Compare & Contrast China and USA Women Rights

The term women's rights refers to freedoms and entitlements of women and girls of all ages. These rights may or may not be institutionalized, ignored or suppressed by law, local custom, and behavior in a particular society. These liberties are grouped together and differentiated from broader notions of human rights because they often differ from the freedoms inherently possessed by or recognized for men and boys, and because activists for this issue claim an inherent historical and traditional bias against the exercise of rights by women and girls. (Tomory, p. 147)

Issues commonly associated with notions of women's rights include, though are not limited to, the right: to bodily integrity and autonomy; to vote (suffrage); to hold public office; to work; to fair wages or equal pay; to own property; to education; to serve in the military or be conscripted; to enter into legal contracts; and to have marital, parental and religious rights. Women and their supporters have campaigned and in some places continue to campaign for the same rights as men.

In the early 19th century, women in America had no rights even though they were citizens of a free country. Strong social customs and negligible legal rights, especially for married women, made them slaves within their homes. Unmarried women, since the colonial times could exercise many legal rights as men. But, social customs forced them to marry early. After marriage, they were considered to be sub-sets of their husbands. They did not have the right to own property, maintain their wages, sign a contract or vote. Women were stereotyped as delicate and weak and it was thought that any physical or intellectual activity would be injurious to the frail women body. This refrained them from pursuing any serious education or career. As mere objects of beauty, they were considered inferior to men and religion further pushed them in the background by preaching on strict, well-defined gender roles. (Hosken, pp. 1-10)

When Frances 'Fanny' Wright visited America, she set fire with her speeches on women's rights during 1828-1829. In the age when it was improper for a woman to speak in public places, she gave lectures which were strongly worded and revolutionizing. She scandalized the audience with her views on the rights of women to seek information regarding birth control and divorce.

Women Rights in United Sates

In the United States, women's rights have a long, constantly evolving history.

In recent decades, significant steps have been taken to improve education, health, family life, economic opportunities and political empowerment for women. The U.S. experience shows that, as the status of women advances, so does that of their families, their communities, their workplaces and their nation.

In many ways the birth of the women's rights movement in the United States is closely tied to the abolitionist movement, which was supported fervently by many American women.  It was the exclusion of female abolitionist delegates from the 1840 World Anti-Slavery Convention held in London that inspired Elizabeth Cady Stanton and abolitionist Lucretia Mott to ...