Women's Right Timeline

  • Mary Wollstonecraft publishes A Vindication of the Rights of Woman

    Mary Wollstonecraft publishes A Vindication of the Rights of Woman

    Mary published a feminist book arguing for women's rights, education, and equality. It got a lot of hate and adoration
  • The Great Reform Act excludes women from voting

    The Great Reform Act excludes women from voting

    The Great Reform Act allowed only men, not women, to vote. Women fought through protests to get their voices heard, but landed on death's doorstep, and they kept fighting for what they wanted, which they got in later years.
  • John Stuart Mill publishes The Subjection of Women

    John Stuart Mill publishes The Subjection of Women

    The Subjection of Women was written by John Stuart Mill and his wife, Harriet Taylor Mill. They wrote this together, undermining women and picturing them as beneath men who are to obey and stay at home as housewives while the men work and provide.
  • The Married Women’s Property Act allows women to keep earnings

    The Married Women’s Property Act allows women to keep earnings

    This was a British law that allowed women to keep their wages and earnings. It was carried separately from their husbands
  • National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies (NUWSS) is formed

    National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies (NUWSS) is formed

    The National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies was led by Millicent Garrett Fawcett. They started off as different groups of suffrage for women's rights. They came together as one big group to fight together peacefully and constitutionally.
  • Emmeline Pankhurst founds the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU)

    Emmeline Pankhurst founds the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU)

    The Women's Social and Political Union was founded by Emmeline Pankhurst in Manchester to fight for women's suffrage in Britain. Surprisingly, her daughters also founded it with Mrs. Emmeline. Soon, their group became known for its militant and direct action using underhanded tactics such as protest and property damage, along with hunger strikes from women who were arrested and put into cells. Their group was aggressive.
  • Representation of the People Act grants voting rights to women over 30

    Representation of the People Act grants voting rights to women over 30

    The People's Act gave women the right to vote in the UK who were over 30 years old. It was a win, but not a good one. Men who were 21 could vote, had to own property, and meet age requirements; the same did with women, but only 9 years above the men.
  • Equal Franchise Act grants voting rights to women over 21

    Equal Franchise Act grants voting rights to women over 21

    The Equal Franchise Act gave women at age 21 the right to vote equal to men even bigger win for women, with the bonus of not needing the property and age restrictions as they once had after the People's Act.
  • Equal Pay Act is passed

    Equal Pay Act is passed

    The British Parliament passed the Equal Pay Act for women, but even though it was passed, it didn't go into effect till December 1975. How this law was passed in 1986, some women worked for the Ford Dagenham plant, exposing the unfair pay that they received, while men got more, which led to the Equal Pay Act.