All of our lives generation by generation women have had a humongous impact on our world and our society and also have gained rights. The definition of women’s rights is,”The fundamental human rights that were enshrined by the United Nations for every human being on the planet nearly 70 years ago.” With great examples of women winning famous awards, flying across the Atlantic ocean, freeing slaves, women in male sports, women on supreme court, and many other famous accomplishments which are well-recognized by citizens all over the country with the media,biographies, books, and websites.
If the world did not have such great women in it, the rights women have currently might not be here. A part of these rights include women being allowed to vote, to have a free and legal abortion, women making it so that you can marry whoever you want based on your decisions and not others, have equal chances with men at the jobs you were possible to have including getting the same salary, could own a credit card, and in 2015, women were allowed access to marry other women.
Women’s rights allow many women and young girls to have dreams, goals, and a future. Several different women have contributed to having rights and possibilities, but specifically women’s rights and famous events that have occurred.
Women’s rights are so great to have because without the women’s rights gained by several women, women would be treated like who knows because thankfully some women named Esther Peterson, Eleanor Roosevelt, Lilly Ledbetter, and Rosa Parks all fought for women’s rights and equality for women.
Another woman named Florence Nightingale, achieved a remarkable thing, which amazed many people of the world and it was not women’s rights, but it is still as amazing as everything else. For starters, she helped many soldiers live and have changed hospitality ideas which she made hospitals all around clean and a good environment for everyone. Florence Nightingale also was the founder of modern nursing. “She first gained fame by leading a team of 38 nurses to staff an overseas hospital of the British army during the Crimean War.” She went to the hospital because her friend who was the secretary, asked her to come. She then noticed that the hospital had terrible conditions which were “Far worse than reported”, and she knew she had to fix the issues right away. Florence decided to buy all of the tools and cleaning supplies needed to fix this terrible sight. She then assigned nurses to certain jobs so they could fix the hospital as quick as they could. Florence was in charge of giving water and doing the more “Basic problems.” when she first arrived and after the first couple of months ,the amount of patients in the hospital percent of dying was thirty two percent. “Within 6 months, the hospital case fatality had dropped to 2%.” She then left the hospital and returned three years later. When she returned she was recognized as a national hero for the United Kingdom. Sadly when Florence Nightingale was forty, she was suffering from a chronic disease. According to journals.lww.com, she most likely died from chronic fatigue syndrome.
The next woman who made a significant effect on women’s rights today was Rosa Parks. Rosa Parks was the daughter of James and Leona McCauley and together her and her family lived in Tuskegee, Alabama. When Rosa Parks was 2 her parents split up from their marriage. She then moved to Montgomery, Alabama where little did she know, she was going to make big history. When she left her high school which was “a laboratory school at the Alabama State Teachers’ College For Negroes, ” she had to care for her family members who were currently dying. At 19 she got married to Raymond Parks who was a part of the group National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Rosa Parks made a point for all of her race, community and what she did was very memorable. What she did was break segregation laws for blacks. In 1955, she went to get on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama where the bus segregation rules were that black people had to sit in the back of the bus while the white people got a privilege of sitting in the front. She then got on the bus and sat in the front of the bus. A white man then approached her and told her to get up because there were no more seats in the front, and she did not get up. Rosa Parks then got arrested for not following the law. The same exact day a bus boycott was made, which was lead by Martin Luther King Jr. The boycott lasted for over one year. Also she’s had more than one bus problem in her years. “When Rosa Parks refused to give up her bus seat in 1955, it wasn’t the first time she’d clashed with driver James Blake. Parks stepped onto his very crowded bus on a chilly day 12 years earlier, paid her fare at the front, then resisted the rule in place for blacks to disembark and re-enter through the back door. She stood her ground until Blake pulled her coat sleeve, enraged, to demand her cooperation. Parks left the bus rather than give in.” So the bus driver had already known her from breaking the law 12 years ago, which would have been the year 1943. She changed women’s rights and rights for her race because when the bus boycott ended, it was then ruled that bus segregation was unconstitutional.
Another woman who made history and changed women’s rights was a woman named Susan B. Anthony. Susan B. Anthony was born in Adams, Massachusetts on February 15, 1820. She was in a quaker family and, “Quakers are members of a group with Christian roots that began in England in the 1650s.” Quaker families believe that everyone should be treated equally and have human rights. Susan B. Anthony was also a teacher for fifteen years and then “became active in temperance”. After being with temperance she joined the women’s rights movement in 1852. She was highly involved in a part of the movement by eventually getting it to where women can vote too. Originally, it was illegal for women to vote. She traveled the nation having speeches about women being allowed to vote legally. One day in 1872, she decided to go vote for the president, while knowing it was illegal for her to vote. After not noticing for two weeks, the officials finally found out that she illegally voted and then Anthony was arrested and fined. Anthony told the officials that she was not going to pay them for her fine and she never did. Over the next forty years the terrible laws were still present, but in 1920 the 19th amendment was passed. The 19th amendment, “Which would give women the right to vote, was passed by the U.S. Congress and sent to the states for ratification.” Susan B. Anthony is the reason women get to vote and people would say she’s pretty remarkable.
Two other women who made history were Eleanor Roosevelt and Esther Peterson. Eleanor Roosevelt was the main force behind the women’s movement and also Esther Peterson helped create the women’s movement in the 1960s. President Kennedy elected Esther Peterson to be the director of the women’s bureau which administered gender issue labor laws. Eleanor Roosevelt was also the first lady and after she left the white house she continued to spread women’s rights and equality.
Another woman to make history was Lilly Ledbetter. Lilly Ledbetter fought for women and men to have the same wages. She fought for these rights for approximately 10 years. Eventually in 2009 Barack Obama signed into the Lilly Ledbetter Fair pay Act that said women and men were to have the same wages.
