For most of the United States’ history, since 1776, women were denied fundamental rights as citizens and human beings. For 80% of that time, they could not serve on juries; for 78%, they could not enter bars or other establishments without a male escort; and for 68%, they were not allowed to vote. Today, these are liberties young women rarely think twice about. Many forget that these rights have not always been guaranteed, and that this generation is the first in our nation’s history to enjoy even half of the liberties their male counterparts have always had. The purpose of this piece is not to scare anyone or make them feel guilty; it is simply an educational timeline meant to put into perspective the very unique time we are living in.
1837 – Mount Holyoke Seminary
Mount Holyoke was the first major higher education institution to allow women to obtain an academic degree. For 61 years, women had no formal, recognized way to obtain a degree.
1837 – Oberlin College
Around the same time as Mount Holyoke, Oberlin College was the first mixed-gender higher education facility in the U.S.
1839 – Married Women’s Property Act
It was 63 years before married women were allowed property in their own name. Before this, all of a married woman’s possessions, wages, and properties were legally their husbands.
1872 – Bradwell v. Illinois
In 1872, Myra Bradwell sued the state of Illinois because it barred her from taking the bar exam for law school. The Supreme Court sided with the state of Illinois and affirmed that states have the authority to exclude women from certain professions.
1872 – Victoria Woodhull
Before women were allowed to vote or serve on juries, Victoria Woodhull ran for U.S. president under the Equal Rights Party. After 250 years, our nation has yet to have a female president.
1880 – Belva Lockwood
Belva Lockwood was the first woman to be permitted to practice law before the U.S Supreme Court. She also ran for president in 1884 and 1888 under the National Equal Rights Party.
1916 – Jeannette Rankin
The 1916 Representative for Montana was Jeannette Rankin. As a representative and suffragette, she used her political influence to support women’s voting rights.
1920 – 19th Amendment Ratified
The 19th Amendment did not grant all women the right to vote; numerous barriers remained for women of color and lower-income women that persisted into the late 20th century. However, it did prohibit denying the right to vote “on account of sex.”
1924 – Indian Citizenship Act
Granted U.S. citizenship to all Native Americans, including women. Despite their citizenship, many states continued denying Native Americans the right to vote until the mid-20th century.
1933 – Frances Perkins
Frances Perkins was the first woman to serve in the U.S. Cabinet. She played a crucial role in initiatives like the New Deal Labor Laws, Social Security, and the establishment of a minimum wage.
1935 – All Puerto Rican Women get the Vote
Before 1935 in Puerto Rico, only literate women were allowed to vote. These literacy laws disproportionately affected low-income women.
1948 – Women’s Armed Services Integration Act (WASIA)
WASIA allowed women to serve as permanent, regular members of the armed forces for the first time. It still, however, imposed limits on numbers and ranks.
1948 – Harrison v. Laveen
The Supreme Court prohibited state laws that barred Native Americans, including Native women, from voting.
1961 – Hoyt v. Florida
The Supreme Court sided with Florida’s laws that require women to serve on juries. This law would later be overturned 14 years later in Taylor v. Louisiana.
1963 – Equal Pay Act
Although this law mandated that men and women must receive equal pay in the same establishment, the enforcement remains, to this day, very inconsistent, leading to the thriving gender pay gap in the United States.
1964 – Civil Rights Act, Title VII
This banned discrimination based on race, sex, religion, and national origin. Like the Equal Pay Act, its enforcement remains weak to this day.
1965 – Voting Rights Act
This outlawed literacy tests and other voter suppression tactics that disproportionately affected lower-income women and women of color.
1969 – Sail’er Inn v. Kirby
The California Supreme Court struck down laws that prohibited women from working in bars and other social establishments unless they were the owner’s wife or daughter.
1972 – Education Amendments, Title IX
This amendment prohibits sex discrimination in all federally funded educational programs and activities. It is important to note that private universities remained entitled to deny women the right to an education.
1973 – Roe v. Wade
Under the right of bodily autonomy, the Supreme Court recognized abortion as a constitutional right under privacy protections, legalizing it nationwide.
1974 – Equal Credit Opportunity Act
Before 1974, women were not allowed to open bank accounts or have credit cards without their husbands’ or fathers’ consent. This law required banks to grant women the right to open accounts, apply for credit cards, take out loans, and obtain mortgages.
1975 – Voting Rights Act Amendments
Before 1975, there were few, if any, legal protections for those language-minority groups. This amendment ensured the protection of Indigenous and Asian American women.
1975 – Taylor v. Louisiana
Under the Sixth Amendment, the Supreme Court ruled that excluding women from juries was unconstitutional. Before this, with the right to serve on a jury, women as a whole were left in a very vulnerable position under the law.
1976 – Margaret Chase Smith
Margaret Chase Smith was the first woman to run for the presidency under a major political party.
1978 – Pregnancy Discrimination Act
Before 1978, it was a common and expected practice for companies to refuse to hire or fire a woman if she was pregnant.
1982 – Shirley Chrisholm
Shirley Chrisholm was the first black woman elected to Congress, as well as the first black woman to run under a major party for the presidency.
1993 – Family and Medical Leave Act
The FMLA guaranteed eligible workers up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave for family or medical reasons.
1994 – Violence Against Women Act (VAWA)
It took 218 years before the United States created laws regarding domestic violence, sexual assault, and stalking.
1994 – J.E.B v. Alabama
The Supreme Court prohibits lawyers from excluding a possible juror solely on their sex. These laws were built upon Batson v. Kentucky, a landmark case that banned race-based exclusion of jurors.
2007 – Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act
Reset the statute of limitations for filing pay discrimination claims with each discriminatory paycheck, fixing a Supreme Court decision that had made such cases nearly impossible.
2003 – Lawrence v. Texas
In a pivotal decision for queer women, Lawrence v. Texas struck down sodomy laws nationwide, decriminalizing same-sex intimacy.
2022 – Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization
Overturned Roe v. Wade, ending federal constitutional protection for abortion and female bodily autonomy.
It has always been a social and political hot topic whether women deserve rights. This list highlights the key figures and laws that have shaped women’s rights in the United States over the course of 249 years. Like everything else, the progress is not linear. Women’s rights will continue to move forward and backward many more times in the future. However, I have faith that, though not in my lifetime, one day women will go backward for the last time and finally achieve full equality.
