There have been many outstanding women who have made significant contributions to local or global history, but not all of them have fought for women’s rights. Men and women who work together to advance gender equality and better the lives of women as a social group make up the women’s movement. Women were typically restricted to the house as daughters, wives, and mothers in the majority of countries, and we frequently only learn about historical women because of their connections to notable men. Of course, many women have contributed significantly to cultural and political life throughout history, but they frequently go unnoticed. Even while women activists and the fight for equality have always been a feature of all human.
The Italian author Christine de Pizan, who produced a book about women’s status in society as early as 1495, is one of the earliest pioneers who thought and wrote about women as a group. Christine de Pizan discussed books she had read by well-known men who discussed the flaws and vices of young women and girls and questioned whether women were even truly human or whether they were more akin to animals. The work of Christine de Pizan is a wonderful illustration of the early stages of the fight for women’s equality. Her ability to read and write, which was quite uncommon for women at the time, set her apart from other people.
Women were actively involved in the French revolution from the very beginning, as seen by the vast number of working women who marched to Versailles to demand political reform in addition to food for their families. The rights of women were not, however, properly acknowledged as a result of the French Revolution. In response to the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, Olympe de Gouges produced the Declaration of the Rights of Woman and of the Female Citizen in September 1791 with the goal of exposing the French Revolution’s refusal to recognize gender equality. De Gouges was executed right away after being charged, tried, and found guilty of treason for her writings.
