Equality+Rights+for+Women+in+Western+Democracies


 * Feminism** Feminism is a doctrine advocating social, political, and all other rights of women to be equal to those as men. Modern feminism stems from enlightenment thinkers who demanded “the rights of man.”

Classical liberalism provided a way of thinking for civil liberties which led to the stemming of feminism, however very few classical liberalists were willing to give rights to women. one such classical liberalist was Rousseau who said "...Women was specifically made for man's delight..."
 * [[image:http://diogenesii.files.wordpress.com/2010/08/men-and-women-are-equal.jpg width="428" height="200"]] ||
 * Balance representing equality between men and women ||

FEMALE EQUALITY- International
Severe inequity and female abuse often result from gender-biased, male-dominated societies where education, opportunity and free choice do not exist for females. Former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan identified the empowerment of women as the single most effective tool for development. **Equality rights for women in Canada **

As the World Economic Forum, points out, “the most important determinant of a country’s competitiveness is its human talent – the skills, education and productivity of its workforce.” Since women account for slightly more than half of Canada’s population, empowering women means making the most of all of our talent. The Forum also points to the “numerous studies during the last decade that have confirmed that reducing gender inequality enhances productivity and economic growth.” When countries achieve gender equality they maximize their competitiveness and economic potential.According to the Forum’s research, even in countries like Canada where women enjoy the same health and education levels as men, their economic participation is “far from optimal.” They point to policy barriers, such as the persistent lack of affordable childcare, and the need for practices and policies that “provide equal opportunities for rising to positions of leadership within companies.”As former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan says, improving gender equality creates immediate benefits: “Families are healthier, they are better fed, their income, savings and reinvestment go up. And what is true of families is true of communities and, eventually, the world.” When women and girls live free from violence, poverty, and rigid stereotypes that limit their potential, our neighbourhoods are safer, our economy is stronger, and our pool of future leaders is more diverse.

The Anglo-Irish feminist, intellectual and writer. ||
 * [[image:http://www.historyguide.org/images/wollstonecraft.jpg width="147" height="212" align="center" caption="wollstonecraft.jpg (3477 bytes)"]] ||
 * Mary Wollstonecraft 1759-1797

At the age of nineteen Mary went out to earn her own livelihood. In 1783, she helped her sister Eliza escape a miserable marriage by hiding her from a brutal husband until a legal separation was arranged. The two sisters established a school at Newington Green, an experience from which Mary drew to write //Thoughts on the Education of Daughters: With Reflections on Female Conduct, in the More Important Duties of Life//(1787). Mary became the governess in the family of Lord Kingsborough, living most of the time in Ireland. In 1792 she came out with another novel titled //A Vindication of the rights of women //she argued that education would make women better wives and mothers, and also more importantly make them equals to men.
 * [[image:http://www.mccord-museum.qc.ca/images/webtours/VQ_P1_6_illustration.jpg]] ||
 * Domesticity ||

However an ideology of “separate spheres” emerged and by the 19th century’s Victorian era the ideology was firmly in place, this ideology reinforced the inequality of women. The view of women being inferior to men was at its roots. Women had many restrictions placed on them and had no voice on the matter, most complied with them whether it was willingly or by force. Which led to the development of this sphere of this sphere becoming the women’s ideology, they practiced the womanly virtues of domesticity. Women were the largest supply of cheap labour working class women performed poorly paid labour which enabled their families to survive.

**Challenging Classical Liberal Beliefs** ( textbook) Slowly women began to become more involved in the public sphere, they began anti-poverty campaigns and child labour movements and agitated for equitable divorce and property laws. One public issue that prompted activism by women was alcohol abuse. Public drunkenness was common during those days, and it was just as common for wages made by men to be spent on alcohol rather the necessities of their family. Women agitated for controls on liquor. By the late mid-late 19th century 1860 to be precise suffragists began to argue for the right to vote. Suffragists felt that only with political power they would be able to make the changes that are necessary.
 * [[image:http://earlymodernengland.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/Victorian-Women.jpg width="352" height="410"]] ||
 * Women in the 19th century (Victorian era) ||


 * [[image:http://www.imow.org/dynamic/user_images/user_images_file_name_4491.jpg]] ||
 * A poster created by London's Suffrage Atelier in 1912 promoting voting for women ||

One of the most powerful crusaders for equality was a former slave, Sojourner Truth who escaped from slavery in New York in 1827. She struggled to combat the classical liberal beliefs and values about women. Feminism was opposed by Classical Liberalists, however modern day Liberalism has accepted equality for women and has even become a part of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms in Canada. References
 * [[image:http://www.kyphilom.com/www/gif/sojourn3.gif]] ||
 * Sojourner Truth ||
 * [[image:https://encrypted-tbn3.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTqx7d7PABDCQNS-11cgHF1at7BjjNxQ0S-3-PWxCw3hqMXzeI4 width="220" height="220"]] || [[image:http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-b55hnhEyaow/T0dBJl2K3gI/AAAAAAAAAZ0/_3CrDpc_XgI/s1600/WomensEquality.JPG width="355" height="217" align="center"]] ||
 * Fielding, J., Christison, M., Harding, C., Meston, J., Smith, T., & Zook, D. (2009). Perspectives on Ideology. Ontario: Oxford University Press.
 * “Equality Rights for women” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation. Retrieved March 1, 2012, from [] Equality rights
 * “Women in global society” (Andrew Heard). Retrieved 2007, from [|http://www.sfu.ca/~aheard/101/Equality rights html]