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When Did Women Get Their Rights?

Answer

Women gained their rights through a gradual process stretching back hundreds, if not thousands, of years. It should also be remembered that women have had different rights in different cultures at different periods of time. For example, some wealthy women in the ancient Roman empire owned businesses and attended to their own financial affairs, something they could not do in medieval Italy. In the United States, the efforts of Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, Alice Paul, and others ultimately resulted in the granting of suffrage through the 19th Amendment. However, this amendment did not automatically guarantee women equal rights. During the 1960s and 1970s, women pushed for the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), which never passed. However, strides were made, with civil rights legislation including (almost as an afterthought) women among the protected classes. Many would argue, all the same, that because of certain things--such as the proverbial glass ceiling--women have yet to achieve equal rights in the United States.