five years for
each offense…
Slide Courtesy Dr Steven Miles
Anthony Comstock
Postal Inspector
Politician
Timeline of Women’s Rights in the U.S.
• 1873 Bradwell v. Illinois: U.S. Supreme Court
rules that a state has the right to exclude a
married woman from practicing law
• 1875 Minor v Happersett: U.S. Supreme Court
declares that a state can prohibit a woman from
voting. The court declares women as “persons,”
but holds that they constitute a “special category
of non-voting citizens.”
Timeline of Women’s Rights in the U.S.
• 1879 Through special Congressional legislation,
Belva Lockwood becomes first woman admitted
to try a case before the Supreme Court
• 1893 Colorado first state to allow women right to
vote
• 1900 By now, every state has passed legislation
modeled after New York’s Married Women’s
Property Act (1848), granting married women
some control over their property and earnings
Timeline of Women’s Rights in the U.S.
• 1908 Muller v State of Oregon: Supreme Court
upholds Oregon’s 10-hour workday for women
– Legislation implies that women are physically weak
• 1916 Margaret Sanger tests the validity of New
York’s anti-contraception law by establishing a
clinic in Brooklyn
• 1918 New York v. Sanger, U.S. Court of
Appeals: Sanger wins her suit to allow doctors to
advise married patients about birth control for
health purposes
Timeline of Women’s Rights in the U.S.
• 1919 Federal Woman Suffrage Amendment,
originally written by Susan B Anthony and
introduced in Congress in 1878, passes House
and Senate and is sent to states for ratification
• 1920 Nineteenth Amendment ratified: “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.”
Timeline of Women’s Rights in the U.S.
• 1923 National Woman’s Party proposes
Constitutional amendment: “Men and
women shall have equal rights throughout
the United States and in every place
subject to its jurisdiction.”
• 1924 Radice v. New York – State court
upholds law forbidding waitresses from
working night shift but makes exception for
entertainers and ladies' room attendants
Timeline of Women’s Rights in the U.S.
• 1925 American Indian suffrage granted by act of
Congress
• 1932 National Recovery Act forbids more than
one family member from holding a government
job, resulting in many women losing their jobs
• 1936 Federal law prohibiting dissemination of
contraceptive information through the mail is
modified and birth control no longer classified as
obscene
Timeline of Women’s Rights in the U.S.
• 1938 The Fair Labor Standards Act
establishes minimum wage without regard
to sex
• 1947 Fay v. New York: U.S. Supreme
Court says women are equally qualified
with men to serve on juries but are granted
an exemption and may serve or not as
they choose
• 1960 FDA approves birth control pills
Timeline of Women’s Rights in the U.S.
• 1961 Hoyt v. Florida: U.S. Supreme Court
upholds rules adopted by the state of Florida
that make it far less likely for women than men
to be called for jury service on grounds that a
“woman is still regarded as the center of home
and family life.”
• 1963 Equal Pay Act passed by Congress,
promising equitable wages for the same work,
regardless of the race, color, religion, national
origin or sex of the worker
Timeline of Women’s Rights in the U.S.
• 1964 Title VII of the Civil Rights Act
passes including a prohibition against
employment discrimination on the basis of
race, color, religion, national origin, or sex.
• 1965 Weeks v. Southern Bell: ruling
against restrictive labor laws and company
regulations re hours and conditions of
women's work; opens many previously
male-only jobs to women
Timeline of Women’s Rights in the U.S.
• 1965 Griswold v Connecticut - Supreme
Court overturns one of the last state laws
prohibiting the prescription or use of
contraceptives by married couples
• 1966 Founding of National Organization of
Women
Timeline of Women’s Rights in the U.S.
• 1967 Loving v State of VA – Supreme
Court voids laws barring inter-racial
marriage
• 1968 Executive Order 11246 prohibits sex
discrimination by government contractors
and requires affirmative action plans for
hiring women
Timeline of Women’s Rights in the U.S.
• 1969 Bowe v. Colgate-Palmolive Company Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals rules that
women meeting the physical requirements can
work in many jobs that had been for men only
• 1969 California adopts the nation’s first “no fault”
divorce law, allowing divorce by mutual consent;
other laws passed regarding equal division of
common property
Timeline of Women’s Rights in the U.S.
• 1971 Phillips v. Martin Marietta
Corporation: U.S. Supreme Court outlaws
practice of private employers refusing to
hire women with pre-school children.
• 1971 Reed v. Reed: U.S. Supreme Court
holds unconstitutional an Idaho law
establishing automatic preference for
males as administrators of wills
Timeline of Women’s Rights in the U.S.
