Women Rights- Elimination Of All Forms Of Discrimination

Since the generations of the past, women were treated as properties in all the civilizations. They were not recognised as self-individuals and hence they were not allowed to experience any form of independence. 

This type of suppression and injustice against women saw the first forms of revolts after the Second World War. Hence to overcome this undeserved treatment of women, the women rights were put forward and all nations across the world accepted and enforced these rights.

The reason we accentuate “women rights” from human rights is because they often differ from the freedoms inherently possessed by men and boys. Traditionally women haven’t enjoyed equal status to the basic human rights, resources and services. Unfortunately, gender discrimination is still present in every society and remains as a huge barrier for the world.

Discrimination- how it all began:

It is quite obvious that the men are physically stronger than the women and therefore the women will need men to offer their physical assistance. This is the law of Nature and it does not appear to be suspended or abrogated in favour of woman. 

Historically, women have been told that there are not only intellectually inferior to men but they are also a major source of temptation and evil and hence were denied any kind of women rights.

In the patriarchal society, women were viewed as the “weaker sex” who needed to be safeguarded at all times. This notion was rooted on the presumption that the women weren’t equal to men and hence they were considered unworthy or incapable of a literary education. 

They were actually considered as a man’s private property, as it was believed that “disorder is not sent down from the heavens, it’s produced by women”.

Unjust practices that came into being:

To reform gender roles, women have risen over the centuries of tradition, much of which originated in the ancient times. The individuality of the wife was fused into that of the husband, through which he received and managed all the personal property she owned. In return the husband was indebted to support his wife and children.

• Women were deprived of education, since they were expected to prepare themselves for marriage and motherhood

• Women were deprived of inheriting properties and they were denied individual freedoms by marriage

• Male children were preferred over female children and hence female children were, sometimes killed immediately after their birth in some countries around the world

• Child marriages prevailed in few societies and widow remarriages were discouraged

• Women were omitted from voting and participating in the formation of government

Women Rights- in the modern world:

In the modern era, women are constantly striving to improve their place in society as unique individuals. Every day, new ground is being broken and women are advancing ahead from those archaic times, which restrained their progress. 

Though the feminist movement has been strong since the 1960s, it’s the new millennium where people started embracing the women’s rights openly. Women’s rights have made them fight for recognising women as "persons" with rights to vote in elections, receive advanced education, also enabling them to inherit property, land and real estate.

Women’s rights have enabled the women to fight and eliminate discrimination at workplace and thus ensuring equal wages for equal work. Also issues like sexual harassment, molestation, rape, torture etc have been dealt with.

Women’s rights has made women aware of all the benefits they are entitled to, some of them being, shared responsibility of unpaid house work, proper health care facilities, child birth, reproductive rights, divorce, child custody, contesting elections as well as voting rights etc.