• 1972 Title IX of the Education
Amendments prohibits sex discrimination
in all aspects of education programs that
receive federal support
• 1972 Eisenstadt v. Baird: Supreme Court
rules that the right to privacy
encompasses an unmarried person's right
to use contraceptives.
Timeline of Women’s Rights in the U.S.
• 1972 Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) passed
by Congress and sent to states for ratification
– 1982 Ratification deadline passes (35/38 needed
states ratify)
• 1973 Pittsburgh Press v. Pittsburgh Commission
on Human Relations: U.S. Supreme Court bans
sex-segregated “help wanted” advertising as a
violation of Title VII
Timeline of Women’s Rights in the U.S.
• 1973 Roe v. Wade: U.S. Supreme Court
declares that the Constitution protects
women’s right to terminate an early
pregnancy, thus making abortion legal in
the U.S.
• 1974 Housing discrimination on the basis
of sex and credit discrimination against
women are outlawed by Congress.
Timeline of Women’s Rights in the U.S.
• 1974 Cleveland Board of Education v. LaFleur:
Court determines it is illegal to force pregnant
women to take maternity leave on the
assumption they are incapable of working in
their physical condition
• 1975 Taylor v. Louisiana: U.S. Supreme Court
denies states the right to exclude women from
juries
• 1976 First marital rape law passed in Nebraska
Timeline of Women’s Rights in the U.S.
• 1976 General Elec. Co v. Gilbert:
Supreme Court upholds women’s right to
unemployment benefits during the last
three months of pregnancy
• 1976 Craig v. Boren: Supreme Court
declares unconstitutional a state law
permitting 18 to 20-year-old females to
drink beer while denying the rights to men
of the same age
Timeline of Women’s Rights in the U.S.
• 1978 Pregnancy Discrimination Act bans
employment discrimination against pregnant
women
• 1981 Supreme Court rules that excluding
women from the draft is constitutional
• 1981 Kirchberg v. Feenstra: Supreme Court
overturns state laws designating a husband
“head and master” with unilateral control of
property owned jointly with his wife
Timeline of Women’s Rights in the U.S.
• 1984 Roberts v. U.S. Jaycees: Supreme Court
forbids sex discrimination in membership
policies of organizations, opening many
previously all-male organizations to women.
• 1984 Mississippi belatedly ratifies the 19th
Amendment, granting women the vote
• 1986 Meritor Savings Bank v. Vinson: Supreme
Court holds that a hostile or abusive work
environment can prove discrimination based on
sex
– Other criterion for sex discrimination: quid pro quo
Timeline of Women’s Rights in the U.S.
• 1987 Johnson v. Santa Clara County: Supreme
Court rules that it is permissible to take sex and
race into account in employment decisions even
where there is no proven history of
discrimination but when evidence of a manifest
imbalance exists in the number of women or
minorities holding the position in question
• 1992 Planned Parenthood vs. Casey: Supreme
Court upholds woman’s right to abortion under
Roe v. Wade
Timeline of Women’s Rights in the U.S.
• 1993 Harris v. Forklift Systems: Supreme
Court rules that victim does not need to
show that she suffered physical or serious
psychological injury as a result of sexual
harassment
• 1993 Family and Medical Leave Act goes
into effect
Timeline of Women’s Rights in the U.S.
• 1994 Congress adopts Gender Equity in
Education Act to train teachers in gender equity,
promote math and science learning by girls,
counsel pregnant teens, and prevent sexual
harassment
• 1994 Violence Against Women Act funds
services for victims of rape and domestic
violence, allows women to seek civil rights
remedies for gender-related crimes, and
provides training to increase police and court
officials’ sensitivity and a national 24-hour
hotline for battered women
Timeline of Women’s Rights in the U.S.
• 1996 United States v. Virginia: Supreme Court
affirms that the male-only admissions policy of
the state-supported Virginia Military Institute
violates the Fourteenth Amendment
• 1997 Elaborating on Title IX, Supreme Court
rules that college athletics programs must
actively involve roughly equal numbers of men
and women to qualify for federal support
Timeline of Women’s Rights in the U.S.
• 1998 Burlington Industries, Inc. v. Ellerth, and
Faragher v. City of Boca Raton: Supreme Court
rules that employers are liable for sexual
harassment even when a supervisor’s threats
are not carried out. However, the employer can
defend itself by showing that it took steps to
prevent or promptly correct any sexually
harassing behavior and the employee did not
take advantage of available opportunities to stop
the behavior or complain of the behavior
Timeline of Women’s Rights in the U.S.
• 2000 United States v. Morrison: Supreme
Court invalidates those portions of the
Violence Against Women Act permitting
victims of rape, domestic violence, etc. to
sue their attackers in federal court
Timeline of Women’s Rights in the U.S.
• 2006 Ledbetter v Goodyear - US Supreme
Court, 2006: While the Civil Rights Act forbids
pay discrimination on the basis of race, gender
or religion, all employees have to lodge a formal
complaint within 180 days of the initial
discriminatory paycheck – Supreme Court
upholds this requirement
• 2009 Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Restoration Act:
Now complaint can be filed within 180 of most
recent paycheck
Universal Declaration of Human
Rights
• Emphasis on human dignity and worth,
freedom, and universality
• Adopted 1948
• Not universally followed
Universal Declaration of Human
Rights
• Rights to life, liberty, and security
• Prohibits slavery and torture
• Prohibits discrimination, arbitrary
arrest/detention/exile
• Guarantees fair, public trial by impartial
tribunal
• Innocent until proven guilty
Universal Declaration of Human
Rights
• Guarantees protections against
interference with family, home, and
correspondence
• Right to freedom of movement and
residence
• Right to nationality, right to seek asylum
• Equal rights at marriage, within families,
and at dissolution of marriage
Universal Declaration of Human
Rights
• Right to own property
• Right to freedom of thought, conscience,
and religion
• Right to freedom of expression and
peaceful assembly and association
• Right to take part in government
• Right to social security
Universal Declaration of Human
Rights
• Right to work, free choice of employment,
just and favorable conditions of
employment, and protection against
unemployment
• Right to form and join trade unions
• Right to rest and leisure
Universal Declaration of Human
Rights
• Right to adequate standard of living,
including food, clothing, housing, medical
care, and social services
• Right to education
– Free and compulsory in elementary stages
• Right to participate in cultural life of
community
• Protects scientific, literary, and artistic
endeavors
The Present
•
•
•
•
•
International Agreements
Wars
Torture
Extraordinary rendition
Status of Women
The US: Rogue Nation
• History: Native Americans, slavery, current
excesses, disparities and injustices
• Co-opting Nazi and Japanese WWII
scientists
• Minimum 277 troop deployments by the
US in its 225+ year history
The US: Rogue Nation
• Since the end of WWII, the US has
bombed:
– China, Korea, Indonesia, Cuba,
Guatemala, Congo, Peru, Vietnam,
Laos, Cambodia, Nicaragua, El
Salvador, Grenada, Libya, Panama,
Afghanistan, Sudan, Yugoslavia, and
Iraq
The US: Rogue Nation
• Conservative estimate = 8 million killed
• US invasions/bombings often largely at
behest of corporate interests
• The US spends vastly more on war and
the preparation for war than on peace
• The US maintains military bases in 69
“sovereign” nations around the world
The US: Rogue Nation
• Continued funding of the Western
Hemisphere Institute for Security
Cooperation
– Formerly the School of the Americas
– Over 60,000 graduates, including many of the
worst human rights abusers in Latin America
(e.g., Manuel Noriega, Omar Torrijos, and the
assassins of Archbishop Oscar Romero)
– School of the Americas Watch, arrests
International NonCooperation/Isolationism
• Failure to sign or approve:
– Kyoto Protocol on Climate Change
– International Covenant on Economic, Social,
and Cultural Rights
– Convention on the Prohibition of AntiPersonnel Land Mines
– Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty
International NonCooperation/Isolationism
• Failure to sign or approve:
– Convention on the Rights of the Child
– Convention on the Elimination of
Discrimination Against Women
– Convention for the Suppression of Traffic in
Persons
International NonCooperation/Isolationism
• Failure to sign or approve:
– Protocol 1, Article 55 of the Geneva
Conventions, which bans methods or means
of warfare which are intended, or may be
expected, to cause widespread, long-term
and severe damage to the natural
environment
International NonCooperation/Isolationism
• Failure to sign or approve
– The Stockholm Convention on Persistent
Organic Pollutants
– The Basel Convention on the Control of
Transboundary Movements of Hazardous
Wastes
– The Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety (re GM
foods)
The US: Rogue Nation
• Death Penalty:
– US executes more of its citizens than any
other country
– US is the only country to execute both
juveniles and the mentally ill
• Failure to follow World Court Decisions
• Largest debtor to the UN (only 40% of
dues paid)
The Future
Education and Activism
Contact Information
Public Health and Social Justice
Website
http://www.phsj.org
martindonohoe@phsj.org